h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here's some info from the History Channel Special on Gold about Custer. I need to go to work in a sec, but I want to get this down while I have it in my head. I don't have time to check the article to see if it's already in there.

There had been rumors that there was gold in the Black Hills. The Army dispatched Custer to confirm the rumors. He took about a thousand soldier, a hundred covered wagons, a band riding white horses and two miners. The soldiers helped prospect for the gold. When Custer sent out his message that there was gold, the rush was on.

At first, the Army tried to keep the prospectors out. General Sheridan ordered soldiers to arrest the leaders of the miners and burn their gear. The Army balked at having to fight it's own citizens, and they appealed to the government to buy the reservation from the indians. The government tried, but the indians wouldn't sell. The Black Hills are sacred land.

I didn't catch the part about how the war started.

One thing that they did mention is that the indians at Little Big Horn didn't act like plains indians usually did. In the summer, they always ran away when soldiers attacked. IMO, that's probably why Custer was foolish enough to attack about 10,000 indians.

After the route, the Army was outraged. In a year, every indian that was at Little Big Horn was dead, on a reservation or in Canada.

Another thing worth mentioning: The Indians' guns were even less reliable than Custer's, and had only a limited supply of ammunition for their guns. At the Little Big Horn, they spent much more ammo than they had to; they spent most of their supply there. This made them an easy conquest for the next Federal force to come along.

So, in a sense, Custer lost the battle but won the campaign.

In a broader sense he did lose the battle but start the road to victory in the war: this one unprecedented defeat hardened attitudes in the East towards the Indians, particularly in the government. So they pushed the Indians into accepting smaller and smaller reservations controlled by often unscrupulous white 'Indian agents'. Also they had little tolerance for Indians leaving the reservations and tried various measures to ethnically cleanse tribes such as taking away the children to boarding schools in the East. In some respect defeat for the Custer resulted in this and lead to eventual white victory at the battle of Wounded Knee.

Could some scouts tell me if I need to change anything to get this entry into the edited guide? I'd welcome any suggestions about changes I could make from anybody. Two Bit Trigger Pumping Moron (if that is your real name), I've put in a sentence about Custer's earlier involvement in the Indian wars. It's not much, but it does show that there were other conflicts going on at the same time.

Um, Orcus? Please stay away from me and my family. Did I see you watching my house?

Thanks for all the info guys. There is enough knowledge floating around here for an entry or project on the Native Americans. Thanks 2Bit, I couldn't find much on the gold expedition that Custer led, but now it's definitely getting a mention. Stupid of me not to mention it sooner.
There's also a lot of very sad material about the fate of the old Indians, like Geronimo. He had the childhood of a young Indian untouched by outside influences, and became a brave. But by the time he died he had been taken prisoner and displayed for the edification of the tourists. There's even pictures of him at the wheel of a car. It makes you realise just how fast the Indian way of life was subdued. The whole conquest of the Plains and the West took place in the span of a single lifetime.

Thanks for all the info guys. There is enough knowledge floating around here for an entry or project on the Native Americans. Thanks 2Bit, I couldn't find much on the gold expedition that Custer led, but now it's definitely getting a mention. Stupid of me not to mention it sooner.
There's also a lot of very sad material about the fate of the old Indians, like Geronimo. He had the childhood of a young Indian untouched by outside influences, and became a brave. But by the time he died he had been taken prisoner and displayed for the edification of the tourists. There's even pictures of him at the wheel of a car. It makes you realise just how fast the Indian way of life was subdued. The whole conquest of the Plains and the West took place in the span of a single lifetime. Please keep the suggestions coming.

Thanks for all the info guys. There is enough knowledge floating around here for an entry or project on the Native Americans. Thanks 2Bit, I couldn't find much on the gold expedition that Custer led, but now it's definitely getting a mention. Stupid of me not to mention it sooner.
There's also a lot of very sad material about the fate of the old Indians, like Geronimo. He had the childhood of a young Indian untouched by outside influences, and became a brave. But by the time he died he had been taken prisoner and displayed for the edification of the tourists. There's even pictures of him at the wheel of a car. It makes you realise just how fast the Indian way of life was subdued. The whole conquest of the Plains and the West took place in the span of a single lifetime. Please keep the suggestions coming.

Thanks for all the... darn, what happened there? I think I pressed the Post Message button too many times. Sorry.

I don't think Geronimo had anything to do with Little Big Horn. As I recall, he was down in the South West. Although it was General Nelson A. Miles who led the campaign to capture him. I don't think the 5th Infantry was involved in that one, but I can't find the campaign register right now.

Even at the time, I think there was a realization that things weren't going badly for the indians. Since, I've been commenting on this board, I've been checking things out of Miles' biography. He commented on the sad lot of the indans and how they were getting screwed.

I doubt he was very sympathetic. There was a big rivallry between the Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) about who should have jurisidiction over the indians. They also blamed each other constantly for the ongoing problems with the indians.

I was just using Geronimo's life as an example of how the Indians got royally screwed, not linking him with the article. Although his life would be an interesting subject...

Is anyone going to recommend the article? C'mon guys, I've been waiting weeks now. If you have any problems with it I'd be more than happy to answer them. Pleeeease.

I might take those sites you listed at the bottom and put them in as 's instead.

Good article. Nicely balanced, and gives a feel for the man.

I do have one, perhaps trivial, issue. The use of the word redskins in the last sentence of the 'Blunders' section. I'd be more comfortable of you put 's around it. Redskins has a history as a pejorative term, names of American football teams notwithstanding.

Somehow, 'redskins' instead of redskins seems a bit less rude.

Overall, I can't really see how this could NOT get into the edited guide.

Good piece. I like. As an Infantry man I see Custer as a bumbling fool and you pulled no punches. Go job.

A thoroughly good read.

The scouts only get a certain number of "picks" from Peer Review, so I'm afraid it's thumb-twiddling time.

Thanks for all the replies. Not Banned Yet, I put the ' marks around redskins. It is a small matter, but the article will be better if it doesn't have any racial slurs, real or imagined, in it. 2Bit, I'm not sure what you mean about the references, but I'm going straight to the GuideML clinic to check it out. Thanks again for all the favourable reviews.

Ok, I've put the links in the Referenced Sites sidebar. It looks neater, and makes the article look shorter.

Hi Legion,

I liked the entry.

Have you read Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"? I know it was once banned in the U.S. but I think that was a long time ago. Should be generally available now.

Awu

This is a little off topic, but how do you ban a book in the United States. Our freedom of the press is extremely broad, and there's not really a way to ban books that aren't pornographic. Even then, it's only prohibited to minors.

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review' to 'George Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn'.

This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review Forum because your entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.

You can find out what will happen to your entry here: http://www.h2g2.com/SubEditors-Process

Congratulations!

You're right. A total ban isn't possible.
It was first published in 1970. Maybe some schools or libraries in some states refused to carry it. I'll try to find out. I think it's mentioned in the forword of my German copy. (I don't have the book handy.)

Awu.

P.S. I just found confirmation on the American Civil Liberties Union site that it was once "banned from public schools and libraries". It's also mentioned in the book "Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Political Grounds" by Nicholas J. Karolides