Custer's Last Stand

U.S. Landmark Books #20

by Quentin Reynolds

A biography of the boy who not only saw his dream to be a general come true, but also became the famous Indian fighter who led the attack against Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Born in the Bronx, New York, on April 11, 1902, to a school principal and his wife, Quentin James Reynolds grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Manual Training High School. He enrolled at Brown University and excelled in football, boxing, and swimming. In fact, after earning his Ph.D. he spent a year on a professional football team. Going from job to job, Reynolds couldn't find a career he enjoyed. His father suggested law school, and by the time he earned his degree, Reynolds had finally figured out what he wanted to do.

Journalism, not law, appealed to Reynolds, and he worked as a reporter and then a sports columnist. In 1933 he was sent as a feature writer to report on Germany and the rise of Hitler. At that time, Reynolds was writing for the International News Service. The Germans didn't approve of Reynolds's slant against the Third Reich and national socialism; however, from the article Reynolds gained employment at Collier's Weekly for whom he eventually penned 384 articles and short stories over a fifteen year span, eventually rising to the position of associate editor. A prolific writer, Reynolds's fame came during an assignment to cover the erupting World War II.

Reynolds spent time in France and then fled to England. While there he came to appreciate and respect the British. In account after account he portrayed the strong will and determination of a nation fighting for its very survival. He penned seven books about the war, broadcasted for the British Broadcasting Company, narrated two film documentaries, and lectured in the United States. Reynolds's popularity soared as people learned of his bravery and the risks he took to get the story.

Unfortunately for Reynolds, not everyone found him admirable. A Hearst columnist disputed his claims and suggested Reynolds was cowardly. After five years in the court system, Reynolds won over $175,000 in the libel judgement. This wasn't his only time he was brought to the public's attention for questionable acts. In 1952 Reynolds had penned a book about a Canadian spy, only to later find out that he had been duped and misled into believing a false tale. The publisher in turn changed the book from nonfiction to fiction.

When Reynolds traveled to Manila, Philippines, to research the president for a biography, he became ill with abdominal cancer. He passed away on March 17, 1965 at the age of sixty-two.

Reviews

[Patrick McNamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of my happiest childhood memories are going to the local public library on Saturday afternoons with my mother. Afterwards we would go to Sal's Pizzeria on Jamaica Avenue and 85th Street, look at our books, and eat. You can't beat memories like that!

One of my favorite books from that time was Quentin Reynolds's 1951 children's book, "Custer's Last Stand." (I don't think a children's book on that subject today would sell too well!) Over the next few years, I took it out regularly from the library until I found a used copy years later. Today, it holds a cherished place on my bookshelves.

Ever since I first borrowed that book in 1974 at age six, I've been hooked on the Custer story. Not that I think he was such a great guy per se, but I have never stopped being fascinated by his life, career and death some 46 years later. That's the truth, and this book is how it all got started. Imagine my surprise to learn years later that one of my ancestors was killed with General Custer at Little Big Horn: Corporal John Briordy, Company F, Seventh U.S. Cavalry (1847-1876). Talk about a coincidence!

[Dale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in 1951 by Random House.

In the 1950's and 1960's Random House created an extraordinary history series for children called Landmark Books. There were 122 books in the American history series and 63 in the World Landmark series. A very solid description of the series can be found here: link. When I was a kid my little hometown library had what seemed like an endless shelf of these books (I even remember where it was in the library nearly 40 years later). Undoubtedly, these books are part of the reason I am a history teacher. I have started a collection of these books. When I run across them at library sales and thrift sales I pick them up. Some of the texts have aged well, some have not.

This book is aimed at students from 3rd to 8th grade. It is a simple read with line drawings. It could use a few more maps.

The history is basically accurate in the broad strokes, but it is full of "quotes" and scenes that never happened in order to make the story move along. This whole series is like that, though. They are basically like a movie that is "based on a true story."

This story is easy to read, but comes up short in the story of George Armstrong Custer (called "Autie" throughout the book) of the famous (infamous?) Custer's Last Stand. It really focuses on the time ...

Read more at: https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2021...

[Kai]

what I thought of the book was how bad was Indians treated but it was inserted to learn about auntie story would I recommend this book to other people yes it would be good for them to learn about what happens during that time how the native were seen
[SPOILERS]
the book start off with a boys perspective and he grows up going to school and being a teacher and the church and eventually going to west point and making mistakes and meeting high ups and becomes one and participated in the civil war and others but eventually fight the Indians and others people kidnapping important people in the tribe and then fights them in the end and dies by two shots but arifal and his body being spread about so they couldn't bury him

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Custer was quite a soldier!

[TE · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You're a great fighter, Custer. You have great courage. It's your judgment I criticize. You are too reckless, and someday this disregard of the enemy may cost you your life."

It's uncertain whether General Stanley ever actually uttered these words to Custer, or whether this passage is (likely) invented dialogue. That said: the sentiment certainly accurately sums up the story of his life and ignominious death. That said, if you're expecting a detailed description of the event from which the book takes its title, you'll be sorely disappointed, as it's something of a misnomer.

The famous battle which shocked the nation, and which is still widely known today, encompasses only about two chapters at the very end of the book. It's primarily a biography of one George Armstrong Custer, a much-reviled figure in the modern day, but much less so at the time the book was written, when white settlers were often portrayed as the victims of savage Indians who mercilessly slaughtered them.

That said, for having been written in the 1950s, this book is more balanced than I would have expected, especially compared to some of the others in this series. It would still be highly controversial today, however (perhaps its greatest sin is its salacious use of the term "squaw" throughout, which is a misogynistic slur whose definition I won't repeat here), first and foremost for the sympathetic way in which the main character is portrayed.

As a primary source, however, it's a great example of the way in which history was taught generations ago, when it primarily consisted of so-called "great-man" and "drum-and-bugle" history, an approach that's much less prevalent today. One strength was that it did tell a story, as in this case, which makes the figures much more relatable and the material enticing to those who may otherwise consider it dry and boring. History as an "adventure story" was definitely how it was marketed to young boys, and this book is a good example.

That said, it's not all rosy. The book glosses over some of the more well-known of Custer's character flaws (and, refreshingly, the gruesome details of his and his men's deaths), which, to me, at least in the former case, loses a good opportunity to teach valuable lessons. Perhaps the most egregious of his faults were his arrogance, rashness and lack of respect for authority.

The book does lionize him more than I would like - I think it would be preferable to include some of his indiscretions, to illustrate the tragedy of hubris, which is a valuable moral lesson to youngsters then and now who might be inclined to blindly emulate Custer's example, as he is portrayed as something as a hero throughout - one who simply made a tragic mistake which led to his untimely end.

The real account is far more complex. Custer had a notorious reputation for flouting the rules: he racked up a total of 726 demerits over the course of his four-year tenure at West Point, earning himself reportedly the worst conduct record in the history of the Academy. The book itself recounts how he barely escaped a Court Martial, which would have torpedoed his career and ended any aspirations of military greatness (but would have saved his life, and those of his family members).

Even during his admittedly-illustrious military career, on more than one occasion, Custer got himself in some serious hot water for insubordination, once even resulting in arrest by the President, his Commander-In-Chief: doesn't get much worse than that! His lack of respect for authority and rank apparently hadn't diminished since his Academy day.

In the aforementioned incident, after being summoned to Washington to testify at congressional hearings regarding official corruption pertaining to the Secretary of War, he attempted to meet with then-President Grant, on three occasions, but was refused. Reportedly in a rage, he boarded a train bound for Chicago, and was subsequently arrested by Grant for leaving Washington without permission.

Tempers were running high after the Civil War, however, and the arrest of the Army's "Golden Boy" met with public outrage, to the degree that Grant finally relented and allowed him to return to his regiment, which was a testament to his renown... and his audacity, which, admittedly, at the time, many respected. However, once again, fortune was not really in Custer's favor: a different decision may have ultimately saved his life and those of his men for whom he was responsible.

So, who was this guy, whose every move seemed to incline his trajectory toward ultimate catastrophe? George Armstrong Custer, known throughout the book by his childhood nickname "Autie," was something of a phenom in his day. The book states that he was adamant about becoming a general in early childhood, inspired by a dream he had experienced at age four.

A rather poor student, however, the book describes (which is possibly at least fictional) his tenacity and determination to get into the West Point Military Academy, his ultimate admission the result of good ole' fashioned hard work and grit. In actual fact, however, it was probably more complicated than that: Custer was also something of a natural politician with a gift for schmoozing, so there was almost certainly some nepotism involved - and it ultimately showed. Despite his efforts to get himself admitted, Custer was clearly out of his depth at West Point. He graduated last in his class, the year the Civil War began, in 1861. Clearly, books weren't his priority.

What he lacked in intellectual and academic prowess, however, he made up for on the battlefield, where he made a name for himself early in the Civil War, first at the Battle of Mananas (Bull Run to us Northerners). He was promoted to brigadier general at age 23, becoming the youngest "general" in the army, as the book is quick to note.

Another good example of his rashness and propensity for foolhardy action (and perhaps boot-licking): reportedly, on one occasion, when his commanding officer, General McClellan, and his staff were scouting for a crossing point on the Chickahominy River, Custer overheard another general state, "I wish I knew how deep it is." Custer, without hesitation or forethought of the potential consequences, spurred his horse into the middle of the river, turned to the shocked onlookers, and shouted "that's how deep it is, General!" That's also how brash and foolhardy he could be.

His exploits didn't end at Bull Run: Custer also fought at Gettysburg, and was even present at Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. He was then commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the army and was sent west to fulfill his lifelong ambition, to become an "Indian Fighter." (!) He was subsequently posted at Fort Riley, Kansas. However, what Custer returned to was a brewing firestorm, as tensions between the US Army and the tribes of the Plains Indians were, by the time of his arrival, at an all-time high. Custer quickly enhanced his dubious reputation: he was generally beloved by his men, but feared and reviled by his adversaries.

As a result of almost unceasing hostilities, Lakota holy man Sitting Bull had gathered the largest ever contingent of Plains Indians, first at Ash Creek, Montana, and later at the Little Bighorn river, initially on the pretext of discussing what action to take about their dire situation, specifically the numerous broken treaties between the US government and tribal leaders, the most egregious of which was the construction of a railroad through land which had been granted to the Lakota and other native peoples.

With knowledge of the mass gathering of so many potential warriors, Custer's troops were apparently ordered to attack and scatter them. However, due in no small part to his characteristic overconfidence, arrogance and lack of any semblance of respect for authority, strategy or the potential for catastrophic consequences, the situation quickly spiraled out of control - the Army's control, that is.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn (actually a river), AKA "Custer's Last Stand," occurred in June, 1876, in what is now southeast Montana. The encounter pitted the 7th Cavalry Regiment against the combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, under the generalship of two of the most famous Native Americans in history: Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, among others. The exact numbers of native participants are unknown, but it is believed that approximately 3,000 or so warriors descended upon Custer's men, killing 267 of them.

I won't offer a blow-by-blow account of the famous battle, and you'll have to get it elsewhere than the book, if you want a detailed rendering, but the major features were as follows. On or about June 15, Major Marcus Reno discovered a large village on the Rosebud River, and Custer's entire regiment was sent to follow the trail. The encampment was discovered near the Little Bighorn River. Custer had initially intended to attack the village the following day, but when he learned that his presence had been detected, he decided to attack immediately.

Notwithstanding the size of the force which would be unleashed against him, Custer divided his forces into three battalions - a fatal mistake. Custer himself rode north with a contingent of men while Reno charged the southern end of the village. Reno was quickly overtaken by mounted warriors and was forced to retreat. He was one of the few officers to survive the encounter, but since he was not with Custer and his troops, he could give no details as to what ultimately befell them.

Custer reportedly headed to the northern end of the encampment, and may have tried to cross the river, but his meager forces were beaten back and pursued by hundreds of skilled, mounted warriors. He ultimately ended up on a ridge north of the Indian encampment. Crazy Horse and his warriors reportedly drove him and his remaining troops to the top of the ridge, where they were essentially surrounded and trapped. As more and more soldiers were killed and stripped of their weapons and ammunition, the situation became more dire. The warriors closed in on them, and eventually killed every man in Custer's detachment.

There has been almost endless conjecture about what actually happened, as no one in Custer's immediate company survived to tell the tale. Some accounts from native warriors have survived, but most are highly conflicting. The book ends with an account of the "heroic" horse Comanche, the lone survivor of the encounter, being led away. This actually happened: Comanche was found seriously wounded, two days after the battle, but he was nursed back to health to live out the rest of his days in retirement at various forts, finally dying of colic in 1891, at about 29 years of age.

The aftermath of the battle was gruesome, so it rightly doesn't make an appearance in a children's book. Most of the casualties were found days later, most stripped naked and ritually mutilated, in varying stages of decomposition. Some were identified, but many were not, so they were simply buried where they fell. Marble markers still at the site which show where the bodies were found where they fell attest to the chaotic nature of the battle - no real skirmish lines were discerned. Custer himself was found near the top of the ridge, now known as "Last Stand Hill," with two fatal gunshot wounds, one in the chest and the other to his temple.

Some reports suggest that the latter may have, in fact, been self-inflicted, as Custer realized that his situation was hopeless, so he chose to take his own life in order to avoid capture and torture. Perhaps the worst of all for Custer: the defeat at Little Big Horn devastated his entire family. Killed along with him were his much-beloved two younger brothers, Thomas and "Bos" Boston (a civilian), his nephew, Armstrong, who had been named for him, and his brother-in-law. Undeterred by criticism, Custer's widow wrote three books which attempted to polish her husband's badly tarnished reputation.

Custer and his brother Tom were found and identified, and were wrapped in canvas and buried in a shallow grave. When his grave was visited a year later, it was discovered that it has been scavenged by animals and the bones scattered over the site, so very few remain. What was recovered of him and his brother were re-interred at the West Point Cemetery.

Custer's soldiers' remains were collected from the scattered graves and re-interred in a mass grave, by Captain George Sanderson, in 1879. He built a mound out of wood, filled the center with as many horse bones as they could find on the site, and in the center, dug a mass grave, interred all the human bones they could recover, and covered all with wood four feet high. As in the case of Custer and his brother, remains were found scattered all over the battlefield, and many were never positively identified. What was found now lie together, in a mass grave, still at the site. A granite memorial was built in 1881, which also remains today. The marble markers which show where the bodies were found were placed in 1890.

One aspect of the book which rather surprised me, considering the period in which it was written, was the critical way in which the US government is described with regard to its treatment of native peoples. Some striking passages are as follows:

"...the Sioux, the Cheyenne, and the Arapaho tribes were uniting to fight the white man. It is hard to blame them. A group of peaceful Cheyennes was living quietly at Sand Creek, Colorado. For no reason at all, the militia attacked them and killed nearly all of them. Ordinarily the Sioux and the Arapahoes would be fighting against the Cheyennes. Now they began to think that if the white man could break a treaty and attack peaceful Cheyennes, why they - the Sioux and Arapahos - might be next on the list." Which, of course, they were.

"They were brave men, fighting for their homes; fighting for their wives and children. The odds were against them, but not one man surrendered and only the wounded were captured."

"General Sheridan was determined to wipe out all the Cheyennes. It was a cruel, unjust decision. There were bad Indians, all right, but there were thousands of good Indians, too. We had peace treaties with the Indians. Yet if one small band of outlaw Indians attacked a stagecoach or a settlement, the treaty was forgotten and the whole tribe condemned to death. The Indians had lost faith in the promises of the white man, and looking back, it is hard to blame them... If the white man could kill even a peacemaker, the Indians felt that the white man would kill any Indian. So in self-defense, they united."

"The Indians didn't want progress - not the white man's progress. But the Indians were overruled, and surveyors prepared to go out to survey the land where the railroad was to be built. We made hundreds of promises to the Indians and broke almost all of them."

This review has become just about as long as the book itself, but it's a fascinating story, one which continues to intrigue, perhaps because there are so many complex moving parts and mysteries unsolved. The book likewise presents some complex issues, and is definitely worth a read, as long as instructors "deconstruct" this text and point out the many varying points of view. It's one of the better ones in terms of offering many "teachable moments."

[Rich Farrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't say this is one of my favorites in the series, although it does follow the general formula and tone of the others. I guess I'm just not that personally interested in Custer. I did get a laugh at the very conservative views of America with lines describing his father like "He was one-third English, one-third Dutch, and one-third German. Add that all together and it makes one hundred per cent American." There was also the blast of masculinity from lines like "Autie had bright golden hair and very pink cheeks. Yet no one ever called him "Sissy" because of that." All-in-all, Reynolds is riding the post-WWII wave of patriotism by extolling one of America's soldiers for my grandpa's generation, in their youth, to soak up and create more lasting legends while promoting traditional American values.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 71st book on General George Armstrong Custer (why does my Goodreads bookshelf only reference 68?). I'm reliving my childhood by re-reading Landmark history books. I am fairly certain that this one would have been one of my very first reads over 60 years ago and started a lifetime interest in the "Boy" General and his tragic defeat at the Little Big Horn. Few of us set any life goal's at age four. Young Autie Custer did. He would be a soldier and he would be a General. Who would have bet he would achieve these goals by the age of 23? Don't look for a lot of historical details, or for that matter, historical accuracy here. It is a book about one of America's greatest heroes and of his fateful last ride to fame and glory written for young boys. It certainly made a lasting impact on me.

[Philip Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting summary of Custer's life and accomplished the goal of any good history book - it made me want to learn more about Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn. Further, this made me want to go used bookstore hunting for more Landmark History stories for my kids.

[Caleb Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this rendition of his life. Kit Carson was better, both as a general and in handling the Indians though. I knew he fought at the battle of Gettysburg from the Gettysburg landmark book. he became the youngest man ever to be appointed a general at the age of 23.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s an easy read book it basically gets right to the point. This is a good book for a middle schooler. The book did give me a little more information on his earlier years.

[John Yelverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest young reader books that I have ever read.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book as a child, Wonderful nostalgia as Custer's Last Stand got me first interested in history

[Len Knighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I memorized this book; I read it so many times 50 years ago. I am still fascinated by this brilliant but very flawed military icon.

[Chandler Beger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book very much. Custer's last stand gives great detail of the life of Auntie Custer.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated this book. I have always loved history of any kind. This starts when Custer was a boy of 4 years old up through his Last Stand. Very Good Book

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this book when i was little!!!

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good!