Why was General George Armstrong Custer regarded as a hero?

Question

Custer's Last Stand; Little Bighorn, 1876

Answer 1

The Battle of Little Bighorn took place on June 25, 1876, just nine days before the Centennial of the United States. Word spread through the country that a U.S. Cavalry detachment commanded by Civil War hero Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer had been annihilated by a combined force of Native Americans near the Little Bighorn River in the Montana Territory

News of the battle devastated Euro-Americans looking to celebrate a century of American accomplishment. Euro-Americans had long hoped their "Indian problem" would just go away. They had wished that Native Americans would either learn to farm, convert to Christianity, and be assimilated into Euro-American society, or else flee to Canada or Mexico. Indians had sent a clear message that they would not just go away.

Euro-Americans turned the dead cavalry soldiers into martyrs for the cause of Euro-American civilization, a reaction that continues to this day.

Answer 2

Custer was considered a hero for his triumphs during the Civil war, not for his exploits in the plains states. And he was a General during the civil war but like most promotions during wartime it was only temporary. His catastrophic defeat at Little Bighorn was caused mostly by his own lust for notoriety.

Answer 3

He shouldn't be, he was a psychotic murderer.

The assessment of Custer's actions during the Indian Wars has undergone substantial reconsideration in modern times. For many critics, Custer was the personification and culmination of the U.S. Government's ill-treatment of the Native American tribes. Others equate the actions of the 7th Cavalry under his command with Holocaust-type atrocities perpetrated during World War II, or with ethnic cleansing of the 1990s. Recent films and books including Little Big Man and Son of the Morning Star depict Custer as a cruel and murderous military commander whose actions today would warrant possible dismissal and court-martial.

Answer 4

I don't think he was, really. I live in the area that he was stationed just prior to leaving for the battle. At the time he may have been thought to be a hero, for he was going to "round up the indians" and put them on the reservations. He didn't know what kind of a fool he was being. Consequentially, did you know he was rewarded the General rank AFTER he died? He was then demoted to Lt. Col Custer, if memory serves correctly.

Answer 5

I think "Chris B" has it about right . I don't think too many people associate him with the "War Between the States", just about every one connects him to "The Battle of Greasy Grass",(aka. Little Big Horn). I think it was the movie,"Solder Blue" started the correcting of North American popular history. It dealt with "The Sand Creek Massacre". At that time Dee Brown's book " Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" became a best seller and as far as I'm concerned would make far better high school reading than the fiction offered in Schools in both The USA & Canada.

Answer 6

I don't think Custer is considered a Hero so much as he is considered an interesting historical person.

Answer 7

Custer was good at playing the press.

He may not have had a clear grasp of strategy, but he certainly understood politics.

Answer 8

because he was a general during the civil but he was killed and mutilated by "savages" and therefore the government needed a reason to go kill indians and calling him a hero would help

Answer 9

For his Civil War exploits....he was a failure in the Indian Wars.

Answer 10

Because he died in battle. If you die in war you are a hero, just ask Bush