Customer Reviews

My Life on the Plains: Or, Personal Experiences with Indians (Western Frontier Library)

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Custer's autobiography, covering a very limited period of his life, is a remarkable document, first, as an important piece of historical information regarding the events covered, and second as an intriguing look at one of the most mythologized figures in US history. Being Native American on my mother's side, I was prepared to thoroughly dislike the man, but I was pleasantly surprised by the individual I met in the pages of this book.

Custer is an excellent writer and storyteller, and his famous prankish sense of humor shows up on several occassions. The man had the ability to laugh at himself and was willing to tell tales on himself, which goes a long way to endear him to the reader. It's a powerful contradiction of the Myth of Custer, conventionally portrayed as a stupid, arrogant, racist, and humorless figure. It's hard to continue viewing him as the symbol of American Evil when he goes to battle against the Indians dressed in his bathrobe. (They attacked at night, darn them. He didn't have time to put on his uniform.)

The comic relief is absolutely essential -- Custer's eyewitness account of the atrocities committed by Pawnee Killer will turn the stomach. Unlike every other author covering the Indian Wars, Custer presents the information in a straight forward matter and neither glosses over it nor demonizes the Indians. And, to the man's credit, he understood very clearly that the mutilated bodies he had to identify and bury were the work of a particular individual who happened to be an Indian, and did not let it prejudice him against the entire Native American race. The same cannot be said for most of his contemporaries. Custer clearly understood that Indians, like anybody else, were people who had to be judged according their individual actions, and not stereotyped and condemned in whole. In short, whatever his shortcomings might be, he does not deserve to be the poster boy for American Racism Against Indians.

Custer, the man, is far more complex. He detailed his part in the first assault on Black Kettle's village; being the tracker assigned to trail Pawnee Killer, he knew that Pawnee Killer's trail did not go to Black Kettle's village and that Black Kettle and his people were peaceful Indians. When given the order to attack anyhow, he and other officers protested. General Hancock, the commanding officer, threatened them with court martial -- in those days that an order was immoral was not grounds for an officer to refuse to carry it out; a principle that was not established in the US Army until the public outrage over the massacre at Mai Lai during the Vietnam War. Custer caved in and did as he was told. If he had not, his military career would have been over. Certainly Custer was culpable of moral cowardice, but that is entirely different from the myth of reckless disregard for the humanity of others that clings to his name.

In short, the real Custer is a fascinating, articulate, funny, tragic, complex, flawed, and ultimately human individual. His eyewitness account of the Indian Wars and his role in it are a riveting read. Anyone who has found the usual 19th century authors dreary beyond belief will find Custer's writing lively, wry, unflinching, and far more educational than his contemporaries.

No one can read My Life on the Plains without coming away with a changed view of Custer as a military leader and an important historical figure. I often tell people that Custer was a great writer and direct people to read this book. I am occasionally met with laughter and suspicion--except by those who take my advice and read it. Amazingly well-written, and very descriptive.

Wow, all I can is wow. This is a very interesting read. What a great way to see how life was out on the plains and during the war. Also, it's very trippy to read all about what Custer thought of "Indians" and the views that he held for them.

What really got me was the reality of this book. Getting an intimate look at the life of not only Custer's, but the soldiers and scouts that he commanded and worked with.

Very good and easy read. Custer does like to go off and get very wordy and talkative about subject matter that must have been important back in the 1870's. Still, it does not detract from the book, but only makes it that much more interesting.

Pick this one up.

This book is a partial memoir of General George Armstrong Custer, of Little Bighorn fame. This work does not cover Custer's campaigns against the Cheyennes and Sioux, however, nor does it detail his flamboyant career in the Civil War. Instead, this book is literally an account of Custer's life on the plains, and covers his experiences with the Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne Indians of the plains of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Despite the fact that this record is so incomplete a picture of Custer's life, however, this book is very valuable in that it covers the very controversial winter campaign of 1868-1869, which climaxed in Custer's attack of Black Kettle's village on the Washita River.

Custer had a remarkable gift for storytelling, and his prose, though flowery and often somewhat extravagant (as I envision the man himself), is crisp and engaging. In addition, this book provides a valuable look at the life of an army soldier campaigning against the Indians after the Civil War. The book may be very biased, and it may in fact contain many points of exaggeration, but it nevertheless is a valuable resource for any study of the Indian Wars.

This book is a partial memoir of General George Armstrong Custer, of Little Bighorn fame. This work does not cover Custer's campaigns against the Cheyennes and Sioux, however, nor does it detail his flamboyant career in the Civil War. Instead, this book is literally an account of Custer's life on the plains, and covers his experiences with the Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne Indians of the plains of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Despite the fact that this record is so incomplete a picture of Custer's life, however, this book is very valuable in that it covers the very controversial winter campaign of 1868-1869, which climaxed in Custer's attack of Black Kettle's village on the Washita River.

The question of whether Black Kettle and his band were hostile at the time they were attacked, as well as the question of whether innocent women and children had been wantonly slaughtered in the attack, is one of the driving forces behind this book. In it, Custer attempts to describe life as he lived it on the Plains, and attempts to paint a picture of the army that would persuade people back East that his Seventh Cavalry had acted in good faith, both in the battle and in the rest of the campaign that year. Custer had a remarkable gift for storytelling, and his prose, though flowery and often somewhat extravagant (as I envision the man himself), is crisp and engaging. In addition, this book provides a valuable look at the life of an army soldier campaigning against the Indians after the Civil War. The book may be very biased, and it may in fact contain many points of exaggeration, but it nevertheless is a valuable resource for any study of the Indian Wars.

I've read several books and numerous assorted articles and newspaper pieces about Gen. George Custer - with publication dates ranging from about 1890 to 2003.... so have had a broad look at the evolving (and convoluted) controversy surrounding him.
I've also been to his boyhood home in teeny New Rumley, Ohio - his adult home in Monroe, Michigan, his battlefield deployment at Gettysburg, his headquarters at Ft. Riley, Kansas, have driven part of his route through the Black Hills, motorcycled over much of his trail in Wyoming and, of course, visited the battle site at the Little Bighorn in Montana.
But until this passed week I had never read anything but random excerpts from the most famous book written by Mr. Custer himself.... that being "My Life on the Plains".
The book was actually the aggregate of articles Custer sent to "Galaxy" magazine which they published in serial beginning in 1872. The manuscript covered the Indian campaigns of 1867-69, a busy time on the Plains and which included the Fetterman and Kidder massacres, the Morgan rescue and the "battle" of the Washita. So it is his first-hand take on several events that have been cussed and discussed for more than a century.
Traditional criticism of Custer has always included that he was a "show-off" and sometimes rash. A little of that aptitude for self-promotion does appear in his work but, when measured by the style of the times (or compared with today!), it is really hard to fault him because some genuine humility does show though too... and the fact is, he did do some pretty amazing things.
Many would be surprised at the amount of compassion that shows through too - even while the standard callousness of the period is in evidence. There can be no doubt that within Custer was an empathy for the Indian that was sincere and well ahead of his times.
Custer's writing also displays more than a little skill with the written word and no small amount of actual Grace when referring to those whom he would have had every motivation to speak harshly of. More than once he elevates himself with the sparsity of his criticism of others and he presents several "character sketches" that show a real warmth and appreciation for a wide variety of people.
But the nicest surprise is to see first-hand Gen. Custer's sense of Humor - a very pleasant element that is mentioned by other writers only in a manner intended to cast him as a rough-edged hayseed. Custer's wit was that deliciously sly wit that would have served him well hosting "The Tonight Show" or something similar were he around today. George Custer - in the context of himself - comes across as a fellow who would be very interesting and grand fun to meet, albeit much less fun to ride with.
The storyline of the book (the notoriety of its' author and protagonist aside) is an interesting and poignant portrait of fascinating times and events interspersed with tempered, reasonable, and sometimes embarrassingly accurate comment on issues of great import not only then, but now - primarily the government's stance(s) toward the indigenous peoples of the land. Thankfully, Custer, unlike many of his era, was sufficiently skilled with his pen and his judgment to present his political observations in brief doses. They are well worth the read.
"My Life on the Plains" is a very good read - a nice "get away" read that will display for the reader a fascinating and entertaining panorama of real times and real events and real people - all of which are part of the real heritage of every one of us.

This first person account is very well written and consistently interesting.

I cannot praise Custer enough having read in his own words what his thoughts were in conjunction with his actions. It is a crime how this man has come to be depicted in our time, based on pure ignorance and the fact that his troops were wiped out by overwhelming force in the end. Those who categorize this man as arrogant or stupid are themselves quite simply ignorant on the subject, and this statement is from far more study on this subject than based solely on Custer's own book.

Custer demonstrates a great sense of humor, self deprecating, high praise for others, high integrity, utter fairness, and unquestionable courage.

Probably a surprise to many would be his high respect for Indians, which he many times praisesd, although he does not hesitate to also point out negatives in some. He was strongly against the continual taking advantage of the Indians by our nation. The fact that he fought them when necessary was due to his being an army officer charged with protecting the settlers. This man admired the indians in general and their tactics and courage in particular.

Much further reading brings out how the Indians with whom he delt had consistently high respect for Custer, and this is from their own accounts. With many he was very good friends. Even those who were involved at the final Little Big Horn battle praised the leadership of the troops who were wiped out, that they were obviously led by a great leader. It was not until after the battle that it was learned that it had been Custer, the leader of those troops.

One cannot come away from this book without having learned a great deal about the reality of those days, and that it is not all as is currently depicted.

I just received my paperback copy this morning. How disappointing to see that
it was just copied pages from an original printed book. The black lines of the
copied page edges show, the print is varied from light ink to barely readable.
This was to be a present for my brother. I have a printed copy from
library in my hands and it is perfectly easy to read and evenly printed. Your description
online should have warned me that it was copied pages from a printed
book!

chicky

I deserve some kind of a medal for finishing this horrendously painful read. This couldn't have been anything but a huge embarrassment to the US Army and government at the time. It's unbelievably flowery, effusive and conceited; virtually indigestible. This really shouldn't be sold to the general public. I'm no historian, but I imagine it's historical value is pretty limited, too.

I must confess that I'm a pro-primitive, anti-civilization person, so this added to the pain of reading this. Custer repeatedly describes the Indian tribes as infesting the plains, and at one point refers to them as a disease. He regularly heaps other grotesque, scornful verbiage on them, such as calling them cruel, wily, treacherous. He also gets a lot of mileage out of the rape of white women captives.

I must admit that the last chapter was fairly action packed and therefore somewhat engaging.

The length to the text is actually 381, by the way. There is a 20 page rebuttal by Gen. Hazen included as an appendix. The plain, straightforward style of Hazen's writing serves as an excellent contrast to the flowery, over-written prose of the main text.

Custer habitually, and irritatingly, uses "the latter" to refer to the last thing mentioned in the previous sentence. He also uses that snotty mild negative of expressing a big positive, e.g., "not inconsiderable" instead of "a lot". He's obviously read a lot of crappy Victorian literature and he tries to ape the style.

This book was so bad it's discouraged me from reading in general. Which is maybe not that bad a thing after all.

Apparently this book, 'My Life on the Plains' was taken from magazine/newspaper articles Custer wrote on himself. As such, it is clearly self-appreciative but, still, it's an invaluable document written by one of America's most controversial figures. He descibes himself as an Indian figher par excellence...but...he relates nothing of his courtmarshal following the raid on an Indian village. Despite the success he describes in the raid, an isolated troop was abandoned and died to the man.

This is reminiscent of the fight at the Little Big Horn where he reportedly told Reno that he would ride to Reno's support once Reno struck the south end of the village. He didn't. Custer's troop rode north, probably to cut off what he thought would be the retreating Sioux. Reno quite probably was used as an unknowing diversion. Reno managed to extracate himself with heavy casualties. Custer, of course, road into 'glory.'

A very telling story embedded in Custer's chronicle is one that he, quite amazingly, tells on himself. In his first encounter with a buffalo he is determined to shoot it. He abandons his soldiers in a wild ride over the plains drawing close to the panicked animal. Several times Custer has the opportunity to shoot but doesn't because he's having so much fun. Finally, miles from his troop, he decides to shoot the buffalo. At the moment his pistol fires, his horse jerks his head in front of the barrel and the horse--not the buffalo--fall dead.

I think this story tells everything we need to know militarily about Custer. He was a big kid, unfit for command.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico