This is the offshoot of another thread,in which someone stated that Custer and the Seventh Cavalry were a bunch of "cowardly scum-bags".

For a long time,Americans have unfortunately derived their knowledge of the history of the Indian Wars from Hollywood portrayals.Custer was Errol Flynn,the cocky,brave,boyishly loveable gallant commander who died valiantly in a last stand against insurmountable odds. Custer was also the foppish,arrogant,racist,murdering maniac from Little Big Man,who persecuted peace and nature-loving Indians for fun.

In reality Custer was an incredibly brave individual who became a Union Cavalry hero in the Civil War due to his propensity for leading mass charges by his Michigan unit,hat doffed,sword extended,and shouting at the top of his lungs.He was never a skilled tactician.His approach was to locate the enemy and crash into them,overcoming them by sheer bravado.It worked every time,with one notable exception.His men were a collection of fellow Union Officers who stuck with Custer because of loyalty and friendship,several Irish-born individuals who had risen from poverty and prejudice to positions of power in the American Army.Many of the cavalrymen were immigrants also...Irish,German,Italian immigrants who joined the cavalry as a way of making an honest living and feeding their families. They were stuck with a nasty job- keeping the Cheyenne and Sioux on their reservations and away from white settlers and friendly tribes like the Crow.

Custer,in truth,did not hate Indians.He got into alot of trouble for writing letters to Washington complaining of their poor treatment by corrupt Indian Agents.Most of the Sioux and Cheyenne knew him and respected him,if not having the same feeling for his brother Tom.The Washita Battle was not a Sand Creek scenario,in which undisciplined civilian troops ran amok massacring women and children indiscriminately.There were,however,many "civilian" casualties,in addition to the fact that Custer burned wigwams and food supplies (as he was ordered to) which surely resulted in many deaths from starvation and exposure.

So what were these men of the Seventh Cavalry? Men who carried forward the often mistaken and blundering Indian Policy of the US in the late 1800s,sometimes cruelly,sometimes bravely,and ultimately tragically.To stand on the ground where they fell,to see where the charge stopped,the retreat began,the panic ensued,and where men clustered together for some last solace of dying together in the face of horror...to stand there is to gain some measure of empathy for these men who were,I think,no better or worse than any of us had been in that place and that time.