Battle of the Little Bighorn - Part 4

Despite their training, men fighting under extreme pressure tend to group together. Evidence from the Little Bighorn battlefield suggests that members of the 7th Cavalry did that very thing at "Calhoun Hill."

Eyewitness testimony, from the warriors, indicates the cohesiveness of Custer's fighting units changed at Little Bighorn. Those observations are also confirmed by the physical evidence. At some point during the battle, Custer's troops moved from "tactical stability to tactical disintegration."

As the warriors moved to within two hundred yards of the soldiers, they gained the upper hand because they were using rifles which could be rapidly fired. Panic and fear caused the federal troops to "act as if they were besides themselves, shooting wildly in the air."

Many of those soldiers were killed as they fled to "Last Stand Hill."

See, also:

Battle at Little Bighorn - Part 1

Battle at Little Bighorn - Part 2

Battle at Little Bighorn - Part 3

Battle at Little Bighorn - Part 5