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Today is the 144th Anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, or as the winners call it, the Battle of the Greasy Grass. Not so familiar are the names of the commanders on the other side who overwhelmed and massacred Custer and his portion of the Seventh Cavalry. (I was in 1/12 Cav of the 1st Cav Division and a battalion of the 7th Cav was just down the road — strangely, Gary Owen is still proudly played in the Division which seems to ignore not only Little Big Horn but the Washita massacre previously — of course, Custer ignored that too).
Custer is a fellow Alumni of Hudson High, otherwise known as West Point, formally known as The United States Military Academy. Most people don’t know it, but after the Civil War, there was a strong move to abolish the Academy. After all, of the 60 major battles of the Civil War, in 55 of them, West Pointers commanded both sides. That’s a nifty piece of Plebe ‘Poop’ every incoming cadet has to memorize. As if the Academy is somehow proud of it. I always considered it rather odd and, in fact, so intrigued me, I wrote a series that is currently at three books, examining the Academy at the time from the Mexican War into the Civil War: Duty, Honor, Country (PS first book, Duty, free on all eBook platforms).
It’s in vogue these days to speak of the “generals”. Whether it’s Mattis…
