Tags
American Indians, Anheuser-Busch, Cassilly Adams, Custer's Last Fight, Custer's Last Stand, George Armstrong Custer, History, Little Big Horn, Native Americans, Sioux
(Click to embiggen)
This painting is one of the reasons Custer is still remembered as a hero in some quarters. To quote a fellow-blogger:
In 1884, eight years after George Armstrong Custer’s death, the Anheuser-Busch brewing company commissioned an original oil painting, Custer’s Last Fight, by Cassilly Adams. It was reproduced as a lithograph by F. Otto Becker in 1889 and distributed as an advertising poster by Anheuser-Busch. This depiction of the Battle Of the Little Bighorn undoubtedly hung in more saloons than any image before or since, and fixed the iconography of Custer’s last moments in the national imagination.
I am told the image represents the terrain at Little Big Horn reasonably well, though some question its depiction of the soldier’s uniforms, the lack of guns among the Sioux, and of course Custer’s heroic posture in those final moments is open to more than a little doubt. What makes this image a truly golden bit of absurdity, however, would have to be the Indian shields.
…just a little off.
hm…
hmmm again!
Ahem!
northierthanthou 
lol you made me spit my tea
My week is made!
Excellent point, Daniel. Exagerrated nationalism
Reblogged this on swedish heart and soul.
You know, you just made me realize that I don’t actually know anything about Custer, the Last Stand or anything else except the names. This vaguely reminds me of the post that you wrote last week when you said that our schools do teach a more complicated version of American History than received wisdom would have it. Probably the number of times I’ve heard that we shouldn’t admire Custer out numbers any positive depictions of Custer by – well, I’ve never heard a positive depiction of Custer. I only have a vague notion that he lost a battle.
The detail that an advertizing picture might have help him become more famous than he otherwise might have is interesting.
Hmmmmmmm. The Disney-fication of American history started WAY earlier than I thought.
A book related to this that I found fascinating and highly recommend is “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” by Dee Brown. It was also made into a movie.
It is fascinating how advertising – then as now – both informs and disinforms.
Recently, I took a day trip to Black Kettle National Grassland and wrote a blog post about it at http://www.writingontherim.wordpress.com. What I learned there about Custer’s first so called battle which started his fame was basically that he and his troops massacred Black Kettle (an aging Southern Cheyenne chief) and his wife while they were approaching him in peace and flying a US and white flag above their tepee . Custer and his troops proceeded to kill many elderly, women, and children. When I mentioned this to a friend, he then told me that he had read somewhere that Custer was last in his class at Westpoint. I have not verified that however.
I’ve read that he was last in his class as well. Custer did distinguish himself in the civil war, and he was pretty well known for taking risks, both personally and with his men.
The battle you are talking about is, I believe Washita, which was his first major engagement with plains Indians. I think the part about Black Kettle coming out with the flags may actually be transposed onto Washtia from Black Kettle’s prior engagement (Sand Creek), but perhaps I missed it. Black kettle definitely did that at Sand Creek and Chivington’s troops at sand Creek did NOT respect those flags. Chivington’s troops then went on to massacre and mutilate women and children at Sand Creek.
Washita is a little more murky. It appears that Custer was chasing real enemy (Chivington was just looking for an easy victory – hence his decision to attack people that had already surrendered). At Washita, Black Kettle was doing his best to find a safe location to live in peace, and he was told the Washita wasn’t safe. So, he and his camp planned to seek out the army for advice the next day but there were those in his camp who believed they should move on that night. Hindsight being 20/20 and all. Anyway, Custer was chasing people along the river and Black Kettle’s camp is the one he came upon first.
The body count at Washita is more controversial (there isn’t much debate about Washita – an entire cavalry unit was present there, refused to participate and later testified against Chivington and his troops). Custer initially reported about a hundred enemy warriors slain and his command passed that on in their reports. But Custer had taken women and children hostage before charging another camp at Washita. Those hostages said that most of the people slain at Washita had been women and children. If I recall correctly the army later adjusted their estimates of warriors slain to match the account of Custer’s hostages.
Anyway, Custer was definitely famous before Washita, though he claimed it as a great victory (he was known to write his own publicity using a pen name), but he was also earning serious critics in the army at that time, some of them in his own command. He abandoned a small unit at Washita without even checking to see what had happened to them. Lots of his own people noticed that and regarded it as a betrayal. This is why I think Little Big Horn did so much for his reputation. His critics simply stopped at that point. Had he lived, people would have pressed these issues more, but who wants to criticize a martyr?
I have visited the place twice. My mother was a history teacher, so my first time was at age 8. Not sure what I learned then. I returned about 10 years ago. The native grasslands are very beautiful, some would say stark, but they’re very richly beautiful, and once were quite abundant with sustenance for people. You will see many medicine bundles left there. They should have left the native people alone.
Of course, the same political and economic powers exist today…Senator BombBombIran, Monsanto helping themselves to writing our laws…And the need for resistance continues, witness current #Elsipogtog http://t.co/C6eak2vCFv , Ecuador, Amazon.
For a Native shield see the Arikara buffalo hide shield online at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, or see it in person in Kansas City. And, as you said, the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho had rifles too.
I’m having so much fun in your blog that I could stay all day. My wise old grandmother always told me to add laughter to each day. I have found enough laughter in your blog to last me through the end of the year!
Thanks for letting me camp out in your blog for a little while today. I had a super great time and tried to leave my campsite as good as when I arrived. I’ll be back for more laughter!
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