Yahoo Hit Piece on CSGMAJ Basil L. Plumley, Ia Drang Valley

self | 5/18/2016 | Self

[GreyFriar]

There is a new biography of General Custer that I highly recommend to you, especially if you are interested in him.

“Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America” by T.J. Stiles

Its focus is on his entire life in the context of the times he lived in. It is divided into two parts: Birth through the end of the Civil War and End of the CW through his death.

[IronJack]

I read "A Terrible Glory" last summer, a study of the Bighorn (and Custer, of course) by noted historian James Donovan. One of the best I've seen. Fair, even-handed in its treatment not only of Custer but of Benteen and Reno.

One of my bucket list to-do's is to visit the Bighorn Monument and stand on the site where the 7th Cavalry was slaughtered. It would chill my blood.

I will look into the Stiles bio and very possibly add it to my collection of Custer-abilia. Thanks for the recommendation.

[GreyFriar]

I need to caution you that Stiles does NOT go into a discussion of “Custer’s Last Stand” but discusses the rest of his life and is good on his fighting the Indians prior to the Little Big Horn battle. He closes with an examination of the court of inquiry over Reno and Benteen’s action that happened several years later. He recommends several books to the reader for accounts of that LBH battle.

He shows how Custer was very competent as cavalry commander during the Civil War and prior to the LBH. He does not denigrate Custer about LBH but makes sure that the reader knows the role Custer and the 7th Cavalry played as 1/3d of the forces being sent against the alliance of tribes that were gathering in the Montana territory.

[IronJack]

To blame Custer for the defeat at LBH is like blaming Leonidas for the Spartans' "defeat" at Thermopylae.

Custer demonstrated a clear, even insightful understanding of cavalry tactics during the Civil War, on a par with Nathan Bedford Forrest and even James "JEB" Stuart. It was not his fault that his troops were poorly trained and that Union commanders (with the exception of Phil Sheridan) had no idea how to make use of cavalry.

I have a theory that the LBH disaster arose out of a lot of complex history, including Custer's supposed sacrifice of Benteen's friend Maj. Joel Elliot at the Washita. Reno too had his reasons for sabotaging his commanding officer.

But those are topics for another day ...