To Hell with Honor: Custer and the Little Bighorn

Larry Sklenar's book on Custer delivers a lot of information in well written manner. His writing keeps your interest and carries you along so that you can pick up all the necessary facts. He tells the tale of Custer's ill-fated attack against utterly overwhelming odds bringing together various sources of information including letters, trial transcripts and interviews with the Native Americans involved. The information is clearly presented. My own pet peeve was well satisfied, the maps are excellent and provide a very nice tool in working with the text. The author takes his time and lays out a convincing argument that Custer, despite more than a hundred years of derision as an idiot at worst or over-reacher at best, may actually have had a sound military plan for the fight. The author doesn't deny, how could he, that the plan failed. He lays out a convincing argument that it might have succeeded. The background material and the descriptions of people and place are as well written as the rest of the book. Overall, this is a worthy read.

I really liked this book. The author processed all facts and contradictory accounts to come up with a very plausible scenario that I find very believable. He uses modern detective-like methods to determine what people are really saying or not saying. It is the perfect complement to Son of the Morning Star (SOMS), which i also liked, but is a very different book. The Hell With Honor (THWH)is not rabidly anti-Custer, and paints Reno and Benteen as men with definite failings, but in a fair way. He compliments Benteen many times when he feels that it is warranted. I was starting to find it weary that most contempory works tend to consistently paint Custer in very unflattering lights and this book very validly presents Custers strengths, as well as his failings and mistakes. But one gets the feeling of Custer as a real human being, which I think is one of this books strengths. The biggest plus of this book is that it answers many questions of WHY? Why did Custer do this--what was he thinking, etc. This book answers that. There is none of this "Well, we really don't know what happened after this, etc." that you see in so many books of the Little Big Horn battle. The author uses all evidence--survivor accounts (both white and Indian), archaeological finds, etc. to present a compelling view of what happened. He shows that we really know a lot, if not quite all, of what occurred. I find this so refreshing and admirable! I was always so frustrated after reading other books, thinking about why this, or why that. This author should be commended for digesting everything and presenting a very valid version! And answering questions! This takes courage! I do recommend this book for first-timers to Custeriana or the battle,with a caviat. The author breezes over individual (but,very interesting)personal accounts presented in other books, and gets to just the nitty-gritty of the importance of the point. Novices would probably want to read these accounts in more detail in other books. It does help to have a overall knowledge of the battle. But again, this is one of the books strengths, as it doesn't waste a lot of time rehashing personal vignettes,points already covered elsewhere, or going off on tangents. He gets to the key issues and answers the big, and little questions about the battle. I heartily recommend this book to serious students of the battle!! Tom G.

Those who doubt about Sklenar's book value may see the comments from Robert Utley, considered as the best historian of the American West, and Brian Dippie, also a famous historian of Custer. Both praised Sklenar's work and wrote it was "a revolutionnary book about the battle of the Little Bighorn". Also consider that Robert Utley changed parts of his own view of Little Bighorn in his famous "Cavalier in buckskin" to stick to Sklenar's analysis. When a life-long scholar of Custer and Little Bighorn like Utley edit his best writings to include Sklenar's view, it could show you the value of "To Hell with Honor". You must read it !

This is an enjoyable book to read because whether you like all of Sklelnar's points of view he does assemble a total picture of the campaign. He particularly captures the whereabout of all the military participants very well such as Benteen's loop, Reno, Custer and to my delight the movement of the advance scouts partricularly Lt. Varnum. High points include a focus on Benteen whose hatred of Custer and pouting may have contributed to his delay in supporting the attack. Just a review of his private letters summerized by the author that are available in Graham's Custer Myth are evidence of a very bitter man. Also includes discussion of Custer's attack plan on the Lone Tepee village that went awry but also explains best why Benteen went to the left to support the two remaining columns other than Benteen's later court testimony that he was to go valley hunting to infinity. Custers use of scouts is very entertaining and the author follows Varnums testimony very closely. Also a very good description on what may have happened to Reno in the valley and his abrupt abandonmment of his position and the rout retreat that he termed a charge. The numbers lost in the retreat and the 20 or more men that were abandoned in the woods not including the wounded and those shot down in the rout speaks poorly of Reno's decision when compared to light loses in the skirmish line and in the cotton woods. This is evern more interesting when witnesses report seeing Custer, moving in position across the river on the bluffs. Reno's actions did leave Custer in the bag no matter what you think of Reno. Like Gray, the author follows that Custer did a demonstration in front of the village to take the heat off Reno and evovle some kind of a plan that may be challengable but is cetianly possible. I enjoyed this book greatly because it added some new information and analyzes the Reno - Benteen relationships and battle actions that are fascinating and provides a great geographical perspective. One shoud never critize a book that adds a spin on an interesting topic and this is a good spin.

LARRY SKLENAR HAS PRESENTED A METICULOUSLY RESEARCHED STUDY THAT IS WELL PRESENTED; NOT DRY AT ALL! MAJ.RENO AND CAPT.BENTEEN, WHILE SOMEWHAT CAPABLE SOLDIERS, FAILED THEIR COMMANDER HORRIBLY. THE COVER-UP AFTER-THE-FACT IS UNMISTAKABLE IN THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED BY MR.SKLENAR. I ESPECIALLY ENJOYED THE BATTLE, STEP BY STEP, ALLOWING ME TO EXAMINE THE EVIDENCE FOR MYSELF. A MUST-HAVE FOR CUSTER/LITTLE BIGHORN STUDENTS!