November KCWRT: Ed Bearss on Custer at the Little Bighorn

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Ed Bearss, George Armstrong Custer, Little Big Horn

Come join us as National Park Service Chief Historian Emeritus Ed Bearss takes us back in time to July 25 th , 1876 to an iconic battle and a battlefield that he knows well: the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Ed Bearss

During the Civil War, George Armstrong Custer’s courage and audacity won him many plaudits and promotions. Ever a risk taker, he led his men from the front at Gettysburg, Yellow Tavern, Third Winchester and Cedar Creek, and it was Custer’s cavalry division that cut off Lee’s last avenue of escape at Appomattox.

Always in the thick of things, Custer emerged from one engagement after another unscathed leading others to characterize his good fortune as “Custer’s luck”.

Following the war, the bold and ostentatious Custer remained in the army. Commissioned lieutenant colonel in the 7 th Cavalry and posted in the west, he participated in several campaigns against the Sioux and Cheyenne prior to the star-crossed Centennial Campaign of 1876.

It was during this campaign at the Battle of the Little Bighorn that Custer’s audacity at long last failed him and his luck, and that of 266 officers and men in his command, finally ran out.

Edwin C. Bearss is the Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service and the Director’s Special Assistant for Military Sites. A 40 year veteran of the National Park Service and its former Chief Historian from 1981 to 1994, Ed is the winner of numerous history and preservation awards including the T. Harry Williams Award, the Bruce Catton Award, the Alvin Calman Award, the Bell I. Wiley Award, the Harry S. Truman Award for Meritorious Service in the Field of Civil War History, and an award that now bears his name, the Civil War Preservation Trust Edwin C. Bearss Lifetime Achievement Award.

Author of 20 books and countless articles on the Civil War, long-time co-editor of Gettysburg Magazine, and legendary battlefield guide, Ed was recently nominated for the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal “in recognition of his contributions to preservation of American Civil War history and [his] continued efforts to bring our nation’s history alive for new generations through his interpretive storytelling.”

Battlelines: Gettysburg: Day 3, Friday, July 3, 1863

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Alfred Waud, Army of Northern Virginia, Battlelines: Gettysburg, Civil War, Culp's Hill, Edwin Forbes, George Armstrong Custer, George Meade, Gettysburg, J.E.B. Stuart, James Longstreet, Pickett's charge, Richard Ewell, Robert E. Lee

Note: The annual anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg is this weekend. To commemorate that, we are posting, with permission, excerpts from Battlelines: Gettysburg, that describe aspects of the battle. Battlelines: Gettysburg contains the battlefield drawings of Alfred Waud and Edwin Forbes, the only two artists who witnessed the battle.

Lee’s original plan for the third day of battle was similar to that of the second day: attack both sides of the Union line. But early in the morning, instead of just holding his position, Meade ordered troops at Culp’s Hill to clear out the Confederate forces that had captured Union positions the day before. So, rather than storming Culp’s Hill – as Lee had planned – General Richard Ewell’s troops had to fight to hold their own position.

When Lee realized that Ewell’s troops were occupied, he changed his plans and told Longstreet to prepare of an attack on the center of the Union line. The attack would require soldiers to cross nearly a mile of open fields that gradually sloped up toward a copse of trees that stood just behind the center of the Federal forces. Longstreet argued against the assault, but Lee was a gambler and felt this was a chance worth taking.

By 11 a.m., Ewell’s troops had been flushed out of their positions at Culp’s Hill and could offer no support for the advance that would later occur. At 1 p.m. Confederate artillery opened up on the Union line, but many of their shots were aimed too high and fell harmlessly behind the lines. Union artillery answered for a while until the order came to cease firing in order to conserve ammunition. By not answering the Confederate fire, Union artillery units were able to conceal their positions in some instances.

Edwin Forbes’ painting of Pickett’s charge

After two hours of bombardment, the cannons ceased, and more than 12,000 Confederates advanced on Union lines in what has become known as Pickett’s charge. In addition to the field being open and often exposing the troops to direct and flanking fire, the troops had to cross fences that further exposed them to Union musketry. The center of the Union line held fire for a time, leading Confederate leaders to believe that the artillery bombardment had been successful.

They were wrong.