Rank and Age

[natehale1971]

Originally Posted by Targan

I think the best thing about Custer's career was the way it ended. And it wasn't just his knee that was wounded (excuse my odd antipodean sense of humor).

I had read a biography that had been written about Custer (in fact it had been written by one of the Amerindian warriors who had served with him, and later against him). In that account it was said that Custer had loved and respected the Amerindian people's, but in the end it was his love for his country (and his own projected political career in the post-civil war landscape) out weighed that respect. Also in this book it was said that the only child that Custer had, was an Amerindian half-breed. It's also been said that when he was killed, his was the only body not to be desecrated by the victorious Amerindian warriors by Sitting Bull's direct order. They said he had only two injuries... a gunshot to the head, and the other to his heart.

Through out the book, the Amerindians interviewed talked about how Custer had continued to publiclly make a major deal of attention to the plight of the Amerindians who lived in the reservations was the biggest reason why he had never returned to his wartime rank of Brigadier General.

But my favourite thing about Custer is this little song.

The first and probably best-known Custer pop song was Mister Custer ("Please Mister Custer, I don't wanna go"), a Billboard #1 novelty hit of 1958 for performer Larry Verne, in which "a voice from the rear" of the Seventh Cavalry charge asks "What'm I doing here?" and "Mind if I be excused the rest of the afternoon?" Words and Music by Fred Darian, Al DeLory, and Joe Van Winkle. In the UK, it was successfully covered by Charlie Drake.