General Custers Last Flag, "Little Bighorn" Banner For Sale...

Had he waited for Reno and Benteen, they too would have been chopped to ribbons more than they already were.

Politics aside, there is nothing that stands out that does not make this Guidon, a piece of property of the American People-and should be kept that way..

 

Not anti-Custer. Anti-hero worship. Anti-ignoring of truth. The media invented the Custer legend...not the facts. People seem to forget about the facts. Custer was a great leader in the Civil War...the facts back up the fact that he lead men very well and scored several key victories, or at least played an important part in them. An indian fighter he was not. The real victims of the Last Stand legend are the troopers that are forgotten....Aside from the last name Custer, I'll bet a scant handful of people would be able to tell you the name of one trooper that was killed there. Did Custer die while serving his country to the best of his ability? No doubt. Should he be placed on the mantle that history has placed him? Not by a damn long shot.

 

Never said anything about politics, Carl. Not sure what politics has to do with it honestly. Tell me one thing that I said that was off the mark, and I'd be glad to listen to your reasoning. As I have said, several times on this forum, I've read every single book on Custer and the Little Big Horn that I've come across. In fact, I just ordered (much to my wife's chagrin) another one called The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick. Is it a piece of American history? Sure is....but is it something I'd compare to the original copy of the Constitution? Not on any level.

 

You took the words out of my mouth. If there ever was one artifact that belonged there, it's that flag.

 

Luke, the politics came into it when stabs were taken at Custers expense. Sure he wasnt a very nice guy and couldnt afford to be, but then again, neither was Chief Crazy Horse and many of his Warriers. It doesnt matter if anything is said off the mark, the comment still implied that all of our Troopers were baby Indian murdering cads-which in some cases-was true but not near as bad as revisionist history states.

That is why I stated to both you and Clint-It Figures.

 

curious not having been to the horn what is there......meaning any type of museum or ?

the smithsonian............not ! I would think locally for the flavor of the times fitting in with the surroundings even the present ones.

 

Im not arguing against this Guidon being at Arlington. My argument lies in that it should be in AMERICAN Hands-PUBLIC hands-not some darn collector. I don't care in what institution the guidon would reside-just as long as its at someplace like: The Smithsonian Institution, The Library of Congress, Liberty Hall, Arlington, etc etc etc, just NOT in private hands. This is just yet another case of American history being lost.

I can't honestly say why people collect but, I collect things in order to preserve what history I can afford to preserve. Im no dealer and never intend to become a dealer. I may sell something off-which is rare to begin with, but its never for profit. Anyway, all I can give is that I collect in order to preserve. Take my Dads stuff and my Grandfathers stuff. IF I didnt collect, their things would have been in the trash ala about 1988.

Would you believe that had I not been at the "right place at the right time" my Dads stuff and my Granddads stuff would now be rusting and rotting at the City Dump for the City of Kingsville. This was due to my oldest Brother having a case of the stupids and he took it upon himself to be a selfish dork, and made the decision on his own to throw my Dads and Grandads uniforms, medals, papers and such into a trash dumpster that was located behind my Dads paint store. I just happened to have a need to go to that dumpster to throw legit trash away and did so when I also just happened to glimpse into said dumpster and I saw something shimmering in the sunlight-which turned out to be some of my Granddads Medals from his WWII Merchant Marines service. {{{A slight deviation of this thought so that I might add that this same thing happened in Germany when one of Germanys most famous and most highly decorated soldiers and one of their most honorable soldiers at that-own family threw away off of his stuff but luckily several people got wind of this and was able to rescue a large portion of his stuff from the City dump-for the City of Goslar, Germany. Wanna know just whose stuff was chunked? The stuff that was chunked was the property of no other than-Wolfgang Luth. Guess what but, just one itme-which I actually saw in person and held in my skinny hands-is worth around a cool $1 million or so US Dollars-which was a spare set of Luths Oak Leave, Swords and Diamonds-to his Knights Cross of the Iron Cross. Now back to the original train of thought.}}}}

I thought at first that the stuff might have been chucked into the dumpster by accident, but when I climbed into the dumpster, I dug around a bit after rescuing his awards, and I saw three tunics, and then I saw my Dads awards, and then I knew it wasnt a frigging accidental dumping of their stuff. I then dug around till I was sure I had found everything, and then to make sure my brother didnt get his mitts on the stuff and probably rip the stuff apart or burn it opr worse-hide the stuff from me and then he could have whatever joy he might have got from finding another avenue of a way to forever destroy their stuff. I took all these items and hid them where I knew my brother would never look for them-which was in an area overgrown with tall grass and high weeds. I hid this stuff and wen to retrieve them later that day and after I told my mother what happened and which was under her watch when I did go to retrieve these items and so that my older brother coulnt try to take anything from me and try to harm those items. It was thanks to my chance discovery of these items, that all of these items survive to this day and are safe in MY hands-and forever out of my brothers reach and these items reside alongside all my German stuff.

To end this story and SAD memory, and having made the points I intended to make, I am now the permanent owner and safekeeper of my Dads and Grandads items from WWI-WWII and the Korean War. I have no clue why my oldest brother had a severe case of the stupids, and I KNOW it pissed him off royally-to know that I saved these things that he fully intended the destruction of. Oh and, this was something that he had fully intended to keep from my mothers knowledge. The items that were my Granddads-were her Fathers stuff. I hafe teh few surviving items of his when he was both a WWI Doughboy, and also the WWII Merchant Mariner.

Now though I strongly suspect that this is the case-I have no real proff in the matter but-I also suspect that this is what happened to my personally obtained and was signed in front of me-photo & autograph of James Cagney-that was personalized to me. Also, though not personalized and or signed in front of me-photo & autograph of John Wayne. This is something that can never be replaced-and I will never forgive my older brother for doing. At least I can be somewhat comforted in that I still have my autographed photo of Cary grant-and I know that in some small way, that this is a thorn in my older brother behind-because he will never-as long as I live, will ever have access to any of this stuff.

 

AMEN to that and I would give you my 35 rep points to as a way of thanks if the site would allow it?

My main thing is that that piece of history is the property of the American Public and that place has no right to sell it in order to buy more Art. Being public property, this item should always be kept as well preserved as possible and the American Public (and other visitors alike) should forever more, have a chance to view this piece of history in a proper place-instead of most likely never having anykind of access to THEIR property-thanks to some jerk in some Museum deciding to sell it to but to buy---art. I highly doubt that the jerk who buys this Guidon, wilol either allow the public to see it-or I highly doubt that collector will part with that money-then simply give it back to the Country.

Stupid things like this, put me in the foulest of moods. Its times like this that I wish I were a Billionnaire-because then I could spend a large sum of money and afford to see to it that this piece stays teh property of the people-and donate it.

 

Actually, there are a couple. One at the battlefield itself which is more of a "visitor's center" with artifacts, then there is one over at Garryowen (the town). That one has a number of artifacts as well, including a number of the original documents from "Libby" Custer herself. Some parts of it or the building itself were put up for sale a few years ago, due to some odd land access legal battle, don't know how that turned out really, or if it has been sold.

See:

Custer Battlefield Museum, Garryowen, Montana

and:

http://www.custermuseum.org/Battlefield%20News/Custer%20collection,%20town%20to%20be%20auctioned.htm