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Post by Peter on Aug 6, 2005 13:20:39 GMT -6
The accounts of Custer's body that I have read indicate that he had two bullet wounds, one in the body and one in the left temple. My question is, Was Custer left handed? If he had been right handed it is very unlikely that he would have shot himself in the left temple.(which would indicate that he probably did not commit suicide). The portrait I have of Custer shows him with his arms folded, and he folded them as a left handed person would. (Try it, if you're left handed you probably have your left forearm over your right and your right hand on your left biceps muscle). So, do we know if he was right or left handed? Do most historians believe that he did or did not commit suicide after being shot in the body?
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Post by Tricia on Aug 6, 2005 20:08:17 GMT -6
Peter--
From a photograph taken in his study at Ft. Lincoln, it appears that GAC was right-handed. At least, that seems to be the hand he wrote with ... however, in given battle situations, he could be ambidextrous if need be (complete with holding horse reins between teeth)!
Though anything is within the realm of possibility, I doubt Custer offed himself.
Regards, Leyton McLean
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Post by ma dawg got et on Aug 6, 2005 21:42:01 GMT -6
any pictures of him wearing his sword? that would tell you if he was right or left handed.
But I am positive he was right handed because if he had been left handed, it would have been noted in many bios of him.
alfuso
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Post by Louise on Aug 7, 2005 4:32:06 GMT -6
I found this picture of him with his sword. It is hard to tell looking at other pictures of him he looks ambidexterous to me...unless constant use of small arms would lead to a man being confident with both hands. (..now to see if I can figure out how to attach a piccie...) oops...can't figure out how to do it...the pic has him seated with his left hand holding the the handle of the sword (which is hanging at his left hip).
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Post by Scout7 on Aug 7, 2005 5:38:39 GMT -6
Many left handed people were MADE to write with their right hands in the 1800's & early 1900's....teachers thought it improper to write with the left hand, this was because of the dip pen, which could prove to be messy when used by a left hander...but of course not all teachers practiced this. Greatest example of this...Babe Ruth, greatest left handed athlete of all time was taught to write with his right hand in school. AND were left handed soldiers permitted to wear swords and arms on the left side? As Cliff would say, 'It's a little known fact.'
So just because we have pictures of GAC writing with his right hand dosen't mean he was right handed. Now I have something else to lie in bed and think about all night. Thanks a lot.
Scout
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Post by Peter on Aug 7, 2005 7:42:06 GMT -6
Scout, as I understand it, the saber was worn on the left so it wouldn't be in the way in mounting the horse. And the revolver holster was worn on the right hip, butt forward so it could be drawn by either hand. (Any of you older gents remember Wild Bill Elliott in the Saturday afternoon flicks back in the late 30's and early 40's? He wore his two revolvers butt forward, always looked strange to me.) And as far as being forced to write with the right hand, that was being done when I was a youngster in school as recently as 1940, we had inkwells in the top of our desks and used pens with a nib that we dipped in the inkwell. Those kids who tried to write with the left hand smeared the wet ink as they progressed from left to right. The teacher would have left handed children sit on their left hands so they would be forced to write with their right. So, maybe GAC was ambidextrous after all.
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Post by Tricia on Aug 7, 2005 8:16:19 GMT -6
any pictures of him wearing his sword? that would tell you if he was right or left handed. But I am positive he was right handed because if he had been left handed, it would have been noted in many bios of him. alfuso The only place I've heard about the left-handed "thing" was at the Realbirds' re-enactment a couple of years ago ... at least that was the tale the narrator was spinning. They claimed Custer was a southpaw, but I haven't seen anything to back it up. If it turns out he was, he coulda been a great late-inning reliever for the Seventh's baseball team! Regards, LMC
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Post by Treasuredude on Aug 7, 2005 8:59:45 GMT -6
The teacher would have left handed children sit on their left hands so they would be forced to write with their right. So, maybe GAC was ambidextrous after all. I have seen the writings of left handers who are forced to write with their right hand. It's awful. Much like mine if forced to write with my left. From letters I've seen, Custer's handwriting didn't look like someone who was forced to write with his right hand.
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Post by Scout7 on Aug 7, 2005 10:14:39 GMT -6
Peter,
I stand corrected...I meant to say swords worn on right hip.
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Post by Leyton McLean CSA on Aug 7, 2005 19:08:33 GMT -6
The teacher would have left handed children sit on their left hands so they would be forced to write with their right. So, maybe GAC was ambidextrous after all. I have seen the writings of left handers who are forced to write with their right hand. It's awful. Much like mine if forced to write with my left. From letters I've seen, Custer's handwriting didn't look like someone who was forced to write with his right hand. In addition to your claims, TD, I'd like to think that the more "psychological" profiles of Custer would bring the subject up ... i.e., lefty becomes righty. If not evident in Van der Water, it should have assumed a big part of Hofling's "Custer and the Little Bighorn: A Psychobiographical Inquiry." This kind of "enforced regularity" seems to be tailor-made for this kind of narrative. Regards, Leyton McLean
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Post by Tony on Aug 8, 2005 11:12:39 GMT -6
Be careful when viewing photo's of that time area--many where reversed when developed as was the famous picture of Billy the Kid--who's photo made people believe that he was left handed (he was not).
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Post by Peter on Aug 8, 2005 11:51:32 GMT -6
Be careful when viewing photo's of that time area--many where reversed when developed as was the famous picture of Billy the Kid--who's photo made people believe that he was left handed (he was not). Good point, Tony. My 'test' for old photos is to check out position of button holes (left side, buttons on right) and locks on rifles, loading gate on SAA revolvers, and Insignia on uniforms. Reversed images were common in the 19th century and your note to be careful when viewing old photos is important.
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Post by Stan on Aug 14, 2005 18:53:27 GMT -6
I am an Indian Wars reenactor and naturally left handed. The frontier military was uncompromising -- there were no left handers! I have had to learn how to handle the saber, revolver and carbine as a right handed trooper would. In the cavalry, the left hand is used to control your mount. The saber is worn on the left and drawn and used right handed. During the Civil War the saber was the primary weapon of the cavalry and the revolver came to be worn out of the way, butt forward on the right side. The revolver is a right handed weapon (remember the left is holding your horse's reins). So the choice is either a saber or a revolver used in the right hiand, never a saber in the right and a revolver in the left. Some mistakenly think the revolver can be drawn and used left handed because it is worn on the right. The left (rein) hand supports the revolver or carbine when reloading while mounted. A review of period cavalry manuals will acquaint readers with the school of the trooper and the drill for each of the small arms. I hope this is helpful in some way. I have no doubt that GAC was right handed. Anyone interested in viewing my impression of him in bronze sculpture can visit my webpage here: www.frontierarmy.com/. Click on Dakota Sculptures.
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Post by Tricia on Aug 16, 2005 12:21:44 GMT -6
Re: photograph of Custer (writing) and Libbie in study (reading), Ft. Abraham Lincoln, ca., 1873 (?)--
I finally found my "copy" of the photograph that shows Custer as righthanded. I looked at the background elements, which comprise of photographs of he (the Mathew Brady one in 1865, right profile, crossed arms, supposedly GAC's favourite, now at the LBH visitor centre) and Phil Sheridan as well as a map of the United States. The Pacific coast line on the map is shown correctly (i.e. to the "left" of the document), as is the photo of Custer.
So I think, whatever his tendancies at birth were, he did write--in adulthood--with his right hand.
Regards, Leyton McLean
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Post by JFK on Aug 23, 2005 20:56:21 GMT -6
The General did not shoot himself. Those who saw the body reported a hole in the left temple, with little blood. There was no exit hole anywhere else on the head. A close shot, eg. putting the gun to one's own head, would cause an entrance and exit wound, as well as a great deal of bleeding. The head shot was probably a longer range shot into the General's dead body, thus little blood, and not enough force for an exit.
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