George Armstrong Custer is one of the most written-about figures in American history. If anyone surpasses him it’s Abraham Lincoln, at least in terms of biographies. Custer, however, is much more controversial than Lincoln: pretty much everyone (outside a few neo-Confederates) agrees that the Great Emancipator was a good President; many think he was the best we’ve ever had. Custer, by contrast, has a very dubious reputation. Some think him stupid for getting himself and his troops (or at least the 5 companies that were with him) killed at the Little Bighorn, and many Indian advocates from more recent times have essentially accused him of being no better than a Nazi storm trooper, murdering women and children in the cause of genocide, to get the Indians off of land the United States wanted. In the immediate years after his death, up through perhaps the 1930s, he was portrayed in a much more positive light, being thought of largely as a hero who died in service to a larger, and very righteous cause. Of course the truth is more complex than that, and it starts with the fact that whatever else you think of him, Custer wasn’t stupid at all.

The proof of this is provided in Thom Hatch’s new book Glorious War. Hatch starts with Custer’s humble upbringing, journey to West Point, and service in the first two years of our Civil War, showing how he matured as a soldier, and of course how he didn’t. The main part of his book, however, is taken up with Custer’s leadership in the Army of the Potomac’s cavalry, first as a brigade commander and then leading a division. That leadership was in many cases as influential as any other cavalry officer during the last 2 years of the war in Virginia. When Lee surrendered to Grant, it was in large part because Custer’s division had cut off his last escape route, so that Lee’s army was completely trapped by Grant’s. Famously, Gen. Phil Sheridan bought the table that Lee and Grant used to write out the surrender, and gave it to Libby Custer, saying that her husband had done as much as anyone to bring about the surrender that was written up on it.

Hatch’s book is reasonably well-written, and the information is well-presented. The author perhaps loses perspective occasionally, but for most of the book he does a good job of analyzing why things came out the way they did, and how those events influenced others, down the road. The book does start with a flashback (I’m notorious for disliking them) and there’s another in the first couple of chapters, but once the author settles down and lets the facts speak for themselves, the narrative flows nicely and the story is well-told. The author doesn’t make any large leaps or breakthroughs regarding Custer, but then again he wasn’t purporting to: he’s just recounting the facts in a new light, and he does a good job of it.

I generally liked this book (which I obtained through NetGalley; thanks to them). It’s well-written and informative, and though it has an agenda, the author does a good job making his point. Recommended, especially for Custer buffs or those interested in the Civil War.

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