Being there . . . . for one of the saddest days in American military history (25 June 1876, BighornTerritory, Montana). Then, a century and a half later, be there for Pen & Sword’s publication ofa two-volume resplendent read, the first, as the Midwest Book Review, October 2023, Vol. 33,No. 10, put it best, “Iconoclastic history writing at its best, ‘THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLEBIGHORN: A NEW APPRAISAL’ (Vol. One), an inherently fascinating, thoughtful and thought-provoking read from start to finish.”NOW, AN ORIGINAL AND GROUND-BREAKING SECOND VOLUME, “THE AFTERMATH OF THEBATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN” (Vol. 2), VIA AUTHOR WENDY ANN WALLACE’S 30-YEAR ASSIDIOUSRESEARCH, HAS BEEN RELEASED PRESENTING A NEW TRUTH ABOUT THE GROUND-BREAKINGHISTORY WE WERE LED TO BELIEVE. SAY THE AUTHOR, PUBLISHER AND EDITORS OF PEN andSWORD, “UNMISSABLE AND SHOCKING, WE DARE YOU NOT TO READ WENDY’S SURPRISINGREVELATION.”Reviewed and highly, highly recommended by Don DeNevi“THE AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE OF LITTLE BIG HORN”, by Wendy Ann Wallace. Pen andSword MILITARY Books Limited, dist. by Casemate in America in 2024; 176 pages, 6 ½” x 9 ¼”,portrait-photos hitherto unseen by this reviewer, $34.95. E-mail, uspen-and-sword@casematepublishers.com, and visit www.penandswordbooks.com.“I regard Custer’s massacre as an unnecessary sacrifice of troops brought on by Custer himself”,President U.S. Grant (1822 – 1885)The Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 was the second defeat under that title for Crook’sColumn at the Rosebud eight days before the Custer (1839-76) slaughter. The U.S. Army hadbeen ordered to trap rebellious Sioux, Lakota and Arapaho/Cheyenne warriors on theirMontana hunting grounds. On June 25, George Armstrong Custer sent part of his 7 th Cavalryunder his Second in Command, Major Marcus A. Reno (1834 – 1889), to “beat” the hostiles outof their river encampment. According to the priceless “Oxford Companion to Military History”(2001), Reno, led by Crow scouts, hooked his 7 th contingent around to drive off theirreplaceable pony herds of the defiant Sioux and Lakotas, thus enveloping their horses, a latraditional Indian style. That day, the 25 th , Reno found himself outmaneuvered and hisdetachment of 215 men decimated on the Hunkpapa Gall (swelling) when he tried to retreataway but was cut off by a head-on mounted collision led by the Oglala “Crazy Horse”. The restof the 7 th regiment lost an additional 100 men when Reno was forced back under U.S. BvtBrigadier General Frederick Benteen (1834 – 1898) in the low rolling hills along Custer’s line ofadvance where they were besieged for 36 hours. The horrific carnage, the butchery, thatfollowed occurred only nine days before the 100 th birthday of our country. The site whereCuster’s good men fell remains today among the most visited sights in America’s National
Parks.
“THE AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN”, as the flap of the cover jacketannounces, is the second of two books dealing with the enthralling minutia and hard thinkingthat arose that led the Lakotas and allied Indian tribes to the unfortunate head-on crash with athird of the 7 th and, later, the deaths of several hundred American heroes who didn’t need tofight and die that day. Now, thanks to Wendy’s resoluteness we have newly uncoveredevidence of intrigue, collusion, scheming going on to place Custer in a field position whereopposing Sioux and Cheyenne would be stronger to deliver a “Coup de Gras” to any presentialhopes Custer had for the forthcoming national elections. Remember: the public across thenation loved Custer; his superiors (and Wendy names them) were jealous of his popularity.In short, America, from her birth and beginning, has always been a nation of readers. A thirdof the luggage of the Pilgrim Fathers were books. In the 1990s, the American LibraryAssociation, in a national ad, echoed what our loving parents ordered us since our births,“Mumble less, study and try to understand words more.” Later, how often, like this reviewer,did we hear mom and dad constantly reverberate, “Talk less, read more. If you enjoy the soundof your voice, read aloud – – read to expand your horizons, read for fun, read for information,before dinner, after dinner, then read in bed? Who knows? You may meet lovely Wendy AnnWallace, an established military historian known worldwide, with hitherto unconsideredinsights, perceptions, and perspectives, destroying myths, cautiously adding new facts forkeener discernments and understanding of origins long forgotten. For all of us, stuff the noiseand enjoy the quiet of printed words, i.e., “THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN” and “THE
AFTERMATH OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN”, email: uspen-and-sword@casematepublishers.com.
