So what have others missed that I show? First off, the personality of Custer in the movies is wrong. Second, Custer proved himself as the best cavalry officer in the Civil War which was by most accounts, a cavalry war. An opinion shared not only by the Union but also the Confederacy! I also studied the history of the best cavalry unit of the Napoleonic Wars and it was the King's German Cavalry. Custer would have studied them and it showed in his engagements in the Civil War. Both the north and south did not make mistakes such as mobbing horses in the attack. Sitting Bull did. Custer would have taken immediate advantage of that mistake and taken out 100's in a single volley which would have been when he sent the note. I did not want to make another non-fiction book on the Little Big Horn as that has been argued into the dust and that is where they have missed many aspects that as a combat Special Forces (Green Beret) officer I know are wrong. My father was head of the Military History Department at West Point when I was a kid and instilled in me the key to historical research is getting the original facts and not the regurgitation of a professor quoting an old newspaper written for impact, not fact. One fact that has been missed is that a brilliant combat commander doesn't suddenly forget everything. What I learned as an FBI Agent was what they told us the first day of new Agent class (Quoting Sir A.C.Doyle) Eliminate the impossible and what's left is the truth. He knew that amateurs like Sitting Bull, fresh from success at the Rosebud battle, would keep making the same mistake, so he needed ammunition. He wasn't defeated. Occam's Razor: He ran out of ammunition. -Why didn't Reno send the ammo? -Why did Custer violate basic protocol and send his troopers out in pairs to be easily picked off by the hostiles? 1.I give a sub plot based on what we know happened: Custer had just testified in congress that President Grant's brother was stealing $400,000 (2012 money) a year from money supposed to go to the Indians. 2.Cavalry was to that time as the Green Beret is to the GWOT, they were the elite. Additionally, the Mexican Government has been at war with the Untied States since Santa Ana was defeated at San Jacinto (in 18 minutes) and kicked back across the border in 1836. With no one watching the border during the Civil War the Mexican senior military commander Porfirio Diaz, who would demand 7 terms as President of Mexico, trained and equipped the once friendly Apache to go back across the border and murder at will using modern weapons, that he supplied.
About the Author: Born into a military family we were moved a lot. West Point, NY; Tucson, AZ; Ft. Benning, GA, finally he retired to south Texas when I was 13. Raised in rural Texas on a farm with cows and horses I learned the rewards of a hard day's work. I also learned how devious cows can be as they would plan their great escape for the moment on Friday night when I was about to go on a date. I got really good at saddling a horse fast, too! The two things that kept me sane was Diamond my German Shepherd and a quarter horse named... yep. Her name was Nell. My mother wrote children's books with one of them, about the three dogs at the Alamo, and is in the bookshop at the Alamo. Attended Texas A&M earning two bachelor's degrees in Psychology and GIS (Mapping). Started my 'life' as a United States Marine. Was in the last all male OCS in the US Army where being at the top of my class I was selected for Military Intelligence, specializing in remote sensors and Arial platforms. This was my segue into the Green Berets as an officer. Next I was selected to be an FBI Agent where I received three letters of commendation personally from the Director. These two skill sets allowed me to tackle tough cases and gave me the experience with cold cases, which is what the book is about. The Little Big Horn is my ultimate cold case. As an FBI Agent I saw how politics would affect a case. Not the facts, just the case. Next was a total change for me as I was accepted at Argonne National Laboratory as the only Bachelor's degree'ed worker in a division of PhD's. No pressure! But I did get the division's 1st patent. Recalled to active duty after 9/11 to my Green Beret unit, the 10th Special Forces Group. For the next five years I was at my home in Colorado Springs for about two months total. On my first tour in Iraq, after the invasion, was where the epiphany happened that made me start writing this book. After an intense 93 minute raging gun battle my counterpart at the closest US Air Base (Mosul) asked if I needed anything. I texted back send packs as we both were LBH battle fans. That was when the meaning stuck me. I didn't need reinforcements, We were easily defeating the Muslims. I only needed more ammunition and water!