There was a TV movie called The Trial Of General George Armstrong Custer.
They totally dumped on Custer as an impotent vain glorious fool whose mind was gone after he survived the massacre.
To the prosecutor’s withering questioning, Custer just kept answering “Command decision”.
was he fondling steel ball bearings ?
Custer made a reasonable decision based on his mission. The great challenge in Indian warfare was almost always getting close enough to any number to fight. Almost always.
Custer had his faults but he had plenty of guts. And his mission was to engage the enemy. Not observe from a safe distance. But unlike his experiences in the Civil War, many of his men were substandard recruits and many of his officers lacked...well, lacked!
Riding to the gunfire was one of the cardinal rules of fighting back then. There is a reason the surviving officers were held in contempt.
“There was a TV movie called The Trial Of General George Armstrong Custer.”
I remember that movie. There was also a book by the same name. Both were excellent.
I can’t remember the outcome of the trial but I think it was a hung jury. I wonder if the jury deadlocked because they saw that Custer was essentially mentally and career-wise washed up and decided not to punish him further.
I’d love to see that movie again.
Leftwing fiction, huh?