On the morning of June 22 [1876], Terry delivered written instructions to guide Custer's operation, which we must quote in full:
The Brigadier General commanding directs that, as soon as your regiment can be made ready for the march, you will proceed up the Rosebud in pursuit of the Indians whose trail was discovered by Major Reno a few days since. It is, of course, impossible to give you any definite instructions in regard to this movement, and were it not impossible to do so the Department Commander places too much confidence in your zeal, energy, and ability to wish to impose on you precise orders which might hamper your action when nearly in contact with the enemy. He will, however, indicate to you his own views of what your action should be, and he desires that you should conform to them unless you shall see sufficient reasons for departing from them. He thinks that you should proceed up the Rosebud until you ascertain definitely the direction in which the trail above spoken of leads. Should it be found (as it appears almost certain that it will be found) to turn toward the Little Horn, he thinks that you should still proceed southward, perhaps as far as the headwaters of the Tongue, and then turn toward the Little Horn, feeling constantly, however, for your left, so as to preclude the possibility of the escape of the Indians to the south or southeast by passing your left flank. The column of Colonel Gibbon is now in motion for the mouth of the Big Horn. As soon as it reaches that point it will cross the Yellowstone and move up at least as far as the forks of the Big and Little Horns. Of course, its future movements must be controlled by circumstances as they arise, but it is hoped that the Indians, if upon the Little Horn, may be so nearly inclosed by the two columns that their escape will be impossible.
The Department Commander desires that on your way up the Rosebud you should thoroughly examine the upper part of Tullock's Creek, and that you should endeavor to send a scout through to Colonel Gibbon's column, with information of the results of your examination. The lower part of this creek will be examined by a detachment from Colonel Gibbon's command. The supply steamer will be pushed up the Big Horn as far as the forks of the river if found to be navigable for that distance, and the Department Commander, who will accompany the column of Colonel Gibbon, desires you to report to him there not later than the expiration of the time for which your troops are rationed, unless in the meantime you receive further orders.
Before proceeding further we must pause to excavate these orders from an incredible overlay of the detritus of controversy. A century of partisan haggling over their disobeyance has concealed their useful signal in a furious noise, which is all the more deplorable since the issue belongs to the realm of military legalistics, not to the mechanics of battle. The dogma that any violation of orders automatically spells defeat is transparent nonsense. When perceptive disobedience snatches victory from defeat, who complains? It is thus not obedience or disobedience, per se, that determines the outcome of battle, but the appropriateness of the actions taken in the context of the conflict. To be sure, the violation had better be appropriate, or the violator will reap a justly bitter harvest.
In this particular case, the great debate has even lacked an arguable issue. Terry's instructions contain one tiny word, usually ignored, that made it impossible for Custer's actions to have constituted a violation. This key work [sic] is italicized in the following passage: "you should conform to them unless you shall see sufficient reason [sic] for departing from them." Terry thus explicitly authorized Custer to act as the sole judge—not Terry nor any other officer, not some barracks lawyer nor a court-martial, not even history. Only Custer. Period. One may quarrel with Custer's judgement, but not his authority to judge. Custer's obedience is therefore neither debatable, nor relevant.
(John S. Gray, Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876, Volume No. 8 in the Source Custeriana Series [Ft. Collins, CO: The Old Army Press, 1976], 147-8 [italics in original; parenthetical reference omitted])
