DBWI: What if Custer didn't bring the gatling guns?

[gladiator8085]

WI Custer didn't bring the gatling guns to the Little Big Horn? Would he still have lost to the Indians? If so, how badly? Who do you think would have won the election in 1876 if he didn't run?

 

[Johnrankins]

Probably not, he was one of the better cavalry officers in the US Army. It wouldn't have been the slaughter that it was OTL but he would have won. His Civil War record showed him to be a hard hitting but not totally reckless cavalry commander. He was a West Point graduate and although the Sitting Bull was one of the smarter chiefs out there he didn't have the education and training Custer did.

It is hard to say who would have ran in 1876, I know Sherman wasn't interested , maybe Hancock or Sheridan? Sheridan would certainly have been a disaster for the Native Americans but that wouldn't have hurt his popularity at all then.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Absent the Gatlings he'd probablly not have split his command between Renos battalion & his main force. He might not have even detached Benteens squadron for his low odds recon. The main body and Renos squadron together would have still had massed firepower the Souix could not have overcome.

 

[moxn]

I'd imagine the plains Indians would fare better in the long run, since a lot of major figures wouldn't have died. Imagine if Crazy Horse or Sitting Bull had lived, instead of Lame White Man being the only chief to escape alive?

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Its even likely Custer would have followed orders and not attacked the camp. Screening it instead until the rest of Terrys brigade caught up. Custers occasional choice for risk was enhanced in this case by the presence of the light artillery. If he'd left them behind he'd been more prone to use scouting tactics vs the multi pronged assaults he made.

 

[Johnrankins]

Its even likely Custer would have followed orders and not attacked the camp. Screening it instead until the rest of Terrys brigade caught up. Custers occasional choice for risk was enhanced in this case by the presence of the light artillery. If he'd left them behind he'd been more prone to use scouting tactics vs the multi pronged assaults he made.

Makes sense, he wasn't an idiot after all.

 

[JennyB]

WI Custer didn't bring the gatling guns to the Little Big Horn? Would he still have lost to the Indians? If so, how badly? Who do you think would have won the election in 1876 if he didn't run?

Considering the magnitude of his OTL defeat (and the loss of the Gatlings) it's a wonder he got out alive at all. As several have pointed out, without them he might have been less foolhardy. It's typical of the man that he managed to spin that disaster into playing the wounded hero in a run for the Presidency, and managed to get as many electoral votes as he did. If he wasn't there as a spoiler Hayes might have won, but it would have been a close thing.

OOC: 'still have lost' implies he did lose ITTL. Given that, I don't see how he could have won the official nomination.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Splitting your command into three independent maneuver units, & a log train, that can't support each other directly was a gamble. While Custers post battle comments were ambitious, contradictory, and unreliable there is a fair indication the presence of the Gatling artillery was the primary contribution to his over confidence.