Free Republic

We can never know what frantic thoughts raced through George Armstrong Custer’s mind in the last hour of his life. But surely, as ever-growing numbers of angry, well-armed Plains Indians closed in on his 210 troopers of the 7th Cavalry, he must have realized that he had fatally misjudged the size of the hostile force now surrounding him. His plan to subdue a large Indian village had completely broken down. He had been warned repeatedly by his scouts that his target, an Indian encampment on Montana’s Little Bighorn River, was far larger than he had imagined. Now, on this very...

Five score and forty-five years ago, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, the “Boy General” of the Civil War, and most of his troopers were killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn—or were they? I’ve written a series of comic novels that tell the story of how Custer was actually rescued by an Indian princess, and went on to lead a life, undercover, as a knight-errant in the West. The stories are meant to funny, and driven by action and adventure, but I confess, they have a point. That point is easily summarized by asking what it means to be...

In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision interpreted as barring prayer in public schools.

By now many Texans have heard about the proposed “NAFTA Superhighway,” which is also referred to as the trans-Texas corridor. What you may not know is the extent to which plans for such a superhighway are moving forward without congressional oversight or media attention. This superhighway would connect Mexico, the United States, and Canada, cutting a wide swath through the middle of Texas and up through Kansas City. Offshoots would connect the main artery to the west coast, Florida, and northeast. Proponents envision a ten-lane colossus the width of several football fields, with freight and rail lines, fiber-optic cable lines,...

Ogalala Sioux healer George Amiotte came alone to pray as the sun rose on the new Indian Memorial at Little Bighorn Battlefield. He wanted to be there early, before the crowds arrived for the dedication of the memorial honoring the American Indians who fought and died there June 25, 1876. There he would offer prayers for the dead on behalf of the three warrior societies to which he belongs on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Dressed in buckskins and feathers, as his ancestors would have been 127 years ago, he offered his thanks for their sacrifice. Amiotte is...