Before the battle, he made the decision that he would send out three Army units to "corral" them. He made the decision that when they reached battle that they would not engage in the battle. He also thought that it was wise not to take the troop's offer to get reinforcement but shortly was wrong when he realized that they had 1500 to 1000 he thought they were better. I think he made those decisions because he wanted to show that it's important to lead with a strong heart but to also show that you also need to pick your battles wisely and don't forget about what's important.
Explanation:
To Custer, the Black Hills mission seemed an easy assignment. He was a West Point graduate and a decorated Civil War veteran with a keen mind for military maneuvers. He had fought many battles, and had won nearly all of them. Thus, when Custer and his men left camp days earlier, he was confident in their ability to accomplish the mission's objective: find the Sioux, flush them out, and force them onto the reservation. They had two other units strategically converging on the target along with them—together they were an Army of over 2,000 men. What could possibly go wrong?
Three days before the battle of Little Big Horn, General Custer decided to revise his strategy. He called his officers together for a briefing and explained that they would face between 1,000 and 1,500 Sioux warriors, while Custer's force totaled only 660. He informed his officers of his decision to reject an offer of troop reinforcements, stating, "the 7th (his Army) could whip any force that could be mustered against it, and reinforcements would not save us from defeat."
The next day, Custer knew he was getting close to the Sioux encampment. He was informed by both sets of Indian scouts that this was a very big village. However, none of the scouts had actually seen the village; instead, they based their estimates on the size of the pony herd and the amount of smoke from cooking fires.
Custer's main concern at this point was to not alert the Indians before he could get into a position to attack, as he did not want them to simply scatter. He intended to move to a position that would allow his force to attack the village at dawn the next day. When he received word that a few of his troops were spotted by the Sioux warriors, Custer assumed they would warn their village, causing the residents to flee. Ignoring orders from his superior officers to wait for additional troops to arrive, Custer decided to attack before the warriors could alert the rest of the camp. On the morning of June 25, Custer divided his twelve companies into three battalions in anticipation of the forthcoming attack.
