Jun 14, 2007 - 05:58:47 CDT
"What Really Happened at Little Big Horn" will be explored by author and internationally noted Custer historian Sandy Barnard at a lecture Sunday at the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in Medora.In the past 40 years, Barnard has written seven books and numerous articles on the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the men who served with him.
Barnard, a retired journalism professor, has also been recognized for his expertise on Bismarck Tribune reporter Mark Kellogg, who was killed at the Little Big Horn, First Sgt. John Ryan, who survived the battle, and the archeological digs at the battlefield site in Montana.
Happenstance led Barnard to his series of books, starting with the dig projects of the 1980s and 1990s, he said, evolving from there into the photo project, then to the historical figures of Kellogg and Ryan.
"The 'people' element always interested me across the years," Barnard said.
Barnard's lecture starts at 2 p.m. MDT and will include a question-and-answer session and book signing.
Custer has risen and fallen in public perception over the years, he said. After World War II, it became popular to bash Custer, probably hitting bottom with the film "Little Big Man," he said.
"Custer stuck out there, became a fall guy for a failed U.S. policy with regard to Native Americans and the frontier," he said.
People either love Custer as a hero or hate him as evil, bent on wiping out American Indians, when the reality was more complex, Barnard said.
Custer was not a genocidal maniac, Barnard said, but a soldier under government orders who was good at what he did during a very ugly period of history.
This June 25 marks the 131st anniversary of the battle in which Custer and more than 260 troops under his command died in the battle with the Sioux and Cheyenne near present-day Hardin, Mont. Barnard's lecture will precede a symposium in Montana on the battle's anniversary.
Darrell Dorgan, North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame director, has appeared with Barnard at history symposiums in England and in this country, and calls Barnard "one of the best historians on the battle and (its) participants in the country today."
Among Barnard's books are "Where Custer Fell," a study of historic photos of the Little Big Horn battlefield in collaboration with James S. Brust and Brian Pohanka, "Ten Years with Custer; A 7th Cavalryman's Memoirs," "I Go With Custer; The Life and Death of Mark Kellogg," "Speaking About Custer," "Custer's First Sergeant John Ryan" and "Digging Into Custer's Last Stand."
Barnard has also served as the editor of Greasy Grass magazine,published by the Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association.
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