The Battle of the Rosebud

George Crook made it within 30 miles of the location of the Little Bighorn battle.

About a week before Custer got to the location of his demise...

Crook's column was combat ineffective after this and they turned around.

They were still close enough to the Custer massacre to see the smoke from the wildfires started by the fight.

It gets forgotten that the Indians were concentrating in that area and looking to fight.

They were, in part, being driven together by being pressed between Crook and Terry's columns with Custer's supposed to link up as the other two came together.

Notice that Custer was a week behind getting there than Crook.  This is despite leaving anything using a wheel behind as it would be slowing him down.  I am thinking, the more I study this, is Custer got a late start and was looking to make up time by leaving the wagons and Gatling guns back at Fort Abraham Lincoln.

Major Reno had even scouted the Sioux encampment on the Rosebud two days before Crook's column was engaged.

So close...

I wonder if Reno's reconnoiter had resulted in turning Custer towards the Rosebud and linking up with Crook would have had an entirely different outcome for both Crook and Custer.

I also speculate that Custer not acting on this intelligence might not have been a deliberate attempt to avoid sharing credit with another commander and thus diminishing his chances at a post-service political career.

Custer had a reputation of leaving others out to dry if it conflicted with his goals.