Post by Diane Merkel on Jun 15, 2011 15:00:51 GMT -6
Chuck just received this book from Upton & Sons. He hasn't had a chance to read it yet, so I thought I would share information sent to me by the author:
The book can be ordered directly from Schiffer Publishing:
Schiffer Publishing
4880 Lower Valley Road
Atglen, PA 19310
www.schifferbooks.com
Phone: 610 593-1777 (Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST)
or from Upton & Sons: shop.uptonbooks.com/
Custer's Best: The Story of Company M, 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn
As I am the author of this book, I cannot in good conscience tell you that the prose in the work is Shakespearean, but I can say it’s a fun read, full of facts that you haven't read elsewhere, 15 full-color maps and several hundred photographs, and a book you will return to time and time again when you are studying the Little Bighorn. So for that and much more, I have to give it five stars. For example, inside you will not only learn what Company M did at the Little Bighorn, but how they were recruited, where they came from, their experiences as new recruits, what they ate in the Army (does slumgullion stew sound tasty?), and how they were supposed to be trained with their weapons. Concerning the initial fight of Company M with Major Reno's detachment in the Little Bighorn Valley, you will be able to use the maps, description and photographs to actually go to the valley and see the exact terrain – a portion of the fight that most visitors to the park normally do not visit. You will read about acts of valor in Company M and why ten soldiers should have received Medals of Honor but didn't, as Reno was no fan of the company commander and Captain Benteen disliked the company first sergeant even more.
The book follows the 45 Company M survivors of the fight (12 died) through the rest of their careers and lives. Many were later buried at the Old Soldiers' Home in Washington DC; their gravestones are shown in the book and can also be used as a quick guide to that cemetery, when you are next in the nation's capital. Simple forensics makes an appearance in the book, with detailed photographs of cartridges at the Company M valley positions that show that at least one trooper experienced jamming of rounds in his carbine, and that First Sergeant John Ryan fired his distinctive Sharps telescopic rifle there. A small piece of dark blue cloth, a trouser button and carbine casings found together show where there may have been a hasty grave after the battle for a Company M soldier, and this study narrows that down to one of two men.
The troopers of Company M were a rowdy lot, with an average of over one court-martial conviction per man. Two troopers earlier picked a bar-fight with a man who turned out to be Wild Bill Hickok – with bad results. After accessing their medical records in Washington, DC, the study is able to report who was kicked by a mule, who was in the riot in Company M two months before the 1876 campaign and who caught a social disease in the bordellos and hog ranches of the West, where the whiskey served was some of the meanest on earth.
So saddle up and join Company M; "we're burnin' daylight!"
French MacLean
Colonel, Infantry, Retired
The book can be ordered directly from Schiffer Publishing:
Schiffer Publishing
4880 Lower Valley Road
Atglen, PA 19310
www.schifferbooks.com
Phone: 610 593-1777 (Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST)
or from Upton & Sons: shop.uptonbooks.com/