Send Packs!

 Hollywood Be Damned

This book is set just before the end of the Civil War. It chronicles the lives of both George Armstrong Custer and a main character, David Cole (Fictional), until the fateful day, in a desolate plain, in June of 1876, when they were both killed in battle.

This is not just another book about the Little Big Horn, as that topic has been argued into the dust. But a look into why history has defamed a brilliant soldier.  My father was head of the Military History Department at West Point. He instilled in all his students and family one certain truth, that the key to historical research is getting the original facts and not just a regurgitation from a professor, quoting a newspaper. After much research, one fact glaring stands out: “A brilliant combat commander doesn’t suddenly forget everything he spent a lifetime learning and doing”. I earned my Green Beret as a 1^st Lieutenant Military Intelligence officer, and I have felt compelled to tell this story.

The extensive research of both Custer in civil war and his subsequent actions in the Indian wars gives the reader the chance to see another side of him that is never shown in movies. Movies that have depicted him as an arrogant, pompous fop. The reader gets to meet the love of his life, “Libby” Custer, who was known as the most beautiful woman in a town known for beautiful women.

Custer proved himself over and over as the best cavalry officer in the Civil War. An opinion shared not only by the Union but also the Confederacy!  Custer studied the history of the best cavalry units in the world, those of the Napoleonic Wars and the Kings German Cavalry. Just one example of his military strategy defining a defense when troops made the mistake in combat of  “mobbing horses” in an attack. He addressed it on several engagements. Yet, Sitting Bull did just that! Custer would have taken immediate advantage of that mistake and taken out 100’s in a single volley. Yet, instead of doing that, he stops to send “the note.” The life and death message requesting ammunition.  Why did Reno not send the ammo?

Was it a coincident that Custer had just testified in congress against President Grant’s brother?  A man who had stolen over $400,000.00 (2012 money) a year from the funds what were designated for the Indians.

This book is a walk back in time, to the civil war environment. It will reveal the dynamics of staying alive in post-Civil War West Texas. Expose the epicenter of covert actions of the Mexican government to subvert the United States by equipping the once non-hostile Apache with modern weapons and ammunition to go north and murder at will. It discloses the courageous souls and dedication of the Texas Ranger Company. It engages the many aspects of colorful characters, while weaving detailed history into the fabric of the story. A story that needs to be told.