The Secret Artillery
True West|June 2017

Denied a role at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, this Gatling gun crew gives Custerphiles another view of the ill-fated fight.

- C. Lee Noyes
The Secret Artillery

On May 17, 1876, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the 7th U.S. Cavalry marched from Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory, to destiny at Little Big Horn. Not so well-known is the fact that a battery of three .50 caliber Gatling guns accompanied the expedition, mobilized to subjugate the non-reservation, “hostile” Lakota Sioux bands led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in Montana Territory. Second Lt. William H. Low and a detachment of the 20th Infantry had been assigned to the fort to organize this “artillery” component of Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry’s “Dakota Column.”

Low’s unit, however, would be denied a role at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, fought that June, when his guns were assigned to Col. John Gibbon’s less mobile “Montana Column” because of a legitimate concern that the Gatlings would impede Custer’s “pursuit of the Indians,” as Custer’s orders of June 22 stated. During a previous cavalry reconnaissance “over very rough ground,” one of Low’s guns had overturned, injuring three men, and was temporarily abandoned, several participants recalled. The four unfit condemned cavalry horses that pulled each gun further justified concerns about the mobility of this precursor to the modern machine gun. Informed that his battery would not march with the 7th Cavalry, Low “wept, almost cried,” remembered Winfield S. Edgerly, a second lieutenant with the 7th Cavalry.

この蚘事は True West の June 2017 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

この蚘事は True West の June 2017 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

TRUE WESTのその他の蚘事すべお衚瀺
Where Did the Loot Go? - This is one of those find the money stories. And it's one that has attracted treasure hunters for more than 150 years.
True West

Where Did the Loot Go? - This is one of those find the money stories. And it's one that has attracted treasure hunters for more than 150 years.

Whatever happened to the $97,000 from the Reno Gang's last heist? Up to a dozen members of the Reno Gang stopped a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis train at a watering station in southern Indiana. The outlaws had prior intelligence about its main load: express car safes held about $97,000 in government bonds and notes. In the process of the job, one of the crew was killed and two others hurt. The gang made a clean getaway with the loot.

time-read
2 分  |
July - August 2024
Hero of Horsepower -  Los Angeles lawman William Hammel tamed one of the West's wildest towns with hard work and horseless carriages.
True West

Hero of Horsepower - Los Angeles lawman William Hammel tamed one of the West's wildest towns with hard work and horseless carriages.

Los Angeles lawman William Hammel tamed one of the West's wildest towns with hard work and horseless carriages.

time-read
7 分  |
July - August 2024
From the Basin to the Plains
True West

From the Basin to the Plains

Discover Wyoming on a road trip to Cody, Casper and Cheyenne.

time-read
4 分  |
July - August 2024
COLLECTING AMERICAN OUTLAWS
True West

COLLECTING AMERICAN OUTLAWS

Wilbur Zink has preserved the Younger Gang's history in more ways than one.

time-read
3 分  |
July - August 2024
Spencer's West
True West

Spencer's West

After the Civil War, savvy frontiersmen chose the Spencer repeating carbine.

time-read
4 分  |
July - August 2024
Firearms With a Storied Past
True West

Firearms With a Storied Past

Rock Island gavels off high profits from historic firearms.

time-read
2 分  |
July - August 2024
She Means Business!
True West

She Means Business!

An energetic and ambitious woman has come to Lincoln, New Mexico, to restore the town's legendary Ellis Store.

time-read
2 分  |
July - August 2024
Ride that Train!
True West

Ride that Train!

HERITAGE RAILROADS KEEP THE OLD WEST ALIVE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES.

time-read
5 分  |
July - August 2024
Saddle Up with a Western
True West

Saddle Up with a Western

Old West fiction and nonfiction are the perfect genres to fill your summer reading list.

time-read
7 分  |
July - August 2024
RENEGADES OF THE RAILS
True West

RENEGADES OF THE RAILS

RAILROADS WERE OPEN SEASON FOR OKLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERRITORY OUTLAW GANGS.

time-read
6 分  |
July - August 2024