Friday, July 4, 2008
Custer
So I would really like to know what the true story of General Custer and Little Big Horn is. In the video we watched on Monday it described the fight as a “legit” battle, with Custer simply attacking the Indians, the Indians fighting back and winning. But then I have seen and read several other variations on the event. One is that Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had actually set up a trap for Custer, lured him in and wiped him out. Another is that it was Custer who took the Indians completely by surprise and it was only because he was so outnumbered that he lost. And then there is the different ideas about Custer’s frame of mind. Was he overconfident? Simply unlucky? There is one story that says he was warned by his Indian scouts that he should not attack but did it anyway-- this one goes with the trap story. What is the real story? I also wonder if the reason for all these different versions is because of the different perspectives telling the story. Obviously, the white versus Indian versions I would bet are pretty different. Also the video said that it was just days after the event that newspapers across the country were printing the story. I sort of get the feeling that many of these papers were writing from their imagination than from real sources or fact. How many of the stories we know today were simply made up in the papers? Likewise, how much fact has been stretched or altered in the last 100+ years?
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3 comments:
I agree about the ambiguity of the battle. The book describes the rampant rumor mongering of the media at the time, as well as the silence of the Native American warriors who took part in the battle. As it was a complete route, and only Indians survived to tell, it is obviously impossible to receive a white perspective on the event. Since the silence of the Indians was rather lengthy, I suppose the media ran rather rampant, publishing whatever they felt like with none to contradict them. This certainly contributes to our modern confusion regarding the event.
I am also curious of how that whole battle came about. I'm sure that the media of the day put a huge spin on the whole thing and is why we have so many different versions of the story. Of course I would also venture to guess that Custer was pretty arrogant just from otehr stories I've heard. The sad thing is that it is almost impossible to decipher the true story from all of the conflicting stories that survive.
I remember learning about the trap that was set up by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. That was the only one that I had learned about up until this last week so when I heard about it the video, I was confused and was unsure if they were talking about the same battle that I knew about. I agree that the newspapers probably used their imaginations, and that both sides would likely throw in bias. If I were to trust one source, I would say whatever oral history was passed down from the Native Americans would probably be the most reliable source, but even that source may have bias.
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