Custer Was Not a Moron

I'm currently reading "My Life On the Plains" by George Armstrong Custer, the Cavalryman who was killed at the Battle of Little Bighorn in southern Montana in June of 1876. I picked up this copy at the bookstore at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Crow Agency, Montana awhile back.

The memoir was originally published in 1873, three years before he was killed (and interestingly enough was called "My LIE on the Plains" by Major Frederick Benteen, one of Custer's battalion/squadron commanders who fought and survived at Little Bighorn).

I'm currently about halfway through it and am throughly enjoying it. He writes in a very factual, (see note above!), storytelling style. Some of it is dry, while some can be downright Shakespearean. You get the feeling that he finished last in his class at West Point because he was busy chasing girls, not because he was an idiot.

He talks about going out West, chasing his first buffalo (accidentally shooting his horse in the process!), arriving at homesteads after Indian attacks and how that made him feel, life on the trail, life in a frontier fort, battles in which he was present (like Washita Creek), battles he didn't participate in (like Fetterman's "Massacre") , his thoughts on how the Native tribes were getting a raw deal and he didn't blame them one bit for how they resisted, the corruption of the "Indian Agents"on the reservations, and lots of other interesting things.

Custer is not certainly the incompetent moron that many make him out to be. Not only had he proven himself many times over during the Civil War (he was a Union cavalry commander), but had operated out West in the "Indian Wars" for nearly ten years afterwards. I believe it's important to add that he was not a good or a moral man by any means, and with the exception of a few qualities like perseverance and endurance, would not want my boys to be like him (or your boys either, for that matter!).

To say that Custer was a moron who stumbled across the Plains and lost his hair chasing Indians is to greatly take away from the fighting efficiency of groups like the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe, among other confederated tribes at Little Bighorn, the men who led them- Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Gall, (for instance the Lakota fielded some of the finest light cavalry in history, and few things through the ages are as terrifying as a Cheyenne Dog Soldier- there were plenty of both these groups there!). He certainly had some brash and arrogant tendencies, but often those were part of the reason he the won battles he participated in, and at Little Bighorn he just bit off more than he could chew. He was a pro, but he had a bad day in June of '76 up in Montana.

He was in fact a fearsome opponent and had not only operated out west for nearly 10 years, but in the war between the States he'd fought for the Union at the First Battle of Manassas, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wrapping Heights, The Wilderness, Yellow Tavern, Trevilian Station, Guard Hill, Third Battle of Winchester, Cedar Creek, Tom's Brook, and the Appomattox campaign.

All in all, it's a fascinating book that helps you understand the thinking of folks back then and some of the challenges they faced. A fascinating read through the eyes of a fascinating, larger than life character in American history.

- Jake

If you want to build your library, check out some of these affiliate links for books that I've recently read on the American West:

My Life On the Plains by General George A. Custer

Sitting Bull: His Life and Legacy by Ernie LaPointe (this book offers a unique perspective as it's by Sitting Bull's great grandson)

The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick (I have also listened to the audiobook twice, both on road trips to the battlefield. It's brilliantly narrated by George Guidall)

Gall: Lakota War Chief by Robert W. Larson

Red Cloud: Oglala Legend by John D. McDermott

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides

Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne

Geronimo by Mike Leach

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Also, for readings from the classics, check out The Cultured Bumpkin on:

Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF3tia9JM2y496McAKIBR7A

(audiobooks, poetry readings, and sleep podcast episodes)

Apple Podcasts: