Trafford Publishing: From Crockett to Custer

Here is the full reference card for this book...

If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

From Crockett to Custer

by Mike Martin

286 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-2256; ISBN 1-4120-1878-1; US$26.29, C$33.29, EUR21.69, £14.99

The legendary battles of the Alamo and Little Bighorn, blended together in one volume, exploring the links which connect them. Emotive and detailed descriptions of events then and now.

Read more!

About the Book About the Author Excerpts Catalogue Information

About the Book

Two legendary battles which sprang from the depths of history to shine as symbols of self sacrifice, heroism and glorious defeat. Encounters which took the lives of two of America's most famous figures: Davy Crockett and General Custer.
What is the essential link between the battles of the Alamo and the Little Bighorn? Why did Crockett choose to leave a safe political career to throw in his lot with suicidal adventurers? What drove Custer to ignore common sense and ride to certain death? How could it be that the defenders of the Alamo were made up largely of lawyers and doctors? Or that the troopers of the 7th Cavalry numbered a majority of Irishmen and Germans? Did you know that Crockett kept his besieged comrades entertained with fiddle tunes or that Custer's devoted wife may have had a romantic fling with one of her husband's officers?
These are just a few of the many questions answered by this new book which explores connections between these events. For the first time, the battles are linked, exploring reasons, causes, outcomes and personalities. Basing his viewpoint on years of research and travelling across the relevant areas of the USA, the author gives a detailed account which is accessible to anyone coming to the subject for the first time. Illustrated with the author's own photographs, maps and sketches, "From Crockett to Custer" takes the reader on an informative journey through the battlefields as they were and as they are today.
An ideal introduction to the battles of the Alamo and Little Bighorn which will give a true understanding of what happened and the legacy which remains.

About the Author

Mike Martin is a self taught but thorough historian whose interest and credence is based upon a true passion for his chosen subjects.
By profession he works in many fields as a musician, entertainer, actor, lecturer, London tour guide and writer. He has completed presentations at the Royal Armouries, Leeds, performing relevant music and songs, as well as lecturing on aspects of the Old American West. Qualifications include an Art College diploma in film and television production. An active member of the Custer Association of Great Britain and the American based Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association, he is also prominent as a member and officer of the show business charity brotherhood the Grand Order of Water Rats. His father, George Martin, was a well known comedian in Variety who later became a prolific television scriptwriter.
As a freelance tour guide and lecturer, he specializes in such subjects as Jack the Ripper, also working as a contributor and reviewer for publications such as The Stage and various historical journals.

Sample Excerpt

Put simply, this is a book about The Alamo and Custer's Last Stand.
Although not hugely significant as events in the grand scale of history, most people in the Western world will at least have heard of them. The names ring a bell with many souls who do not give a hoot about the past. By this I mean that your average "man in the street" would probably be aware of Davy Crockett and General Custer and the stylised images they conjure up whilst not having a clue who Robespierre and Brunel were. (Even though both of the latter arguably had a far more practical effect on the progress of the human race.)
So why is this? Well, the likes of Crockett and Custer have emerged from history to join a select band of revered figures who have been placed on the pedestal of legendary symbolism. Proud Custer with his long, golden hair and tough frontiersman Crockett in his coonskin cap, both dying bravely as they face impossible odds. It is the stuff adventure films are made of, and, of course, there have been many, along with countless books and television portrayals. The image is a romantic one, both characters being flamboyant and larger than life as, by all accounts, they were in reality. Having lived adventurously, fate placed the pair of them in situations which would secure their unique notch in our imaginations. As symbols of the American Wild West they stand almost alone, but the West was far from devoid of such characters. Had they not died the way they did would they really be remembered in such a fashion? Almost certainly not. As it is, they make good movie material.
After all, that was how my interest was originally stirred. Growing up in the South of England in the 1950s I was very much influenced by cinema and the growing craze of television. Like anyone of my generation I was subject to Disney's version of the Crockett legend and wiled away my days singing "King of the Wild Frontier" in my synthetic long tailed hat, taking turns with school friends to sell my life dearly against the Mexican hordes in our simulated Alamo. (i.e. My parent's back garden shed and greenhouse!) And then along came John Wayne's epic version of The Alamo and the whole genre took a quantum leap. I cannot emphasise enough how much of an effect that excellent, though deeply flawed, film had on me. As a six year old it was like emerging into the light. Before that there had been other big screen versions of the Alamo story, good ones too like Sterling Hayden's The Last Command, but Wayne's effort was in a league of its own. Whatever one thinks of it now, with all its preaching, mawkishness and mistakes, the fact remains that in 1960 it was quite a milestone, certainly for me. Even now, having seen it countless times, I can still enjoy the experience of watching it all over again. Apart from anything else, I find it hugely nostalgic. Much of it is pretty accurate too, but, more than that, it certainly succeeds in portraying the spirit of the legend. More of that later.
And what of Custer? Well, he burrowed himself into my consciousness at such an early stage that I just cannot pin it down. Of course, there were the many films, notably Errol Flynn's vintage black and white version They Died With Their Boots On, a movie which did not exactly enhance historical fact but certainly played its part in romanticizing the boy general. Custer has been portrayed by Hollywood in many guises, (even by Ronald Reagan!) and since Flynn's heroic performance, the field commander of the 7th. Cavalry has usually been shown as a megalomaniac, Indian hating, incompetent idiot. This has largely been due to a backlash of opinion which has its roots in the hero worship which once surrounded Custer. After his dramatic death, his wife Libbie, who seems to have genuinely adored him, devoted the rest of her long life to promoting his image as the greatest American hero. She was a strong character, who naturally evoked much sympathy, and so for many years Custer's numerous critics, out of respect and fear, hid from the public eye whilst Libbie massaged the ego of her dead husband and thus created the legend. When she died, the darker side of Custer began to emerge resulting in a completely out of proportion view which so many mildly interested people have of him today. As usual, the probable truth can be found by observing the known facts objectively and without bias. That is when we get the impression of the complex character he undoubtedly was, with as many good points as bad. In other words, a typical human being! Actually one of the best filmed versions of the Last Stand did not even call Custer by name. This was John Ford's wonderful movie, part of his U.S. Cavalry trilogy, Fort Apache, in which Henry Fonda plays Colonel Thursday, a fiercely proud disciplinarian who leads his regiment to disaster. An obvious allegory of the Custer saga, even though Thursday's men are annihilated by Apaches instead of Sioux and Cheyenne, the film scores not only through Fonda's cold yet sensitive performance but by an emotive portrayal of life in a frontier cavalry regiment which really draws you in.
Romanticized again, yes, but highly effective and moving, playing a great deal on camaraderie and pride. The most accurate effort to date has been the 1990 television mini-series Son of the Morning Star which obviously took great pains to get the look of the thing right. They succeeded. The costumes and general ambiance of the production are virtually faultless, but unfortunately this attention to detail makes the overall result unsatisfactory to all but the most ardent aficionado. Various incidents in Custer's life and the staging of the actual final battle are impressively accurate, but Gary Cole is miscast as Custer, coming across as a soldier lacking in bravado and confidence. If we know anything about the General, we can rest assured that he was certainly not in want of these qualities.
Anyway, for whatever reason, the Custer phenomenon was so deeply ingrained in my youthful consciousness it has left me with some of my earliest childhood memories. A blanket spread over cushions to simulate Last Stand Hill as my plastic toy 7th. Cavalrymen were wiped out by their whooping Indian counterparts. In my version, Custer was always the last to die! Later on I would use a toy garage building, the shape of which vaguely resembled the famed Alamo mission, to restage Crockett's last desperate battle. I had a few frontier types in buckskins amongst my toy soldiers and cowboys were close enough to make up the bulk of the defenders, but I had no Mexican army. My brother and I solved this by using figures from a Battle of Waterloo series. That was perfect. Santa Anna himself had modelled his troops on Napoleonic tactics. I wished I had possessed more of them though to overwhelm my Texians! The solution to this was found by adding ranks of British grenadier guardsmen and even Confederates. I console myself by thinking that the wryly humorous Crockett would have approved.
So this was my childhood. There were lots of kids like me I guess, but unlike most I didn't grow out of it. My games progressed to a curiosity about the truth and I began to read books on the subjects. The more I discovered, the more fascinated I became and I devoured material voraciously. I developed an avid interest in history in general, (as did my brother, which helped me) but in the American West in particular. I learned all about the gunfighters and cattle drives, Indian Wars and Civil War, frontier life and mountain men, but through it all two over-riding events emerged to outweigh all the rest put together, the two which had enthralled me since my earliest awareness. Fairly small military engagements, both of which could easily have been avoided, fought unnecessarily and which from a strategic point of view were pretty insignificant. And yet look at the legacy they have left. Back to symbolism again. Heroes fighting against impossible odds.
Some will ask why the need for yet another retelling of these well known tales. It is true that there appears to be no shortage of books on both subjects, especially in the United States where extremely obscure aspects are covered in great detail. What can I offer that is new and how am I qualified to do so? Well, here goes .*.
First of all, although many writers have covered The Alamo and Custer's Last Stand I am unaware of any who have linked both engagements in one specific volume. So what is the link? My interest in the Old West is wide ranging so why focus on these particular events? Several reasons. Primarily it is because of my personal passion for them. As already hinted at, regardless of the films and so on, a spark of fascination was always there for me, something deep which stirs my soul. If that seems melodramatic then so be it, but I can honestly say that when I finally made it to Montana and Texas to walk across those battlefields the experience had a profound effect on me. I can only describe it as a feeling of belonging and it led to an overwhelming desire to write this book.
Quite apart from my personal inspiration, I think the names alone are familiar enough to the public in general to generate interest. And the two battles had much in common. There have been many "Last Stands" throughout history .*. the 300 Spartans who fell to the Persian horde at Thermopylae and the British Army disaster at Isandwhlana when the 24th. Regiment were wiped out by the Zulus for example. All incredible stories of courage, resilience and hopelessness, but those where Crockett and Custer fell do appear to have a relationship. Both fought on the North American continent in the 19th. Century, almost exactly forty years apart (one in 1836, the other in 1876), both fought on a Sunday (one in the early morning, the other late afternoon), about 200 victims died (on the losing side) in each engagement, each had a proud, stubborn commander who refused to be fazed by the superior strength of the enemy; other links will become apparent as we progress. Profound differences too, of course, the most obvious one being that in the case of The Alamo all the defenders were there by choice, volunteers fighting for a cause which ultimately they knew must lead to their deaths. Custer's men were just soldiers doing the job they had been ordered to do and probably the last thing on their minds was the possibility that they would be wiped out. Also, the 7th. Cavalry were attacking whereas the Texians at the Alamo were very much on the defence. They are also linked by something essentially human, a thought which chills the blood and moves the soul. What must it have been like for those men, cavalry troopers and Texian volunteers, in that sobering, spine tingling moment, shared across the decades, when they realised all hope was lost? Imagine it, if you can. The countless bayonets of the Mexican Army bearing down on you as you desperately attempt to delay the inevitable with your rifle butt or Bowie knife. With their backs against the wall there was to be no mercy for them. Likewise on that hot, dusty slope above the Little Bighorn River as those painted warriors surged in for the kill, the horrified soldiers burrowing behind their slain horses in a vain attempt to protect themselves. With the awful anticipation of hot lead or cold steel they died in confusion, terror and pain, in darkness, blinding light and amidst the cries of their comrades, choking on powder smoke, dust and their own blood. How sobering to think of that reality when you look now at the monuments, pretty gardens of remembrance, tourists and souvenirs.
I have not attempted to write a definitive book of the known facts. Many have done that already and their "facts" are often contradictory. Such is the nature of history for those who lived it are not around to give their interpretation. What we are left with is anecdotal evidence passed down through the ages and this must be considered carefully. We have the remains of old buildings too, of course, where we are told certain things took place. We can compare these with written descriptions and judge how the evidence mounts up. There are old accounts and letters from participants, official military and government reports, diaries, graves and archaeological finds. Paintings and etchings too, crumbling newspaper archives and the tales of living descendants who can show you their family heirlooms. We do not even have photographs from the Alamo period (too early for that) and the first known fuzzy image actually dates from the early 1850s after the United States Army had restored the building and altered its shape considerably from how it looked at the time of the battle. That said, a lot of people left vivid accounts and these often match well with the surviving physical evidence. Portraiture was the big thing then and so we have been left with some quite striking images of Crockett and one of Jim Bowie which I think we can take (artistic licence aside) to be largely accurate. Several decades later, when the new art of photography had become fashionable, prominent figures like George Armstrong Custer took advantage of it and there still survives numerous pictures of him taken throughout most stages of his colourful career. Not only studio shots but also several of him actually on campaign along with candid images of socialising at military posts and at home. Perfect for a man with an ego the size of Custer's and so at least we do not have a problem knowing what he looked like.
This book does not contain all of that evidence. You can find that elsewhere, especially serious historians who will know much of it already. I have been selective for my aim is to produce an entertaining but informative record of a slice of history. It was important to me to make this book accessible to those who have a very limited knowledge of the subject. There is a lot of information here but hopefully not so much that it will cloud the brain. I have tried to present it clearly, to set the scene and tell the tale without glamorising anything. There is no need for that for the apparent truth is stirring and dramatic enough as it stands. That is why these legends have endured so long. I have great respect and affection for my subject and feel I have treated it seriously but in a light enough fashion to keep the un-obsessed interested. Although I am not a professional, academic historian and have no formal qualifications in that field, my lifelong interest has furnished me with the necessary information and outlook. Be assured that I have completed the essential research and have done my utmost to present a balanced picture by looking at what is available for scrutiny and then subjecting it to a great deal of thought. My descriptions of all events and detailed incidents are based on careful analysis of the surviving evidence. If I have made assumptions based on probability I have made that clear in the text. All any of us can do is weigh it all up and come to our own conclusions.
In addition, I have actually visited the sites of The Alamo and Little Bighorn battles along with many of the related areas across the northern, western and southern States of America. These trips were lifelong ambitions and I carried them out with this work very much in mind. What I learned, in addition to all my studied research, was invaluable. There is no substitute for experiencing the actual places first hand. And so that is another essential element of this book; the history, the drama and how it compares with what remains today.
The stories of these conflicts, and the background leading up to them, are filled with as many acts of atrocity as they are feats of heroism. On all sides. When the zealous patriots speak of the Alamo defenders fighting for freedom, let us not forget that those Texians came from a society where slavery was big business. Jim Bowie had made a fortune from the slave trade and Travis's slave was beside him at the battle. Although prisoners were massacred in cold blood by Santa Anna's army, balance this against the terrible retribution meted out to helpless, defeated Mexicans when they tried to surrender at San Jacinto. Although Custer's troops were slaughtered and mutilated mercilessly, reflect on how the General had ruthlessly wiped out a Cheyenne village at the Washita and was intending to do the same had the tables not been turned on him. However, before making moral judgements, it is important to consider the context of the very different times, attitudes and situation in which these people lived. My intention, through these pages, is to make them live again.
So let us begin, as I take you along two trails which ended in the realms of legend.

Catalogue Information