Word: custers
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That Cussed Custer...
Sold & Glory. In Custer's Gold, Author Jackson, editor of the University of Illinois Press, re-examines the legend that Custer's death was directly linked to a U.S. cavalry expedition he led into the Black Hills of South Dakota two years before. Custer illegally invaded the Hills in the summer of 1874, the story goes, looking for gold. He discovered it and set off a gold rush that drove the hostile Teton Sioux out of their Dakota country and eventually forced them to make a last desperate stand on the banks of the Little Bighorn in Montana...
This story, Jackson says, is almost-but not quite-true. After a meticulous study of military records and diaries, he convincingly argues that Custer's expedition into the Dakotas was simply a military reconnaissance and fully permissible under the treaty with the Sioux. Custer did find gold but, being a notorious glory hunter, he grossly exaggerated the amount. On his return, he urged that the Indians be compelled to give up the Black Hills for the good of white civilization. The Government tried to pressure the Indians into selling out, but failed; then it opened a military campaign against...
Military Stupidity. Novelist-Historian Mari Sandoz (Old Jules, Cheyenne Autumn), who died in March at 68, confirms this in her admirable account of the battle. Like most historians, she agrees that Custer was guilty of military stupidity when he divided his attacking force of about 650 men into three groups and placed them too far apart to support each other effectively. The Sioux, recovering from their surprise, made short work of Custer and the 212 cavalrymen whom he led. His last stand probably lasted no longer than 20 minutes. Afterward, the bodies of the soldiers were stripped and mutilated...
Author Sandoz did a first-rate job in researching and recounting Custer's last battle. One fanciful notion about Custer's motivations, however, seems to be just too speculative to be taken seriously. Miss Sandoz reasoned that the 36-year-old soldier was burning to be President of the U.S. He began his march toward the Little Bighorn on June 22, five days before the Democratic National Convention was to meet in St. Louis. Custer, according to the author, hoped to achieve a spectacular victory over the Sioux, after which the convention would be stampeded into rewarding...