Heaven will not be heaven until we are joined together. – George Custer
Last in his 1861 West Point graduating class with more disciplinary measures than any other cadet in the academy’s history, George A. Custer become one of the Union’s greatest cavalry officers and the battles he led turned the tide of the Civil War. He personally accepted the white flag of surrender from Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Yet his stunning defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 has overshadowed the Civil War achievements of the “Boy General.”
The flamboyant life and military career of Custer is thoughtfully examined in a new PBS documentary, “Custer’s Last Stand,” airing Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. on KUED.
Brash, arrogant and an impulsive risk-taker, with the yippie ki-yay bravado of Bruce Willis in “Die Hard,” Custer craved publicity. He made a trademark of his flowing, cinnamon-scented golden locks, and his tailor-made uniform, with elaborate braiding and a red cravat, was more flashy than even his Corps commander's. Enlisted men all took to wearing red scarves.
Custer and his wife saw his career as their combined project in life and became the era’s power couple. Filmmaker Stephen Ives' expert research also includes a review of the passionate love Custer had for Libbie. The documentary takes a poignant turn when voiceovers are heard reading from their letters, often as long as 20 pages.
“If loving with one’s whole soul is insanity, then I am ripe for an insane asylum” is a quote from one of Libbie’s letters.
“Heaven will not be heaven until we are joined together,” Custer wrote.
Ives can be faulted for including interviews that may include opinion with little documentation, but the result is a fascinating view of a remarkable serviceman. The film reviews the concept that the demise of Native Americans in America rested on Custer’s shoulders.
One of Ives’ interviewees is Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the bestseller, “The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Big Horn.” The battles against Native Americans, Philbrick says, were government-designed to create “a dirty little war that would serve the agenda of American imperialization.”
According to the narrative of “Custer’s Last Stand,” “If it hadn’t been for Custer’s death, the Indian wars might have played out for another decade, but because of his death it gave the military the excuse and the money and the resources from Congress to completely overwhelm the tribes holding out. And within a few years they were subdued.”
His name may still evoke hate and disparaging comments, but the documentary draws a convincing conclusion that Custer was a military hero even in the last battle of his life.
Following the 1992 documentary, “Last Stand at Little Big Horn,” which more fully considered both white and Native American sides of the Indian Conflict, “Custer’s Last Stand” is the second PBS documentary on Custer, but it’s a worthy addition to the 24th season of the award-winning American Experience series.