Captain Benteen's Testimony about George Armstrong Custer

 

“The battalion organization was made after we had marched about four hours.  I think at the first halt an orderly came to me with instructions for the officers to assemble.  General Custer told us that he had just come down from the mountain; that he had been told by the scouts that they could see a village, ponies, tepees and smoke.  He gave it to us as his belief that there were no Indians there; that he had looked through the glasses and could not see any, and did not think there were any there.

 “Now, in 1875, I had a very similar experience with Indians in Dakota, and as the statements of the Indians then were absolutely confirmed by what was afterward proved, I was strong in the belief that the Crow Indians only reported what was shown them by their superior keenness of vision, and that the hostile village was where they located it; but as no opinions were asked for, none were given.”

Custer’s Last Stand: Portraits in Time