George Armstrong Custer: Difference between revisions

Custer graduated from [[United States Military Academy|West Point]] and, though characterized as an inept for having been last in his graduating class, actually finished 34th out of a starting class of 108 candidates.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ambrose |first1=Stephen E. |title=Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors |date=1996 |publisher=First Anchor |pages=Chapter 6}}</ref> Following graduation, he worked closely with General [[George B. McClellan]] and the future General [[Alfred Pleasonton]], both of whom recognized his ability as a cavalry leader. He was promoted to [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] of volunteers aged 23. Only a few days afterwards, he fought at the [[Battle of Gettysburg]], where he commanded the [[Michigan Brigade]]. Despite being outnumbered, Custer defeated [[J. E. B. Stuart]]'s attack at [[Battle of Gettysburg, third day cavalry battles|East Cavalry Field]].

A contrasting version of Custer's death is suggested by the testimony of an Oglala named Joseph White Cow Bull, according to novelist and Custer biographer Evan Connell. He says that Joseph White Bull stated he had shot a rider wearing a buckskin jacket and big hat at the riverside when the soldiers first approached the village from the east. The initial force facing the soldiers, according to this version, was quite small (possibly as few as four warriors) yet challenged Custer's command. The rider who was hit had shouted orders that prompted the soldiers to attack and was next to a rider who bore a flag, but when the buckskin-clad rider fell off his horse after being shot, many of the attackers reined up. The allegation that the buckskin-clad officer was Custer, if accurate, might explain the supposed rapid disintegration of Custer's forces.<ref>Connell (1984), pp. 413–414.</ref> However, several other officers of the Seventh, including [[William W. Cooke|William Cooke]], [[Thomas Custer|Tom Custer]] and William Sturgis, were also dressed in buckskin on the day of the battle, and the fact that each of the non-mutilation wounds to George Custer's body (a bullet wound below the heart and a shot to the left temple) would have been instantly fatal casts doubt on his being wounded or killed at the ford, more than a mile from where his body was found.<ref>Wert, 1996, p. 355.</ref> The circumstances are, however, consistent with [[David Humphreys Miller]]'s suggestion that Custer's attendantssubordinates would not have left his dead body behind to be desecrated.<ref>[[David Humphreys Miller]], ''Custer's Fall: The Indian Side of the Story''. University of Nebraska Press, 1985.</ref>

The assessment of Custer's actions during the American Indian Wars has undergone substantial reconsideration in modern times. Documenting the arc of popular perception in his biography ''[[Son of the Morning Star]]'' (1984), author [[Evan S. Connell]] notes the reverential tone of Custer's first biographer Frederick Whittaker (whose book was rushed out the year of Custer's death.)<ref>Connell (1984), p. 287.</ref> Connell concludes: