Dead Men Do Tell Tales

How would a modern commander, operating on a similarly distributed battlefield against a highly mobile enemy, coordinate the activities of two maneuver elements without tactical communications? MAJ Marcus Renos earlier scouting mission (10 to 19 June) told Custer that the hostiles were west of the Rosebud. [...]had it not been for the warning provided by his Crows and Shoshonis, Crook's command would have been taken by complete surprise at the Rosebud a week earlier. The various speculative reasons as to why Custer failed to obey orders range from Presidential aspirations (the Democratic Convention was only days away), the possibility that sending a lone messenger was a suicide mission, or that the situation did not allow enough time for Custer to send a messenger. Reno failed him by aborting his attack, thereby freeing up large numbers of warriors to shift their effort toward Custer; Benteen, by not attempting to link up with Custer, disobeyed direct orders and abandoned his commander's forces to be overwhelmed and destroyed.