"Where Custer Fell:" Opinions and Comments

[Tricia]

All--

I know there's another thread concerning the shipment of this title by Jim Brust, Brian Pohanka, and Sandy Barnard, but I'd love to see how this book's theories fit into y'all's ideas about LBH. For example, I've heard it provides evidence quite contrary to the common thought that the Seventh (in the guise of Custer's battalion) fought as a cohesive unit until almost the very end. Heard the narrative doesn't sit too well with some Custerphiles, and another person has said it gives NCR a short shrift!

I have just received this title and am about halfway through the narrative. I'd love to see what the thoughts are concerning this must have book!

Regards,
Leyton McLean

[Scout]

I haven't read the book yet...I'll probably order it next month. I don't know if anyone could argue with that line up of historians though...there are three of the best around. I talked with Brian on several occassions on the internet and know Sandy quite well, but have never met Jim. I have never believed the 7th fought as a cohesive unit though. Would love to hear what others say about the book though. Dying to read it.

[crzhrs]

It seems to be THE book to read at the moment regarding the LBH. With the authors' backgrounds hopefully they can come up with something new to shed more light on Custer's final moments.

As anybody heard of comments by book reviewers?

[Diane Merkel]

John Mackintosh wrote a review for the LBHA Newsletter that should be in members' mailboxes any day now. John is, in my opinion, a master reviewer. Perhaps he'll chime in here.

John . . . oh, Jooooohn!

[chuckwagon]

I read the book. It's a good source for then-and-now photos of the battlefield.

I think the most revealing photographs are on pages 124 and 125. These are recreations of Custer's skirmish lines by the Fifth U.S. Infantry on the battle's tenth anniversary. Photographer D.F. Barry accompanied Gall and other veterans of the battle on a tour of the grounds. Gall pointed out two of Custer's skirmish lines and Dr. Brust was able to pinpoint these locations in the book--one on Cemetery Ridge, the other near the entrance of the present-day visitors center. This confirms in my mind that there was heavy firing around the Cemetery Ridge area and a key point in the battle. Most intriguing is that the firing was directed toward Custer Hill, confirming Wolftooth's account that he and other Cheyenne warriors occupied the ridge near Last Stand Hill:

"Wolftooth and his band of warriors moved in meanwhile along the ridge above the soldiers. Custer went into the center of a big basin below where the monument is now, and the soldiers of the Gray Horse Company [Company E, under Lieutenant Algernon Smith] got off their horses and moved up on foot. If there had not been so many Indians on the ridge above, they might have retreated over that way, either then or later when the fighting got bad, and gone to join Reno. But there were too many up above, and the firing was getting heavy from the other side now."

So the delayed action on Cemetery Ridge was not a tactical maneuver. Custer couldn't move to a higher defensive position until he first cleared the ridge of warriors firing down at him. Not a good place to be!

[Jim]

chuckwagon,

I too noticed those photo's on pages 124 & 125. My only concern with those photo's were based upon Gall's testimony. It seems that Gall was in EVERY place of EVERY sector of the LBH Battle. Unless that Eagle Feather on his head had the power to hover him across the battlefield, I tend to dismiss a lot of what he has said regarding the battle.
I certainly agree he was a factor in the battle, I just do not believe he could have been in all those places that he says he was.
However, Wolftooth's account of the story would place more credence in this account of the delaying action.

[crzhrs]

Jim:

There has been much disagreement and controversy regarding some of Gall's testimony. One of the most famous is his telling Godfrey some questionable info regarding Custer's movements, which ended up in Godrey's narrative which since then has proven to be wrong.

Gall ended up being ridiculed by many of his fellow Indians once on the reservation and his willingness to become a "progressive" Indian by working with whites rather than trying to help his people.

[shatonska]

maybe gall put togheter all he heard off from other warriors , two moon and the cheyenne chief Old bear were on cemetery and stripped an officier with red stripes on arm ( crittenden ?)
anyway wolf tooth account is very clear and simple , it is one of the few i believe almost totally
i hope someday i'll have this book

[bigpond]

Gall sadly became a puppet for the government and personally I wouldn't believe a word he said.
The photograph on page 139 [upper] doesnt lend much to the Hollywood last stand fight.
I am going to read this book with gusto this week and will add my twopence worth soon.
On picture evidence it looks as Benteen said A "Rout"

[kevingalvin]

I have read this book and was also priviledged to listen to Sandy Barnard who provided a brief on it at the last "Gathering" of the CAGB in November 2005. I also received a signed copy from Jim, Sandy and Cricket Pohanka on behalf of her late husband. Through the book Brian has imparted a great deal of his thoughts on the battle. There is no doubt that there was a lack of cohesion in Custer's 5 companies after Medicine Tail Coulie. I base this on the location of the markers and ground itself - to have been a comprehensive defensive location one would have expected to have seen less separation of the overall command. This would indicate that one or two companies had moved beyond Keogh's battalion hence the potential fight illustrated by the 5th Infantry skirmish line that Gall had pointed too.

Gall may have been discredited within his own tribe and it is highly unlikely that he was everywhere on the field of battle. He may well have gleaned his information from others who retold their exploits in the days that followed. Gall himself having lost members of his immediate family was more likely however to have been grieving his family after the battle had ended.

I would agree Wolf Tooth's account helps to explain some of the various facets of the battle that we all struggle to comprehend. If Custer travelled with two companies towards the Northern Ford and he found that his rear was threathened by the presence of warriors on Last Stand Hill he may have been forced to deal with that crisis. Hence the skirmish line.

Unfortunately none of us have a complete picture of events and are reliant on our own interpretations based on the limited evidence that is available. The jigsaw will never be completed but as Brian always told me, each piece of the jigsaw we are able to add takes us one step closer to the truth - we will never unfortunately know the full story. That's what makes studying this battle so fascinating.

[Lawtonka]

I got my copy a while back and could not put it down. I especially liked the correlation between the Curtis Photographs and the new found manuscripts. I had seen the photos many times in books and on post cards, but putting the Curtis notes with them makes the photos more interesting.

I commend the three authors in their painstaking study to find the locations of the photos. This is a great union of research material. It gave new life to the photos. There is power in photography!


I remember the second trip I made to the battlefield (1996)as a member of the CBHMA. I was seated beside Dr. Brust on the plane from salt Lake City to Billings. At the time I did not know who he was and we began to share our interest in the LBH. If I remember correctly, he told me he was researching the Butler marker and about his interest in photographs.

Once we got to Little Big Man's Pizza, I met for the first time many other interesting people. The next day at the battlefield while mulling around the monument, I was fortunate enough to meet Brian Pohanka. He had be gracious enough about three years earlier to review a Civil War book that I had authored. It wasn't long after that I also met Sandy Barnard. I think I have all of his books done on the digs after the fires.

I treasure this work. All I can say is I reached the last page of it before I was ready to run out of material to read !

I will have to say, my favorite piece is the location of the marker where Sgt. and Mrs. Kanipe were photographed by Camp. The first time I saw that photograph was when it was published in the Battlefield Dispatch. At that time, I was hoping to find it or in hopes that someone else might do so. Being a native Tar heel transplanted in SC, I have somewhat adopted Sgt. Kanipe as my soldier from the 7th Cav. (with or without the controversy)

My kind of book , that is for sure !