Early Start American History

Name ________________________________

Son of the Morning Star George Custer

Date _________________________________

Of all the defeats dealt to the U.S. Army, the slaughter of General George Armstrong Custer
and almost 225 men of the 7th Cavalry remains in the national mind. In the excerpt from Son of
the Morning Star, Evan S. Connell examines the site of the Battle of the Little Big Horn and
recaptures the terrible events of more than a century ago.
Custer is remembered as a great leader by his orderly, John Burkman. The orderly was not
allowed to accompany his hero into battle, but instead was asked to stay behind with the
supplies and ammunition. Burkman saw Custer for the last time on June 25 as he galloped off
with his bright red tie fluttering across his shoulder. Custer rode off a master of his own fate
toward the place where he would meet a mob of infuriated Sioux led by Chief Sitting Bull.
Burkman along with Custers wife, Elizabeth are responsible for promoting the myth of Custer
as a great military leader.
Native Americans had long faced consequences of white encroachment on their lands. The idea
of Manifest Destiny pushed settlers further and further into ancient Native territory. George
Catlin was the earliest prophet of the consequences to Natives of the charm of whiskey and
trinkets forty years before Sitting Bull met Custer. He spoke of the voracious white men sweeping
the streams and prairies all the way to the Pacific, leaving the Indians to inhabit, and at last to
starve upon, the dreary and solitary waste.
Many mysteries surround the events of that day. In 1956, fifty years after the massacre, a Billings
newspaperwoman was granted access to a manila envelope in the possession of the Cheyenne
tribe. This envelope was designated to be opened in 1986. It was speculated by some that the
envelope may hold information of a very considerable significance, and should be opened
immediately. But before it could be opened, it disappeared. The contents to this day remain
unknown.
On the day of the battle, the tribes camping on the shores of the Little Big Horn were not
prepared for the melee that was about to occur. There are many different stories associated
with Custer. One is told by a Cheyenne woman by the name of Kate Bighead. Kate told of her
cousin Me-o-tzi who sometimes went riding with General Custer. Me-o-tzi claimed to be
Custers wife and to have had a child with him. Kate Bighead said that after the death of
Custer, who had been shot in the temple, the Cheyenne women punctured his
eardrums with sewing awls. They did this to improve his hearing because he had not been
able to hear what he was told in Oklahoma, that if he made war on the Cheyenne again he would
be killed.
This disaster may have been averted had Custer heeded the warnings of the Sioux chief
Pretty Voice Eagle. He had led a delegation of his people to Custer in an attempt to avoid a
battle. He asked Custer to promise that he would not fight the Sioux.
General Sherman said later that western America had changed more in ten years than any other
place on earth in fifty. He noted that the natives had been content until the arrival of 19 th century
progress. We took away their country and their means of support, broke up their mode of living,
their habits of life, introduced disease and decay among them, and it was for this that they made
war.

1. Who was the Son of the Morning?

It is General George Armstrong Custer.
2. Who was the leader of the Indians at the Battle of Little Bighorn?
The leader is the Indian was the Sioux chief Sitting Bull.
3. Who was ultimately responsible for the battle?
It was Sitting Bull because of the many defeats they had from Americans; they had to
fight back.
4. Why did the women piece his eardrums with sewing awls?
They did that because it helps improve his hearing which he wasnt able to hear at
Oklahoma.
5. How many women claimed to be Custers wife?
Just one women which her name is Me-o-Tzi a Cheyenne women.
6. What was in the manila envelope?
It is a mysterious envelope that is to be opened on 1986 but suddenly disappeared.
7. What affect did Manifest Destiny have on Native Americans?
It had bring the Native Americans off of their land colonizing on it and leaving them to
starve.
8. What Sioux chief met with Custer to try to avoid a war?
The Sioux chief that met with Custer with Pretty Voice Eagle.
9. Were the natives prepared for the battle?
Yes, because they completely outnumbered the Americans.
10. How did Custer die?
He was kill in action in the battle by Native Americans.