General George Custer’s 1876 attack on a huge camp of Plains Indians has gone down as the most disastrous defeat in American history and yet for many years Custer was portrayed as heroic and the Indians as merciless savages. The placing of Custer on a pedestal has definitely faded in recent years as much like “The Emperor’s New Clothes” historians and history buffs alike have spoken out about what lead up to the Battle of the Little Bighorn and it’s after effects.

Killing Custer by James Welch is an insightful book that deals with the above issues, as well as the personalities of those involved. Custer, Reno, Benteen, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Gall, and many others played a part that is detailed in this book. The indigenous author presents a fair account of what happened and why and explains how the politics of the day ensured that Custer became the doomed hero of the event.

I have long been interested in the Battle of Little Bighorn and have visited the site three or four times over the years. While Killing Custer doesn’t add anything new to the mix, I did appreciate that Welch represented both sides in a realistic and thoughtful manner. ( )

Somewhat pleasantly surprising. Author James Welch was primarily a novelist, and Blackfeet/Gros Ventre. I guiltily admit I had expected an AIM-style polemic; instead this is an insightful history and personal essay. Welch was hired as a screenwriter for a documentary film on the Battle of the Little Bighorn; the first and last thirds of the book narrate that project. Welch and filmmaker Paul Stekler have some difficulty getting Native Americans around Little Bighorn National Monument to cooperate with the filming, and Welch isn’t shy about calling one of them a con artist trying to extort money. However he also isn’t shy about pointing out that past films at the site promised compensation for native’s time and land and never delivered. Film maker Paul Stekler gets a short section at the end and is rather more circumspect in discussing Native American relations than Welch.


Welch is also even-handed in discussing Native American relations with settlers and the United States Army. He makes some of the same points raised by Andrew Isenberg in the recently reviewed The Destruction of the Bison; bison and natives hunting them on horseback are both relatively recent phenomena. He also notes that Plains Indian treatment of captives wasn’t up to Hague Convention standards – but neither were US Army tactics against villages full of women and children.


The centerpiece is, of course, the battle; Welch gives one of the best and clearest descriptions I’ve read, with an excellent map. Surrounding the battle section Welch gives the lives of the major players – Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and George Armstrong Custer. Welch, of course, isn’t very enthusiastic about Custer but he doesn’t demonize him either; Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse do get hagiographic treatment. Sitting Bull comes across as almost the stereotypical wise Indian leader; Crazy Horse gets praise, but also seems to be about a quarter bubble off level. Welch isn’t afraid to note that the deaths of both Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull were at least half the result of Native American politics and perfidy rather than being solely white treachery.


An easy read. Photographs of the participants when available, and ledger drawings of the battle. Page notes (i.e., a note section with page numbers but no in-line note numbers. No bibliography but sources are given in the page notes. As mentioned, one of the best maps of the battle I’ve seen. ( )

The book has a higher level of mastery of English than one usually finds in a book with such a sensational title. It is less about the battle of Greasy Grass (the winners get to name the battle!) than about the fate of the tribes of the plains in the following fifteen years. USA's Indian policy was a short sighted, violent exercise, and it's compelling/horrifying reading. One should couple this with watching the film "Cheyenne Autumn". ( )

Beautiful, sad and fortunately (or unfortunately ? ) both an objective and personal perspective.