Sun Dance: Why Custer Really Lost the Battle of the Little Bighorn

by Garry Rodgers

The hidden reason why Sioux and Cheyenne warriors defeated Lt. Colonel Custer’s U.S. 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn has never been published - until now. The Battle of the Little Bighorn is one of the highest-profile events still shaping North American history. It’s an intensely studied military and social conflict. Yet, the main mystery of what occurred in June of 1876 on the Montana plains seems unsolved. That’s why—not how—the Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors were able to strategically and tactically annihilate five United States Army 7th Cavalry companies under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s command and severely maul other soldiers in his regiment. The core reason—the root cause—of why Custer really lost the Battle of the Little Bighorn hasn’t been clearly identified by most historians. They’ve overlooked the Sun Dance effect—the psychological and spiritual impact of the warriors’ cultural unity led by Lakota Chief Sitting Bull. This book outlines why the Lakota Sioux Sun Dance had such a powerful effect on the warriors’ will to win and why this sacred ceremony was the root cause of Custer’s demise. That about 268 United States Army soldiers and approximately 40-50—maybe as many as 100—Native American civilians died in a brutally violent battle at a valley along the Little Bighorn River is a well-documented historical fact. Over the years, Custer-mania books saturated the non-fiction historical market. They’ve dissected practically every explainable part of the action. Except for one. That’s where this book is different. It says Custer lost the Battle of the Little Bighorn because of the immense psychological effect the Native Americans’ ceremonial Sun Dance had on willing their people to win. Mentally, the Sun Dance made the warriors far better prepared to fight than the soldiers. In their minds, the warriors knew they would win. They were convinced that all they had to do was get the job done. It was an amazing cohesiveness of combined will and unwavering belief that mobilized the Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne people to attack the United States Army. They defended themselves, and their very existence, through forced aggression. Nowhere—at any time—did Euro-American authorities expect “savages and inferiors” would be superior in spiritual, strategic and tactical war-fighting. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Lt. Col. George Custer and the 7th Cavalry he controlled were mentally outclassed. It was because of the Sun Dance. What Readers are ~ “Written in an easy to read style, with a staggering amount of resources included, this book is excellent for dedicated students of history, and even armchair followers like me.” ~ “Tight writing, gripping story-line, and true. What more could we want? Sun Dance - Why Custer Really Lost the Battle at Little Bighorn is one of the best historical true crime books I ever had the pleasure of reading. Highly recommend!” ~ “As I did, if you read Sun Dance which I recommend, you will learn from it. It raises questions in many fields of study psychology, social psychology (motivation), cultural studies, indigenous studies, government policy, and military tactics.” ~ “Until I read Mr.

188 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2020

About the author

Garry Rodgers is a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police serious crimes detective who went on to a second stint doing sudden and unexplained death investigations for the Province of British Columbia Coroners Service. In his younger years, Garry served as a marksman (sniper) on British Special Air Services (SAS) trained RCMP Emergency Response Teams. He's also a recognized expert witness in Canadian courts on the identification and operation of firearms.

In his third reincarnation, Garry Rodgers made #5 bragging rights on the Amazon Best Seller list, sandwiched between the names Stephen King and Dean Koontz with his debut crime thriller novel No Witnesses To Nothing. It’s based on a true story where many believe paranormal intervention occurred. At the moment, Garry is working on a series of books based on true crime cases he was involved in. These are In The Attic, Under The Ground, From The Shadows and Beside The Road. In the works are On The Floor, Between The Bikers, By The Throat, Below The Deck, At The Cabin and Off The Grid.

Garry hosts a popular blog at www.DyingWords.net. The tagline is provoking thoughts on life, death and writing. There are 300+ posts ranging from rants on bureaucratic stupidity to analyzing high-profile death cases. He also blogs at the HuffPost and does ghost-written op-eds. Recently, The Kill Zone gang invited Garry as a regular contributor.

A few non-fictional facts about Garry Rodgers…

~He grew up around the drag strip and was an NHRA ModProd racer.
~He also raced snowmobiles (sleds) for Mercury Marine on the SnoPro circuit.
~He won a mechanical bull riding competition — stayed on 8 seconds at level 8.
~He was struck by lightning and survived to talk about it (that really, really sucked).
~He was bitten by a venomous brown recluse spider while he was innocently writing a book.
~He was thoroughly humiliated by having to karaoke sing You Ain’t Nothing But A Hound Dog.
~He almost killed Neil Young, the rocker. Story goes that Neil was flying over a tree-lined hill crest on his bicycle and Garry nearly bug-squashed him with his Ford Explorer. According to Garry and Neil, it was a close call. Real close.

Outside of crime writing, Garry Rodgers is an old boat skipper. He went to school and took Transport Canada courses, exams and proved sea time to get his 60-Tonne Marine Captain ticket. Garry says, "I’m good-to-go (from a legal point) to run tugs, seiners, small ferries and luxury yachts. However, outside of operating a few touristy whale-watching boats, I don’t drive watercraft commercially. I just love spending time around the Pacific saltwater near my home in Nanaimo on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island at Canada’s beautiful west coast."

Reviews

[Chaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I do not agree with the premise of Rodger's book, any serious reader/researcher/aficionado of the Battle of the Little Bighorn would be missing out enjoying this terrific read.

There were many reasons why Custer and almost half of the Seventh Cavalry was killed on 25-26 June, 1876 -- enough reasons to create the proverbial "perfect storm." I subscribe to the late, great Robert Utley when he offered "the reason why the Seventh Cavalry lost is because the Lakota won."

Why pose the question 'what went wrong in the Valley?' The Sioux, their Northern Cheyennes allies, and the Arapaho were, simply put, the best light cavalry in North America. Maybe I'm jingoistic in saying this, but given the Lakota's life-long training rivaling the Ancient Spartans, why are we surprised by what happened? Is this face-saving? (I'm reminded of how Kissinger protested to the Vietnamese during the Paris Peace Accords in 1973: "We defeated you in every set battle!" Secretary Le Duc Tho responded: "Yes, you may have ... but that is rather irrelevant now, isn't it?)

Gary Rodgers offers a provocative argument: after Sitting Bull's Sun Dance, which promised a Lakota tide-turning victory over the Blue-Clads, the Battle of the Little Bighorn was almost a forgone conclusion. Adding the Indian victory in the Battle of the Rosebud only nine days before Little Bighorn's, the Lakota were unbeatable.

Regardless what you may think about his argument, this work is meticulously researched and offers many, useful links and sources to throw oneself into the inextricable rabbit hole that is the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Have at, reader!