[Jeff Higgins]

From what I remember, Custer was a day or two ahead of the artillery and gatlings. He was, essentially, showboating. Seizing an opportunity for glory against what he believed to be an ill-disciplined, outnumbered, under equiped opponent. He was going to "take the initiative" and neatly rout them all on his own. If he had waited a day or two, the outcome could have been far different. But he would have had to have shared the glory. He wasn't that kind of guy.

By the way, he had his own .50 caliber, a .50-70 Remington Rolling Block that he used for hunting. Neither his Rolling Block, nor the Trapdoors present at the fight, were "Big 50's". The .50-70 was on a 1.75" case, where the real "Big 50" was on a 2.5" case. It held substantially more powder and fired a good deal heavier bullet. Neither the Trapdoor nor the Rolling Block will accept this long of a cartridge. This was the caliber Billy Dixon used for his famous shot at Adobe Walls, Texas, with a borrowed '74 Sharps.