The history of the machine gun....

[gray_ghost]

Watching this documentary on the history of the machine gun on the Military Channel - and they start out with the development of the gatling gun in the Civil War. So they mention Wounded Knee - which was the last "battle" between the Sioux and federal troops and basically ended the Indian Wars on the Plains. Okay - great - I knew that. But then they have to turn it into some great military victory by the federal troops against the primitive Sioux (who - the documentary claims, were used to fighting on horseback with rifles and were terrified against gatling guns). Who wouldn't be terrified of a gatling gun? They even have the nerve to show clips from some old movie showing Sioux braves on horseback charging the federals.


ummmm....yeah. That didn't happen at Wounded Knee. They did use gatling guns on the indians, but they opened up on a bunch of women and children who were cold and starving and not ready for a fight. But I have to wonder why they didn't show the union troops emptying their gatling guns into unarmed civilians trying to run away? What the fuck is wrong with that version of history? It's what actually happened. It's the truth. And what an amazing weapon the gatling gun turned out to be! With just plain old rifles it might have taken the federals hours to
massacre all those Sioux. With gatling guns, they accomplished it in minutes. What a cool fucking weapon!

Here are the official statistics from the battle:

On the Sioux side there were 120 men and 230 women and children.
On the side of the federal government - 500 heavily armed soldiers supported by 4 Hotchkiss machine guns.

At the end of the battle we have 25 dead troopers, and 153 dead Sioux including 62 women and small children. 150 others Sioux fled but were believed to have died from exposure (South Dakota in the winter is not a very hospitable place to be - so that's probably a safe assumption).

Anyway....I fucking hate the Military Channel. And I hate that asshole who invented the gatling gun.

Comments

[elizabuffy.livejournal.com]

I have no clue why the "documentary" decided to skew the truth. Altho', I guess it does make the gatling gun look all great and heroic instead of a means to murder more people in shorter amount of time. Gotta love that propaganda. The sick part, tho', is how many people will believe it.

~e!

[gray-ghost.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking. Or maybe the documentary was made by older people who got a different version of history than is currently emphasized. I got into a fight with my junior hs english teacher once after we read some essay written after Custer's Last Stand about what a noble warrior General Custer was. I said he was a murdering bastard who was only good at killing kids, old people, and women, and Custer's Last Stand happened because the Indians were just defending themselves (the federals were shooting at the villagers and the warriors were trying to protect their families). He looked like I had just pissed on the Virgin Mary.