Posted on 11/15/2010 10:22:04 AM PST by Nachum
As a matter of fact I have read quite a bit about General Custer, and I really do believe he was nowhere near as evil as he was made out to be. There is a lot of misunderstanding of what really happened at the Little Big Horn, as the title of this thread proves.
Sitting Bull still did not lead the attack against Custer...Crazy Horse certainly did.
Custer gained much of his reputation as a young cavalry officer during the Civil War, and he really was an outstanding tactician in an age of horse cavalry. Many reputable Civil War sources discuss Custer and how he really was an outstanding Cavalry Officer at a young age.
But some historians think that by the time he arrived at the Little Big Horn he had matured and mellowed somewhat from his early years and was deserving of the loyalty he was lacking from his subordinate officers who were part of the large command Custer led up into the Badlands.
I think Custer took the blame for the entire Little Big Horn slaughter because he was good enough to die with the troops and was conveniently unavailable to defend himself.
The most recent book I’ve read about Custer is Nathaniel Philbrick’s “Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Bignorn”.
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Stand-Custer-Sitting-Bighorn/dp/0670021725
Philbrick is a respected historian, and his analysis of the battle is interesting and enlightening, and I encourage everyone to read it to get a fresh perspective on General Custer. Philbrick postulates that most people’s image of Custer comes from Dustin Hoffman’s movie “Little Big Man” which portrays Custer as demented, which according to Philbrick is far from the truth.
In any case, Custer was a complex man and made a permanent mark in History for himself.
The men of the 7th. Cavalry had no love for him. He lacked loyalty because he did nothing to engender it. He had numerous affairs despite being married. “Die with the troops’’ ? He got them all killed at the Bighorn including his two brothers, his brother-in-law and his 18 year-old nephew.
Well said. Custer had already earned a distinct lack of popularity in the Carolinas hanging civilians during the War Between the States.
Walking Bird. (Too full of it to fly).
SquatsToPee
Most 'invasions' were the product of displacement--like that from the Black Hills which would "belong to the Sioux until the sun no longer rises in the East", (which we now know to be gubmint speak for a period of much less than ten years).
Thanks for the ping, Gene Eric!
My first reaction is, “doesn’t he have better things to do, like help restore the economy?” But then I realized that if he’s distracted by little bull stuff like this then he can’t cause so much trouble where it really matters.
So... keep up the good work, Obambi.
Most ‘invasions’ were the product of displacement—like that from the Black Hills which would “belong to the Sioux until the sun no longer rises in the East”,
And if Custer had won a the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and died in his bed in the 1920s, would he or the battle even be remembered today?
He had hanged enough young men in the Carolinas to be remembered, just not well.
On occasion, it is politically expedient to 'make heroes' out of screw-ups to save face, but likely that was done by the sensationalist media of the day (Harper's comes to mind). With control over perception, the mob is easily manipulated, and those 'back East' were no different then than today.
'Manifest Destiny' and all that, ya know.
Custer wasn’t in command. He was part of a much larger 3 army, three pronged attack.
Your version of history is just way too mangled.
Oh, and Custer was responsible for causing Lee to surrender on April 9th.
Say what you will, Custer was one of the top Union Cavalry officers.
Custer was the first American to wear Arrow Shirts.
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