Customer Reviews

At the Battle of the Little Big Horn Where Was Custer?

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Harry Combs book, "At the Battle of the Little Big Horn Where Was Custer?" is truly an interesting book; that is if you also like JFK conspiracy books. I am not sure where the author got his research from, but this book is jam packed (in it's 120 pages) with inaccurate statements. I've been reading and researching the Battle of the Little Big Horn for a few years now and have never come across this story of how the famed Scout, Mitch Boyer, lead Custer into an ambush. If the author wanted to purport this theory then it was OK by me; except when he tries to rewrite history to make his theory work. One can forgive an author when he makes several mistakes of history like writing "Fourteenth Cavalry" (no such unit) or that Gall was an Ogalala instead of a Hunkpapa. But, you do get terribly turned off to the book when the author make the mistakes like CPT Weir was on Reno Hill prior to the arrival of Benteen or that Custer made a tactical error by sending Giovanni Martini with the note to Benteen; thus depriving himself of a trumpeter. A very casual amateur historian knows that Weir was part of Benteen's Battalion and that Martini was only orderly of the day (actually assigned to Company H (Benteen) and that Custer's trumpeter was Chief Trumpeter Henry Voss. Additionaly, the author does a disservice to the Crow Scouts who fought with Reno in the Valley Fight and, for a few, died trying to save the formation by implying that they purposely lead Custer to his death. After that, this book was down hill for me. I wouldn't give this book a passing mark. I have given this book a one star rating because that is the lowest I was allowed to give. My advice is invest your money in a well documented work from authors like Utley, Gray, or Graham.

Books about the Battle of the Little Big Horn are almost without number (I should know; I am at present writing my own!) and unfortunately not all of them are particularly insightful or informative. I am sorry to say that in my opinion Combs's "Where Was Custer?" is among this latter group. I think he is too enraptured by those Indian narratives presented by David Humphreys Miller, for one thing (Indian narratives can have great value in deciphering what happened at the Little Big Horn, but Miller's are perhaps not among the most reliable). And Combs' conclusion as to what specifically happened to George Custer is neither original nor especially convincing. There are much better books available about these events/

A great detailed account of the epic battle from the men who fought in it. Rich with information with the flow of a story book - great balance and a great piece of literature.