Typewritten book draft with handwritten corrections. The book is about the firearms used in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The item was subitted to the Old Army Press for publication.

Never before has a historically accurate novel telling of the day-to-day journey to the Little Big Horn featuring interesting characters been written, including the Gatling Gun Battery commander and his men. Custer takes his three Gatling Guns with him instead of leaving them at the Yellowstone River. The author, a retired Marine, came up with a plausible solution of how the heavy machine guns could have moved with the 7th Cavalry without slowing it down through rough terrain. The book has a "what if" flavor from beginning to the dramatic ending that any history buff will enjoy. A rip-roaring tale of the 1870's. About the Author: Donald F. Myers was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1952 at age seventeen he enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps. He retired from the Corps on 30 April 1973. Myers is Indiana's most decorated living Marine veteran. A recipient of two Silver Star medals for conspicuous gallantry, two Bronze Star medals for heroic achievement, five Purple Heart medals for combat wounds, Navy/Marine Corps Commendation medal for heroic achievement, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with palm, and Vietnam Medal of Military Merit are among his 32 awards. The U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employed Myers after he was medically retired from the Corps. In 1990, he retired from the VA as a senior counselor. Myers also spent over 20 years with the Indiana Guard Reserve retiring from that military organization as a full colonel. He has authored six books. A father of two sons and three daughters Myers resides with his wife Dorothy in Franklin Township, a suburb on the southeast side of Indianapolis.

In August, 1983, a grassfire raged up Deep Ravine and across the dry, grass-covered battlefield where, in 1876, men of the Seventh U.S. Cavalry under George Armstrong Custer had fought and died at the hands of a Sioux and Cheyenne force led by Sitting Bull. The removal of the normally dense ground cover revealed enough evidence to suggest that an archaeological survey would be fruitful and perhaps could address some unanswered questions about the battle. Describing archaeological investigations during the first year (1984) of a two-year survey, this book offers a detailed analysis of the physical evidence remaining after the battle. Precise information regarding the locations of artifacts and painstaking analyses of the artifacts themselves have uncovered much new information about the guns used in the battle by the victorious Indian warriors. Not only have the types of guns been identified, but through the use of archaeological and criminal-investigative techniques the actual numbers of firearms can now be estimated. This analysis of the battlefield, which represents a significant advance in methodology, shows that the two forces left artifacts in what can be defined as "combatant patterns." What did happen after Custer’s trumpeter, John Martin-dispatched with an order for Captain Benteen to "be quick"-turned and saw the doomed battalion for the last time? Written to satisfy both professional and layman, this book is a vital complement to the historical record.

On the afternoon of June 25, 1867, an overwhelming force of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians quickly mounted a savage onslaught against General George Armstrong Custer’s battalion, driving the doomed troopers of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry to a small hill overlooking the Little Bighorn River, where Custer and his men bravely erected their heroic last stand. So goes the myth of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, a myth perpetuated and reinforced for over 100 years. In truth, however, "Custer’s Last Stand" was neither the last of the fighting nor a stand. Using innovative and standard archaeological techniques, combined with historical documents and Indian eyewitness accounts, Richard Allan Fox, Jr. vividly replays this battle in astonishing detail. Through bullets, spent cartridges, and other material data, Fox identifies combat positions and tracks soldiers and Indians across the Battlefield. Guided by the history beneath our feet, and listening to the previously ignored Indian testimonies, Fox reveals scenes of panic and collapse and, ultimately, a story of the Custer battle quite different from the fatalistic versions of history. According to the author, the five companies of the Seventh Cavalry entered the fray in good order, following planned strategies and displaying tactical stability. It was the sudden disintegration of this cohesion that caused the troopers’ defeat. The end came quickly, unexpectedly, and largely amid terror and disarray. Archaeological evidences show that there was no determined fighting and little firearm resistance. The last soldiers to be killed had rushed from Custer Hill.