The Little Bighorn Campaign; March--September 1876

Conshohocken, PA: Combined Books. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. 312, [8] pages. Illustrations. Maps. Guide for the Interested Reader. Orders of Battle. Index. This is one of the Great Campaigns series. The author was a scholar at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He has written widely, with some emphasis on the American West, and how it has been depicted in film. "General Custer and 261 Massacred!...No Survivors to Tell the Story!" So read newspapers headlines after Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's command of the 7th Cavalry was annihilated by a host of Indians at the Little Bighorn River on 25 June 1876. Custer and his tragic fate have become a legend enshrouded in myth and controversy. Historians have focused primarily on the Last Stand, Custer and his troops making a desperate effort to save themselves from inevitable disaster. Too often this approach has ignored the great panorama surrounding the event. Custer authority Sarf investigates the 1876 campaign against the Plains Indians. Sarf describes the personalities and events that led to the disaster from a failed attempt to subdue the Indians at the Powder River to Brigadier General George Crook's defeat at the Rosebud to Buffalo Bill's first scalp for Custer. Sarf also investigates the nature of Plains warfare, the weapons used, the forces involved, and the strategies and tactics employed by Army troops and the Indians. Special sidebars include such topics as the personalities involved, Indian allies of the Army, and a history of the 7th Cavalry. The Custer buff will enjoy the orders of battle for both the Indians and Army.