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Bayard

(21,805 posts)
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 03:05 PM Jun 2019

On this date 143 years ago, America began creating the Custer myth

Much of which survives today

?

“Maka ki ecela tehani yanke lo!” —The war cry of Crazy Horse (Tȟašúŋke Witkó). Translation: “Only the Earth lasts forever.” (1876)

"There are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry." George Armstrong Custer (1876)

The Custer Myth is a living thing, which refuses to die despite the efforts of careful historians to reduce it to uncontroverted facts. Almost everything about it is in some degree disputed."
—The Custer Myth, by William A. Graham (1953)

On June 25, 1876, the Custer myth got its start as Sioux (Lakota, Dakota), Cheyenne (Tsitsistas), and Arapaho (Hinono'eino) warriors defended themselves and their families against the U.S. Army's Seventh Cavalry in Medicine Tail Coulee and the surrounding area on the Greasy Grass River (Little Big Horn) in Montana Territory. When the shooting was over, five companies of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's command had been wiped out, with 262 men dead and 68 wounded, half the entire 586-soldier battalion. So startling was the Native victory that when Crow (Apsáalooke) scouts who had been riding with Custer met up with Gen. Alfred Terry the day after the fight and told him what they had seen, he refused to believe them.

So why even care about this event from the distant past in which all the participants and most of the children of every participant are long dead? Because the myth continues today to have a stereotyping impact, warping how non-indigenous Americans view Indians, not just the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, but all Indians.

Since that June day 143 years ago, hundreds of books, most of them bad and some of them brimful of outright lies from beginning to end, and more than 50 movies, most of them dreadful, have kept the myth (or collection of myths) flourishing except among the best scholars. A good deal of this was spun into being by Libby Bacon Custer, the brevet general’s widow, who wrote three books glorifying her husband and transforming him from a reckless, aggressively ambitious military politician into a heroic legend. For most Americans historically, and many still today, Custer’s “last stand” represents the most important part of the story passed down over the decades, the Indian side of what happened as well as contrary white survivors’ versions ignored or denigrated.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/25/1867186/-On-this-date-143-years-ago-America-began-creating-the-Custer-myth-much-of-which-survives-today?detail=emaildkre

Really interesting article. I will look up some of the books mentioned.

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On this date 143 years ago, America began creating the Custer myth (Original Post) Bayard Jun 2019 OP
Here's a myth I can hang my hat on Brother Buzz Jun 2019 #1
Richard Mulligan Floyd R. Turbo Jun 2019 #14
I had a huge crush on Dustin Hoffman when I was about ten. Crunchy Frog Jun 2019 #18
So what's the true story? I sure didn't get it from slogging through that DailyKos post. SunSeeker Jun 2019 #2
I wonder that myself sarisataka Jun 2019 #5
Basically, Custer was an 19th century Trump GusBob Jun 2019 #10
Though, unlike Trump, he was a brave (though reckless) soldier who served hatrack Jun 2019 #21
I recommend Retrograde Jun 2019 #3
Great book eom GusBob Jun 2019 #11
My favorite quote from that book: hatrack Jun 2019 #22
Some yrs ago I heard a discussion.. Duppers Jun 2019 #4
The book I would recommend sarisataka Jun 2019 #6
May the U.S. heroes of the Alamo be next... hunter Jun 2019 #7
200 men holding off over 1,500 men for almost 2 weeks... EX500rider Jun 2019 #8
It's just sad. hunter Jun 2019 #9
Heroism in a bad cause. Spider Jerusalem Jun 2019 #15
So by your statement... MicaelS Jun 2019 #12
When I was younger, I thought he Custer was a hero. MicaelS Jun 2019 #13
Custer started creating his myth years before this DavidDvorkin Jun 2019 #16
I really like the movie Little Big Man. Crunchy Frog Jun 2019 #17
Hollywood was in the midst of The American Indian movement when Little Big Man... Brother Buzz Jun 2019 #19
I've read many books over the years Bayard Jun 2019 #20

SunSeeker

(51,367 posts)
2. So what's the true story? I sure didn't get it from slogging through that DailyKos post.
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 03:16 PM
Jun 2019

I wish people would just get to the point.

sarisataka

(18,216 posts)
5. I wonder that myself
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 03:36 PM
Jun 2019

They talked a lot about the myth but never really got around to telling what the myth is.

If it is Custer was an arrogant, overconfident self promoter who made a grave error in dividing his forces... well that is not myth

GusBob

(7,286 posts)
10. Basically, Custer was an 19th century Trump
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 04:36 PM
Jun 2019

a braggart, an overblown leader who took unnecessary risks because he had an oversized ego and thought he was better than everyone else, including his enemies, whom he vastly underestimated. He wanted to ride fame into the presidency. He was also a horn dog whom couldn't keep his hands of women

Also his troops were poorly supplied, poorly trained, their weapons were shit, and they were poorly led by Custer, especially when he split his forces.

The myth is they try to cover all this up

hatrack

(59,439 posts)
21. Though, unlike Trump, he was a brave (though reckless) soldier who served
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 08:12 PM
Jun 2019

But yeah, the bottomless void, screaming to be filled with fame and adulation and public regard - very similar.

Retrograde

(10,069 posts)
3. I recommend
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 03:26 PM
Jun 2019

"Son of the Morning Star". You won't learn much about the battle itself, but it gives a lot of insight on the lives of the participants - especially the common soldiers - on both sides.

Duppers

(28,094 posts)
4. Some yrs ago I heard a discussion..
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 03:33 PM
Jun 2019

of the real truth of the history of Custer and of his action at the "Battle of the Greasy Grass."
It may have been on PBS or on the History Channel (?); anyway, it also decimated the myth.

Teddy Roosevelt was the original "blood and guts" guy, a mixed bag.



"Comanche" at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum, one of only five horses ever given a military funeral. (A little trivia.)


sarisataka

(18,216 posts)
6. The book I would recommend
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 03:42 PM
Jun 2019

Is Little Big Horn Remembered: The Untold Indian Story of Custer’s Last Stand, Herman J. Viola, 1999.

It is on the list and includes many accounts of the battle that were recorded from those who were there.

hunter

(38,264 posts)
7. May the U.S. heroes of the Alamo be next...
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 03:53 PM
Jun 2019

]link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Alamo

I never saw any of them as heroes, possibly because of my upbringing as a pacifist.

EX500rider

(10,528 posts)
8. 200 men holding off over 1,500 men for almost 2 weeks...
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 04:10 PM
Jun 2019

....and then dying to almost the last man is what most people would consider a heroic action.

 

Spider Jerusalem

(21,786 posts)
15. Heroism in a bad cause.
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 05:01 PM
Jun 2019

The Texas revolt was mostly about slavery (Mexico abolished it; Anglo cotton planters wanted to keep it) and American territorial expansion of the sort that they called "filibustering" in the mid-19th century (the vote to offer annexation to the US after the end of the war was nearly unanimous; the offer was rejected because it would've upset the slave/free state balance and created diplomatic problems).

MicaelS

(8,747 posts)
13. When I was younger, I thought he Custer was a hero.
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 04:43 PM
Jun 2019

I was really pissed when I learned the truth, that I had been lied to.

Crunchy Frog

(26,548 posts)
17. I really like the movie Little Big Man.
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 05:41 PM
Jun 2019

It definitely treats Custer as a reckless, practically insane, and aggressively ambitious asshole.

It also takes much more of a Native American perspective.

Shaped my view of the events from a very early age.

Brother Buzz

(36,213 posts)
19. Hollywood was in the midst of The American Indian movement when Little Big Man...
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 06:45 PM
Jun 2019

was released. It was arguably the first blockbuster film that accurately portrayed history from the Native American perspective.

One could make an argument the movement started as a whisper campaign during the Custer Centennial thingy (1976), and Boy howdy, it gained traction.

Bayard

(21,805 posts)
20. I've read many books over the years
Wed Jun 26, 2019, 07:50 PM
Jun 2019

One thing I remember was that after the Custer battle was finished, the Native American women went around to all the dead soldiers--especially Custer--and pushed their sewing awls into the men's ears so they would hear better in the next life.

That one stuck with me.

Also, if memory serves, Custer finished dead last in his class at West Point. The comparisons to him and tRump as pompous, over-confident windbags, are on the mark. Including the vanity about their golden locks!

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