Custer in '76: Walter Camp's Notes on the Custer Fight

by Walter Camp, Kenneth Hammer (Editor)

This collection of exciting, absorbing personal accounts from survivors of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, includes interviews with John Martin, trumpeter and orderly to Lt. Col. George Armstong Custer; Medal of Honor winner Stanislas Roy; Second Lt. Winfield Edgerly; Second Lt. Charles DeRudio; Private Roman Rutten; Sergeant Daniel Knipe; and other Seventh Cavalry men and officers.
 
It also includes accounts from Custer’s Indian scouts: Goes Ahead, Hairy Moccasin, Little Sioux, Strike Two, and notably, Curley, the Crow scout who witnessed the attack on the Custer Column. Most importantly, here for the first time are memorable accounts from American Indians who actually fought against Custer: Turtle Rib, Black Bear, He Dog, White Bull, Sturdy Bear, and Foolish Elk, who fought with Crazy Horse on the day of the battle. These American Indian interviews are an important source for scholars of Native American cultures, as well as students of the Indian Wars and Custer’s “Last Stand.”

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1990

About the author

Walter Chauncey Camp (1859 - 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system of downs.

Reviews

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

This pioneering oral history project consists of extracts of notes from interviews that Walter Camp conducted in the early 1900s among the survivors of the Battle of Little Big Horn. Overall, they are very helpful to getting a better view of the battlefield becaise of the unique perspectives that they provided. However, they are not transcripts of his interviews, but notes. This is important because Camp summarized comments from those he interviewed. In some cases, he seemed fixated with several details that popped up across various interviews, such as Keough's horse Comanche and Captain Benteen's boot heel. A couple of takeaways: 1) there was signficiant discord among the officer corps in the 7th cavalry 2) Camp did not shy away from graphic depictions of violence and the mutilation of the wounded 3) these personal accounts provide a very human perspective to the battle.