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Custer
In his book, Custer and the Great
Controversy, Robert Utley writes, “Almost every myth of the Little Bighorn
that one finds today masquerading as history may be found also in the press
accounts of July 1876.” In the bitter election
year of 1876, the Custer tragedy was a godsend for Democrats to use against
their Republican opponents. “The Little
Bighorn disaster…instantly became a pawn on the political chessboard.” (Utley,
39)
Utley writes that the New York
Herald launched a vicious attack on the Grant administration, denouncing
President Grant as, “the author of the present Indian war.” On July 16 the Herald asked “Who Slew Custer?”, and in answer declared, “The
celebrated peace policy of General Grant…that is what killed Custer.” The press
placed the battle “…in a political context that assured its rise to a national
issue of the first magnitude.” (Utley,
39, 41)
After the initial wave of political
hysteria abated, the press insured that the Custer controversy would be
constantly reignited by readily publishing the prejudices, opinions, and
grievances of officers who had served with Custer or on the frontier. Pro-Custer
editor’s rushed to Custer’s defense.
And so it continued between pro and anti-Custer partisans for half a
century. Utley concludes that it was the
press that, “laid the foundations for the evolution of the history of the
Little Bighorn into one of the most misunderstood, confused, and controversial
events in American history.” (Utley, 48)
Whatever else George Armstrong Custer may
or may not have been, even in the twenty-first century, he remains the great
lightning rod of American history. This book presents portraits of Custer and
the Battle of the Little Bighorn as they have appeared in print over successive
decades and in the process demonstrates the evolution of American values and
priorities.
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