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Title: Billy Heath: The Man Who Survived Custer's Last Stand by Vincent J. Genovese, Brian C. Pohanka ISBN: 1-59102-066-2 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: May, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.17 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Billy Heath: The Man Who Survived Custer's Last Stand
Comment: This is a gem of a book that not only relives, but provides new information about the fascinating and horrifying battle of Little Big Horn -- Custer's Last Stand. Contrary to common belief among scholars that no white man survived the battle, this book provides solid evidence that one white man actually did survive -- Billy Heath, the Seventh Calvary's farrier (person responsible for the well being of the company's horses). The author, Vincent J. Genovese, supports this startling claim by providing us with photocopies of birth, army, tax, and funeral records. Genovese also enlivens the text with photographs of the key participants (both White and Native American), and important locations. The background information makes interesting and exciting reading -- the harsh life of making a living in the coal mines of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania; the Molly Maguire episode; the biography of George Custer; the balanced presentation of the plight of the Indians; the shocking battle of Little Big Horn itself; and the daring, but necessarily hypothetical, means of escape by Billy Heath. I think this book provides lively and fast-paced reading for the general public and provides ample groundwork for scholars.
Rating: 4
Summary: Mystery is an Integral Part of the Battle of the Little Bigh
Comment: I don't know if Billy Heath survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn, but as a student of the battle and of Custer, I enjoy considering the "what ifs" of history. For a long time History (with a capital H) was only about the great, a contradiction to the principles of our democratic society. Now we have in addition the recuperation of the lives of others, such as the enlisted man Billy Heath. I find his life as a nineteenth-century working man fascinating, above and beyond whatever role he may have played on June 25, 1876. As for the negative portrait of Custer, this is more in keeping with the view of a 7th cavalry enlisted man than a privileged officer (or reader!). See for comparison Private Theodore Ewert's sour view of the Black Hills expedition. Many historians have put stock in the oral tradition of Native American accounts of the battle--why not in the oral tradition of a soldier's family? The detail that William Heath was unmarried can be just as inaccurate as his name being erroneously placed on the battlefield monument. Information about enlisted men is notoriously slippery. As for Frank Finkel and other fraudulent "sole survivors," they have already been written about by others. This is Billy Heath's story, as reconstructed by a determined and intrepid researcher. Was Heath in reality a deserter? History never gives us all the information we want, and that's its challenge.
Rating: 1
Summary: Argument not supported
Comment: Ever since Custer's debacle at Little Big Horn numerous stories about survivors have popped up. This is another one of those stories. While on the surface this book may seem compelling, the author's argument is not. The author's lack of notation and sources creates numerous problems for serious historians. A glimpse through the slightly less than two page bibliography reveals that the author, who identifies himself as "an amateur historian," has not done exhaustive primary research. The sources that he lists are generally secondary and there is a sprinkling of published primary sources.
The authors lack of documentation also does not bode well for this book in academic circles. Suggesting that Heath was the sole survivor and not providing one footnote is a poor methodological practice.
In all this book offers nothing more than another "survivor story." This book is of no great historical significance because nothing is substantiated.
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Title: We Trailed the Sioux: Enlisted Men Speak on Custer, Crook, and the Great Sioux War by Paul L. Hedren ISBN: 0811700623 Publisher: Stackpole Books Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Morning Star Dawn: The Powder River Expedition and the Northern Cheyennes, 1876 by Jerome A. Greene ISBN: 0806135484 Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Encyclopedia of Indian Wars: Western Battles and Skirmishes 1850-1890 by Gregory F. Michno ISBN: 0878424687 Publisher: Mountain Press Publishing Company Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyennes, 1867-1869 by Jerome A. Greene ISBN: 0806135514 Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: April, 2004 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Fort Robinson and the American West, 1874-1899 by Thomas R. Buecker ISBN: 0806135344 Publisher: Univ of Oklahoma Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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