#112-CIVIL WAR SALE: GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER TOBACCO CARD

Custer was a controversial figure his entire military career, at West Point and then during the Civil War. After the war he was assigned to deal with Indian uprisings in the West and was certainly a leader anxious to put the Native Americans "in their place." And, the general view of Custer was that he was a hero until he was finally recognized as a man continually followed by controversy, and in the west he was as brutal in the wholesale slaughter of Indians. The massacre that killed Custer and every Union soldier in his party was for decades characterized as a massacre of the soldiers by the Indians. In fact, it was just the opposite. But it took nearly a century for the world to realize that history had the details backwards, and Custer--like so many other officers, carried out a government policy bordering on genocide. Custer and others massacred entire villages, indiscrimately killing all of the women and children as well as those warriors who had taken up arms against the U.S. movement west after the Civil War.

Curster's own ignorance in grossly underestimating the number of Indians in the area was what led to the "massacre" of U.S. troops. It was his own arrogance that led to the "Massacre at the Little Bighorn River." Custer assumed he would outnumber Indians and easily defeat them, deciding he could split his unit into three parts, assuming each was quite capable of outnumbering and out smarty his adversaries.

By the time Custer realized his mistakes, he had no avenue for retreat and was indeed massacred by indians.

You will note on this tobacco card that it labels Custer as the "Hero of Little Big Horn." He was only heroic in that he died with every man in his unit. ,

This tobacco card is from a 1930s era set of 100 Custer Men of History tobacco cards that are highly collectible and Custer isn't the only "Man of History" who wa guilty of a variety of crimes. I know a great many collectors (and sellers) who collect early tobacco cards of all types, including those with many unsavory (and worse) individuals in the sets. Collecting historical items from Custer....or Hitler....or the Ku Klux Klan doesn't mean those collectors support the views of such leaders.