Death at the Little Bighorn
926091
Written by Phillip Thomas Tucker, Death at the Little Bighorn: A New Look at Custer-His Tactics and the Tragic Decisions Made at the Last Stand, is most decidedly a new look at the iconic battle. The author, a PhD and historian, pens his alternative theory on this epic western battle with obvious passion and an overwhelmingly impressive amount of details and facts. This descriptive analysis includes the people, locations, dates, events, the horses, and even enough physical description of some people for a sketch artist rendering!

Being that I am familiar with but by no means an expert of Custer and Little Big Horn, I cannot say whether the theories have exceptional merit in the historical world. I will leave all of that to the historical experts out there. I can, however, say that I certainly view this to be a fresh analysis of the battle. It was quite obviously researched exhaustively. Although very long and heavy on facts, I find that unlike many other books of this type, it is not overly repetitive.

If you are like me and love looking at alternative theories on historical events, or just love the Old West or even some Native American culture, this book is worth taking a chance on. This might not be as entertaining for the casual reader, due to its lengthiness and technicality, but avid readers should find it mentally stimulating. Most likely, you will never view the Battle of Little Big Horn the same again!

Phillip Thomas Tucker has also written several other historical analysis pieces that I am looking at reading in the future.
4402333
What Happened at the end did the mama die did the spirit take her with her  what about the little girl
2198984
While the battle at Little Big Horn has garnered most of the attention of historians of the American west, the Fetterman Massacre has received little attention.  However, the lessons of the Fettermen affair, while ignored by US military leadership of the time, should have been a primer that could have avoided the disaster at the Little Big Horn or the Rosebud.  This becomes clear when one notes the examples of the failures of Army support of Carrington as recounted in this book.  This is a must read for all those interested in the history of the American west.
1251432
Custer's Trials is a very appropriate title for this book because it reviews the challenges he confronted throughout his whole life and is much more than what took place at Little Big Horn. Stiles reviews his life beginning at West Point through his full military career. He also presents in detail leadership during the Civil War, his relationship with women, his married life, gambling, attempts in the private sector, and skills in published writing. Custer is a colorful figure that folklore has conveyed to a one dimensional character. Custer's Trials refutes the historical image of Custer allowing the reader to see the full man.

Stiles only directly refutes Custer's actions at Little Big Horn in the Last Chapter of the book. For evidence Stiles relies on the military hearings of Major Reno actions during Little Big Horn. There were no direct hearings or reports of Custer's actions, and this document most closely what occurred. First, it needs to be noted that the Lakotas and Cheyennes were assembled in an unusually large village. Custer was fighting a much larger group of Native Americans than would normally be expected, plus testimony shows that in the fog of battle he received no support from his fellow officers. Particularly damaging is Captain Frederick Banteen who disliked Custer and made no effort to identify where Custer and his men were or he needed assistance. There is no proof whether Benteen could have prevented the loss of Custer and his men, but it is clear he made no attempt. It is impossible to fully know the detailed actions that occurred at Little Big Horn but to blame the massacre on Custer is historically incorrect.
One of the best aspects of this book is the social history witnessed through Custer's wife and a former slave who became his personal cook during the Civil War. Stiles liberally uses quotes from original documents that bring life to his narrative.
4741566
Excellent. It doesn't get much better than this fact based story of General  George A. Custer's life and indian wars  of the 1870's and 1880's. Custer is legendary in western history for being  a dire enemy of  the american indian.  His disire to rid the american west of  it's  indigenous people proved to be his  undoing the battle of the little  bighorn area south of modern day Billings, MT.,ending a 10 year army  campaign to eliminate the indians from the last frontier. Gary Cole was  wonderful as the flamboyant cavalry officer tasked to rid the likes of  Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull and other war cheifs of the era.  Based on  Evan S. Connell's excellant  best-seller book. Co-starring Rosanna  Arquette as Lizzy Custer and Dean Stockwell as General Phillip Sheridan.  Rodney Grant plays Crazy Horse. In the  tradition of Dances With Wolves  and the  Last of The Mohicans this movie won't  disappoint if you like  westerns and history of the period.
1892475
That name belonged to his father before him, but at the Indian School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he became known as Daniel Killstraight.  Leaving the school he was a cross mixture of Comanche and 'pale eyes', while hating most of the forced education of the white man, but not feeling part of his people, those Comanches on the reservation.  But back 'home' to the reservation he must go in attempt to relink with his past and people.  Some homecoming:  he steps right into a double murder, arriving just in time to see one of his friends sentenced and hanged for the crime.  As the story moves along Killstraight is asked to prove that his friend was innocent of this crime, in the process becoming himself a 'metal shirt' or badge wearer of the reservation Indian police.

Daniel Killstraight, very much an unsure, divided man, must return to the 1890's Oklahoma world of the reservation Comanche to become one with his people.  In doing so not only must he deal with the fate of his childhood friend, Jimmy Comes Last, but he must also deal with the poverty, drunkeness, and crooked Indian agents present on the reservation. Folded into the narrative are historical people such as Quanah Parker of the Star house, the Hanging Judge of Fort Smith, and Senator Henry L. Dawes, as well as other historical people and events too.

While this isn't the best book I've read by Mr. Boggs, hard to beat the straight forward PURGATOIRE (2003) of a few years back, this book will hold the reader's attention while Mr. Boggs must be complimented for bringing legend and lore of the Comanche to our attention.  A very worthwhile read from one of our better contemporary writers of the bygone west.

Semper Fi.
3480199
I think my title covers it all.. Bela Lugosi dies during the filming and another actor takes his place.. the replacement actor just covers his face whenever he is on camera.. Just watch.

The special effects are epic!
2882137
Sitting Bull, 1954 film

This is a Hollywood History of the Indian Wars on the northern Great Plains after the Civil War. This is a romantic drama set in a Cavalry fort. There were no wooden palings, guns prevented any attack. You can find the true facts in a good history book, such as the recent biography of George Armstrong Custer. Custer, like other soldiers, only followed orders. Custer was in disfavor in the spring of 1876 for testifying about War Department scandals before a Congressional Committee. The movie They Died With Their Boots On was a better history about the youngest General in the US Army (promoted at age 23). Without his death in battle at age 36 he would be no more remembered than the other two Cavalry Captains who were also promoted to General in June 1863. Enjoy this movie as dramatic entertainment, it is not an education documentary. Before the 1950s Custer was regarded as a hero by most Americans since the 1860s. This film is an example of the propaganda used to change peoples perceptions, the mind control that goes on still.

There is a quote from one of Custers writings about how if he was a Sioux Indian he would prefer to live free on the open range rather than be cooped up in an reservation. Some say Custers body was not mutilated like the other 265 soldiers who died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn because he married the sister of an Indian Chief the year before. Or was this said to spare his widows feelings? Sitting Bull was a Medicine Man or advisor who probably spoke no English then. Chief Crazy Horse was the famous leader in this war. The Sioux nation allied itself with the other tribes to create the largest Indian Army that ever existed in North America. These other tribes were enemies and rivals of the Sioux, but allied with them against a common enemy after the Sand Creek massacre. Days earlier they defeated another Army General, but Custer was never informed of this. Custers big mistake was to underestimate the strength of his enemy, and their new tactics. Around 1794 there was another General who was defeated in battle, about 1,200 of his soldiers were killed. Those who were captured alive were tortured to death. This event is still censored from school textbooks today.

The Army enforced the treaties by removing white men from Indian lands. [The Little House on the Prairie tells how Pa Ingalls, a squatter, was ordered off Indian lands.] Chief Crazy Horse was invited to a peace discussion afterwards, then killed or assassinated. Sitting Bull joined Bill Codys Wild West Show, then returned to the reservation. He was killed resisting arrest by the Tribal Police. In 1862 a corrupt Indian Agency official started the Great Sioux Uprising in Minnesota when he withheld their promised supplies. The 1876 war on the Great Plains started when the War Department ordered the Sioux to travel to their reservation, even though the snow on the ground made travel impossible. The War Department must have known this. But a successful war could help in the coming election. The Indians had no defense against cannon (the gun that shot twice) that outranged a rifle. Their lands were given to railroads, homesteaders, and gold miners who produced wealth. The buffalo were slaughtered to force the Indians into reservations where they depended on Government issued food. By 1890 the Frontier and the Indian Wars were over. One general (Sheridan?) said there were no Indian wars in Canada because their Indian agents were honest. William Tecumseh Sherman was quoted by a reporter as saying the only good Indian was a dead Indian but strongly denied saying this.
524928
Mistakes Can Kill You: A Collection of Western Short Stories...by Louis L'Amour s a good read.  It contains short stories, most by Louis L'Amour, collected after his death.  I like short stories that are like mini-books, which these are.  You read one when you have a sliver of time then put the book aside for another session.
3308737
It was a good book to read it taught me a lot about the west. How they lived and died.
2929435
Very Good but very sad. Laura Ingalls Wilder was one tough cookie. I feel like all people could learn a lesson from watching her just never give up. Our family has listened to all the little house books and this one was by far the most sad. I also wanted to know more when I finished it. It stops and you are left wondering about what happens to her family in the future. We were glad to have read this last book of hers. It is nice to know that later in life she wrote these books for us all to read so despite her adversity she gets to have a good future and live a long life!
4807851
A wonderful accounting of the life of Comanche, the only horse to survive the battle at the Little Big Horn, and not be taken captive by the native Americans.  Comanche became the mascot for the US Cavalry and lived to a ripe old age.

A must read for any fans of General George Armstrong Custer, Captain Myles Keog or the Battle at the Little Big Horn, or anyone who loves true horse stories.
4205948
Ambush, a word that had great import to any troop of cavalry in the U.S. Army on patrol during the Apache Wars of the mid to late 1800's. This small post (Fort Gamble, New Mexico Territory) is sending out a small scout patrol, moving across "heat-scorched mountain passes, broken country of spiny hills, dry arroyos, rough rock",  and desert on the trail of a deranged killer Apache chieftain named Diablito, or "little devil". This undersized Apache leader is so dangerous, "born leader, gone crazy bad", that even his followers fear him. Should Diablito be found, a much larger force will then take the field for a final campaign to trap this Apache murderer.

In addition, a woman named Mary Carlyle, sister to someone, Ann Dunnifon, at Fort Gamble, has been taken captive, sole survivor of a wagon train massacre, and the Army's desire is that she be rescued from Diablito's band and the marauding Apaches then be returned to their reservation.  Neither of these desires will be easily accomplished. This will be hard dusty, desert campaigning at its worst.

As in all his works of fiction of the frontier military west, Luke Short has written an interesting, engaging story with lively characters who hold the reader's attention. Though his westerns are for the most part formulaic, they make for entertaining reading.  As true with all his books there is conflict, there is hardship, there is love, there is hate, all those elements that existed in life then as now. Though the book is western fiction it is realistic with both the background and people of the time plainly standing out.

So join this small, valiant force of men under arms, outnumbered 3 to 1 by the Apaches, as they sally forth on one last fated mission meeting Apache ambush with hope of success. For it is true with Diablito's hatred for the army in general, and hatred of ex-army scout Ward Kinsman in particular, Diablito will not be taken alive. This Apache ambush will be fought on both sides to the death.

Semper Fi.
4232278
Will Bagley and David Bigler are unsurpassed in their knowledge of 19th Century Utah history.  Bagley, and to a lesser extent Bigler, have drawn the wrath of the Mormon Church and LDS "scholars" because of their unwillingness to buy the traditional propaganda promulgated by the Church regarding the cold-blooded murder of 120 pioneers headed for California in 1857.

This book, part of the KINGDOM OF THE WEST SERIES published by The Arthur Clark Co., gathers together the most important documents relating to the  Massacre.  The story of "what really happened" at Mountain Meadows was, quite surprisingly, well known very soon after the slaughter, despite desperate attempts by Brigham Young and his cohorts to cover it up and shield the guilty.  Americans outside of Utah who were familiar with the conditions in Young's "kingdom" had no trouble concluding that it was white Mormons, not poor, docile Southern Utah Indians, who were the prime movers in the event.

However, it took years to thoroughly debunk the LDS two-pronged story line.  One, that it was Indians who did the murders.  Either the immigrants poisoned the Indians' water supply, which resulted in the death of several Indians who ate dead cattle that drank the poisoned water, or, alternatively, that the travelers directly poisoned the beef carcasses consumed by the Indians.  Second, that the migrants deserved what they got because they had traveled through Utah antagonizing the Saints and bragging about their role in the deaths of Church founder  Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum thirteen years earlier.  (The wagon train was from Arkansas.  There is no known connection between any member of the train and those who murdered the Smiths.  Likewise, there was no connection between the travelers and the then recent death of the beloved Apostle Parley P. Pratt in Arkansas.  The train left Arkansas before Pratt's murder at the hands of a man whose wife was seduced by Pratt into becoming his 12th wife.)

While the Church no longer claims that the Baker-Fancher party "had it coming," it nonetheless clings to the implausible argument that Young was not fully informed concerning the degree of culpability of the  participants in the Massacre for years after it occurred, and that only the local Southern Utah yokels, not high Church authorities, were responsible.  (See MASSACRE AT MOUNTAIN MEADOWS by Walker, Turley and Leonard (2007), the Church's unofficial official version of the Massacre, commissioned in response to Bagley's BLOOD OF THE PROPHETS (2002)).

This book is a very valuable companion to Bagley's book and others on the Massacre.  It will be of interest primarily to those with a fairly substantial knowledge of both the Massacre and the Utah of 1857.  Like all of Bagley's and Bigler's work, it is extremely well researched and thoughtfully presented.
494087
Bell....he dead! Good thing too.  All hunters deserve death....proof that God does not exist--that hunters still murder innocent animals and most people still eat meat, heinously and immorally.
4671616
Informative of 1800's western expansion, including Indian tribes viewpoints.  Slow read written in the 1800's style of writing.  Good military reports of Custer's battle at the Little Big Horn with interviews of Indians who took part in the battle.
1595892
We lived in Bismarck, ND at that time and I remember the "goings on" with the cult activities. The cult frequented a park a couple miles from our house where young people gathered at night. My children saw them across the street at the top of the hill in a ritutal around a bonfire. They were scared and came running home. I remember the dead dogs and cattle with no blood in them but otherwise the bodies were healthy. The place they met south of town and close to a Univerity (more young people). You saw them walking with red vests with their Priestly garb and upside down crosses. We also know the young lady killed in Stanford University chapel and her husband (now a Dr in Child Paycology). Maurey covered it well and I can not imagine all the time and energy he has put into the update. Wonderful!! A must read!!