Between Earth and Sky sees the characters of Guardians of the North face the destructive path of General Custer and the Seventh Calvary as he ventures close to the Canadian frontier in the Dakota Territory. Will Custer's presence bring a destructive Indian war between the Sioux and the Cheyenne, or will the North West Mounted Police be able to keep the peace in this hostile territory? Reena receives a telegram from her injured uncle who has been serving as a scout to General Custer, requesting her help in nursing him back to health. Taking her very life into her own hands in order to reach her Uncle, Reena embarks on the voyage across the hostile lands with Hunter Stone, Del Dekko, and missionary Jack Sheffield as her excort. As a battle seems to be looming on the frontier, Jack seeks out Chief Crazy Horse in an attempt to talk reason and smother the building fury of the Indians. Will they remain safe in General Custer's army, or will they venture through hostile Indian territory in order to make their way back home? Will God protect these honorable people, or will they see destruction before the novel ends? A suspenseful novel based on the tensions between the Indian nations and with the pioneers encroaching on the home of the Indian people.

While searching at the Smithsonian Institution for Indian pictographs, the curator of the American Ethnology section showed Jessie Brewer McGaw some material that had been in the files since 1888. Five years after the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876, Chief Red Horse had described what he saw and did on that famous day, using the sign language perfected by the nomadic Plains Indians. His story-without-words account was taken down by Dr. Charles E. McChensey, an army surgeon. McGaw reproduces that account in this small volume, with eight to ten pictographs on each page, with the corresponding words underneath. There are also drawings of the battle, done in the style of some of the paintings done by Indian participants.

"Chief Red Horse Tells About Custer" begins with a introduction to Indian Sign Language, which includes an explanation of how to do some of the signs for key words. There is also a Historical Background of the Battle of the Little Big Horn and a glossary of terms (actually phrases) used in this book (e.g., Greasy Grass Creek for Little Bighorn River and White Man Soldier Chief for Custer). It is rather odd to "read" this book, with your eyes going back and forth between the pictographs and the words they represent. But eventually you get a feel for the language, which is pretty interesting. I can see teachers using this in class in an interesting way, having students learn the basic vocabulary and then signing them the story. As McGaw explains, there is a basic logical to sign language, and it would be interesting to see how well students could fill in the gap. Certainly "Chief Red Horse Tells About Custer" is one of the more unique volumes on one of the most famous battles in American history.

This is a book I had a hard time putting down. It is an eyewitness account of civilian Civil War times, and is a "must" for Civil War period buffs. It tends to deromanticize the era, as Libbie Custer tells the day-by-day details of marching with the Union Army, living in then near-desolate Washington D.C., and taking over rooms in Confederate farmhouses to set up camp. But those details are nevertheless fascinating, because they are so different from life today. Her memoirs unfortunately give too little information about Custer's personality and her relationship with him, which I was eager to learn. This is probably due to the writing style of the era, however, as Victorians tended to be "closed" about their personal feelings.

"Custer and His Commands" is part of the series "G/I.: The Illustrated History of the American Soldier, His Uniform and His Equipment". Fortunately, George Custer and his men (both during the Civil War and the Plains Indian Wars) lived during the era of photography, so Mr. Cox depends mostly upon photographs to illustrate his subject and does not have to resort to drawings or paintings. And this means we have the opportunity to see the faces of the soldiers who wore those uniforms, many of whom fought at-- and some of whom died at -- the Battle of the Little Big Horn (about two-thirds of the volume is devoted to Custer's post-Civil War career). Even as a longtime Little Big Horn student, a significant number of the photographs were new to me. This book helps to remind us that history is first and foremost about the people who went before us.

The Michigan Cavalry Brigade achieved its' greatest triumphs under the command of George Armstrong Custer. The troops were greatly disappointed when he eventually moved on to higher command. Under his impetuous leadership the Brigade gained respect for the Union Cavalry and its' famous red ties, emulating Custer, were a badge of pride and honor. Books by members of the Michigan brigade make it clear that the youthful Custer was greatly respected by his troops. The book is a useful tome describing the times and experiences of this unit. Like most Civil War books it bypasses the hardships, disease and despondency of the troops in favor of describing the battle related history. The book is worthwhile reading for students of the war, cavalry and Custer.

I have just read Jack Pennington's most recent work, A Comprehennsive Study of the LBH which is more thorough then the Custer Controversy. However, Pennington offers the most thorough analysis of all the testimonies made by the participants and does not fall into the trap of taking the Reno
Court of Inquiry as the bible. Pennington recognizes that a central contingent of the Officers were covering their own failings particular the bitter Benteen who never moved into the support position as designated and he covered himself by deprecating Custer's ability to formulate an attack plan. Reno is a part of the cover up which includes Lt. Wallace the intenerist. Spectacularly, Reno states he never saw or was aware of Custer's gray horse troop marching across the opposite ridge getting into a position for the flanking support attack. Testimony from a number of Reno's men indicate they saw Custer manuvering along the ridge; however, Reno was not inclined to admit such at his inquiry. In Benteen's case he admits to receiving several messages from Custer but never identifies any return messengers sent on his part to notify Custer of his whereabouts or dwadling.
Since Custer's first messengers were killed, Benteen has only to deprecate the intelligence of Trumpter Martin as an "idiot" Itallion and Kanipe as a limited messenger. Pennington theorizes that Custer moved early to his flanking position only to be killed at the Medicine Trail Coulee which caused disorganization of his battalions leading to their destruction. He also builds a case that Reno and Benteen misrepresented the timing of events to cover a much longer time delay in finally moving to support Custer. Part of that misreprepresentation is to misrepresent how far the pack train was behind Benteen. How unfortunate that Martin was not allowed to testify fully and that more enlisted were not allowed to testify at the Reno Court of Inquiry. After reading Pennington, you have the impression that the Inquiry was a Gentlemen's Club affair.

It is difficult to believe that I am the first person reviewing this classic book on the Custer battle. I have always felt a strong affinity for this book since it was born the same year (1955) that I was. Some years back, when I was first consumed by an overwhelming interest in the Custer mystery (a passion that continues till this day), it was, fortuantely, one of the first books I turned to.

Yes, numerous books and sources have come along since then and it can not incorporate the recent archaeological findings but it still gives the reader a good basic framework for studying the battle. Stewart is a judicious historian, using footnotes to bring out areas where sources conflict. His critique of Custer is, for the most part, balanced. Most importantly, Stewart's writing style is uncommonly smooth and pleasing. Just pick up a copy of this book and plunge in anywhere and you will readily discover what I mean. It is very accessible.

Stewart makes one very important point in analyzing the Little Big Horn, a point that has stood and will continue to stand the test of time. He states that, more than any factor, the terrain played a decisive part in the outcome of the battle, as it hindered the 7th Cavalry batallions from readily knowing what was happening elsewhere on the field of conflict. Keep this basic observation in mind when visiting the battlefield and viewing the bluffs along the river.

This is a virtual 40 page mini-thesis on the mistakes Custer made from the Crows Nest to his final rest. Darling raises good points that Custer's continuous fractionalizing of his force; leaving the pack train, sending Benteen to a left scout at the divide, sending Reno forward at Lone Teepee, Custer's turn to the north all led to his demise in the face of a concentrated enemy. The main premise is that Custer did a wonderful job of proceeding cautiously and professionally in his search for the Sioux until he got within 15 miles. The most damaging charge against Custer is that Darling states that Custer never fully believed his scouts that a large village actually existed on the LBH. The other charge is that Custer ordered Reno to attack only the small village refugees at Lone Teepee (Reno Creek) which was a small collection of 70 - 90 indians with families. And the most serious charge, Custer turned north perhaps only guessing that Reno would go north to chase the Lone Teepee village escapees.

Issues that could be argued against these theories, Custer's Chief of Scouts saw the smoke from the large village at the Crow's nest and the Crow scouts said they could see a large pony herd on the LBH. In effect, it would be hard to argue that Custer totally disregarded the village being on the LBH and that his turn to the left along the bluffs was a calculated guess. Benteen was told to scout on the left but not go indefinitely in that direction to infinity as Benteen later charged. Darling fails to mention that Custer sent Benteen two messengers to keep abreast of Benteen's progress and he was expected to rejoin the main column after his scout. Reno's alledged order to only attack just the Lone Teepee village seems hard to swallow since Custer said he would support Reno with the whole outfit which would be a greater need than chasing 70 - 90 Indians. Besides Scout Gerard, riding with Reno, came back to Custer's adjutant Cook to report the LBH village size and that the Sioux and Cheyene stopped running and were fighting. Custer certianly knew this after Cook reported. Also, Darling fails to mention that Boston Custer, the civilian younger brother, passed Benteen watering his horses on his liesurely pursuit of Custer's trail and that Boston reported and died with Custer . Thinking that Benteen would soon catch up with his battalion, most likely impactd Custer's decisions perhaps causing a delay. Finally, Custer had four Crow Scouts and Mitch Boyer with him that knew the territory and most of which were at the Crows Nest. They knew the terrian and probably offered alternatives to attack the Sioux and Cheyenne using the geography of the land. In Darlings great book "A Terrible and Sad Blunder" Darling offers that Reno strayed from his ordered reconnaissance to determine the direction of the Sioux but also because the scout Mitch Boyer offered an alternative trail to follow. Why isn't it reasonable to presume that Boyer did the same for Custer? If Boyer did the same for Custer providing an alternative attack approach and Reno held and Benteen rejoined the command perhaps the outcome would have been different, perhaps not a Custer victory but survival of much more of his command. Darling invokes a good argument but leaves out some critical points but it is a good read and at times a relatively reasonable argument. Perhaps if Custer had the advantage of hindsight, he wouldn't have made the decisions that he had but in the midst of fast moving action he did so with the information and history that he had at present.

This was a great book, with the exception of some slow parts about different kinds of tractors and whatnot. Highly recommended.

I purchased the story of Mark Kellogg, the newspaper reporter who died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, because I always wanted to know about him. Who was he? What was he doing there? Did he leave a safe desk job for adventure? Or was he terrified of going? Unfortunately, I did not learn much about Mr. Kellogg. No fault of the author's, who did a fantastic job researching this man with a rather obscure background. There just isn't much information about him as a person to be found. Yet Mr. Barnard pieced together the best story he possibly could thru newspaper accounts, many sources he found and contact with the Kellogg descendants (who did not know they were related to him until the author told them!). The book is not terribly entertaining, but it was not written for that purpose. All four of Kellogg's columns he wrote on the Last Stand march are reprinted, along with what was left of his diary. We get a personal look at General Custer - the last written look at him in life. And we learn some new things about that expedition, as we feel as if we are riding right along with them. Well worth the money for this important addition to a Custer library.