Custer's Luck

by Robert Skimin

Nearly everyone knows that Custer died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. But what would have happened if Custer had prevailed that day, bringing the Indian Wars to a close? What if his success as a commander at the Little Bighorn had ushered in a new era in American politics, leading to his becoming President of the United States? With a twinkle in his eye, Robert Skimin has created perhaps his most imaginative and enjoyable book yet -- an alternative history of George Armstrong Custer that is as believable as it is provocative.Custer wins the White House with help from James Gordon Bennett, Jr., publisher of the New York Herald. He dubs his presidency "The Great American Empire", and wastes no time rattling his saber in several directions: Canada, Panama, and the Spanish colonies. He appoints his brother Tom to the cabinet, and his youngest brother, Boston, is elected to Congress from California. In a rare show of disloyalty to his wife and first lady, Libbie, the concupiscent Custer has affairs with the English beauty Lillie Langtry -- who has moved to New York -- as well as the famous Washington socialite, Kate Chase Sprague. The president's popularity soars as his glamour and direct appeals to the American public create a mandate for military build up and an era of American imperialism.

Meanwhile, Custer's personal and political legacy haunts him in intriguing and perilous ways -- especially in the figure of the Sioux war leader, Red Elk, whose wife's death at the Little Bighorn must be avenged. Red Elk enrolls in the Carlisle Indian School to learn English and begins to stalk his enemy; he later volunteers for Seventh Regiment duty, disguising himself as a recruit fromCeylon. When Custer declares war on Spain, and gathers a Cuban expeditionary force in San Antonio with himself as commander, the stage is again set for Custer's moment of glory. For both friends and enemies of the man and his legacy, Robert Skimin skillfully delivers the final word on Custer's guilt and innocence, on his place in history, and on the unseen hand that guides the fate of famous men.

Genres: Alternate History

297 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2000

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3* of five

This is a really thought-provoking PoD for a refreshingly unexplored possibility in American history. Skimin's writing is serviceable, but whoever copyedited and proofread this book needs to be kneecapped and then chained while healing to an ancient monk's carrel where the only available reading material is Words Into Type and The Chicago Manual of Style.

A Custer presidency is a fascinating allohistorical byway. The only other treatment of it has steampunk/time-travel abscesses dotting its buttocks and a "light, humorous" tone that makes me want to reach for the ball-peen hammer again. Custer's amazing luck and personal charm might very easily have led him to the White House; his opportunism and greed almost certainly would have led to his downfall; and his mark on the country's history is likely to have been more flashy than substantive. But Author Skimin does a good job of selecting likely events to illuminate Custer's character and so it feels like you're reading a newspaper account of the Custer presidency, not a bald historian's recitation nor, a bit more sadly, a novelist's evocation.

Still very much worth reading.

[Clay Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good story about an alternative history about Custer. Great details about the man and the times he lived in.

[Phair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good! Excellent background detail & believable characters. I do like alternative history.