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Post by mcaryf on Apr 23, 2006 14:58:01 GMT -6
I guess I am starting to suffer a bit from something you older hands at LBH must find. I seem to remember that somewhere I read about a conversation of Custer's but I do not remember in which book or Internet site it was.
The conversation was, I think, with Keogh and took place on the Bluffs overlooking the village so could only be reported by a very few people e.g. Martini, Kanipe etc. The remark by Custer was to the effect that if we can keep them running it would be worth losing half the horses in the command.
Does this ring a bell with anybody else or have I imagined it?
Regards
Mike
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Post by alfuso on Apr 23, 2006 19:38:33 GMT -6
itallstartsrunningtogetherdunnit?
alfuso
PS I don't recall ever reading this. But it sounds like Custer.
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Post by elisabeth on Apr 24, 2006 0:31:17 GMT -6
It does ring a faint bell -- unless I'm imagining it too! Can't place it, though ...
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Post by El Crab on Apr 24, 2006 0:47:03 GMT -6
Don't ya hate that? It rings a very faint bell for me as well, but no clue where it came from.
It couldn't be worse, though, than the time I spent trying to find a bit of Connell's writings on Kellogg. Basically, the author was talking about the numbers in the Terry/Custer column, and mentioned several figures and who compiled them. The line I remembered rather well but could not find was something like "Kellogg said there were X men and Y animals, yet his numbers don't add up. Then again, little about this campaign does."
I spent hours, skimming page after page, knowing it was in there. Checking and rechecking the pages listed for Kellogg in the index. And I knew what book it was in.
I eventually decided it had been long enough since I read it from cover to cover, and found it that way.
So take heart, for at least you have no clue where you read that. It'll take much longer to reach the "beat head against table, repeat" stage than it did for me.
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Post by elisabeth on Apr 24, 2006 2:12:47 GMT -6
"Beat head against table, repeat" -- brilliant. Exactly how it feels!
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Post by crzhrs on Apr 24, 2006 6:41:45 GMT -6
"It would be worth losing half the horses in the command"
Never heard that one before . . . however, why waste half the horses then have to round up and march on foot, hundreds and/or thousands of Indians to the reservation? Doesn't seem practical or even do-able
As for SOMS . . . the index is very limited and is maddening trying to find stuff when you know it's in there. Cornell's book goes all over the place with lots of into . . . but try finding it again!
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Post by rch on Apr 24, 2006 8:10:05 GMT -6
mcaryf
Custer's remark was quoted by Theodore Goldin. It appears in "The Custer Myth," p. 270. Goldin was responding to a questionnaire sent him by W. A. Graham.
rch
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Post by crzhrs on Apr 24, 2006 9:25:24 GMT -6
Well . . . I guess we can write off most of what Goldin says . . . next!
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Post by elisabeth on Apr 24, 2006 10:01:01 GMT -6
Ah, thank goodness. You're a life-saver, rch. I had a feeling it was either someone I didn't take seriously, or fiction; from Goldin, it's both!
P.S. Congratulations, crzhrs!
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Post by mcaryf on Apr 24, 2006 11:15:09 GMT -6
Hi Rch
Thanks for identifying "my" source. What a pity it had to be him.
I suppose we have to assume that Goldin was actually with Reno's command all the time playing an unimportant role until many years later he managed to get a medal for political reasons.
In the UK at the moment we are having a minor political scandal about the possibility of Tony Blair having sold knighthoods and peerages for large donations to his political party. I guess the idea of rewards for political favours is something which long pre-dates LBH but about which there is rather less mystery!
Regards
Mike
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Post by custerstillstands on Apr 25, 2006 10:35:45 GMT -6
You people, who trust Reno and Benteen and glorify the survivors of the 7th, it's really funny (or obcene) to bash Goldin
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Post by jdmackintosh on Apr 26, 2006 18:25:27 GMT -6
mcaryf Custer's remark was quoted by Theodore Goldin. It appears in "The Custer Myth," p. 270. Goldin was responding to a questionnaire sent him by W. A. Graham. rch Interesting, makes it sound like Custer had an awareness that great risks lay ahead. Heard by only person is similar to Windolph claiming that he heard Benteen tell Custer "General, if this village is as big as the scouts say it is, don't you think we ought to keep the entire regiment together?" Windolph was the only one quoted on that, lived a very long time where he could have confused what he thought Benteen said with what some SUPPOSE he might have said, plus Windolph was a huge Benten partisan. This chance overhearing by Windolph, fresh from Germany and new to the English language to boot, has only been attributed to him, unless someone has heard something additionally.
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Gumby
Full Member
Posts: 202
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Post by Gumby on Apr 27, 2006 12:48:38 GMT -6
That is almost as bad as the story I am sure I read that French committed suicide in his hotel room. I can't remember the source but believe it was Benteen in a letter to his wife or somebody.
I had it in Death of a Myth originally, but took it out when I could not find the source again. After that I started footnoting as I wrote.
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Post by rch on Apr 27, 2006 12:50:15 GMT -6
Re: Goldin
I don't know what to make of Goldin. I think his story of being a clerk at regimental HQ is credible. He was one of only a handful of men with less than 6 months service present with the regiment at the battle. That suggests that he may have had some specialized talent, if only good penmenship. He might have been with whatever pack animals carried the HQ's stuff.
rch
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Post by crzhrs on Apr 27, 2006 12:55:45 GMT -6
I didn't think anyone heard Benteen state to Custer about the size of the village and it was Benteen's statement only.
If Windolph did hear it . . . it would coorborate Benteen's statement.
Tell me more . . .
Didn't French die of some alcohol-related illness . . . rather young, too?
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