Popular myth has Custer down as some kind of Radovan Karadzic of the Native Americans. But in fact, Custer seems to have spent relatively little time campaigning against Indians, and with only mixed success.
His reputation for awfulness towards Native Americans stems chiefly from his attack on the *beep* encampment in 1868.
Surely generals like Nelson Miles or George Crook deserve to be better remembered as subjugators of Native American tribes?
Regarding the *beep* in the above post, it's not a swear word. It just contains some letters that are the same as a swearword. I meant to write Washeeta, as in the Oklahoma river of that name.
shareGeorge Armstrong Custer was a hero who has been deconstructed by the politically correct crowd. It's gotten to the point that even the present-day US Army Manual for Cavalry Operations takes cheap shots at him. He lost one battle in his life and that was the one he's remembered for.
I attended the 125th anniversary ceremonies at the Little Bighorn battlefield on June 25, 2001. After I got home to New Jersey, an African-American co-worker asked me where I went on my summer vacation. When I told him, he went into this rant about how Custer was a genocidal racist. All I told him was that if it hadn't been for Custer keeping Jeb Stuart's cavalry from rejoining the Confederate Army's main body during the Gettysburg campaign, and then stopping Stuart dead in his tracks during Stuart's attempt to hit the rear of the Union line simultaneous with Pickett's Charge, the Union probably would have lost the Battle of Gettysburg, and probably would have lost the Civil War.
The guy didn't want to believe me, of course.
There are always different sides to everything. Always rationalizations.
Always a defense to be found if you are willing look hard enough.
I have as politically incorrect a personality as one can get and I will still maintain that Custer was a prick. A fame whore whose misguided aggressions toward the indians was merely a sideshow. He likely did not even hate them with the fierceness of many of his contemporaries in his position but that doesn't make him any better. He attempted to use the indians as tools to promote himself. His overwelming self assuredness was his doom.
The victory of the coalition was one of the last real symbolic stabs against the American Empire. Somewhat fitting is that America has actually taken on, in an anthropomorphic fashion...the characteristics of George Autie Custer. Overwelming self assuredness and delusional ambitious whores.
It was said that he would have been president had he lived. Doesn't matter- America modeled itself in his image anyway.
"Ambition is a drug that makes its addicts potential madmen."
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Interesting comments everyone, thanks for making them. Have to look into this whole business about Custer some more, especially regarding Gettysburg, never heard about that before. Maybe this film is worth a second look as well...as in the case of "Battle of the Bulge" (the previous Cinerama effort also starring Robert Shaw). Might have more...
RSGRE
And don't forget Ranald Mackenzie.
William LLoyd Garrison once wrote that (in his opinion) the only savages on the plains were Baker, and Custer, and worst of all Sheridan. He was somewhat wrong, there were a lot more savages, red and white, than those three. But it is sort of a shame that Baker has a lot less infamy than Custer, and that Sheridan himself is not more often considered a worse enemy of the Indians than Custer - however good or bad Custer treated various Indians there is no doubt that Sheridan was somewhat worse to them.
The idea that Custer killed a lot of Cheyenne women and children comes from comparing Custer's exaggerated reports of the number of Cheyenne warriors killed at the "bleep"; with the lowest Cheyenne reports of warriors killed and supposing that the difference must have been Cheyenne women and children who were ruthlessly slaughtered. Apparently the supporters of the big massacre view can't imagine this is a case of mistakes at opposite ends of the spectrum or of conflicting lies.
Scout Ben Clark said that he saw Captain Myer's men shooting down women and children and told Custer, who sent him to stop the shooting and take the women and children prisoner. If this story is true Custer should have executed Myers on the spot.
As for evil Indian fighters, what about General Fred Steele, who allegedly ordered that the Indian scouts in the Piute War should take no prisoners but kill all the Piutes they found, an order which was not obeyed if it was given.
General Charleton ("He was the best of Indian fighters, he was the worst of Indian fighters") allegedly ordered his soldiers to exterminate the western Apaches in 1864-1865, and encouraged the Arizona settlers to treacherously massacre Apaches during peace conferences. In any case, J. P. Dunn in Massacres in the Mountains seems to be correct that exterminating the Apaches seems to have been tried with great enthusiasm for a few years.
And don't forget various civilians such as those who exterminated the Yani and Yahi tribes led by Sheriff Anderson and a rancher named Goode.
Successful but relatively humane Indian fighters - and sometimes advocates of Indians rights - like Miles, Crook, and Mackenzie, and comparatively small fry like Custer, should not be dishonored as much as many other soldiers and civilians who committed terrible massacres.
06/26/12
Don't forget General Joseph West who had Mangus Coloradas murdered.
Or Colonel Chivington of Sand Creek.
Or General William "Squawkiller" Harney at Blue Water/Ash Hollow.
Or Ben Wright who massacred a bunch of Modocs to get revenge for a wagon train massacre they were innocent of - in fact it is now believed that those who massacred the wagon train weren't even Modocs at all!
Some truth in your words. One officer, Gen Sheridan is claimed to have said, "the only good Indian is a dead Indian". There were worse haters of Indians than Gen Custer. Adolf Hitler once said he had learned how to exterminate Jews by reading how the Indians were exterminated by Spaniards, British and Americans.
shareOf course Indians living today will have to admit that not all of their ancestors were exterminated.
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