Leo T. reviewed on 10/8/2019 + 1775 more book reviews

Although this is a well-plowed field, the author brings together a great deal of the mountains of evidence, weighs it, and offers (and explains) his conclusion. The book is very detailed but readable for interested folks. The endnotes are lengthy and explanatory, not offering mere citations. Mr. Philbrick spend years on this, including visiting the battlefield severals times, riding over it on horseback, riding the river steamship, and visiting numerous libraries, museums, and archives. He wisely takes much of the story of the battle itself from Indian sources, including pictographs, rightly noting that the participant remembered well every coup. He especially considers the mind set of LTC Custer and Chief Sitting Bull, the leaders of their respective forces. Mr. Philbrick takes help wherever he can find it and generously credits his sources, such as Mr. Vestal who left notes recording his visits with scores of participants from both sides.
Mr. Philbrick, in the wake of many earlier students of the battle, carefully considers the movements of LTC Custer and of his enemies. "Having found a place to cross the river, Custer and the Left Wing rode up to a nearby ridge, where they awaited the arival of Keough and Benteen. They waited for twenty minutes, according to John Stands in Timber, who received his information from Wolf's Tooth, one of the young Cheyenne warriors who had been following Custer's command since it left the Right Wing to the south. By this point, Custer must have been seething with impatience and indignation."
Maps, photos, bibliography, index.

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