Publisher's Synopsis
Although General Custer is mostly known for his "last stand" at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, this dashing military commander was in reality one of America's finest generals.
His career started with the Union Army during the American Civil War, and ended after numerous highly successful campaigns in the Plains Wars against the Indians, where he was given the title of America's best "Indian fighter."
This dramatic biography, first produced in the year of his death, draws upon family and other original sources and takes the reader on a swashbuckling ride through some of the greatest engagements of the Civil War (Bull Run, Gettysburg, and the surrender of General Lee, amongst others) in which Custer played a part, through to the many battles, shocking atrocities and wars against the Indians which culminated in Custer's death at the age of 36.
"At the time of his death, he had the reputation among the Indians of being a great magician or 'medicine man, ' which increased the awe with which they regarded him. That, and his super-human courage, which Indians of all men are the first to respect, procured him the last honor which they could pay to his mortal remains. They dared to kill him from afar with bullets-that was merely the crooking of a finger-but something in that dead body struck even Rain-in-the-Face with a sense of awe, and the bravest Sioux of the northwest did not dare to lift his hand to strike dead Custer."
