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Editor says, what if Custer survived the Little Big Horn?
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In 1876, on this day, cavalry commander Lt. Gen. George Armstrong Custer narrowly avoided a catastrophic defeat when, receiving word that the Sioux encampment against which his regiment had been dispatched by his commander Gen. Alfred H. Terry was heavily defended, he uncharacteristically decided to delay attacking rather than strike at once.
Miracle at Little Big Horn by Eric LippsThe wisdom of this choice would be graphically borne out when it became clear just how outnumbered Custer's force was. Had he proceeded, as would have been more typical given his character, he and his men would have been slaughtered.
Custer would continue to serve in the war against the Sioux until 1879. In 1884, the popular general would defeat Grover Cleveland at he Democratic Party's national convention and would beat Republican James G. Blaine to become the 22nd president of the United States.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Today in Alternate History, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Alternate Nations Source: Wikipedia Labels: Custer, Sitting Bull, Little Big Horn, America, Native America.
~ President Custer? I'm half-horrified/half-fascinated to know what that administration would be like :)
~ All his life, Custer believed he had special luck. I'm not sure I'd want to have him for President...he'd probably push things too far, just as he did in OTL.
~ He couldn't have done any worse than Grant, LOL...
Comment from Ben Camo pm Facebook: He would have been nominated for President of the United States by the Democratic party and he would have been elected as our 19th President in 1876.
Comment from Robert Caudle pm Facebook: He would just be another former Union gneral fighting Indians out west. He would have been Just a mere mention in the history books.
~ He'd declare war on someone the first chance he got. Maybe for America's benefit, maybe for us getting wiped out Little Big Horn style.
~ Ben Camo is correct, Custer planned on being the 1876 Democrat nominee and wanted one more glorious campaign on his record in the newspapers "back east" when he decided to attack. If he had survived his interest would have been in playing events off as a huge victory to garner headlines and popularity.
Unless he got us into a war with Canada or Mexico I don't see any substantial changes in our history from a Custer Presidency.
~ For a glimpse of Custer surviving, read "The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer" by Douglas Jones, or watch the movie by the same name starring Brian Keith, Ken Howard and James Olsen. Admittedly the book is better than the film, if only because it goes into greater detail.
OWI: What if Custer had kept his Gatling Guns? He had two or three that he abandoned because he felt that they were slowing him down from his "attack without mercy"™. They might have at least saved more men in Reno's unit.
~ The "miracle" would have been Custer not attacking, whatever the odds. By all accounts he was a raging egomaniac who held the "Indians" in complete contempt.
~ Lets bring Custer back and put him in charge of Border Security.
~ Poster boy for the Radical republicans
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
