dickmc@brl-tgr.ARPA (Dick McGee ) (06/24/85)
This weekend I saw "They Died With Their Boots On" on
TBS, with Errol Flynn as Gen. George Custer of the U.S. 7th
Cavalry Regiment. It brought to mind an excellent book that
I read sometime ago. The book is titled "Son of the
Morning Star", subtitled "Custer and the Little Bighorn" by Evan
S. Connel.
This book is not a just a history of the Plains Indian
Wars, nor a biography of Custer but rather a story told by a
skilled story teller. It dwells on details that historians
often ignore. For instance, "Garry Owen" the regimental marching
tune is traced back to a drinking song of the Fifth Royal Lancers
in Ireland. One gets a feeling of the public opinion of the
times as well as government policy, de jure and de facto. A
telegram from Sherman to Grant, President at the time says: "We
must act with vindictive earnestness against the Sioux, even to
their extermination, men, women, and children. Nothing less
will reach the root of the case". The telegram was dated
several years before the battle at the Litle Bighorn. As Connel
points out if one word of this telegram altered it reads like a
message from Eichmann to Hitler.
There have been more words written about the Battle of
the Little Bighorn than any other single military engagement in
U.S. history. Most works are biased either pro or con Custer.
This book in my opinion is fairly even handed. He lets the facts
speak for themselves--Custer's words to his 210 troopers on
seeing the allied Indian camp that stretched over four miles,
"Hurrah, boys we've got them!"
25 June is the 109th anniversary of Custer's Last Stand.