And Here Are the Results of the Montana Primary, 1876….
On this day in 1876, George Armstrong Custer thought he had a brilliant idea to propel his Presidential campaign. He would wipe out an Indian encampment on the Little Big Horn River. Such a glorious victory would overshadow the other contenders for the Democratic nomination. Unfortunately, Col. Custer seemed to have underestimated the number of Indian braves or Tilden supporters at the Little Big Horn.He didn’t live to regret it. Neither did half of the Seventh Cavalry.
If ever a blundering buffoon deserved to be portrayed by Adam Sandler, it was Custer. Hollywood, however, has usually depicted him in heroic glory. Perhaps the most entertaining and definitely the least accurate depiction was in “They Died With Their Boots On,” a 1941 deification starring Errol Flynn.
In that saga, Flynn deliberately sacrificed himself against at least 5000 Sioux who, if unimpeded by Custer, would have rampaged through the nation, ruined the Philadelphia Exposition and scalped Alexander Graham Bell.
Now if I correctly recall…the Sioux were made all the more dangerous and sinister by having Eric von Stroiheim and Peter van Eyck played the Indian leaders Sitting von Bulow and Crazy Horst.
OK. Again with the movies.
The single best portrayal EVER of G.A. (Bottom of my West Point Class) Custer was undoubtedly Richard Mulligan in “Little Big Man.”
“Mr. President, you’re DRUNK!” as the arrows and bullets whiz around him.
The Custer character, of course, pops in and out of “Little Big Man,” pointing up Custer for the racist fool he was.
Tilden supporters?
No wonder you were a Jeopardy champ!