Legends of the Old West - LITTLE BIGHORN Ep. 5 | “The Siege of Reno Hill”

Episode Date: October 6, 2021

On the second day of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the combined companies of Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen must survive blistering heat, a shortage of water, the stench of death, and constant gunfire and attacks from the warriors who surround Reno Hill. The end of the day brings a glimmer of hope, but the soldiers still don’t know the fate of Custer’s command. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This show is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please visit AirwaveMedia.com to check out other great podcasts like Ben Franklin’s World, Once Upon A Crime, and many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by card. Other conditions apply. By about 5 p.m. on June 25, 1876, the men on Reno Hill had been hearing volleys of gunfire from the west for about 30 minutes. The hundreds of warriors who had been assaulting the hilltop had rushed in that direction and there had been sporadic, sometimes heavy, firing ever since. After 30 minutes of staring at the dust clouds over that way, everyone agreed. It had to be the warriors attacking Custer's column. But there was no agreement about what to do. Some thought Custer

would logically run north to find the Montana column. But even if that's what he was doing, he was badly outnumbered. Custer needed help no matter what. But for the past half an hour, Major Marcus Reno had been down in a ravine searching for the body of his closest friend in the regiment. That was a noble gesture to be sure, but there were officers up on the hill who were waiting anxiously for a discussion

about the urgent situation to the west. When Reno located the body of Benny Hodgson, he collected a few personal items and returned to the top of the hill. Reno ordered a squad to go down and bury Hodgson. To Reno, the debate about Custer all came down to ammunition. He wasn't going anywhere until his men were resupplied. But the pack train still had not arrived at the battlefield.

To that end, he sent his best rider to go find the pack train and drag a couple mules forward. But a captain in Benteen's battalion was done waiting. If neither of his superior officers were going to be proactive, he would lead a unit himself. His heart was in the right place, but when he led troopers toward Custer's position, he learned very quickly that courage alone wasn't going to win the day. During the experience, the arithmetic was simple.

1,000 to 2,000 warriors versus about 400 soldiers. The combined forces of Reno and Benteen learned the only hope for survival was to dig in on Reno Hill and hold out as long as possible. hold out as long as possible. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But we also sell merch, and organizing that was made both possible and easy with Shopify. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell and grow at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage.

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Shopify.com slash Realm. From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer. And this is a six-part series about one of the defining events of American history, the Battle of the Little Bighorn. This is Episode 5, The Siege of Reno Hill. A year and a half after the battle, Sitting Bull admitted that he was genuinely worried at one point in the day. The moment when it looked like Custer's men might find a way to cross the river while most of the warriors were dealing with the soldiers at the other end of the valley.

Sitting Bull had rushed around the camp and tried to wrangle the non-combatants. He tried to shepherd them toward some hills behind the village. But then Lakota and Cheyenne warriors hurried to the riverbank and turned back Custer's men, not once, but twice. Those exchanges of gunfire drew the other warriors back to camp. The warriors swarmed the soldiers and killed them to the last man. And then as the women ran up the hill to begin mutilating the bodies, the focus of the battle shifted back to its original theater. Groups of soldiers rode out from their hilltop gathering spot. They were probably trying to help the soldiers who had

just been killed, but their movement drew the attention of more than a thousand warriors who wheeled around to continue the fight. The group of soldiers who advanced from Reno Hill was led by Captain Thomas Weir. He was an officer in Benteen's battalion, and he had paced back and forth on Reno Hill while he waited anxiously for orders from either of his superiors, Captain Benteen or Major Reno. orders from either of his superiors, Captain Benteen or Major Reno. Finally, when his anxiety peaked, he marched up to Reno and asked for permission to lead a company toward Custer's position. Weir and Reno hated each other, and the request quickly turned into a shouting match. Weir stalked away, climbed into the saddle, and rode toward Custer's battle by himself. His junior officer assumed Weir had received permission, so he rallied Weir's company, and the men hurried after their commander. They rode about a mile toward Custer and stopped on a ridge near three

peaks. The hive of activity was still three miles in the distance, and Weir and his men tried to understand what they were seeing. After several minutes, the pictures started to crystallize. The warriors were riding around the hillsides and firing down at objects on the ground, and they had captured the regiment's flag. That was when Weir knew something was seriously wrong. It seems like Weir didn't understand that the objects on the ground were soldiers, that the warriors were killing the wounded. But if Custer let the flag of the regiment fall into enemy hands, then the situation in the distance was definitely bad.

Back on Reno Hill, the chain of command was a mess. Benteen saw one of his companies ride away toward the sound of gunfire. Then a company from Reno's battalion followed. Benteen assumed they were all moving out, but he hadn't received an order from Reno. In fact, no one had. If Reno was issuing orders at all, no one was listening. One of Reno's lieutenants rode into camp with two mules from the pack train. Benteen ordered his men to get ammo from the boxes on the mules and prepare to ride.

They moved out, even as Reno told his trumpeter to blow the call to halt. By that point, everyone ignored Reno, who supposedly carried a flask of whiskey openly around the camp. When Benteen and three companies reached Weir's position on the ridge about a mile from Reno Hill, Benteen deployed skirmish lines in a semicircle. The gunfire had died down in the distance, and Benteen grew concerned about their current location.

It had a commanding view, but no cover. In Benteen's words, it was a hell of a place to fight Indians. Benteen, Weir, and a few others left the ridge and started back toward Reno Hill. At the same time, Reno was leading everyone from the hill to Weir's position. The pack train had finally arrived, and Reno had gathered all his men, including the wounded, and started moving to the new location. When the two groups met in the middle, Benteen advised Reno that they should turn around. Reno Hill was a better defensive position, and the warriors were already moving in their direction. As if to emphasize the point, Benteen's men on the

ridge began firing. The warriors who had been three miles away were closing fast. The first wave was less than a thousand yards away. The trumpeter sounded the call for retreat. The companies moved off the ridge and rode back toward Reno Hill. It was a little sloppy, but it could have been much worse. Warriors were on the ridge just seconds after Benteen's men vacated the position. In fact, the last few soldiers traded close-range gunfire with the Warriors. As the soldiers retreated in groups, the Warriors raced to catch them. Some savvy, experienced troopers set up rear guard actions without orders to protect the retreat.

As the warriors kept coming, it turned into a foot race. The soldiers charged into their camp on Reno Hill and reformed defensive positions. It was the last time they left the hilltop for the next 24 hours. they left the hilltop for the next 24 hours. Lieutenant Edward Godfrey's K Company was largely responsible for holding off the Warriors as the rest of the soldiers crashed onto the hill. Reno and Benteen set up a perimeter along the rim. Most companies formed a loose circle, but a few extended out onto a thin ridge on one end of the formation. From above, the companies looked like they formed the outline

of a frying pan. Most were in a rough circle, and then others jutted out from the circle like a handle. The horses and mules were herded into the center with the wounded. Dr. Henry Porter, the lone surviving surgeon, set up a crude hospital in a shallow depression in the middle of the hill. It was no fault of Dr. Porter, but the hospital became a place of special misery. On the perimeter, the soldiers threw themselves on the ground and laid as flat as possible. There was no natural cover on the hill, no trees, no large rocks, and no earthworks. The men used saddles or boxes of food as shields. In very short order, they were surrounded by more than a thousand warriors, and the constant firing began.

The warriors charged on horseback during the first wave of the assault. The soldiers opened fire and repelled the charge. After that first wave, the warriors essentially surrounded the hill. They occupied every high point in the area. A native sniper set up on a ridge a couple hundred yards away and quickly killed two soldiers. snipers set up on a ridge a couple hundred yards away and quickly killed two soldiers. Other troopers poured fire onto the snipers' position until the shooter fell silent. From a different direction, the warriors charged again. They charged numerous times,

and each time they were turned back by furious gunfire from the soldiers. The troopers succeeded in stopping frontal assaults for the time being. They kept themselves from getting overrun, but they took steady losses. A man died when a bullet punched through a box of hardtack and hit him in the head. Another was hit through the bowels. Due to his position on the line, his comrades couldn't drag him back to the hospital right away. his position on the line, his comrades couldn't drag him back to the hospital right away. As his pain grew worse, he yelled in agony. Each time he yelled, warriors targeted his spot and poured in fire. Captain Weir urged the man to stay quiet, and the man complied. But when the soldiers were finally able to carry him to the center of the hill, they found out why. He had died. In the middle of the hill, the horses and mules were easy targets. Warriors killed dozens in short

order. The soldiers dragged the bodies of the poor creatures toward the hospital and used them as barricades to shelter the wounded. For the next three hours or so, the warriors continued to try to charge the hill. They unleashed huge volleys of gunfire and then prepared for an assault, but each time, the soldiers popped up and fired their own volley. Those responses diffused the attacks before they began. But in the course of the first frantic hours, 12 soldiers were killed and 21 were wounded. Counting the ones who had been injured before the siege, Dr. Porter had 30 wounded men on his hands by sunset on June 25th. On Reno Hill, those late evening hours were only about surviving until sundown. only about surviving until sundown. Nighttime could bring its own problems, but at least it might give the soldiers a chance to fortify the hilltop to the best of their abilities.

When the sun set and darkness enveloped the hills, the gunfire from the warriors stopped. The soldiers felt confident to move around more freely, and they got to work. They dug rifle pits with anything they could find. Tin cups, plates, spoons, forks, knives, and pieces of wood. They reinforced the barricades around the perimeter with anything that might slow down a bullet. Oddly, the only company that didn't spend at least part of its night building defenses was that of Senior Captain Frederick Benteen. part of its night building defenses was that of Senior Captain Frederick Benteen. By all accounts, Benteen was great during those first hours on the hill. He patrolled the lines, shouted orders and encouragement, and seemed oblivious to danger. But for some reason, he thought the warriors would simply leave during the night, so he didn't tell his men to build fortifications. That decision would come back

to haunt everyone. When the others finished their work, they collapsed into much-needed sleep. Lieutenant Charles Varnum secured reluctant permission from Reno to send a couple Iricara scouts out into the night. Even while most men fortified the hill, there was talk about possibly breaking out under the cover of darkness. The Irikaras slipped through the army formation, and they barely made it beyond the lines before they hurried back. Their report was simple. The Sioux were everywhere. Shop with Rakuten and you'll get it. What's it? It's the best deal. The highest cash back.

The most savings on your shopping. So join Rakuten and start getting cash back at Sephora, Old Navy, Expedia, and other stores you love. You can even stack sales on top of cash back. Just start your shopping with Rakuten to save money at over 750 stores. Join for free at rakuten.ca or get the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. As the soldiers on the hill worked through the night or dropped for a few hours sleep, the valley below them lit up with bonfires. For the warriors, it had been an incredible day, an unprecedented day. They had essentially fought three battles against two armies. They'd wiped out one army, badly damaged the other, and then trapped it on a hill.

In the village, drumbeats echoed in the night. The villagers sang and danced and fired an occasional rifle in celebration. But there was also mourning. Most lost loved ones, and those loved ones weren't just warriors who'd died in battle. Women and children had been killed too. On Reno Hill that night, the soldiers still didn't understand the fate of Custer's command. It was probably too impossible to imagine. The prevailing theory was that Custer had retreated up the Bighorn River and connected with General Terry, General Gibbon, and the Montana Column. The worst-case scenario was that he was trapped on a hill at the other end of the valley. When the soldiers heard a trumpet in the night,

they thought it was proof that Custer was alive and coming to the valley. When the soldiers heard a trumpet in the night, they thought it was proof that Custer was alive and coming to the rescue. But it was just a warrior having fun with his new prize. At dawn, Benteen ordered his trumpeter to play Reveille, the call to get up and get moving at the start of a new day. Benteen intended it to be a show of strength and defiance, but all it did was provoke immediate gunfire from all directions. The gunfire started as a sporadic response, but then it came on heavy, and Benteen's company was the most affected.

His was the company that was out on the ridge, the handle of the frying pan, the only company that did not fortify its position overnight. And worse yet, Benteen had been up all night, which was helpful at the time, but now he was exhausted, and he laid down to take a nap just as the fighting ramped up again. His company started losing men, and the survivors were running out of ammo. It's been hard for historians to understand why Benteen didn't order his men to build defenses, and why they didn't just build them themselves. But when the men came to him with urgent needs, he jumped up and became a commander again. He finally told them to build barricades with whatever was available.

He stalked around the hill and found Reno in the rifle pit from which he'd barely moved for hours. Benteen asked for reinforcements, and Reno finally sent a few men, who were not happy about going out to the deadliest spot on the hill. Benteen's company was such an inviting target that the warriors moved dangerously close to his position, so he ordered a bold maneuver. He told his men to get up and charge down the hill, and he led the charge himself. Bentin and his men ran down into the gullies and ravines, firing as they went and screaming as loud as they could. The sudden advance shocked the warriors and pushed them back. Benteen's company lost two men in the charge,

but it stopped an assault by the warriors. A couple hours later, Benteen repeated the feat on the other end of the hill. Warriors were massing a couple hundred yards away from Major Reno's position on the line. Reno was still in his rifle pit as Benteen boldly walked around the hill and surveyed the situation. Benteen organized a charge, and just before the men jumped over their barriers, Reno stood up and helped lead the charge. A group of soldiers marched out from the hill and fired steadily at the warriors. The soldiers only advanced 50 yards beyond their lines, but it was enough. The warriors retreated, and all the soldiers made it back alive. The troopers resumed their positions on the hill at about 10 o'clock in the morning on June 26th,

and by that point, the heat was already stifling. There was no shade on the hill, and now the soldiers settled in for a long day of misery under the baking sun. Conditions in the makeshift hospital were especially bad. Troopers rigged their tents to provide shade for their injured comrades, but the most urgent need was water. Water had already been a problem for hours, and as the sun became the biggest enemy, something had to be done. The next phase of the day revolved around missions down to the river. The first group of soldiers tried to make a water run at about 11 a.m., and it didn't go well.

They scurried down the hill to the Little Bighorn, but warriors lined the brush on the opposite side of the river and opened fire. The troopers rushed back to the hill and decided that that avenue was closed. The only other option was to send troops from Benteen's company out on the Frying Pan Handle Ridge. Benteen formed a detail of 12 men. Their orders were to rush down the ravine at the base of the ridge, break into smaller groups, fill canteens and cook pots in the river, and then race back up to the ridge. From above, Benteen's four best riflemen would provide cover fire. This was the same ravine the men had charged down a couple hours earlier, and now they started the first run.

The riflemen stood and opened fire, despite their exposure to enemy fire. The twelve men jumped down into the ravine. It was steep and full of thick underbrush and scrub trees, and it was 500 yards long. This wasn't going to be a quick sprint to the river. They had to navigate the length of five football fields to get to the water. As the men worked their way down the ravine, the riflemen up top took heavy fire from the backside of the ridge. They scrambled over to the front side and then took heavy fire from that direction. For the next 20 minutes, it turned into a kind of crazy, deadly kids game. The four riflemen ran back and forth across the ridge,

dodging enemy fire on both sides while they tried to provide cover for the men below. Down at the river, the troopers threw themselves on the river bank and dipped their jugs in the water. They took fire from across the river, but 11 of the 12 made it back up to the hill unharmed. The 12th man took a bullet to the leg that broke a bone. He was stranded in the ravine until a rescue party could carry him out. He was the newest patient in Dr. Porter's field hospital, where most of the water was delivered. With the success of the first run, the troopers kept going. Eventually, over the course of the early afternoon, they collected enough water to

stave off crisis and probably madness. The temperature was pushing 100 degrees Fahrenheit, 37 degrees Celsius. Most men had had very little, if any, water in the last two days, while riding and fighting and building barricades. And for the wounded, it was worse. It's called volumetric thirst. When the body loses blood, the thirst for water skyrockets. In all those Western movies, when a guy gets shot and begs for water, that's why. The loss of blood heightens the thirst for water. But the missions down to the river helped calm the worst of the water crisis, and now the men in the hospital had to keep from getting sick because of the overwhelming smell of rotting corpses. The hospital was ringed by dead horses that were

being used as protective barricades, and now they were starting to cook in the hot summer sun. By mid-afternoon, it must have seemed like the day would never end, with the heat, the smell, the water shortage, and the constant gunfire from warriors in the surrounding hills. But then there was a change. At about 2 p.m., the warriors unleashed a big volley of gunfire. After that, the gunfire tapered off. By 3 p.m., it was noticeably less,

and by 4 p.m., it had stopped altogether. But it took time for the soldiers to understand what was going on. It could easily have been a pause before an assault, but it wasn't. Warriors vacated their positions on the surrounding hills and moved down to the village. Around 5 p.m., thick clouds of smoke billowed up from the river. It was a literal smoke screen to hide the movements of 8,000 people and 20,000 horses. The village of Lakota and Cheyenne was leaving the Valley of the Little Bighorn. Soldiers watched from Reno Hill as the procession continued for hours. A lieutenant estimated that the column of people stretched out

for three miles and was nearly a mile wide. It was almost dark by the time the last people moved out of the biggest Native American campsite in recorded history. A contingent of warriors remained by the river as a rear guard protective unit. But with the last rays of light, they climbed onto their horses and followed their families. On Reno Hill, the soldiers stood up from their defensive positions and watched the migration of the village. There were mixed feelings. There was a flood of relief, but also trepidation. There was no way to know if the battle was truly over. The village could move away, and then the warriors could ride back during the night and ambush the soldiers.

Warriors could ride back during the night and ambush the soldiers. But for the moment, it looked like all the warriors were gone, and Reno didn't want to waste the opportunity. The men moved off the hill and down to a position closer to the river. They dug new rifle pits and set up new barricades. They buried their dead friends and were grateful to be away from the choking smell of the dead animals. During the Hilltop Siege, 18 men were killed and 52 were wounded. The survivors settled into a new position and waited for what might come next. Around midnight, they received their first good news. Interpreter Fred Girard and another man hurried into camp. A couple hours later, two more missing soldiers appeared through the darkness.

All four had been hiding in the timber near the original skirmish lines of Reno's Charge. That Charge, which had happened 36 hours earlier, must have seemed like ancient history by that point. The new outpost set up picket lines for security. The cooks put together a meal for the troopers, and when it felt like a measure of safety returned for the first time in two days, the men went to sleep. When the sun rose the next day, the valley was quiet. There were no sounds of drums or singing or, thankfully, gunfire. The remaining men of the 7th Cavalry stared across the river at the deserted village. Lodge poles and other items littered the ground. A few teepees still stood in place, but every living thing was gone.

It looked like the siege was truly done. But then the men spotted clouds of dust to the north. The obvious first thought was that it was about to start all over again. The warriors had moved their families to safety, and now they were coming back to finish off the soldiers. But as the troopers studied the clouds of dust, But as the troopers studied the clouds of dust, they deciphered two columns of riders. The dust was from reinforcements. And now, finally, there was genuine relief. The men of the 7th didn't know if the reinforcements were from Terry and Gibbon in the Montana column or Custer.

But they knew their ordeal was done. They had survived. Next time on Legends of the Old West, the survivors at Reno Hill learn the fate of Custer's command. Then the rest of the world hears the news, and it's too stunning to believe. And finally, General Terry and General Crook lead one last mission for revenge. That's next week on the season finale

here on Legends of the Old West. And members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week. They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships begin at just $5 per month. Original music by Rob Valliere. I'm your writer, host, and producer, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com for more details and join us on social media. We're at Old West Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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