If you aren't
familiar with Custer's career, he earned his
reputation in the Civil War. He became a
brigadier general at age 23 and still remains to
this day the youngest man ever to win the rank
of major general (age 25) in the U.S. Army. He
earned those promotions by his aggressive
tactics in the War Between the States. He must
have been genuinely impressive in that conflict,
because he was considered important enough to be
present in the courthouse at the Appomatox
surrender, and was later presented the actual
table upon which the surrender document had been
executed.
Those lofty ranks
he attained were wartime ranks, however. After
the war ended, he never reached a higher rank
than Lieutenant Colonel in the regular peacetime
army. (He was still entitled to use the title of
"General" in certain situations). In about a
decade on the plains, he did nothing significant
on the battlefield in the struggles against the
Indians. His only memorable contribution to the
army after the Civil War was his addition of a
musical band to the 7th Cavalry, and his
selection of the Garryowen as the official
regimental air.
Our popular notions
of history are often significant distortions of
reality, for one reason or another. In our hazy
recollection and popular retelling of the
incident, we've extracted and immortalized some
broad images of the famous Battle of Little Big
Horn, but your current impressions may not be
very accurate unless you are a history buff. It
seems to me that most people imagine this battle
as an Indian encirclement of Custer's valiant
troops. In fact, it was a surprise attack by
Custer, an unprovoked act of aggression like the
Battle of Washita, in which he led his men in a
charge on an Indian encampment. This time,
however, he had not attacked peaceful Black
Kettle, but two warrior chiefs named Sitting
Bull and Crazy Horse, who were actively
resisting the U.S. Government's attempts to
place white settlers on Sioux land. The nature
of the enemy was not the worst news, however.
Custer knew, or should have known, that these
particular Indians could be formidable enemies,
but it might have been possible to defeat them
if Custer had stayed with the original plan. Ol'
Yellowhair was supposed to lead one prong of a
three-pronged attack. Unfortunately, the other
two prongs were nowhere to be seen. The
impetuous Custer had outraced the infantry, and
the third unit had been detoured by battles with
hostiles. Given the circumstances, Custer
shouldn't have stirred up a battle that day. He
could have waited for the other units, or he
could have sent back for instructions, but
instead he chose to lead his 264 troopers into
battle - against 5000 armed and skilled Sioux
and Cheyenne horsemen.
Oops.
By the way, Custer
was wearing buckskins that day, not Cavalry
Blues (a detail which the movie got right), and
his hair was cut short that day for battle (a
detail which the movie got wrong, perhaps
intentionally, since the long blond hair made
for more impressive cinema).
One of the
interesting elements of the film is that the
Indians are not really portrayed as romantic
noble savages, as you might expect from a less
nuanced script. They are every bit as fucked-up
as the whites. Old Lodge Skins, the old man who
is the only real hero of the film, is peaceful
and compassionate, but also dotty and feckless.
The Indians in the film, like the whites, are
troubled by nagging wives, homosexuality,
arguments, jealousy, weakness, lust, and all
other human characteristics.
