Crazy Horse And Custer by Stephen Ambrose

 

When you mention Crazy Horse or George Armstrong Custer, what most people think of is the battle of Little Bighorn where Custer and all his troops were massacred.  But Stephen Ambrose has, in this book, concentrated on these two leaders' lives leading up to that meeting.

Custer was brave and impetuous.  He often went against orders if he thought he had a better plan and that characteristic had taken him far in his military career, both in the Civil War and in the Indian Wars against the Sioux.  He was vain and desirous of fame but one of the best soldiers the Army had as he could train his troops to a high level, view a field of battle and make successful adjustments on the fly and his stamina was noteworthy.  He had gone to West Point and made many contacts there.  The love of his life was his wife Libbie.

Crazy Horse was his exact opposite.  He was a quiet man, reserved and went into battles not with a full headdress but with one feather in his hair.  He wasn't a chief but was a battle leader and his words were taken with seriousness.  He and his peers were fighting for the survival of their way of life.  

On the day the two finally met, Custer made another of his quick decisions but this one was fatal.  He had split his forces into three parts and his section had around two hundred and fifty men.  One of the other sections did not attack as ordered and the other was too late.  Custer tried to get to the top of a hill where he could defend successfully until reinforcements arrived, but Crazy Horse and his fifteen hundred men got there first and swept down, massacring every man.

Stephen Ambrose has made his reputation writing historical books.  He was a historian by trade, a history professor.  He wrote over thirty books, many of which were bestsellers and adapted for movies and tv series.  In this book, as he contrasts the two men throughout their lives, showing how each lived as a child, a young man, a beginning leader and then a respected leader, he shows the strengths and fatal flaws of each man.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers.