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Sdawdling of Captain Frederick Benteen. Custer’s admirers
argued that had Reno attacked his assigned flank of the Indian
village with greater force, the Indians would have been
routed, and had Benteen led his men to Custer’s
relief, they could have saved some of the men
from the colonel’s otherwise surrounded and
doomed five companies. In the end, 267 men
died with Custer on the Little Bighorn,
including two of his brothers, a nephew
and a brother-in-law.
The grieving Colonel Sturgis
went public in a scathing July 18 tele-
gram to the Chicago Tribune, published
in that paper the following morning
and subsequently reprinted in news-
papers nationwide:
What I especially deprecate is the man-
ner in which some papers have sought to
make a demigod out of Custer, and to
erect a monument to Custer and none to
his soldiers. On the field of slaughter the
bodies of 300 or more [sic] soldiers were found
piled up in a little ravine, while behind were
found those of Custer and his little band of chosen
officers. When the officers of these men fell, who was
there to rally them? Why were not some of the other offi-
cers sent forward with them? If relief had come to the party between
these two points, what a sight it would have been to find 300 soldiers
collected on one side and in the rear the commander of the little
force surrounded by its officers!
Mind, I don’t want to impugn their bravery. Custer was a brave
man, but he was also a very selfish man. He was insanely ambitious
for glory, and the phrase “Custer’s luck” affords a good clew [sic] to
his ruling passion. The public opinion regarding Custer is to a great
extent formed from his writings and newspaper reports, and peoplehaving read these are very apt to refuse a hearing to the contrary
statement, saying, in effect, “Oh, we know better than that”; and
it is on account of this feature in public opinion that I do not desire
to put myself in a false position. People say: “Oh, yes, [Brevet]
General Sturgis has had his son killed. He feels it and, while the
feeling lasts, is liable to exaggeration. Then, too, he is the head of
this regiment and anxious to be sent out with it, but was not sent.
Custer was sent in his stead, and now he feels hurt.”
But that isn’t it, altogether. What I would criticize is the want
of judgment which drew these men into a trap. Before the war
there were some of the Army officers who had made reputations
as Indian fighters. The record will show the most successful Indian
fighters, and, without any undue conceit, I think I may claim a
place on that list. I never went after them that I didn’t catch them.
The report of the secretary of war in 1860 will show that I followed
the [K]iowas and Comanches so that their camps were entirely
broken up, and they caused no further trouble. [ James] Oakes and
[William B.] Hazen were also good Indian fighters. But the war
is over; the old authorities that knew us all are gone. A new set
of officers has arisen, and a young America has grown up at
the same time.
Indian warfare is no picnic, as some people re-
gard it. The Sioux can raise 6,000 or 7,000 men
at a day’s notice and are quite formidable.
Custer, you see, talked with [Lt. Gen. Philip
H.] Sheridan from day to day and begged
him to give him a chance to go on an ex-
pedition. I was sent up to St. Paul against
my will. As an illustration of the feeling
with which Custer is regarded, let me
tell you a short story: Two years ago
I was at St. Paul, and Mr. Robinson of
the Times came to me at the time Custer
was making his expedition to the Black
Hills. He spoke of Professor [William]
Richeson, who was anxious to accom-
pany Custer’s expedition and asked me
what I thought about the propriety of his
doing so. I told him frankly just what I felt
—that Custer, in organizing and conducting
that expedition, was really hunting a fight with
the Indians for his own glorification, and I didn’t
believe Custer knew sufficient of the Indian char-
acter to fight the tribes to advantage, but was liable,
in consequence of his underestimation of Indian resources
and his overestimation of his own skill, to be led into a trap, in
which case, I told the gentleman, there would be no one left alive
to tell the tale. As a result of that interview the party contemplating
the excursion did not leave St. Paul.
It is true there was no attack in that campaign, but now, at the
first important attack, the prophecy was fulfilled. When I knew
that my boy had gone out, and that General Terry was in com-
mand, I considered that we were tolerably fortunate. Terry has
a matured judgment, and I looked for the campaign to be con-Grieving Father
Colonel Samuel Sturgis pinned
blame for his son’s death on
George Armstrong Custer.Ill-fated Son
Second Lieutenant James
Garland “Jack” Sturgis of
Company E died in the
Battle of the Little Bighorn.