Featured What is the deal with George Armstrong Custer?

hanna260

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Alright so I looked in the thread archives and didn't find anything this comprehensive but maybe some posters could point me to them? If this is already a thread... sorry!

Okay, so this is kind of embarrassing because I really should know this but... I know next to nothing about Custer (shoot me now). He was a cavalry commander during the ACW, he had cinnamon spiced ringlets in his hair, he was um... a tad flamboyant we could say, and him and the rest of his force died at Little Bighorn. That's about it. Oh... I do know one more thing. He inspires really strong feelings. Some people seem to love him, some people seem to hate him. Why is that? Can anyone tell me more information about him or recommend a book?
 
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And don't forget the "Look at ME and MY CAR!! So get out of MY way, you peons!"

I know this is veering away from Custer, but I'm soon getting a Jeep JK and am worried about what other folks will think--a near 70 year old crazy who actually needs a capable 4X4 (ask me sometime about my old FJ60).

Speaking of Custer--My uncle drove a beer truck for Genesee Brewing in NY. One of the promos when I was a teen was a very large mural-size poster of "Custer's Last Stand" that he had on his basement wall (in the Love Canal area of LaSalle, NY--a whole other story in itself). I studied that mural closely many times and came away thinking each time what a stupid thing it was for anyone to get into that situation in the first place. May well have formed my mindset relative to Custer at a fairly young age.
 
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Speaking of Custer--My uncle drove a beer truck for Genesee Brewing in NY. One of the promos when I was a teen was a very large mural-size poster of "Custer's Last Stand" that he had on his basement wall (in the Love Canal area of LaSalle, NY--a whole other story in itself). I studied that mural closely many times and came away thinking each time what a stupid thing it was for anyone to get into that situation in the first place. May well have formed my mindset relative to Custer at a fairly young age.

I had one of those hanging above my bed at home while I was in high school and college. It was painted by Otto Becker based on an earlier work by Cassily Adams, who was a pretty poor artist. The Becker looks a lot better, and at least gets the landscape right, but is also full of little inaccuracys like the "renegade" who's about to shoot Custer. From the action pictured, you easily get the idea this is a last stand with a predictable ending, but no idea at all about what's really going on or WHY this is happening.
 
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I have been to Monroe Michigan many times and they seem to like him there. They have a great statue of him. The Monroe Historical Museum is rather nice and has some Custer items.

I asked if having Custer as Hometown Hero was a problem when I visited there a year ago and was told that there were some who didn't like it, but they seemed to be in the minority. Here's my thread about Monroe and the Custer connection:

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/george-and-libbie-custers-monroe-michigan.100034/#post-878007

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Any more than T. Jackson, Grant or Kilpatrick? Lets put the situation in perspective. He has become a "goat" in the last 45 years.

I don't think either Grant or Jackson were using their men as props in a "Look at Me" production. Jackson might have been using them in a "Look at God's Eternal Holiness" production, and Grant may have been using them in a "Look at Me While I Kick Your Rebel Butt" production but I don't see how they can be compared to Custer.

Kilpatrick on the other hand- yeesh.
 
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I don't think either Grant or Jackson were using their men as props in a "Look at Me" production. Jackson might have been using them in a "Look at God's Eternal Holiness" production, and Grant may have been using them in a "Look at Me While I Kick Your Rebel Butt" production but I don't see how they can be compared to Custer.

Kilpatrick on the other hand- yeesh.
Kilpatrick-"Look at Me I'm God's gift to womanhood and a real baddonkey soldier!"
 
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I know this is veering away from Custer, but I'm soon getting a Jeep JK and am worried about what other folks will think--a near 70 year old crazy who actually needs a capable 4X4 (ask me sometime about my old FJ60).

Speaking of Custer--My uncle drove a beer truck for Genesee Brewing in NY. One of the promos when I was a teen was a very large mural-size poster of "Custer's Last Stand" that he had on his basement wall (in the Love Canal area of LaSalle, NY--a whole other story in itself). I studied that mural closely many times and came away thinking each time what a stupid thing it was for anyone to get into that situation in the first place. May well have formed my mindset relative to Custer at a fairly young age.
If you want and need it, get it! just don't drive it like no one else should be onYOUR highway!:roflmao:
 
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I agree that Custer was not bad but certainly full of himself. Also, not only did his flash and dash and supreme ego leave a bad taste in the mouths of some, he had the audacity to get himself beat by a bunch of nekkid savages. :cautious: That was really embarrassing to the US Army! Especially when those same 'savages' almost made a legend of Crook's men at the Rosebud. The Lakota were on a roll. Custer was beat by warriors who were his equals and better - good generals. Custer had to be made to look like an incompetent boob who led his troops to disaster. Otherwise, it would have to be admitted that the tribes weren't all that unsophisticated and were pretty darn good soldiers.

In retrospect, historians are finding the indians were not that badly armed either.
 
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I happen to love Libbie, who wrote a darned fun book about their experiences, and obviously loved the doofus. And that's a minus, because he obviously did fool around on her....with young what's her name, and probably more. I'm not fond of misconduct.

Oh, he fooled around on her? Did not know that. I really like her too- she seems so charming and devoted to her husband. Gosh-darn it, I was beginning to like Custer in his flamboyant, arrogant, tacky glory!
 
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Oh, he fooled around on her? Did not know that. I really like her too- she seems so charming and devoted to her husband. Gosh-darn it, I was beginning to like Custer in his flamboyant, arrogant, tacky glory!
I never found a lot to admire in his personality. I'm not sure I heard about his infidelity before now. I always thought they were pretty devoted to each other. But if that is true that's one more undesirable trait.
 
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I never found a lot to admire in his personality. I'm not sure I heard about his infidelity before now. I always thought they were pretty devoted to each other. But if that is true that's one more undesirable trait.

He wasn't admirable. But gosh-dang-it-to-hell if he wasn't really interesting! @Nathanb1, where did you hear of his infidelity?
 
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I happen to love Libbie, who wrote a darned fun book about their experiences, and obviously loved the doofus. And that's a minus, because he obviously did fool around on her....with young what's her name, and probably more. I'm not fond of misconduct.

He wasn't admirable. But gosh-dang-it-to-hell if he wasn't really interesting! @Nathanb1, where did you hear of his infidelity?

Yeah, Nate - just where did you hear that? ( Not that I haven't, but nothing very definite or convincing. ) One unlikely bit of gossip had Custer "taking up" with a "comely" squaw captive in the aftermath of the Washita battle, one Prairie Flower who was supposedly related to Black Kettle. She also supposedly bore "the fruit of their loins" in the form of a blond papoose, whose sex and name I now forget if it was even bothered with. This also sounds like so much hogwash, though there could be some truth that Custer did such a thing - Brother Lt. Tom Custer, that is. Tom was single and a known tippler and attempted ladies' man, despite his bravery winning two Medals of Honor during the war.
 
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I always enjoy the Custer thread(s) when they come up periodically. A real wealth of information from folks like JamesN, Dave Wilma, diane, and more I am surely forgetting.

One story that relates to his possible little Custer papoose, is that Custer's body was supposedly not mutilated because of this baby and Custer's 'relationship' with the Native American woman. But, as with many things concerning Custer, there is controversy with this too. At least one source I have read, maybe Phibrick, said that Custer's body was actually mutilated but the reports were changed to protect or spare Libby those details.

As I depart today to get ready for tonight's Sweet 16, I'll ask the thought provoking question "what happened to Custer's body?":bye:
 
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