Custer by Larry McMurtry

Description

On June 25, 1876, George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry attacked a large Lakota Cheyenne village on the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory. He lost not only the battle but also his life—and the lives of all his men. It was the U.S. Army’s worst defeat in the long and bloody Plains Indian War. Yet with no survivors and only unreliable Indian accounts, “Custer’s Last Stand” reached mythic proportions and achieved Custer’s name immortality.

     Larry McMurtry has long been fascinated by Custer and his rightful place in history, and in Custer, he examines how the “Boy General,” who graduated last in his class at West Point, went on to earn distinction in the Civil War and rose through the ranks. In McMurtry’s hands, Custer is brought to life in all his complexity—as the perpetually restless man whose complicated marriage, hunger for glory, and unwavering confidence in his abilities led him to ignore the warnings of scouts and comrades at Little Big Horn. In this engaging, handsomely illustrated volume, McMurtry not only delivers an honest assessment of Custer’s legacy, demonstrating how through his power of personality, and as a product of his times, he achieved eternal fame, but also redefines our understanding of the American West.