"Book Review: Little Bighorn Remembered: The Untold" Topic

… Indian Story of Custer's Last Stand

"Indian accounts of the Battle of the Little Bighorn are fascinating and add much to the wealth of knowledge about George Armstrong Custer's shocking defeat on June 25, 1876, but they certainly do not end the controversy or debate. Not that any Custer buffs would really want that, would they? Herman J. Viola, curator emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution, has collected accounts by Indians who participated in the battle, but not all Indians agree on what they saw, or else they saw different things.

The best job of making sense of those accounts has been Gregory F. Michno's 1997 book Lakota Noon: The Indian Narrative of Custer's Defeat. But Viola's book is certainly another welcome addition to the field. To get the oral history, Viola relied on such Indian scholars as Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow, the official historian of the Crow tribe and the grandson of Crow warriors Medicine Crow and White Man Runs Him. But this book, despite the subtitle, is more than recollections. Contributions to Little Bighorn Remembered have also been made by non-Indians…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Not a bad book. I've had it since it was published. Refer to it occasionally, but not often.

The comment above about Greg Michno's book, Lakota Noon, is right on. Greg did a fabulous job. He made sense out of what so many historians threw their hands up over. Interestingly, he told me he did it by making map board wargame type markers for the various Indians and using them on a map as he traced their various movements around the battlefield as he researched their accounts.

Tom

Many thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand

I studied with Mr. Viola in 1987 in Cody, Wyoming. A very kind man and excellent author. GOD Bless you Herman if you are reading this.