Battle of the Little Bighorn
(A Dactyl Poem)
Colonel George Custer's famous fight, 1876
Native strength was misunderstood, error he couldn't fix.
Big mistake, men gotten killed, in less than a single hour.
Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, there with overwhelming power.
Brazen man, golden hair, aggressive in battle manner,
Civil war renowned, rode forth under 7th Cav's banner.
Major Marc Reno, and Captain Benteen, were at his side.
Forward they rode, as a troop on a flagrant arrogant ride.
High above Crow's Nest peak, Custer's two Indian scouts hide,
Viewing an Indian pony herd, back they quickly ride.
Ordered by Terry to wait near mouth Little Big Horn
Couldn't restrain vainglorious pride, called attack that morn.
Scouts had seen village of Sioux far off, camp of unknown size,
Custer had planned to take camp's sleeping warriors by surprise.
Fast fought attack, would yield hostages used as human shields,
These were the plans, as the troops raced across the grassy fields.
Splitting his forces to three groups, planning a pronged attack.
Reno made Southern approach, where the warriors pushed him back.
Benteen had wagon train, full of supplies, reinforcements,
Custer broke off to attack without command's endorsements.
With 265 men, he hoped to hit from further North,
Worried his quarry would scatter too fast, he sallied forth.
Foolish in confidence, knew not the odds he really faced,
Nor of the angry attitude, of Lakota that he chased.
Reno was pushed into the woods, defending the river.
Benteen came supporting his battle that seemed forever.
Three days it raged, 340 men, dug in along the bluff.
Terry and Crook's reinforcements came, barely soon enough.
Custer went to different fate than those in Reno's command.
His own sad destiny became known as "Custer's last Stand".
Details are hazy, all of them died, so little is known
Here are the facts as archeological sites have shown.
Custer chose Medicine Trail Coulee, where to ford the creek,
But the attack was rebuffed, Sitting Bull on higher peak,
Forcing the smaller Calvary troop retreat up the hill.
Dismounted, surrounded, Crazy Horse got in for the kill.
"Golden Hair's" furious fight, bullet shot to chest and head.
With him, all men of the Calvary, were stripped, and lay dead.
Whiteman's greed epitomized what caused this infamous stand.
Sitting Bull's wrath, rightly released at theft of sacred land.
Redman won, his culture done, his rights were soon overrun,
Lost rising tide, torturous ride, when settlements begun.
No mercy found, who fought to survive, from this battleground,
Heartache and pain for natives remain, ghosts still hang around.
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Author Notes
The Battle of the Little Bighorn is also known as Custer's Last Stand. It is an iconic battle in many ways. It represented the last major battle of the Sioux Indian wars. It was fought after the US broke its promise that the sacred lands of the Black Hills would belong to the Native Americans forever, when gold was discovered there. There were thousands of troop deployed to round up what they thought would be 800 Indians who had left the reservation. Custer was a small part of the overall deployment. He started with more the 700 men under him, but split them up in order to attack.Custer unknowingly faced thousands of Indians, in addition to the 800 non-reservation "hostiles". All Army plans were based on the incorrect numbers. Custer was more concerned with preventing the escape of the Lakota and Cheyenne than with fighting them. He intended to capture women, children, the elderly or disabled to serve as hostages and human shields. Custer's battalions intended to "ride into the camp and secure noncombatant hostages" and "force the warriors to surrender". Those plans and incorrect estimates proved fatal.
Because of his long, blond, curly hair, the Native Americans called him "Yellow Hair" or "Golden Hair".
There were actually 3 contingents of military forces in the field at that time.
Gibbons had six companies of the 7th Infantry and four companies of the 2nd Cavalry.
Crook had column of ten companies of the 3rd Cavalry, five of the 2nd Cavalry, two companies of the 4th Infantry, and three companies of the 9th Infantry.
Terry had twelve companies of the 7th Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's immediate command, 5 Companies of the 17th U.S. Infantry, and the Gatling gun detachment of the 20th Infantry.
Custer was to scout and locate the "hostiles", then wait for the rest at the mouth of the Little Bighorn river.
This poem is my first attempt to write a Dactyl poem.
In quantitative verse, often used in Greek or Latin, a dactyl is a long syllable followed by two short syllables, as determined by syllable weight. In accentual verse, often used in English, it is a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.
For this poem I tried to maintain a line with a 14 count meter with an abab rhyme scheme and a cadence like:
Dum-da-da Dum-da-da Dum-da-Dum-da
The picture is courtesy of Yahoo Images.
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