Editing George Armstrong Custer (section)

==Controversial legacy==
[[File:GACuster.jpg|thumb|right|George A. Custer in civilian clothes, December 1869]]

===Public relations and media coverage during his lifetime===
Custer has been called a "media personality",<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Ravage|first1=John W.|title=Black pioneers: images of the Black experience on the North American frontier|year=1997|publisher=University of Utah Press|location=Salt Lake City|isbn=978-0-87480-546-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/blackpioneersima00rava/page/74 74]|url=https://archive.org/details/blackpioneersima00rava/page/74}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Michael C.C.|last=Adams|editor1-last=Hall|editor1-first=Dennis G.|editor2-last=Hall|editor2-first=Susan|title=American icons: an encyclopedia of the people, places, and things that have shaped our culture|year=2006|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Connecticut|isbn=978-0-275-98429-8|chapter=George Armstrong Custer|page=[https://archive.org/details/americaniconsenc0000unse/page/186 186]|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/americaniconsenc0000unse/page/186}}</ref> and he valued good [[public relations]] and used the print media of his era effectively. He frequently invited journalists to accompany his campaigns (one, [[Associated Press]] reporter [[Mark Kellogg (reporter)|Mark Kellogg]], died at the Little Bighorn), and their favorable reporting contributed to his high reputation, which lasted well into the latter 20th century. Effusive praise from [[William Eleroy Curtis]], the first journalist to report the discovery of gold in the Black Hills,<ref name="bro">{{cite news |title=William Eleroy Curtis |publisher=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=October 6, 1911}}</ref> laid the foundation for Custer's status as a [[hero]] who furthered the "[[manifest destiny]]" of the United States.<ref name="env">{{cite book |last1=Slotkin |first1=Richard |title=The Fatal Environment: The Myth of the Frontier in the Age of Industrialization, 1800–1890 |date=1998 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=9780806130309}}</ref>

Custer enjoyed writing, often writing all night long. Before leaving the steamer ''Far West'' for the final leg of the journey, Custer wrote all night. His orderly John Burkman stood guard in front of his tent and on the morning of June 22, 1876, found Custer "hunched over on the cot, just his coat and his boots off, and the pen still in his hand."<ref>Glendolin D. Wagner, Old Neutrement. (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1989), pp. 137–138.</ref> Custer wrote a series of magazine articles of his experiences on the frontier, which were published in book form as ''My Life on the Plains'' in 1874. The work is still a valued primary source for information on U.S.-Native relations.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

===Posthumous legacy===
{{further|Cultural depictions of George Armstrong Custer}}
After his death, Custer achieved lasting fame. Custer's wife [[Elizabeth Bacon Custer|Elizabeth]], who had accompanied him in many of his frontier expeditions, did much to advance his fame with the publication of several books about her late husband: ''Boots and Saddles, Life with General Custer in Dakota'',<ref>Elizabeth B. Custer, Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer. (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1885)</ref> ''Tenting on the Plains, or General Custer in Kansas and Texas''<ref>Elizabeth B. Custer, Tenting on the Plains, or General Custer in Kansas and Texas. (New York, C.L. Webster and Co., 1887)</ref> and ''Following the Guidon''.,<ref>Elizabeth B. Custer, Following the Guidon. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890)</ref> thus furthering a "Custer myth".<ref name=":02">{{citation |author=Ezra J. Warner |date=1964 |location=Baton Rouge |pages=110 |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |title=Generals in blue: lives of the Union commanders}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The emergence of this myth was also supported by the secrecy of the Official Record of the 1879 Court of Inquiry, which was not released until 1951.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Graham |first1=William Alexander |title=The Custer Myth: A Source Book of Custeriana |last2=Dustin |first2=Fred |publisher=Stackpole Company |year=1953 |pages=xii}}</ref>

The deaths of Custer and his troops became the best-known episode in the history of the American Indian Wars, due in part to a painting commissioned by the brewery [[Anheuser-Busch]] as part of an advertising campaign. The enterprising company ordered reprints of a dramatic work that depicted "Custer's Last Stand" and had them framed and hung in many United States [[Western saloon|saloons]]. This created lasting impressions of the battle and the brewery's products in the minds of many bar patrons.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Griske |first=Michael |title=The Diaries of John Hunton|publisher=Heritage Books|year=2005|isbn=978-0-7884-3804-2|pages=78–79}}</ref> [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] wrote an adoring (and in some places, erroneous) poem.<ref>Connell (1984), pp. 380–391.</ref> President [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s lavish praise pleased Custer's widow.<ref>Connell (1984), p. 325.</ref>

President Grant, a highly successful general but recent antagonist, criticized Custer's actions in the battle of the Little Bighorn. Quoted in the ''New York Herald'' on September 2, 1876, Grant said, "I regard Custer's Massacre as a sacrifice of troops, brought on by Custer himself, that was wholly unnecessary – wholly unnecessary."<ref name="b540">Barnett (1996), p. 540.</ref> General Phillip Sheridan took a more moderately critical view of Custer's final military actions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Graham|first=William A.|title=Colonel|publisher=The Stackpole Co.|year=1953|isbn=0811703479|location=Harrisburg, PA|pages=115–117}}</ref>

General [[Nelson Miles]] (who inherited Custer's mantle of famed Indian fighter) and others praised him as a fallen hero betrayed by the incompetence of subordinate officers. Miles noted the difficulty of winning a fight "with seven-twelfths of the command remaining out of the engagement when within sound of his rifle shots".<ref>Barnett (1996), p. 311.</ref>

The assessment of Custer's actions during the American Indian Wars has undergone substantial reconsideration in modern times. Documenting the arc of popular perception in his biography ''[[Son of the Morning Star]]'' (1984), author [[Evan S. Connell]] notes the reverential tone of Custer's first biographer Frederick Whittaker (whose book was rushed out the year of Custer's death).<ref>Connell (1984), p. 287.</ref> Connell concludes:

<blockquote>These days it is stylish to denigrate the general, whose stock sells for nothing. Nineteenth-century Americans thought differently. At that time he was [[Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard|a cavalier without fear and beyond reproach]].<ref name="c411">Connell (1984), p. 411.</ref></blockquote>In the same year, W.A. Graham stated in ''The Custer Myth'':<blockquote>But for the "blaze of glory" that formed the setting for his dramatically tragic departure at the hands of yelling savages, he would probably be just another name of a long list of names in our histories of the Civil War, in which as "The Boy General" he made an outstanding record as a leader of Cavalry, as did also numerous others who have been long since all but forgotten.<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>

===Criticism and controversy===
====Debate over tactics====

{{quote box|width=23em|When writing about Custer, neutral ground is elusive. What should Custer have done at any of the critical junctures that rapidly presented themselves, each now the subject of endless speculation and rumination? There will always be a variety of opinions based upon what Custer knew, what he did not know, and what he could not have known...|—from ''Touched by Fire: The Life, Death, and Mythic Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer'' by [[Louise Barnett]].<ref name="b540"/>}}

The controversy over blame for the disaster at Little Bighorn continues to this day. Major [[Marcus Reno]]'s failure to press his attack on the south end of the Lakota/Cheyenne village and his flight to the timber along the river after a single casualty have been cited as a factor in the destruction of Custer's battalion, as has Captain [[Frederick Benteen]]'s allegedly tardy arrival on the field and the failure of the two officers' combined forces to move toward the relief of Custer.<ref>Nelson Appleton Miles, Personal recollections and observations of General Nelson A. Miles embracing a brief view of the Civil War, or, From New England to the Golden Gate : and the story of his Indian campaigns, with comments on the exploration, development and progress of our great western empire. (Chicago: Werner, 1896). Chapter XXII, pp. 289–290.</ref> Some of Custer's critics have asserted tactical errors.<ref name=":0" />
* While camped at Powder River, Custer refused the support offered by General Terry on June 21 of an additional four companies of the Second Cavalry. Custer stated that he "could whip any Indian village on the Plains"{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} with his own regiment and that extra troops would simply be a burden.
* At the same time, he left behind at the steamer ''Far West'' on the Yellowstone and a battery of [[Gatling guns]], although he knew he was facing superior numbers. Before leaving the camp, all the troops, including the officers, also boxed their sabers and sent them back with the wagons.<ref>[http://www.astonisher.com/archives/museum/wm_slaper_little_big_horn.html "William Slaper's Story of the Battle"], Personal account by a trooper in M company 7th Cavalry.</ref>
* On the day of the battle, Custer divided his 600-man command, despite being faced with vastly superior numbers of Sioux and Cheyenne.
* The refusal of an extra battalion reduced the size of his force by at least a sixth, and rejecting the firepower offered by the Gatling guns played into the events of June 25 to the disadvantage of his regiment.<ref>Goodrich, ''Scalp Dance'', 1997, pp. 233–234.</ref>

Custer's defenders, however, including historian Charles K. Hofling, have asserted that Gatling guns would have been slow and cumbersome as the troops crossed the rough country between the Yellowstone and the Little Bighorn.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=354YOkSKZXcC&q=nelson+miles+on+little+bighorn&pg=PA27 |title=Custer and the Little Big Horn: A ... – Google Books |date= June 1985|access-date=November 4, 2010|isbn=978-0-8143-1814-0|last1=Hofling |first1=Charles K |publisher=Wayne State University Press }}</ref> Custer rated speed in gaining the battlefield as essential and more important. Supporters of Custer claim that splitting the forces was a standard tactic, so as to demoralize the enemy with the appearance of the cavalry in different places all at once, especially when a contingent threatened the line of retreat.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stevenwkohlhagen.com/custer-luck-runs-out-or-what-really-did-happen-at-the-little-bighorn/|title=Supporters|publisher=stevenwkohlhagen.com|access-date=June 22, 2018}}</ref>

====Attacks on Indigenous peoples====

Sharply criticizing the self-styled "Indian fighter", U.S. Indigenous people's organized movements have emphasized Custer's role in the U.S. government's treaty violations and other injustices against Native Americans.

Standing Rock Sioux theologian and author [[Vine Deloria Jr.]] made a comparison between Custer and [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] officer [[Adolf Eichmann]], referring to Custer as the "Eichmann of the Plains" in a 1996 ''Los Angeles Times'' interview.<ref>Patricia Ward Biederman, "Symposium Will Take a Closer Look at Custer," ''Los Angeles Times,'' August 8, 1996.</ref> In his 1969 book ''Custer Died for Your Sins,'' Deloria condemned Custer's violations of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty that established the Black Hills region as unceded territory of the Sioux and Arapaho peoples.<ref>Vine Deloria Jr., ''Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1969).</ref> Custer's violations of the Fort Laramie Treaty included an 1874 gold expedition and the 1876 Battle of Greasy Grass (Battle of the Little Bighorn).<ref>Kimbra Cutlip, [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/1868-two-nations-made-treaty-us-broke-it-and-plains-indian-tribes-are-still-seeking-justice-180970741/ In 1868, Two Nations Made a Treaty, the U.S. Broke It and Plains Indian Tribes are Still Seeking Justice], ''Smithsonian Magazine'', November 7, 2018.</ref>

Critics have also highlighted Custer's [[Washita Massacre|1868 Washita River surprise attack]] that killed Cheyenne non-combatants including mothers, children, and elders. Custer was following Generals William Sherman and Philip Sheridan's orders for "total war" on the Indigenous nations. Describing total war methods, Sherman wrote, "We must act with vindictive earnestness against the Sioux, even to their extermination, men, women, and children...during an assault, the soldiers can not pause to distinguish between male and female, or even discriminate as to age."<ref>Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, ''An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States'' (Boston: Beacon Press, 2014), 146.</ref> There is credible evidence that, following the attack, Custer and his men sexually assaulted female captives.<ref>Jerome Green, ''Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyennes, 1867–1869'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004), 169.</ref> Another historian writes, "There was a saying among the soldiers of the western frontier, a saying Custer and his officers could heartily endorse: 'Indian women rape easy.'"<ref>Nathaniel Philbrick, ''The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of Little Bighorn'' (New York: Viking, 2010), 139.</ref>

Indigenous criticism of Custer's posthumous legacy may have begun immediately after Custer died. Good Fox (Lakota) recounted:
<blockquote>"I was told that after the battle two Cheyenne women came across Custer's body. They knew him, because he had attacked their peaceful village on the Washita. These women said, 'You smoked the peace pipe with us. Our chiefs told you that you would be killed if you ever made war on us again. But you would not listen. This will make you hear better.' The women each took an awl from their beaded cases and stuck them deep into Custer's ears."<ref>Peter Matthiessen, ''In the Spirit of Crazy Horse'' (New York: Viking, 1991), 170.</ref></blockquote>

In 1976, the American Indian Movement (AIM) celebrated the centennial of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho victory in the Battle of Greasy Grass, performing a victory dance around the marker of Custer's death.<ref>Grace Lichtenstein, [https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/25/archives/custers-defeat-remembered-in-entreaties-on-peace-custers-defeat.html Custer's Defeat Remembered In Entreaties on Peace], ''New York Times'', June 25, 1976.</ref> AIM continued protesting there, demanding the official renaming of the "Custer Battlefield," finally winning this demand in 1991.<ref>Bruce E. Johansen, ''Encyclopedia of the American Indian Movement'' (Santa Barbara: Greenwood, 2013), 94.</ref>

In May 2021, the United Tribes of Michigan unanimously passed a resolution calling for the removal of a Custer statue in Monroe, Michigan. The resolution stated in part:
<blockquote>
"(It) is widely perceived as offensive and a painful public reminder of the legacy of Indigenous people's genocide and present realities of systemic racism in our country... Custer is notoriously known as the 'Indian Killer' [...] Custer does not deserve any glory, nor the right to further torment minoritized citizens 145 years postmortem."<ref>Blake Bacho, [https://www.monroenews.com/story/news/2021/05/28/united-tribes-michigan-support-removing-custer-monument/7467487002/ United Tribes of Michigan approve efforts to remove ‘Indian Killer’ Custer monument], ''The Monroe News'', 28 May 2021.</ref>
</blockquote>