18. Custer’s legend today
In the 1960s changes in attitudes towards America’s history with the Indians led to a reappraisal of Custer and his legend. In many cases, the heroism of the Last Stand was changed into a bumbling and ill-advised attack, led by a megalomaniac. Custer was depicted as a butcher of Indians, a racist, and an egomaniac. Though not without his supporters, his actions at the Little Big Horn were roundly condemned as borderline insanity. This depiction is inaccurate and unfair to the commander who relied on the intelligence he was provided by his superiors, and followed his orders not to allow the natives to escape. It also ignores the failure of his officers to follow his orders.
Forensic examination of the battlefield in the late 1970s and early 1980s revealed a very different battle than the one long held in the national memory. Whether the additional troops of Benteen’s command would have changed the outcome had Benteen followed his orders and come to Custer’s aid is open to speculation. That Benteen disobeyed his orders is not, and the evidence that the army covered up his actions is clear. The truth about Custer is that his death surmounted his career in the public mind. Nearly all Americans remain aware of Custer’s Last Stand, though few remember his exploits during the Civil War and in the Plains Wars. Avenging Custer is an ongoing activity, with no signs of its abating in the twenty-first century.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“The Little Big Horn”, by Andrew S. Ward, American Heritage Magazine, April 1992
“Son of the Morning Star” by Evan S. Connell, 1992
“The Benteen-Goldin Letters on Custer and His Last Battle”, by John M. Carroll, 1974
“On the Little Big Horn with Walter Camp: A Collection of Walter Mason Camp’s Letters, Notes and Opinions on Custer’s Last Fight”, by Richard Hardoff, 2002
“The Little Horn Massacre”, by The New York Times, front page, July 7, 1876
“Ulysses S Grant Launched an Illegal War Against the Plains Indians, Then Lied About It”, by Peter Cozzens, Smithsonian Magazine, November 2016
“Mystic Warriors of the Plains”, by Thomas E. Mails, 1972
“Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors”, by Stephen E. Ambrose, 1975
“Inventing Custer: The Making of an American Legend”, by Edward Caudill and Paul Ashdown, 2015
“Libbie Custer”, by Gene Smith, American Heritage Magazine, December 1993
“Custer: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer”, by Jeffrey D. Wert, 1997
“To Hell with Honor: General Custer and the Little Big Horn”, by Larry Sklenar, 2000