This book gives no definitive answers on the biggest puzzles of Little Big Horn ... which is its greatest strength. By pulling together all the available testimony, from both sides and all angles, it's proof of how 'the fog of war' -- as well as participants' own agendas -- makes any battle more confusing to its participants than to those who come after. For the reader, piecing together the conflicting accounts, and assessing the characters/viewpoints/axes-to-grind of those giving them, it's a total immersion not just in the facts but in the feelings, prejudices and atmosphere of the time. A wonderful book. And one that should be basic training for every student of history, whatever their period. This is how history is.

This is Graham's great collction of testimonies about Custer and the Little Big Horn from the Sioux, Cheyene, Rees, Crows, scouts, officers, soildiers and others. An incredible collection of material laid out in categorical chapters. Graham lays this often quoted collection out without prejudice and although he questions the Indian participant's accounts due to their lack of perception of exact time and spatial realities, he presents it all the same. What is quite fascinating are the virtual raw letters of Benteen to William Goldin. The letters show Benteen's bitter side particularly toward Custer and demonstrates that Reno was also not held highly on his list, if anyone was. Also, has Godfrey's great history of the battle and the book even includes challenging letters from Grahams critics to his personal responses. A great book for those that want to know all from multiple perspectives of the participants.

By far the best of the vast Custer literature. Graham gathers together in one place primary data and lets you draw your own conclusions. On Custer, Graham is the only author I have read who writes without massaging his data to support some preconcieved theory. This book, incidently, was published in 1953, not in 1993.(It would be helpful if Amazon would note first copyright dates in book listings.) This book was not bashed out to meet a schedule or catch a market window; Graham gathered data literally for decades. Being an army officer-- Judge Advocate Corp--gave him access to files and access to survivors who were eyewitnesses to the fight at Reno's end of the field.

When it comes to Custer one can not read a more up to date book

When it comes to Custer one can not find a more informative book

MR. HATCH HAS DONE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH INTO THE CUSTER SUBJECT. THE PHOTOS WERE GREAT TOO. THIS WAS THE BEST BOOK AVAILABLE FOR MY THESIS.

David Evans's "Custer's Last Fight: The Battle of the Little Big Horn" is a carefully documented and objectively presented analysis of the controversial battle.

This will be judged as a pro-Custer book, but I believe that Evan's conclusions are arrived at objectively, with weight of evidence. With the current trend to portray Custer as a bloodthirsty fool in the mode of Chivington, it is refreshing to read Evans's assessments of the performances of Crook, Gibbon, Terry, Reno and Benteen, as well as Custer, and come to some very interesting conclusions.

The book is a very "good read" with the text laid out in a logical and interesting sequence. Evans blends participant and contemporary quotes into the text, which gives the book a very personal feel.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Indian Wars, and George Armstrong Custer

David Evans brings to life the battle of the Little Big Horn and the events leading up to this important moment in history. All classes of readers will find this book interesting and informative, from the most casual to the serious historian. The latter will be particularly impressed by the extensive array of referenced sources and other supporting documentation presented. I particularly appreciated the objective manner in which the many unknown (and controversial) aspects of the campaign are handled. Conclusions drawn are well grounded, resulting from careful analysis of relevant considerations, all of which are revealed to the reader. Equally appealing are the author's skillful portrayal of literally scores of key and fringe characters, and their interrelationships. Custer's Last Fight will surely be recognized as being one of the most significant works published on the subject. I highly recommend it for all readers.

A truly great interpretive account of the battle. A mammoth size book, 604 pages and 18 appendices, on the Little Big Horn that is a true pleasure to read. Very few battle historians have equaled Mr. Evans in his analytical ability in interpreting the Custer Fight. Despite having studied this battle since I was a kid, I have never made many, many of the connections he has made. The labor that must have gone into this book is overwhelming. Mr. Evans has done a fine job of giving enough pre-Little Big Horn background that there is a basis for his fine job of analysis without boring the hard-core battle enthusiast with factual repetition we have all read countless times before. The two strong points of this book are the analysis where Mr. Evans sees relationships between facts and events that many of us may have overlooked before, and the interweaving of personal narrative that not only often forms the basis of the analysis, but also brings the story to life. I have been reading about this battle for over 40 years and in reading some passages of this book I often ask myself why I didn't think of that before. He makes an excellent argument for the probability that Custer's command was still alive and fighting while troops were on Weir Point. This book is not new on facts, but it is new on analysis. However, many of the facts are from obscure sources that will probably be new to many readers. The book can be read on several levels. Just reading the text itself is a great read and you get the benefit of his analysis as well as the excitement of the details he has built into the story. If you wish to go further, there are very lengthy footnotes that add even more information. The appendices contain a timetable that one could spend days analyzing and working with. Other appendices include a roster of all those serving with the Seventh at the battle including notes as to what happened to them. Another lists all of the Indians known to be in the hostile camp and includes whatever notes are available about them. The final chapter deals with some of the controversies surrounding the battle. The dust jacket is most attractively done with a full reproduction of Stirnweis' "The Last Command". Well footnoted. This book is a must!

A true revelation on what General Terry actually planned in his two point attack of pinching the "hostiles" between two columns and how the plan was poorly executed. The book provides an excellent overview of the campiagn along with Custer's trials and tribulations. But more importantly the roles of Gibbon and the Terry are discussed in detail. From Gibbon's failure to report the location of large villages that could have saved weeks of useless campaigning/scouting for the hostiles for Terry to Terry's incompetent ability to direct the blocking Montana column into position. This book provides a totally new perspective on the LBH battle. It also reveals the failure of Terry from the drawing of his plan to his hands on field decisions. Routes taken by Terry are covered in detail with excepts from diaries, areial photography and wonderful terrain maps. Darling presents well that Terry carefully planted total blame on Custer through indirect statements that leads one to believe that Custer failed entirely and "paid the price". Terry never mentions how he took a long detour through rough country without obtaining information from his true scouts, his engineering officer who knew the land or the crow scouts that lived there. How he marched only four miles in one day, lead the column to a dead end, and lost his gatling guns in a night march. However, he states in his report that Custer turned down gattling guns as if Custer could expect them to keep up with them while they failed to keep up with Terry's infantry. Some of Darlings critque on Custer's decision making from the divide to the LBH could be challenged but they make the book more interesting. Whatever mistakes Custer made, he received his punishment not just from his own but from many others starting with the command. It appears the campaign for Terry was not just a battle against the Indians but one of a war hero's battle with character.

In researching the history and decisions leading to, and culminating in, what is now known as the Battle of the Little Big Horn, I came across Roger Darling's work and became so engaged in it I find myself referencing his basic premise in discussions with other like-minded Little Big Horn "investigators". Darling allows the reader to understand each act in this tragedy from a literal, gramatical and historical perspective. While acknowledging what "experts" say TODAY about the events leading to the battle, Darling takes a fresh approach. "Where was Custer when he made decisions, what, precisely, did he base those decisions on and about what and to whom did he transmit those decisions"? This is no 'Monday morning quarterbacking' from an historical perspective; no 20/20 hindsight vision. Darling emphasizes that neither Washington, General Terry, Colonel Gibbon, nor Custer, himself, had the vaguest notion of understanding Indian warfare and allowed their bigotry to hinder any understanding. Darling reveals the Sioux Campaign of 1876 for what is was, a blundering about on the Plains by ill-equipped, ill-trained and ill-informed offiers and men of the US Army - pitted against what every soldier already knew of the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne; the finest force of fighting cavalry in the world. Did Terry and Custer have a clue about the hostiles' location? Was Washington aware the estimates of Indian strength were erroneous by 300%? And was Marcus Reno the most surprised man on earth when he discovered that the small band of Indians he pursued at Custer's orders led him directly against the largest concentration of Indians ever seen on the North American continent? Historical hindsight allows Terry, Custer, et.al. reasonable intelligence about the force they sought to corral and bring to battle. Roger Darling's well researched and in-depth writing reveals a series of blunders beginning in Washington in the Fall of 1875 and culminating in disaster on a Montana hillside on June 25, 1876. Get the book, devour it, think on it. Not only is it great historical reading, it finally makes sense of what happened and why.

Darling has obviously done extensive research and throws new light on the attempt to make Custer the sole scapegoat for the disaster that befell the Seventh Cavalry at the Little Big Horn. As one who has extensively read in Custeriana, I share Darling's views for the most part. I am not sure what Gen. Terry meant when he referred to a Sad and Terrible Blunder, but I think the blunder applies end to end, starting in Washington D.C. and carrying down to Custer and his subordinates. There has been extensive discussion for years of whether or not Custer disobeyed the surviving order that Terry provided to him. Assuming he did, and I don't think so based on my own military experience (e.g. I'd have felt comfortable with a set of discretionary orders like those in marching to Washington D.C.) one wonders what would have happened to Terry if Custer had literally followed those orders as Terry later implied he should have. Perhaps we need a book called CUSTER BLINDLY OBEYS, TERRY DIES. READ THE BOOK AND SEE WHAT I MEAN.

George Armstrong Custer's fabled Fifth Regiment fought with great distinction throughout the American civil war and suffered the third highest total of men killed in the entire Union Calvary. James Henry Avery, a 24 year old farmer from Hopkins, Michigan was on of Custer's feared "Wolverines". He eloquently described his personal war-time experiences in journals and postwar reminiscences, providing uniquely detailed descriptions of Civil War cavalry movements, and presents the only known account addressing the escape of elements of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry on the first day of the Battle of Trevilian Station. Other battles described include Gettysburg, The Wilderness, Yellow Tavern, Haws Shop, Tom's Brook, Cedar Creek, and Trevilian Station. Under Custer's Command: The Civil War Journal Of James Henry Avery provides an astute perspective on the life of a Union cavalryman in the Civil War and is a "must" for all Civil War buffs and civil war studies reference collections.

As editor Eric J. Wittenberg expands his library of Custer-related works, they continue to improve on the already growing collection of first-person accounts of the "Boy General's" Michigan Cavalry. As the preeminent biographer of Brevet Brigadier General James Kidd, Wittenberg provides readers with a sense of "being there," and inescapable feeling that they are sharing a fireside chat with a living, breathing veteran of our own Civil War.

"Under Custer's Command" is sure to please any readers of his previous collections of James Kidd. The latest book, a well-preserved and edited anthology of the personal journals of Sergeant James Henry Avery, an enlisted man who served with Custer during his formative years, continues Wittenberg's efforts to detail the wartime activities of the Michigan 6th Cavalry. One of the most successful mounted commands during the war, the "Wolverine's" received far less acclaim and few of the accolades enjoyed by cavalry units led by men such as Jeb Stuart and Stonewall Jackson.

"Under Custer's Command" is a rare jewel among surviving first-person accounts. The language is frank, yet simple: the work of a man interested less in impressing than in preserving his personal observations of history. Avery's journals offer an invaluable glimpse into the mind and soul of a man fighting for his country, his values, and his family. This wonderful book is a fantastic addition to any serious Civil War Custer library.

This book is the best memoir by an enlisted cavalryman I have ever seen, and I read a lot of Civil War books. At the end of the book, I felt like I had just finished a long conversation with Avery. Buy this book and enjoy it.

The reader becomes mesmerized and impressed by the thorough and meticulous process of constantly checking witness testimony with known topography and horse/walking/etc. mph rates, then time/motion studies with all possible data examined to see what plausible explanations can be more pushed forward as likely scenarios.

At the center here is the infamous Indian scout, Mitch Boyer and the testimony of the young Curly, survivor with Custer.

Amazing how the evidence Gray presents turns Custer 180o around from what is historically bantered, an aggressive disobiendent hawkish leader. Gray's reconstruction reveals soldier who emphasized and implemented what orders were given to him, to pin the Indians from left flank escape, and all the time awaiting Benteen's company and ammo train, which never arrived in time.

Disappointed that no chronology chain here shown how the followup takes place to discover the battlefield. Possibly Gray's other books on this subject cover that.

Remarkably well written, able to keep this reader's attention easily even with all the careful calculation checks, etc.

Most historians would be happy, nay overjoyed, if they located a diary, a journal or a set of letters by a participant in some historical event. In tracing some relatively unimportant activities, Gray is not satisfied unless he can find three or four itineraries, four or five journals and diaries, and two or three sets of letters! Another reviewer commented that the writing of this book took 25 years! I can well believe it. With the well-known fallibility of eyewitnesses, this overwhelming mass of documentation is barely enough to allow Gray to sift event from confabulation.

What we have here are two books in one. The first book, in 180 pages, traces the life and career of guide and translator Mitch Boyer. At first one might dismiss such a goal as impossible, but Gray is equal to the task, and Boyer emerges as a convincing, consistent and competent historical personage.

The second book, in about 200 pages, uses what Gray calls "time-motion studies" to trace the troop movements from June 9, 1876 to and through the culminating Battle of the Little Bighorn. His "time-motion patterns" are what physicists call "world lines," with one space dimension as the vertical axis, and time as the horizontal axis. Where these diagrams indicate the interactions between a dozen separated groups they virtually amount to the classical equivalent of Feynman diagrams--- tools used by theoretical physicists to disentangle the various processes occurring in the realm where relativistic quantum physics hold sway.

The Mitch Boyer connection between the first and second parts of the book occurs because Boyer was the only scout who chose to stay with and die with Custer's columns. Much of Gray's reconstruction of Custer's movements and strategy depends upon Gray's extraction, from the mass of confused interviews with Curley, the 17-year-old Indian scout who was the last to get away alive from Custer's troops, of a fairly consistent and highly plausible set of events.

There is one place, at the book's end, where Gray's thought patterns betray him. With no documents to guide him, he chooses a completely absurd counterclockwise movement of Army forces, from Calhoun Ridge, to Custer Ridge, to Custer Hill (where Custer was found), on to the "South Skirmish Line" (where Mitch Boyer's body was found) and thence to the "West Perimeter," where the last survivors (Gray assumes) died. But this movement actually takes the troops TOWARD the river and the Indian camp, from which braves and even squaws were literally boiling, like thick clouds of hornets from a disturbed nest, in the last half of the battle!

In this case, I think the reconstruction by Gregory F. Michno, based on a collation of a vast number of Indian accounts, is infinitely more plausible. It shows Custer's surviving companies driven roughly northwest, parallel to the river, along Battle Ridge to Custer Hill, with companies on Finley Ridge and Calhoun Hill being cut off and quickly destroyed, leading to a traditional "Last Stand" indeed being made on Custer Hill. See Michno's LAKOTA NOON for details. I might mention that comparison of all accounts of troop movements in the six or so "Little Bighorn" books I have read is made incredibly difficult by a complete lack of consistent nomenclature for the topographic features of the battleground!

Grey is remarkably even-tempered in his discussion of the many command problems and highly questionable command decisions that arose in this campaign, including the inexplicable behavior of Gibbon and Benteen. Somewhat ironically, it is Custer who comes off best from this all-around debacle. He was about the only commander who made any effort to follow orders, and about the only commander who tried to strike a balance between total inaction and suicidal total commitment of his forces.

I can't praise this book highly enough.

I absolutely agree with the other reviewers on the quality of Gray's work--it is astounding. I would like to emphasize what I took away from the book: a new picture of G.A. Custer. For a hundred years it has been the "customary wisdom" that Custer, being a flamboyant, egocentric, arrogant commander, rushed into battle at the LBH because he wanted the glory of defeating the Sioux all to himself, and met his doom because his hubris blinded him to the Indians' superior forces. Part of this "customary wisdom" came with an implied view that this hubris was due to a belief in racial superiority of the white soldier vs. the Indian. As is so often the case, the "customary wisdom" is superficial, and when held up to rigorous analysis, proves wrong. Gray's trenchant logic make it clear that Custer was attempting to follow his orders from Terry, found himself in a battle situation that was not favorable, but due to the perception that the 7th Cavalry had been discovered, had no alternative but to attack. His battle plan was improvised at the moment, and was thwarted not because of Custer's hubris, or his false belief that his soldiers were fighting "only Indians", but for the reason many battles are lost: the failure of one of his unit commanders (Benteen) to follow orders and coordinate his actions with the actions of the remainder of Custer's command. I expect, however, that the old, comfortable, politically correct view of Custer will die hard, if at all--to some, logic means naught.

Henry Custer, Author of 'Concept of Justice', starts his book in way that you are drawn into the scene and characters instantly. He paints his words with a rhythm that one questions whether you are reading a story of fiction or an autobiography. Very well done!

Henry Custer is clearly an author who has perfected his writing craft. From the start you're able to form a clear picture of his protagonist and the protagonist's wife. His use of description builds up suspense and keeps the reader on edge, and what's more important makes the reader want to find out what's going to happen next. Who is the intruder? Henry lets you know up front that the man he shot in self-defense is no ordinary burglar. Don't pick up this book unless you have a block of time to devote to it - you won't be able to lay it down.

"Oh what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive."
"Concept of Justice" is an outstanding novel about deception and the "tangled web" philosophy. Custer has crafted a brilliant novel of suspense, that takes the reader through the criminal mind and how a person who practices deception justifies him or herself along the way while spinning a bigger and more fantastic web. The descriptions, details, and settings are written flawlessly. The characters are believeable and well developed.
To give any plot away would only ruin the read. Get all sticky in this smartly spun tale. Make sure you don't have anything to do when you open the book up...you'll want to read it straight through. Outstanding.

I was saddened when I finished Connell's work -- saddened because I didn't want it to be over. I wanted to read it forever. Connell's book is an absolutely fabulous read! I liken it to sitting around a campfire and listening to him tell marvelous stories surrounding the players, both white (and black), and native American. He even holds your interest while tracing the path of a pocket watch taken in the battle. Connell gives a very good account of Custer, Reno, Benteen, Gall, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Rain-in-the-Face, and virtually every player in that conflict. When Connell flitters about going from one theme to another, it is fun to follow him. I cannot recommend this book too highly. Read it over and over again!!!

This book, in my opinion, is a superb introduction into the world of Custeriana and other characters and invents in U.S. history of that time.

What makes this book unique in it's portayal of the General and the events surrounding the famous last battle is that Evan S.Connell, who is primarily I believe a novellist, approached this topic with absolutely no agenda of his own on the subject.

Whilst this may not satisfy many historians it makes for great reading!! Making this a book ideal for somebody new to the subject wanting to learn more or the learned reader who just wants to be entertained and not swamped with complex time theories or arguments over the size of the village etc. There are plenty of books on the market that do this much better but not all are always as enjoyable.

Connell just reports on various different accounts in an easy going prose without really putting his own slant on the proceedings. He simply just writes about Custer, Benteen, Crazy Horse et all, giving examples of both the good, the bad and the downright ugly in all of them.

It is left to the reader to make up his mind on the events and actions of those who took part in them. Too many historians come to this powerful and contreversial subject with their own ideas on what happened, be it pro or anti-Custer, and this has a tendancy to sometimes, neccessitate a need to distort or bend the facts accordingly.

Refreshingly you come away from this book wanting to know more about the protaganists involved but without having a biased opinion on them. The General himself comes over in a fairly good light considering at the time of publication his character was probably at it's nadir.However Connell also shows up the darker side of the man that made him the paradoxical figure he was and why he remains so fascinating even after all this time.

Indeed what the book clearly shows is that what makes this such an enduring legend in America's history is that arguably it's most famous, or notorious, soldier left his mark not by a glourious victory but rather(as it was thought of at the time)a fairly ignominious defeat.What Connell does do is also give the credit where it's due to the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes at the Little Big Horn who actually won the battle that day, which tends to get forgotten in a lot of literature ammassed on this subject.

This was the first serious book that I bought on George Armstrong Custer and back in 1984(which I think was the year I got it) living in the United Kingdom there wasn't many books around at that time specifically on this subject. I found it an excellent starting point to begin further and more in depth reading on the General and his last battle.It may seem an odd subject for a Yorkshireman to show an interset in(I think it might be Errol Flynn's fault!!)but this book certainly kick-started a long lasting interst in Custer and that particular area of American history.

I have read many books about Custer, Little Big Horn and the plains indian wars, but this one is truly the very best of the lot. Connell has given us an exellent biography of Custer, but we also get to know such men as Major Reno and Captain Benteen. Indians such as Sitting Bull, Gall and Crazy Horse are also prominently featured in this treasure of a book. This is so much more than a book about Custer and his last stand at Little Big Horn river in 1876. It's a book about the whole drama, that is the conquering of the west. Also, the photo section is exellent and the bibliography is unparalelled. Two very good maps helps the reader follow the movements in the 1876 indian campaign. If You're gonna buy just one book about the American west, please choose "Son Of The Morning Star". It's history, for sure, but it's not boring. It's also a source book in the best sence of the word, not to mention a literary masterpiece. Connell is a novelist, and it shows in his quick and precise eye for charaters in the play and their often peculiar behavior and actions. The heroes and/or villains is only so human in this highly entertaining book that leaves the reader wanting more. I have so far never read a better book, fact or fiction. Why don't You read it too?

The Civil War has been much romanticized. The life of George Armstrong Custer has entered the realm of near mythology. The most successful period in Custer's short life was his civil war career. Urwin here presents a record of the successes of Custer's civil war career. There is a tendency in this book to Custerophilia. While none of us in this time period can really know the man, study of the masses of literature from the period suggest that the "boy General" was somewhat unique. More than most of his contemporaries, Custer was able to motivate his Civil War commands to significant achievments. His personal audacity caused extremely high casualties among the men he commanded. Despite this he never seems to have engendered the kind of disdain that Judson "Killcavalry" Kilpatrick, a contemporary, gained from his troops. It seems that members of his Michigan cavalry Brigades greatly esteemed their general despite their losses. Whether he was in fact a tactician or just daring and lucky; his civil war record is quite remarkable. This book is a worthwhile read for students of the civil war and of cavalry and Custer's part of that history.

Being from Michigan, I knew George Custer was a Civil War hero. After reading this book I realized just how important that man was to the Union cause. Although young, Custer was mature beyond his years, his prowess as a calvaryman is second to none. He was loved by his troops and respected by his enemies, some who he bested many times during the Civil War. He was a true leader in every sense of the word. Fearless and steady, always leading his troops into a charge. Ever concerned for the well being of his men. This book is a wonderful piece on a great man who was lost in history by speculation and heresay. Had he his Michigan Calvary Brigade, his beloved "Wolverines" or men like them at Little Big Horn and not 17 and 18 yr old troops as recently discovered, even though being outgunned I am sure there would have been different results for historians to ponder. Rest in Peace Major General Custer, your name is forever cleared.

This is a fine work of scholarship on General Custer. It is incorrect to assume with this book that Urwin has a tendency to Custerphilia. If that be so, then may we accuse other historians of Robert E. Leephilia, or Martin Luther Kingphilia, or John F. Kennedyphilia? It is only the truly biased that will attach such a title to an author who is presenting Custer in a just light, rather than anyone else. We don't have to be a contemporary of an historical figure to know the facts and contributions of his life, and Urwin's excellently researched book brings out all the facts surrounding Custer's outstanding leadership as a Civil War soldier and officer, and most importantly, Urwin has finally given Custer his just due as a great American patriot who was so instrumental in preserving what we so easily refer to today as our USA. It was General Phil Sheridan, who stated in an enclosed note to Mrs. Custer when presenting her with Lee's table upon which the surrender was signed, "that there is scarcely an individual in our service who has contributed more to bring about this desirable result than your gallant husband." Urwin brings out all the facts that substantiate this statement; not denigrate or fictionalize it. If you know nothing about Custer, read this book and its preface first, then for an account of The Little Bighorn, read "To Hell With Honor" by Larry Sklenar. As Urwin states, "Custer's critics have been legion, but only the most vehement and biased has ever dared to suggest that his performance in that bloodiest of America's wars was anything less than brilliant."

This is a very personal history as the author takes personal interest in the Lt. Kidder massacre that occurred to a platoon of soldiers carrying a dispatch from General Sherman to Custer. This was during the 1867 Kansas Indian war during the military's unsuccessful campaign to defeat the various tribes. Earlier references to Kidder stated that the young inexperienced officer was unfamiliar with Indians and was ill prepared for his mission. However, the author through research confirms that Kidder had Civil War and Indian warfare experience. The latter was during the Sioux wars in Minnesota. The author provides more detail than the normal few pages in books about Custer. The detail includes a biography of Kidder, a detailed description of his family and particularly information about his father who was a judge and politician in South Dakota. High points include the story of the massacre. It starts initially with Kidders recent re-enlistment and assignment in Kansas and within a few weeks of his arrival, the mission to deliver Custer a dispatch who at that time was with the 7th trying to locate and defeat the Indians. Kidder finds Custer's trail but unfortunately where Custer turned off the Wallace trail, Kidder misses the new yet faint trail perhaps because he passed it at night. Approximately 200 warriors found Lt. Kidder instead and he tries to escape finally fortifying himself in a small ravine among high grass. It sounds familiar to the last survivors of Custer Hill running to a ravine for cover also killed without survivors. The author's surprisingly successful archeology digs help them map a course of battle and determine what may have happened. Kidder also had an Indian guide who died with all 11 army members. The author also writes of Kidders father making a brave trek to the battle site to recover his son's body, which actually encouraged the army to recover all the bodies. It's a personal trip with history and a real person's story about the need to find more detail about an often referred to event without elaborate research. The authors virtually take you there with their visit through descriptions, maps and photos.

This is a very personal history as the author takes personal interest in the Lt. Kidder massacre that occurred to a platoon of soldiers carrying a dispatch from General Sherman to Custer. This was during the 1867 Kansas Indian war during the military's unsuccessful campaign to defeat the various tribes. Earlier references to Kidder stated that the young inexperienced officer was unfamiliar with Indians and was ill prepared for his mission. However, the author through research confirms that Kidder had Civil War and Indian warfare experience. The latter was during the Sioux wars in Minnesota. The author provides more detail than the normal few pages in books about Custer. The detail includes a biography of Kidder, a detailed description of his family and particularly information about his father who was a judge and politician in South Dakota. High points include the story of the massacre. It starts initially with Kidders recent re-enlistment and assignment in Kansas and within a few weeks of his arrival, the mission to deliver Custer a dispatch who at that time was with the 7th trying to locate and defeat the Indians. Kidder finds Custer's trail but unfortunately where Custer turned off the Wallace trail, Kidder misses the new yet faint trail perhaps because he passed it at night. Approximately 200 warriors found Lt. Kidder instead and he tries to escape finally fortifying himself in a small ravine among high grass. It sounds familiar to the last survivors of Custer Hill running to a ravine for cover also killed without survivors. The author's surprisingly successful archeology digs help them map a course of battle and determine what may have happened. Kidder also had an Indian guide who died with all 11 army members. The author also writes of Kidders father making a brave trek to the battle site to recover his son's body, which actually encouraged the army to recover all the bodies. It's a personal trip with history and a real person's story about the need to find more detail about an often referred to event without elaborate research. The authors virtually take you there with their visit through descriptions, maps and photos.

This book provides an interesting and poignant study of Lt Lyman Kidder and his brutal demise.The work also affords the reader an insight into the tragic existence of the frontier family by following the journey of Lyman's father to claim his son's body from the remote battlesite. The authors' skillful use of original sources paints a vivid picture of a father's search for meaning following the death of his son. Judge Kidder's subsequent correspondance with Custer and Sherman, among others, affords an invaluable window into these turbulant times. The book will not only be enjoyed by students of American Frontier history, anyone with any degree of empathy with, or sympathy for, a family's love for their son will be moved. I recommend this book without reservation.