Where the Rivers Ran Red: The Indian
Fights of George Armstrong Custer
By Michael N. Donahue
Book Review by Bob Reece, June 19, 2018
Full Disclosure: I first met Mike Donahue during the summer of 1986,
and have followed his growth as a historian of this battle for that entire
length of time. It is important the reader understand that I do not
present this review of Donahue’s new book - Where the Rivers Ran Red: the
Indian Fights of George Armstrong Custer - to make revenue or as hype.
Neither is the case. I do not have the freedom of time to write reviews as
a living since I do not make a penny from them. Instead, I provide reviews
of books that I believe are important, and our readers should consider.
Over the last 45 years, we have witnessed most of the great books written
about the Battle of Little Bighorn. As I wrote in the historiography
essay, “The Custer Fight” in the 2015 edition of Willey Blackwell’s
Companion to Custer and the Little Bighorn Campaign:
Several important factors contributed to the creation of these landmark
pieces. First, the acceptance and inclusion of the Indian accounts into
the interpretive narrative; after all, they were the survivors of the
battle. Second, soldier accounts of the location of the Custer dead.
Third, the archaeological surveys beginning in 1984 found thousands of
battle-related artifacts.
Finally, the discovery, study, and interpretation of historical
photographs of the battlefield have lent a new perspective to the events
when viewed through a modern, forensic eye.
Why start with works from the year 1973? Jerome A. Greene's Evidence and
the Custer Enigma: a Reconstruction of Indian-Military History was
published in that year. Greene made a valuable and original contribution
to the battle story by being the first to interpret Indian accounts with
artifact data discovered in the late 1940s and 50s. Evidence and the
Custer Enigma transformed the Indian accounts, archaeological data, and
the soldier testimonies into a rich narrative that remains timeless...
Mike Donahue’s newest book, Where the Rivers Ran Red: The Indian Fights of
George Armstrong Custer is a rich narrative that incorporates all of those
elements as established by Greene. In my lifetime, I have never waited as
long and had such anticipation for a new release as I have this.
In essence, Where the Rivers Ran Red has been a work in progress for the
last 45 years. Thirty of those years, Donahue has served as a seasonal
Park Ranger interpreter at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument where he spent his free time probing old dusty
books, manuscripts, letters, periodicals, and photographs in the Monument’s basement
archives and collections. Additionally, Donahue had a big advantage over
most historians because he had access to walk, or ride a horse over the
battlefield. He knows how long it takes to move from one point to another
while walking, or riding. His field studies included timing these journeys
(See Appendix 3 and 4 of this book). Further, Donahue understands the ravines and coulees
of this battlefield; they are an important element to the understanding of
how this battle might have progressed. Finally, he has studied countless
numbers of historical maps of the battle as published in his last book,
Drawing Battle Lines. These were maps produced by soldiers and warriors
who fought each other in 1876. Donahue also has the luck of the Irish in
finding never-before-published gold nuggets of information about Custer’s
Last Stand.
As the years progressed, Donahue’s credibility as a researcher grew,
enabling him to build critical contacts and friendships. Some of those
friendships developed into great trust and resulted in gold nuggets. For
example, Canadian and Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield member George Kush was generous to share some of the Cooke
family letters with Donahue (Kush is writing the definitive biography
about Custer's adjutant W.W. Cooke). These letters and the map studies enabled Donahue to
establish a new path Custer took to Medicine Tail Coulee, as well as other
gems.
Donahue protects no agenda. I admire his honest description of Custer's
motives, tactical decisions, and mistakes. Ultimately, his purpose is for
the reader to understand not only why Custer did what he did at the Little
Bighorn, but how he came to his plan. That plan took eight years to
develop, hence the book’s subtitle, The Indian Fights of George Armstrong
Custer.
Custer would eventually learn that to be successful in battle against
Indians, he could not fight them as he did against Confederates during the
Civil War. Through the Battle of the Washita in 1868 to two engagements
near the Yellowstone in 1873, Custer grasped the important use of
terrain during battle. He would change the ratio of horse holders to
horses (one holder per eight horses instead of four), which freed up more soldiers for
the all important
skirmish line. On the skirmish line, organized and well managed soldier
fire in order to keep warriors out of range of their repeating rifles was
imperative. The most effective way to attack an Indian village was by
surprise and under cover of darkness. And most important, the indisputable
strategy to impede the warriors from attack - and end the battle quickly - was to
seize the noncombatants as
early as possible.
Custer was not the only one learning over these eight years. Indian
combatants learned how important it was to capture soldiers’ horses to
cripple them. They understood how effective it could be to spread soldier
lines thin, and patience in the use of terrain to overcome their
adversary.
Donahue’s narrative of the Battle of the Little Bighorn consumes more than
2/3 of the book, and it is a tremendously rewarding read. The flow of the
story is different from most narratives on this battle. Most books divide
the storyline of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in the following order:
Valley Fight, Hilltop Fight, and finally the Custer Fight. Donahue’s story
unfolds as the battle transpired. This is a minor point, but it does make
for a more suspenseful narrative. Donahue writes with clarity about
strategy and implementation of that strategy, and successfully maps-out
where companies moved and fought.
The soldiers who engaged these strategies were human beings – not just
symbols on a map - and Donahue is at his most powerful when he ventures
there. He sets the stage for the final moments on Last Stand Hill - with
stirring and moving passages - as these men desperately fight for their
lives. For me, pages 196 and 197 are two of the most beautiful and
poignant renditions written about Custer's Last Stand. We experience
powerful images of these men - who would never go home – about their lives
before this fight, their loved ones back home, doubts about choices made,
and some who experienced foreshadowing of their deaths. As the smoke
clears and the gunfire lessen, we begin to hear the Indian women wail over
their killed and wounded loved ones. Families transport them back to the
village where they prepare them for their final voyage into the afterlife.
Through the somber clouds of screams, dust, and gunsmoke, Donahue
transports us to a moment in time that is as close to real as we can
experience. His battle is not about glory, but about important lessons
learned, and the realization of
lessons tragically ignored.
I read Where the Rivers Ran Red slowly to fully enjoy its visually striking
narrative. Donahue inspires further reading. By the time I reached the
chapter, "Nail the Box Up", I found myself surrounded by the Hardoff
books, especially Battle Casualties 1 & 2, Brust's Where Custer Fell,
Greene's Stricken Field, Graham’s Custer Myth, Donahue’s Drawing Battle
Lines, and Scott's archaeological books. The experience of Where the
Rivers Ran Red was the most fun I have had reading about this battle for some
time.
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