Customer Reviews

Trumpet on the Land: The Aftermath of Custer's Massacre, 1876

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This brick has over 600 pages but it's never a tedious read. Reaching the pinnacle of the Plainsmen-series in this volume Terry Johnston wades deep into history and excels with his impressive knowledge of the area and the correct historical facts. Little known history is restored and fictionalized without, looking from a historical perspective, loosing its truth, a feat Johnston has not always succeded in. The only tiny fault is that Johnston repeats himself too often at the end of the novel, repeating word by word a earlier paragraph, clearly something the editor should've discovered before it was printed. ****(*) on the barometer.

The author's novel details the U.S. military's war effort against the Indians after General Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn and the army's efforts to hunt down the red men before they scatter to the hills or back to the agencies. The book details the exciting Sibley Scout and two engagements, at Warbonnet Creek and Slim Buttes, which are are studied at length. The novel also depicts a befuddled and dispirited army in search of a wily and desperate foe and hints at dissension between Generals Terry and Crook as tempers grow short as the long hot summer drags on. Students of the Sioux War of 1876 will enjoy this fine chronicle of western history.

This is my second Johnston book (the other was Blood Song). Both suffer the same problem and that is that the subject matter simply does not lend itself well to fiction. Johnston wanted these novels to encompass a single campaign in the Sioux War, but there is not enough material in a campaign to fill a novel done in the way Johnston apparently wanted to do it.

Historically these campaigns were similar to the old saying about naval warfare: long stretches of tedium punctuated by moments of sheer terror. And Johnston doesn't differentiate at all between the tedium and the terror. He covers everything with the same exacting and at times mind-numbing attention to detail. The only cure would be to fill out the fiction with some extraneous plotlines (no thanks) or fictionalize the leaders more, both Indians and perhaps higher up the American chain of command. The way it is, there is simply too much of nothing much happening.

These books have a lot going for them, historical accuracy being the most important, and Johnston was also able to tell the story in an even-handed way, unusual in this PC day and age. I'll probably stick with these books, if for no other reason than Publishers' Weekly apparent hatred of them makes them irresistible to me. But I think Johnston would have been better off writing a straight history.

On June 25, 1876, General George Armstrong Custer led a group of men to their massacre. Two retalitory battles ensued, July 7 and Sept. 9 as the U. S. Army took out their revenge on the Cheyenne and Sioux Indians. They were, after all, on the native's land.

Some notables included in this book include William F. Cody (Wild Bill), Jack Russell, Captain Jack Crawford (The Poet Scout), and Trader Jack Becker. The most prominent Indians were Blackfoot, Red Horse, Iron Thunder, Little Eagle and Rain Maker.

This was a sad time for our country as it marched ever Westward after displacing the Cherokees. The battle was one of the most picturesque ever fought in the West. Crook and his officers stood in the camp, the center of a vast amphitheater ringed with fire, up the sides of which the soldiers steadily climbed to get at the Indians, silhouetted in all their war finery against the sky. (Cyrus Townsend Brady) A marvelous picture in words.

The photo on back flap of Crook City mining town showed how it looked in the summer 0f 1876, at that time an illegal white settlement on Indian land. The photos at the front, preceding the narrative, showed the 'First Scalp for Custer' and I was apalled as it appears to be a skunk, as I don't think that the Indian men wore their hair that long (could they have killed a woman); Dr. McGillycuddy looked lost as he posed beside a garbage heap. And that poor emaciated horse getting shot in the head reminded me of the shot of the Vietnamese by a corrupt General in that awful war. Chief Horse looked combative and his wife apprehensive. I did like the "teepee" lodge and party of westerners at Little Big Horse. That is a classic picture. Pictures can tell a story much better than words, and this is a wordy book.