A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of the American West |...

A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of the American West | James Donovan | A standout

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A Terrible Glory: ...

	A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of the American West James Donovan Little, Brown and Company, 2008 - 544 pages average customer review:based on 53 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Best Book on the Subject, Period.

A few reviewers are making a big deal out of the discovery of a few factual errors in A TERRIBLE GLORY. Here's a revelation: this is a 500-page book of history. Every big historical book contains some errors--you can find them in David McCullough, too. It happens. But don't let that blind you to the fact that this is an excellent book.

How do I know? Because I've read TONS of books on the subject. There are some good ones. But this is the only one I've read that tells the entire story (including much-needed background to show how we got to that point in 1876, and what happened afterwards such as the Reno Court of Inquiry in 1879) and synthesizes all the material that's been out there for years, all the groundbreaking new findings and interpretations of the past 25 years of Fox, Scott, Michno, Donahue, Hardoff, etc. (and there have been a lot--several major archaeological digs, closer examination of the Indian accounts, forensic work, etc.), and some fine new research (in a very well-plowed field) to create what I think is simply the best overall book on the subject.

Yes, the author has come up with some new interpretations of the big mystery--what happened to Custer and his battalion. But in my opinion they're solidly researched, and seem to be as likely, or likelier, than any other versions I've seen. Speaking of research, there are 83 pages of endnotes. The author did his homework--there doesn't seem to be anything in the field he hasn't looked at, and new sources that I haven't seen cited anywhere. Has anyone ever looked at all the old Chicago newspapers (besides the Times accounts) that covered the Reno Court of Inquiry? I don't think so. To my knowledge those proceedings have never been dramatized--Tom Bookwalter's pamphlet on the subject, HONOR TARNISHED, was a fine examination, but nothing on this level. I found the Reno Court chapter one of the most fascinating in the book.

And I'm impressed with the author's objectivity. Yes, he shows the shortcomings of Reno and Benteen, and several other officers. But he doesn't go on rants about them, such as tainted the otherwise excellent TO HELL WITH HONOR. Donovan simply chronicles what they did and lets the reader decide who's at fault. And he doesn't let Custer off the hook--he doesn't put him on a pedestal. He makes it clear that Custer made mistakes, and was far from perfect. Overall, I think his point is that it was a team loss, as they say in sports. There was plenty of blame to go around.

Finally, I must say this is the best-written and entertaining account of the battle and the events surrounding it I've ever read. The writing is clear and unadorned. (No one's Evan Connell, but SON OF THE MORNING STAR is in no way a straightforward account of the battle.) But this author humanizes the battle, and the character sketches (on both sides of the battle) are among the best I've seen --and he devotes a good deal of time to the Indian side, which rarely happens.

Good maps, too--the progress maps in the battle chapters are very helpful.

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A standout

I believe there are more books on the Battle of the Little Bighorn than on any other event in North American history. Why another? Well, this is the one I would recommend to anyone new to the topic, who is really curious about the battle, or the events leading up to it and following it, or the participants. The author has a masterly command of the sources, a clear and vigorous literary style, and great insight into what background the reader needs, to understand some of the situations. For example, what cavalry tactics had worked best against the Plains Indians up to this point? Just how did the Indians normally respond to the various possible cavalry tactics?

I note that the author silently omits use of any potential source material which in his judgment is spurious... for example, the many contradictory tall tales of Curly the scout.

More than any other book on the battle known to me, this one also emphasizes and documents the complete incompetence and continual drunkenness of Reno. From a couple of short books I've read, written later by troopers of the 7th Cavalry, I glean that in fact Reno was already visibly and openly slurping from a large bottle of whiskey even as he was riding out of the fort on the way to Destiny, although this is not mentioned by the present author.

As a broad survey of the events leading up to the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the battle itself, and its aftermath, this book is hard to beat. It sets a very, very high mark for later authors to shoot for.

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The best book on the Little Bighorn I've read

This book was hard to put down and did a great job with the background information needed to understand the battle and what happened after the battle. I became interested in this topic when my family visited the battlefield twice in the 1970's. On one of these visits I discovered the grave of Marcus Reno in the national cemetary on the battlefield grounds. The author states that Reno was buried in an unmarked grave in Washington. At some point his remains were moved to this cemetary. I'm not sure this is where Reno would have wanted to spend eternity......

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Well Researched Coverage of the Battle of Little Bighorn

This book is a well researched and comprehensive history of the Battle of Little Bighorn, its back history and subsequent events. The author does a good job of providing historical perspective by providing just enough background on the key figures, without detracting from the focus of the book itself, the days immediately preceding and following the battle.

It is true that the author takes a very kind view of Custer, seeking to deflect much of the blame for the event on both his superiors and his subordinates. He does not, however, completely absolve Custer and presents a relatively well organized and presented argument for his position.

While much can be faulted in the performance of Terry, Reno and Benteen, the ultimate responsibility for the results of the battle must rest with Custer. It should not be forgotten, however, that while the reader, and historians, are presented with detailed maps, timelines and the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, none of these luxuries was available to Custer or the other actors in the drama.

Was Custer reckless and impetuous? Certainly, but the absence of such characteristics in a cavalry officer fighting plains Indians most times resulted in a lack of results. History had highlighted few times that cavalry was able to identify and attack a massed Indian force. To wait, after locating such a force would have likely resulted in a repeat of past history; the dispersal and melting away of the targeted enemy.

Unknown to Custer and his subordinates was the size, scope and fighting spirit of the Sioux at Little Bighorn. While he had received intelligence on the size of the encampment, such intelligence was conflicting and not usually completely reliable. Virtually no one, not in the Seventh Cavalry, not in the Army in general, and certainly not in the country at large, could possibly conceive of an Indian force capable of defeating Custer's army.

While the performance of Reno and Benteen can be faulted, and the later inquiry was certainly a stage managed farce, it is difficult to argue that alternate actions by the forces under their command could have done anything but expand the scope of the slaughter. Reno, a confirmed alcoholic who likely was drunk throughout the battle could have done little to improve the performance of the troops under his command once overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers. While his retreat and repositioning could have been more orderly and better executed, it did at least manage to save many of the soldiers in his command.

Benteen, on the other hand, in command of a fresh regiment and in possession of orders to advance and provide support for Custer's forces, somehow escaped as the hero of the battle. No explanation was ever provided as to why these orders were disregarded.

In any event, Custer's last stand and the Battle of Little Bighorn have become historical legend and provided the last gasp of the Lakota Sioux in the long effort of the United States government to subjogate the plains Indians and settle the Dakota Territory. This book is a very good overview of the events leading to and following that legendary clash.

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Very informative, but highly stilted, Custer-hagiographic, and straddling two stools

There is no doubt that Jim Donovan has the best word in research for a general-audience Little Bighorn work. He carefully documents his research, allows the reader to make his or her own assessments on many controversies of the battle and its background, and does a good job of presenting that background.

That said, Donovan's writing style, contrary to some reviewers' blurbs, while not necessarily pedestrian, is definitely stilted at times and also grating at times. For instance, I think I would have torn out what's left of my hair if I heard the phrase "dundreary Cooke" one more time.

Oh, and is copy editing becoming that lost of an art? Officers' titles do NOT capitalize, per either Chicago Manual for books or AP for media, but they're capitalizes all over the place in the book, something I found offputting and annoying.

This is nowhere near "Son of the Morning Star" stylistically. One other reviewer mentions "John Gray." I've not read his two works, but, from reviews of them, think they are "wanting" for some of the same reasons I have problems with Donovan -- too laudatory of Custer (see below).

But, let's get to the meat of the book.

While Custer's reputation, certainly among his surviving contemporaries in the Army officer corps, may have been more sinned against than sinning, Donovan's fulcrum for the book is a false dichotomy: Reno's cowardice/drunkenness/incompentence vs. Custer's incompetence/disobedience/arrogance.

There IS no dichotomy. Both are possible; more than that, both are actual, and were actual.

Yes, Terry's orders were discretionary. Nonetheless, if Custer had listened to his scouts, he might have waited a day for battle. If the Greasy Grass encampment started to scatter, he could pick off fair-sized chunks before it got too small. Also, of course, if had listened to his scouts, he never would have divided his forces.

And, yes, there was the hurry of battle, but the hurry was not so hurried for Custer to more carefully make his decisions and deployments. Most sinful of all was splitting his own five companies into two.

Well, maybe not retreating when he had the chance was the most sinful of all.

And, as one other reviewer argues, the "Custer luck" was by no means a sure thing before June 25, 1876. He escaped with not a lot more than his skin at Trevilian Station in 1864, as one other reviewer notes.

And, there are errors, not all of them mild.

Donovan says Custer was on post-war Reconstruction duty in Elizabethtown, Ky. As Kentucky never seceded (though a slave state), this was not Reconstruction duty.

He also glosses lightly over Custer's political activity in Reconstruction years. During the start of that time, he openly called for moderation toward the South.

Lesser errors: The Little Missouri flows into the Missouri, not the Yellowstone.1876 gave the Dems the first shot at winning an election in 16 years, not 20. President Monroe moved Indian tribes east of the Mississippi, not west, to Indian Territory.

Finally, the book is a hybrid. It attempts to background Custer without doing as well as it could, and it attempts to go more in-depth into the battle itself than, say, Connell, without doing as well as a more technical book.

Even as I write this review, I've been wavering on the 3/4 star border. But, because too many people have uncritically five-starred it, and reviews on Amazon don't happen in a vacuum, "A Terrible Glory" falls to three stars.

Beyond reviewing it in light of other reviewers, this review has to be seen in light of expectations raised by professional reviewers, especially those fulsome in praise of Donovan's narrative as well as his research.

That said, if you approach this book with lowered expectations and a thirst to wrestle with issues at the Little Bighorn/Greasy Grass, this is a good opener.

For the larger historical picture, I recommend two classics: The Last Days of the Plains Indian, and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Among new books, from what I've read in reviews, Archaeology, History, and Custer's Last Battle,by Richard A. Fox, sounds like it is a definite read.

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