Customer Reviews

Custer and the Cheyenne: George Armstrong Custer's Winter Campaign on the Southern Plains (Custer Trails Series)

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Louis Kraft's book, CUSTER AND THE CHEYENNE, deftly takes the reader through George Armstrong Custer's 1868-1869 winter campaign against the Southern Cheyennes. The manuscript begins with the events that led up to Custer's court-martial, banishment, return to active duty and the Battle of the Washita. Surprisingly, the battle marks the beginning of military operations and not the end. In this beautifully illustrated and designed book, Mr. Kraft explores the rest of the campaign in detail: mainly Custer's trek onto the Staked Plains of Texas with two regiments (Seventh U.S. Cavalry and Nineteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry) that had one goal--kill Indians. Mr. Kraft makes it clear that Custer refused to bow to his men's wishes. Instead he used good judgement and acted prudently in his dealings with the Native Americans, eventually rescuing two white women and concluding the campaign without further bloodshed.

Although Custer's actions during his peaceful roundup of the recalcitrant Cheyennes are little known and certainly do not fit the general population's clichéd view of him, few will challenge Mr. Kraft's scholarship and careful citation. He mixes the finest primary sources available with Cheyenne oral tradition. Mr. Kraft's fluid and dramatic writing style breathes life into the participants, making this one of the best books ever written about the Indian wars.

Although I have some serious problems with Kraft's assertion that Custer and Meotzi were lovers (a "fact" that has never been established beyond reasonable doubt), his book does present Custer the cautious commander, *negotiating* with Indians and avoiding bloodshed with same even at the cost of some of his men's admiration.