The principle guardian, and part inventor, of Custer's legacy was his beloved wife Elizabeth. Libby, as she was known, jealously protected Custer's legacy and made it near impossible for critical voices to be published. Men who knew him, possibly "stifled criticism for the sake of the woman who spent her widowhood glorifying a memory." Elizabeth Custer lived to until the ripe age of 91, dying only in 1933 nearly sixty years after her husband's death. As the author Frederic Van de Water frequently complains, she outlived nearly everyone who could shed light on the key events of Custer's life.
In 1934, almost immediately after her death de Water published this, the first critical review of Custer's life. It is damning. While modern scholarship would flesh out the real story of Custer's life, this first demolition of the legend and it is highly effective. The Custer that emerges from this story is one whose headstrong hunt for glory was never satisfied. That, combined with breathtaking arrogance, led to the death of himself, hundreds of troopers and a number of his immediate family. It also saw the murder of hundreds of Indigenous people during the 1870s and, it must be emphasised, the probably massacre of some of an early command of Custer's when he abandoned them to their fate during a one-sided attack on a Native American camp.
Heroic biographies of Custer portray him as a brave and natural soldier. The reality was the opposite. Van de Water, says "few embryo soldiers have shown less qualifications". The multiple failures, defiance of authority and limited academic success that marked his time as a trainee are detailed here. Had the US not been plunged into Civil War almost immediately after Custer's graduation it would have probably been an ignoble career. But Custer, being a superb horseman, and in charge of a force of Cavalry rode his luck through the War. On several occasions victory in battle was the only reason that Custer's insubordination did not lead to discipline. The Custer that comes through here is a disagreeable bully. He enjoyed practical jokes, though these are, in hindsight, rarely amusing. Van de Water notes that they required "for inspiration, the spectacle of an abashed or discomfited victim". Even during the advance to the Little Big Horn Custer's practical joke on a "friend" terrified the man who thought he was about to be murdered by a Souix attack.
Custer was easily bored, hunting for distractions and often found writing long letters to his beloved wife. Their times on the East Coast saw him enjoying the theatres and music, dinner parties and wealthy company. But his wife and other friends were loyal. Others were much more critical. On two occasions, once during the Civil War and once later in the "Indian Wars", troopers that Custer commanded rebelled and deserted. On the latter occasion, Custer's order to "bring in none alive" led to Court Martial and nearly a murder trial after some deserters were shot. The irony was that Custer himself was willing to desert his own command on occasion.
In 1868 Custer massacred the village of Black Kettle at the Washita River. Van de Water writes that:
When the hour of slaughter ended they counted in one hollow the bodies of seventeen Cheyenne warriors and in a ravine, thirty-eight. One hundred and three Indian men were slain, not counting women and children. Fifty-three squaws and children were captured. Many of these had been wounded... Indian lodges, supplies and munitions were gathered for burning.
The destruction of the Native American homes and supplies condemned the remaining survivors. But the problems for Custer stemmed less from this massacre and more from his abandonment of Major Elliot and nineteen men who had got separated from the main force to their deaths. Custer's decision to not go to their aid, despite warnings from other officers and the sound of gunfire. Many have seen divisions in the 7th Cavalry that may have contributed to Custer's failure in the Bighorn as stemming from this point. De Water disagrees. He argues that the rot started much earlier, and the events at Washita simply contributed to the divisions and were amplified by the parallels in 1876 when Benteen (who mourned Elliot "with unpremeditated candor") failed to march to join Custer. As an aside, these parallels, seem to me, to be unjustified. There is simply no way that Benteen could have relieved Custer during the latter battle.
Custer's supreme arrogance, self-belief and racism led to his death. His decision to divide his forces at the Little Big Horn, arose out of monstrous belief that the Cavalry would drive all foes ahead of them, and the idea that Native Americans were weak and in no way capable of resisting. Van de Water has no doubt:
He was a man to whome abasement was intolerable; to whome renown was essential. In pursuit of Glory, he had lynched enemy soldiers and inspired mutinies. The spring of 1876 had found him in deep disgrace.
In Custer's willing defiance of his final set of orders, Van de Water sees the culmination of a career of insubordination.
All his life he had been insubordinate. His career at the Academu; his blind recklessness in the war; his dispute with Sully; his disobedience in 1867 that led to his court martial and suspension; his squabble with Stanley, his scorn of Reno for not disobeying his orders and bringing the Sioux to battle - these trace the grove in which his nature ran.
Custer was "a hard-pressed egotist and a gambler. He planned to whip the Sioux alone." The opposite took place.
"Death made him immortal" writes Van de Water. This is undoubtably true. The biography of Custer has the air of a Greek tragedy to it. Custer's character traits from his childhood onward, his prejudices and lack of self control manifest at key moments through his life led to his death. This analysis makes for a satisfying biography and Van de Water tells it well. But the book doesn't really get to grips with what happened. Van de Water is too quick to blame everything on Custer:
At Washita, Custer's luck was at its zenith. At the Little Bighorn, at its nadir. Bad generalship won his first Indian fight and lost him his last.
This analysis negates the differences on the Native American side. At Washita it was a small force, surprised in awful conditions, and at night. In 1876 the Native Americans were organised, united, out in huge numbers and fresh from a victory against Terry at the Rosebud. Custer's arrogance took him into a battle he had no hope of winning. The victory was an inspiration, albeit a temporary one, for those resisting the United States.
Since its first publication there have been many other biographies of Custer. Frederic Van de Water's book finally broke the mold. It is a masterpiece of writing though naturally dated. For those that want the unheroic truth this is an excellent starting point.
Related Reviews
Miller - Custer's Fall: The Native American Side of the Story
Brown - Showdown at Little Big Horn
Stevenson - Deliverance from the Little Big Horn: Doctor Henry Porter & Custer's Seventh Cavalry
Hämäläinen - Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power
Donovan - A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn
Dippie - Custer's Last Stand: The anatomy of an American myth
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