Dreams of a Kitten by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Dreams of a Kitten

Page 390

during the American Civil War, suffered a major defeat. Five of

the 7th Cavalry's twelve companies were completely wiped out,

and Custer was killed, as were two of his brothers, his nephew,

and his brother-in-law. The total US casualty count included 268

dead and 55 severely wounded.

Public response to the Great Sioux War varied in the immediate

aftermath of the battle. At outset the bad news was officially

suppressed. When it was leaked, Custer's widow Libbie Custer

soon worked to burnish her husband's memory and during the

following decades, Custer and his troops came to be considered

heroic figures in American history. The battle and Custer's

actions in particular have been studied extensively by

historians. By the 1930s Custer's heroic public image began to

tarnish after the death of Elizabeth Bacon (Libby) Custer in

1933 at the age of 90 and the publication of “Glory Hunter - The

Life of General Custer” by Frederic F. Van de Water, which was

the first book to depict Custer in unheroic terms. The timing of

both instances, combined with the cynicism of an economic

depression and historical revisionism, led to a more jaded view

of Custer and his defeat on the banks of the Little Bighorn

River. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument honors those

who fought on both sides.