Custer: Cavalier in Buckskin

This is a great concise work of biography and history, written by one of the greatest living historians of the American West. I think some of the reviewers miss the point:this is a biography first, and an analysis of Little Bighorn secondly. This is probably the best bio of Custer for the interested to start with because of its meticulous research and the brevity of its length. Once you read "Cavalier in Buckskin" do not be surprised if you seek out Utley's other fine works of Western and Native American history. Utley's a class act, and so is this fine work which combines the best of academic and popular history. If you're at all curious-READ IT!

Robert M. Utley is probably our most thoughtful scholar of George Armstrong Custer and his ultimate demise at the Little Bighorn in 1876. He has studied Custer since a boy, including writing his Master's thesis on him and spending years as a guide at the Custer Battlefield site in Montana. One of Utley's purposes behind writing this book was to "coerce me into deciding what I thought" of Custer. It's pretty obvious by the end that he thinks pretty highly of him, despite all his faults. Custer was a man full of contradictions: he demanded obedience to orders from others but didn't feel he needed to obey orders himself; he could be cruel to some while favoring select others; he was generous and selfish, egotistical as well as modest. (Perhaps the biggest contradiction was how one of the most successful Civil War cavalry generals could come to so ignoble an end.) Men either hated or loved him; few were indifferent - thus the controversy regarding his actions on the Little Bighorn. Utley believes that Custer acted as one would expect a self-assured, ambitious, enterprising (critics, of course, would use different adjectives: self-serving, glory-seeking, impulsive) officer to act at the Last Stand, even though he had limited information, and finds more fault with Reno's and Benteen's inaction at the crucial moment when more decisive action may have saved the day. But no one will ever know with total exactness what happened that day, which is why the legend of Custer looms so large. And for Utley that is the "significant Custer," the one that has made the biggest "impact on human minds." Utley writes about that Custer with critical admiration, and one appreciates the controlled, clear-eyed appraisal. It's the best short biography on Custer out there.

This biography of George Armstrong Custer devotes most of its pages to his post Civil War career. Most people only know that he died at the Little Bighorn battle; they know the legend or the symbol, not the real person. Chapter 1 discusses his legend from 1876 to the present. Before his last campaign Custer charged the Grant administration with fraud and corruption. So whether he was a "victim of Grant's Indian policy" or a "foolhardy glory hunter" depended on the politics of the beholder.Custer's postwar career depended on the support of Sherman and Sheridan ("Custer never let me down"). Since the Indians kept far away from the railroads, building the Northern Pacific railroad would ethnically cleanse the northern Dakota territory. The railroads were given tens of thousands of square miles of land ("sunblasted in summer, frozen in winter" p.125). They could not be sold to settlers until Indians were removed and neutralized. Settlers would then buy railroad lands, then use the railroad to transport their produce and supplies. The army's task was to implement this political policy; they only followed orders. There were treaties such as at Medicine Lodge in October 1867. But the Indians had no idea that they were giving up the country they claimed as their own (p.59). The announced purpose of the Black Hills Expedition of 1874 was to find a site for a new fort, and for scientific exploration. The discovery of gold meant that miners would flock to these Indian lands via the Northern Pacific. The chief geologist, and Lt. Col. Fred Grant, cast doubt on this report: it might have been planted (p.141)! These lands could not be developed while the Indians held title, unless a war was created to negate the treaty (p.147). The Interior Dept. issued an ultimatum to the Sitting Bull bands: move to the Great Sioux Reservation or be driven in (p.156). But the Indians were immobilized in winter! Their failure to migrate was used to start a war. The military campaign started in April 1876. Custer believed that the Indians should be civilized into Christian farmers, but "if I were an Indian I often think that I would prefer to adhere to the free open plains rather than submit to a reservation" (p.149).Just before his last campaign Custer testified against the actions of Secretary of War Belknap. Was he looking for some heroic action to gain popular acclaim? Was he suffering from any ailment that could affect his judgment? Chapter 9 discusses the "Judgments" on the defeat. Utley wonders if Custer received his chest wound at the beginning of the battle, and this demoralized and confused their defense? This would account for much that is puzzling about the battle (p.199). Those paintings of "Custer's Last Stand" are imagined. The Sioux fired their rifles and arrows from long range while concealed (p.190). They were too smart for a "Charge of the Light Brigade".

I have been an avid reader of Custer related literaturethrough the years and this is simply the best book on the marketon George Armstrong Custer. As a graduate student at MississippiState University and taking a course on the American West I gavea lecture on Custer and recommended this book to the class. Mr. Utley gives great detail on Custer's life. As with anyreader of Custer the debate rages on about General Terry's ordersto Custer and if they were obeyed or not. The author broughtout something I had not read before and that being the affidavetof a cook who overheard a conservation between Terry and Custer. A great book on Custer and especially on the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Also, being a Civil War buff I liked the way the author mentioned how former Confederate generals were someof Custer's biggest defenders after the battle. If one were looking for a starting place on Custer this bookwould be the one.