Post by Allen Wiener on Apr 20, 2010 12:28:30 GMT -5
There is a preview of Philbrick's The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of Little Bighorn in the current issue of American Heritage magazine. The article, "Undying Fame," gives some hints at what's in the book and I found it well written and interesting.
For the most part, I didn't see anything really new and there are no footnotes in the article, so no idea what his sources are. One thing that really jumped out at me was Philbrick's assertion that, at the start of the attack by Reno's command at the south end of village, Sitting Bull thought the soldiers might be there for peace talks. He says that Sitting Bull mounted up and headed toward Reno with other warriors intending to see if they were there to negotiate. When his horse was shot out from under him, he changed his mind and ordered the warriors to attack. Philbrick says that Sitting Bull got this idea when Reno's command inexplicably stopped and dismounted short of the village, when they might have struck a devastating blow by riding straight through the village before the Indians were able to organize a counterattack. As Philbrick puts it:
"Sitting Bull appears to have interpreted Reno's sudden pause as the prelude to possible negotiations. 'I don't want my children fighting until I tell them to,' he said. 'That army may be com[ing] to make peace, or be officials bringing rations to us.'
This seemed absurd to me. The Indians had fought back Crooke only days before (although Custer didn't know that). Why would they think these soldiers were on some kind of peace mission? Why would the cavalry be bringing them rations and why would Sitting Bull, who had experienced a vision of coming battle, think they would? It sounds like something he may have said years later, but without citation there's no way to tell.
I went back to check Utley's Lance and the Shield Donovan's Terrible Glory, Gray's books and a few other sources. I did not find any reference to such an intention on Sitting Bull's part. In fact, quite the opposite seems to have been the case. When the attack began, there was widespread panic in the Indian village, women and children fled in panic or were taken to safety by warriors; some were killed before escaping. Warriors hastened to paint themselves, retrieve ponies and head toward the attack. Sitting Bull was among these. He knew he was heading for battle, armed himself and one of his adopted sons. Since this evidence is so strong in the other sources, I have to wonder where Philbrick got the idea. I'll be interested in checking his sources when the book comes out.
Allen
For the most part, I didn't see anything really new and there are no footnotes in the article, so no idea what his sources are. One thing that really jumped out at me was Philbrick's assertion that, at the start of the attack by Reno's command at the south end of village, Sitting Bull thought the soldiers might be there for peace talks. He says that Sitting Bull mounted up and headed toward Reno with other warriors intending to see if they were there to negotiate. When his horse was shot out from under him, he changed his mind and ordered the warriors to attack. Philbrick says that Sitting Bull got this idea when Reno's command inexplicably stopped and dismounted short of the village, when they might have struck a devastating blow by riding straight through the village before the Indians were able to organize a counterattack. As Philbrick puts it:
"Sitting Bull appears to have interpreted Reno's sudden pause as the prelude to possible negotiations. 'I don't want my children fighting until I tell them to,' he said. 'That army may be com[ing] to make peace, or be officials bringing rations to us.'
This seemed absurd to me. The Indians had fought back Crooke only days before (although Custer didn't know that). Why would they think these soldiers were on some kind of peace mission? Why would the cavalry be bringing them rations and why would Sitting Bull, who had experienced a vision of coming battle, think they would? It sounds like something he may have said years later, but without citation there's no way to tell.
I went back to check Utley's Lance and the Shield Donovan's Terrible Glory, Gray's books and a few other sources. I did not find any reference to such an intention on Sitting Bull's part. In fact, quite the opposite seems to have been the case. When the attack began, there was widespread panic in the Indian village, women and children fled in panic or were taken to safety by warriors; some were killed before escaping. Warriors hastened to paint themselves, retrieve ponies and head toward the attack. Sitting Bull was among these. He knew he was heading for battle, armed himself and one of his adopted sons. Since this evidence is so strong in the other sources, I have to wonder where Philbrick got the idea. I'll be interested in checking his sources when the book comes out.
Allen
