Notes About Books

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Tomaso Egan,

On September 22, 2012 I wrote a short blog about this Sheridan Civil War book that I had read about in a Boston Sunday Globe, Terrible Swift Sword. I am very sure that I mailed the article to you. Maybe this is what sparked your idea for a Christmas gift for me. I am not sure.

I knew that this would be a great book to read, but for some reason I never moved on it. I have 66 books ready to be ordered from my $5-$6 Connecticut bookstore. Then, during our visit to your Wildwood Crest home in October, you told me your take on using a Kindle and buying books. Later a visit to our travel agent’s house on the Cape further confirmed that it was a really good idea. Janis said I could buy a Kindle for cost at Amazon, and that the books only cost $1.00 or so. She said she has never paid more than that. The deal was sealed and Sandy ordered two Kindles for us for Christmas.

I am planning on taking Sheridan to Mexico this February. You always get me the perfect book.

Thank you very much, Bird On the Head.                    

-Tocino

Chris got me the Lincoln Team of Rivals book for Christmas. The Boston Globe has it as #1 in non-fiction right now -- because of the new movie, I am sure. Chris's face dropped to my reaction when he gave it to me. He said, "Is it not a good book?”  I said, “On the contrary it is a fabulous book, but I already own it, and devoured it one summer in the casita. I am definitely saving it for Abel to read.”

Tomorrow I will go to Barnes & Noble and hopefully exchange it for some Kindle books for vacation. Kindle & Bacon. Somehow the words don't go together, do they?

Side note # 43    

Today Kezia's Daedalus Books catalog came. I needed something to read so I grabbed it. Years ago my friend Charles from New Mexico talked me into reading his favorite book of all time, One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I read it on the playa on Isla Mujeres and hated it. Mea culpa (my fault). Well it is FICTION. I gave it a second try, years later on Isla also. It was just lying there for the taking in reception at Maria del Mar "Cabanas." YCMTSU. Many, many people had read and handled this particular book. I loved it. Well not the story as much as the writing and the words.

Years later in a rented house in the Bahamas one very hot night I checked out the vacation house library and found another book by him called Living To Tell The Tale and it just blew me away.

Today in Kezia's Daedalus I came upon yet another by him that I have been searching for called, believe it or not, Memories Of My Melancholy Whores. But it is going to cost me $2.95. I read somewhere that he is still alive and living in Cartagena, Columbia.

This could be the longest thank you that I have ever written. Did I even say thank you?

Liner Notes: Bob’s World 11

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Nobody follows the rules. The rule on Bob CDs is that you sit and listen to the music not knowing what is coming next. I have learned that no one does this. I hand you the gift, you turn it over and read the playlist. It is your gift. I give up. I asked Kezia not to include a playlist with the CD this year. She said, “That would be annoying." So we included a playlist.

The photos:    

The front, with Sandy and I, was taken in Madrid (mad - drid) New Mexico, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe on the Turquoise Trail Highway. The Elk sign was near Pie Town in southern New Mexico. R.F.T. serving the pies is of course the same town and YES that is the real name of the town.

Now I am sending you the liner notes. I could not believe how interesting they turned out to be. If you are not too busy perhaps you will read them. Maybe. Maybe not. You never seem to follow my rules.

#1  - My favorite on my 11th CD is "Oh Mamacita" by Keith Frank.  Mamacita means little mother. He plays Zydeco and is from Louisiana. But this is border music, only the border is not Mexico, it is Texas. We saw him again in Connecticut this past June. First he sings in Spanish, then he sings the same line in English. It is really fun and easy to dance to: Mr. Keith Frank and his Soil Eau Zydeco Band.

#2  - "Catch a Wave" is actually one that six-year-old Abel picked. He was hooked on the Beatles, then the Stones, and now the Beach Boys. They released this tune in 1963. Mike Love sang it with a heavy head cold. When Jimmy Clanton sang "Just A Dream," he also had a bad cold. Listen to the cleaned up one. It is not as good in my opinion. I came very close to graduating from high School that same year.

#3  - William Royce Scaggs from Plano Texas. Started with the Steve Miller Band. We love Boz Scaggs.

#4  - "Back in the USA." - It was written by Chuck Berry. Linda Ronstadt had a Mexican great grandmother. She was raised in Tucson. It is in Arizona. We saw her All Mexican show in Great Woods years ago. But the time we saw her up close was at South Shore Music Circus. She did all her oldies and then most of her blues tunes, which she really prefers. Did you ever see a photo of her when she was with the Stone Ponies? Wow! She was born in 1946.

#5  - "Lola" - Pretty interesting. One night when the Kinks were playing, their manager got involved with a transvestite and danced with him/her all night in SoHo. Coca Cola was changed to cherry cola because of the BBC regulations. Where were you in June of 1970?

#6 - "Deportees" - Probably the last real hit of Woody Guthrie. The story of the plane crash over Los Gatos Canyon is 100 % true. "Good bye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita. Adios mi amigos, Jesus & Maria." We named one of our cats Rosalita because of this song. We think a Marshfield coyote shortened her life. The other one’s name was Arlo.

#7 - “Sister Golden Hair.” - 1975. Three of America’s band members’ Moms were blondes.

#8 - "Como Ayer" - We paid good money early to catch them at the big white tent near Pier 4 one summer, and had next to the last row seats. I complained with a big smile. At the start of the second half, we were escorted to Don Law's empty box seats. Originally from Spain, the families left in the 1930s because of the Spanish Civil War and ended up in France. They sing with an Andalusian accent.

#9  - "You Belong to Me" - It seems Sandy and I raised our girls during all her music. Carly Simon wrote it with Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers. Years ago, Sandy's friend waited on James Taylor and Carly Simon at a restaurant near the Marshfield Fair and didn't recognize them. Carly also wrote "Anticipation" while waiting for Cat Stevens to visit her in her NYC apartment. Give me extra points for that one, por favor. It was in her book. The famous ketchup commercial ... remember?

# 10 - "I Just Want To Dance With You." - Early results show that this was one of Tom Donovan's favorites on this CD. The Cerris will be so excited to hear one by John Prine again. Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan thought he was, and is, a terrific writer.

# 11 -  "Cherry Bomb" has almost made the list the last five times. "That’s when a smoke was a smoke." It was the late 70's with Johnny Cougar Mellencamp.

# 12 - "Chatter Box." - It is a restaurant in Eunice Louisiana on East Laurel Avenue. It is also a great tune to dance to by Mr. Steve Riley, whose real first name is John by the way. It is on their most recent album.

# 13 – “One More Cup of Coffee" is to me a Mexican song by Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. Wrong, Kimo Sabe. It turns out he wrote it in Provence, France in 1976. Long, long songs on that album. Flaco & Carlos you are welcome. There again, Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick in Pittsfield, and Truman Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s in Duxbury Harbor on Clarks Island. William Clark was First Mate on the ship Mayflower. But you knew that.

# 14  - "That’s Why I’m Here" – 1985.  JT's 11th album. "Pay good money to hear Fire & Rain again and again and again."

# 15 -  "So Far Away" by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. He is one of my favorites but I have yet to see him. He just played with Bob Dylan at the Boston Garden.

# 16 - "Verlaine" - This was a reach, but I first heard it in the movie "French Kiss." Have you ever been French kissed? I mean REALLY French kissed. Louis Charles Auguste Claude Trenet was born in 1913. He had a very interesting life that lasted for eighty eight years.

# 17 - "Cafe Waltz" - By David Greely from Mamou Playboys. That particular cafe is in Red Stick -- I mean Baton Rouge. Isn't that fun to say, "I am from Baton Rouge." David is 57 years old. He met Steve Riley when Steve was 18 years old at Mark Savoy's store in Louisiana. The album is called Sud de Sud.

# 18 - "Cisco Kid " - From 1950 – 1956, the Cisco Kid show was on TV. His real name was Duncan Rinaldo. Pancho was his sidekick. Pancho is short for Francis or Francisco. Weird. YCMTSU. Eric Burdon of the Animals wrote it, along with "Spill the Wine" and "Low Rider."

# 19 -  “This City Never Sleeps.” -  NYC right ? Well, Tel Aviv and Barcelona are also called that. Singing is Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics. It was one of the tunes in the movie "9 ½ Weeks." In 1986, it starred Mickey Rourke and Kim Bassinger. It is an erotic film that cost $ 17 million to make and only made $7 million. Sandy and I love the movie.

Quiz on Monday.

Sleep tight.

“Sleep tight” came from when you had no mattress and slept on rope webbing in a wooden frame that worked better if it wasn't sagging. So to get a good sleep, you would tighten the ropes. Never mind, it is late.

Roberto Francisco Tocino

Quick notes: J.W. Schultz

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J.W. Schultz, also known by his Blackfoot name Apikuni, was a noted author, explorer, Glacier National Park guide, fur trader and historian of the Blackfeet Indians.

The first book he wrote I am reading now, in 2012:  "My Life as an Indian." This is a really easy book to read, and you feel as though you were there. It is full of fascinating stories of the Blackfeet, Arickaree and Crow Indians. I am halfway through the book.

He wrote his first book at age 48. It was first published in parts in Field and Stream magazine.

He wrote 32 books altogether.

He married a Piegan Blackfoot named Natahki, and is buried in his Indian wives’ family cemetery in Browning Montana. They had a son.

One of the features named by him is Going to the Sun Mountain in Glacier National Park.

Features named for him are: Apikuni Creek, Apikuni Flat, Apikuni Falls, and Apikuni Mountain.

He was born in the Adirondacks, in Booneville New York, to a wealthy family in 1859. The house still stands and has a historical plaque on it.

James Willard Shultz died in 1947 at age 88.

You can purchase the first book at Amazon. Or I will lend it to you.

I am saving my favorite books for Abel in my casita. Inside each book I write when I read it and -- if it was a gift -- who it was from. This one easily makes the list.

Bob "Medicine Weasel" Bachan

La Posada

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I talked to Sheila from the reception desk at La Posada Hotel this morning. She is originally from West Roxbury and even went to school with our Boston Mayor Tom Menino. She referred to him as Tommy. Or Tawmee to be exact. I asked her to send me the list of the 14 day trips that you can do from there. Some were the Hopi Mesas, the Painted Desert, Canyon de Chelly and even the Petrified Forest. Monument Valley was on there I think.

La Posada was included in "World’s Best Places to Stay" in Conde Nast Traveler - the Gold List, rated # 1 for design and dining.    

“Favorite Hotels in the world: I'd highly recommend the historic La Posada in Winslow, Arizona.” - Los Angeles Times.    

"Wow, I murmured in awe, as I walked into the lobby of La Posada Hotel” - Albuquerque Journal.

“It was like traveling back in time to Shangri-La . . . Colter had designed the greatest railroad hotel of them all."  - Arizona Highways.

He was referring to Mary Jane Colter, who also designed the hotels at the Grand Canyon and even that Indian Watchtower at the eastern end. Everyone needs to go to La Posada. “The resting place” in Spanish. Kathy & Charles, did we introduce you to it? Ha ha . . .

Well I was standing on the corner of Winslow Arizona  

Such a fine sight to see.

It's a girl my lord in a flat bed Ford

Slowing down to tell me her life's story

. . . or something like that. By the Eagles. Do you know they are, or were, “Eagles” NOT “The Eagles?” It is true. I would never lie to you.

I am four hours into the making of our southwestern New Mexico vacation photo albums. I am up to the gold, almost ghost, town of Pinos Altos. Tall Pines. Eight million dollars in gold came out before it ran out. William Randolph Hearst's dad owned it. He was quoted as saying, "He came to Silver City for the silver, but ended up with the gold."

Tomorrow Billy the Kid's Mother’s grave, and Bayard, and the desert hot springs, and the Mexican Jalisco Café. Then on to Winslow. It is going to be a fine album.

We showed it to Tom & Eileen last night at El Sarape. It was one of the Days of the Dead, Friday evening. Every year we bring candles and photos of relatives who have passed on. We Catholics, of course, refer to it as All Saints Day. The place was packed and the food was magnificent as usual. Well, why not? It is a Mexican Restaurant in Braintree Massachusetts.

We had tons of leftover Halloween candy, so Sandy thought we should bring it to Pepe. Wow was he happy! Patron was present, and warmly welcomed us. We always bring him hard candy from the Super Mercado on Isla. The one in Centro. Sometimes we see Luis Tiant at El Sarape, but not this time. He of course is Cuban, but his esposa is Mexican.

Rogelio sends his warm regards to you. Do you know that he speaks Port-ooh-geese ALSO? He was waiting on Bethany's Mom & Dad, who sat across from us. They refused to share their sangria. I invited them to the next Fourth of July pool party regardless.

La Posada was rated #3 in the United States for bargain hotels by Trip Advisor, the biggest travel-rating web site in the WORLD.

Sandy and I highly recommend room #241. For $143 this room is a steal.  We have stayed in the $109 rooms and they are nearly as nice.

The Turqouise Room at La Posada was rated as the SECOND best hotel restaurant in the ENTIRE United States. Did you catch that? SECOND BEST in the U.S.  YCMTSU

Excuse me , por favor, while I microwave my fajitas de pollo from last night.

Rosanne & Ryan of Phoenix, are you listening? Rock Springs Cafe on the way up for lunch and pie?

Todd & ???  Instead of Florida? Fly through Phoenix instead of Albuquerque and drive up.

- Roberto Francisco Tocino

The Gila Wilderness

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 Cactus Kathy Gregory from Albuquerque highly recommended this book to Sandy and me.

PROLOGUE

She was posted in the middle of the Gila National Forest, 

on the edge of the world’s first designated wilderness, 

130 miles north of the border with Mexico. 

On Loco Mountain, she  said, NOT A SINGLE 

MAN-MADE LIGHT COULD BE SEEN AFTER DARK. 

She lived in her lookout tower, 

a twelve -by-twelve-foot room on stilts. 

The nearest grocery store was five miles by pack trail 

and eighty-five MORE by mountain road. 

Over the course of four months 

she had fewer than twenty visitors--

hunters on horseback, mainly, and a few adventures hikers.

Sandy has read it, and by the time I post this blog, I will have read it too. We were up at Brant Lake, New York in August, and we go to the Gila (say “hee lah”) Wilderness in western New Mexico, in September into October, with Kathy and Charles. It is Billy the Kid and Geronimo territory. I read Fire Season at the lake. Can you think of a better place to read it?

At the Gila Wilderness, we plan on hiking to pueblo ruins and ghost towns and to the many hot springs. One of the highlights will be the hike to where the Apaches Geronimo, Victorio and Cochise watered their horses. We start in Albuquerque right out of the aeropuerto with dinner at El Bruno's. We first ate at Hazel and Bruno's in Cuba New Mexico near the east portal to The Chaco years ago. Santa Fe by rail with lunch at Tia Sophia’s is next. The gourmet ending will be dinner at La Posada in Winslow Arizona. Reservations needed for the Turqoise Room. Sandy and Kathy. will be wearing all of theirs. Originally this hotel was a train station designed by the famous architect Mary Coulter to resemble a Spanish patron's hacienda.  She designed the hotels at the Grand Canyon including the Tower. The train track side is the most beautiful and is in the rear of the hacienda not on the street side. Travelers go out of their way to dine here in the middle of the desert in Winslow Arizona.

If the trip is successful, we will have reached forty-five years of marriage. Easy for me -- not so easy for Sandy.

One of our hotels is in Silver City The Palace,  costs $50 per night but we are going for it. Just north of there is where the American runner, Caballo Blanco (White Horse), died near a spring while on a twelve mile training run. He was the famous Ultra guy who lived for a while with the Taramuhar Indians down in the bottom of Mexico's Copper Canyon. He first met the famous Ultra running Indians while he was a pacer at the Leadville 100 Trail Run at the top of a mountain in Colorado.  The starting line is at 14,000 feet. Doc Holiday from Tombstone legend worked for a while as a professional gambler in Leadville. Years ago coming back from hiking Arches and Canyonland National Parks, my amigo Tomaso Egan and I saddled up to the bar and had a few there in Leadville in honor of Doc before finishing the trip at Denver. Caballo Blanco was the main subject in the recently published book called "Born To Run." If you are or were a runner, you certainly should read this book. It was on the best seller list here in Boston for quite a while.



We fly back to Providence for a sleep at the airport and then in the morning drive to mid New Jersey for a wedding of one of my Seabee friends daughters. The next day we drive further south to Wildwood and Cape May to spend quality time with Tom and Jeannette Egan at the shore.

Sweet at the beginning and end, with a little adventure in the middle.  Exactly like our lives together over these 50 some years. Sandy says " nothing is perfect except our marriage." 

General Sheridan's "Terrible Swift Sword"

 
Tonight I found an incredible book review in the Wall Street Journal.

TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD a biography of General Philip Sheridan written by Joseph Wheelan.

Certainly this must be the book that Tom Egan is getting me for Christmas.

The only serious interruption to Sheridan's campaign occurred in October, at the Battle of Cedar Creek. He was returning from a trip to Washington when his army was surprised by a devastating predawn Confederate attack. Learning of the army's rout, in one of the war's most renowned episodes of singular leadership, Sheridan galloped hellbent to the front, rallied his men, counterattacked and led them on to total victory. The counterattack was spearheaded by one of Sheridan's most aggressive and flamboyant young officer's George Armstrong Custer.

This of course was the attack by Confederate General Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley.

Dr. Egan has sent a number of smashing books as you have already heard but are about to hear once more.

The Essex, The Mayflower, The Last Stand, and Empire of the Summer Moon, about the famous Comanche Quanah Parker.

Thoughts on This Sunday's Paper

September 16, 2012

To Billy Baker,

Thank you for writing the Monson / Appalachian Trail story. It was very well written and really interesting to me. It brightened my day.

It is terrific that it made the front page of the Boston Sunday Globe today. To me it wasn't the Appalachian Trail itself that was so wonderful, but the people and veterans walking, or the people lending a hand. They were so interesting!

My wife and I grew up under Mount Greylock, which is of course a resting place for the hikers on the A.T. in extreme western Massachusetts. I have some understanding of what the through-hikers go through, having run 54,000 miles of roads and trails in my lifetime. Even if I hadn't been a runner, your story would still have moved me.

My daughter Marnie and I are planning on walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain next September. It is only one quarter of the A.T. distance. Buen camino.

Thank you for writing the article,   
Bobby Bacon

Only Mom and Aunt Blanche actually called me Bobby. Roberto Tocino is my Spanish name . . . which I only use for my e-mail address.

Please keep these kinds of stories coming. I am so tired of reading of war and politics.
http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/09/15/trail-angels-lighten-load-for-appalachian-trail-hikers/CQbzptXzdpUk2w8FCqH0OM/story.html

A great photo of a hiker leaning on his poles.

Mount Greylock taken from the east side of Adams Massachusetts.     

The tower on the very top of Mt. Greylock.

                   

The Ventures

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I loved the Ventures. Sandy and I bought an album that was one of the first we ever purchased as a married couple. We were living in an apartment in Rockland Massachusetts, close to the Naval Air Station, South Weymouth. The year was 1967. The album had a surfer on the front as I remember, but maybe not.  

I have always assumed that they were from Ventura California. It was close to the huge Seabee base in Port Hueneme where I went to Class A School to be a construction electrician in the winter of 1965.

I will never forget when our D.I., First Class Construction Electrician Rumsey, shouted out, after school, while in ranks after our run around the base perimeter, "We have a war in Vietnam, who wants to go?" Did any of you veterans see him "in country?" He did three tours.

It was the very first time I had ever heard of that country. I remember thinking that I would prefer duty somewhere near Boston, but thank you for asking.

Bacon R.F. CEW2    693-10-63 

(My enlistment date # was 693-10-63. 10 is the month. 1963 was the year. JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963.)

Combination lock issued at Great Lakes in Chicago at Boot Camp in 1963. The combination was 24-28-32. I still have it. It still works. So do I. Somewhat.

Atwells Ave. - August 4

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This is a church up on Federal Hill that until last night, I had never seen before.

 Beautiful expensive cars. Valet parking. Girls in tight dresses. Old people dancing to Francis Sinatra music at DePasquale Square near America Street in Providence, Rhode Island. Free parking if you know where. Eat your heart out, North End of Beantown.

Everyone was out last night. So many new Italian restaurants.

I sent my Navy friend John a photo of an old, perfect, black and chrome Harley that was sitting sideways on Atwells Ave, at the cigar store across from the tattoo place.

I had an iced cappuccino with a shot of sambuca as a night cap. Hmmm . . . It was the perfect night to be "on the Hill."

Rhode Island girls make me smile. Rhode Island mafioso types make Sandy smile.

Google “DePasquale Square in Providence” and find the 1:17 winter video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDQ4_1feZO4

The girls go by

dressed up for each other.

And the boys do the boogie woogie

on the corner of the street.

And the people passin’ by

just stare in wild wonder.

And the inside jukebox

roars out just like thunder.

“Wild Night” by Van Morrison

Curley Appears

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From the book "Conquest of the Missouri" by Joseph Mills Hanson

The smoke columns noticed along the southern horizon on the two previous days had disappeared now, and the general opinion was that Custer and Terry had met the enemy and routed them, so little fear was felt of an Indian surprise. Nevertheless, as they sat there fishing, George Foulk noticed how close they were to the dense willows on the main shore and remarked to the others that it would be very easy for Indians to creep up and fire on them. They were still idly discussing the suggestion when, without the least warning, the green thickets at which they were looking parted, and a mounted Indian warrior, of magnificent physique and stark naked save for a breech-clout, burst through and jerked up his sweating pony at the brink of the water. The fisherman leaped to their feet with startled exclamations, but before they could run back to the steamship the Indian held aloft his carbine in sign of peace. They then paused and, upon scrutinizing him more closely recognized from his erect scalp-lock that he was a Crow, and then, to their surprise that he was Curley, one of the three Crow scouts that had gone with Custer. They had expected to hear from Terry and Gibbon, but not from Custer. Motioning him to come to the boat they hurried there themselves while he forded the stream and joined them.

 Curley

As soon as he was onboard the steamship, the Far West he gave way to the most violent demonstrations of his grief. Throwing himself down upon a medicine chest on deck he began rocking to and fro, groaning and crying. For some time it was impossible to calm him. When at length he had to some extent regained his self -control, the question arose as to how to communicate with him, for no one on board could understand the Crow language, while he spoke no English, so that all efforts at conversation failed. Finally Captain Baker produced a piece of paper and a pencil and showed the Indian how to use them. Curley drew a map of the battle called by the Indians "Greasy Grass." We know it as The Battle of the Little Big Horn. We know today that the map was very accurate. Some historians do not believe he escaped the battle but some do.

There is a possibility that he watched it unfold from a distance. My thought is if the two other Crow scouts stayed with Custer so did Curley. He did escape partly because he was dressed as an Indian and not as a soldier. He also had the famous "Custer's Luck" which Custer had finally lost.

The book continues . . .

The sketch drawn by Curley on a piece of paper with Captain Baker’s pencil showing how Custer and his men were surrounded and killed by the Sioux, was extremely crude. But it presented the crucial features of the battle accurately, and predated by more than eighteen years the drawing made by Rain-in-the-Face , a Sioux warrior, on the back of a hunting shirt, in August, 1894, which has been frequently heralded as the first and only map of the field of the Little Big Horn ever drawn by an Indian participant.

 Rain-in-the-Face   

        

Later in his life Rain-in-the-Face attended the World’s Fair in Paris.

There are so many fascinating sections to this part of the story. Boston Custer was talked out of riding with his brother by Captain Marsh. The twenty eight year old was writing from a steam ship cabin to his Mother when Captain Marsh talked him into staying with the stern wheeler. He later changed his mind and died with his brother on the hill. George as well as his brother Tom Custer died there. Tom was also famous during the Civil War and won the Medal of Honor.

Elizabeth Bacon Custer actually asked Captain Marsh if she and a few of the other officers wives could come along on the trip aboard the Far West. I guess it was like First Manassas during the Civil War where citizens actually packed lunches to watch the battle out side of Washington D.C. Captain Marsh said no.

Then there was the part at Fort Abraham Lincoln where the twenty eight widows would be notified of the tragic deaths of their husbands. Only two officers lived from the two battles but they were not in Custer’s unit. The second battle being with Reno east of the village.

You can see Custer’s trumpeters bugle at Little Big Horn. He was from Italy. Remember the New England Patriots’ place kicker Adam Vinatieri? The bugler was his Great Great Grandfather. YCMUSLT

Two Crow scouts died with Custer. White Swan and Half Yellow Face. I did not know that.

Also at Greasy Grass were Crow King, Gall, and Two Moons.

Crow King

 Gall

 Two Moons

Low Dog

Comes Out Holy

The men in the photographs above were with Sitting Bull, who was there but did not participate.

Low Dog was a Minicauju chief. He was twenty four years old when he fought at Little Big Horn. His brother was killed during the battle. His account of the fight is one of the best known.

Gall weighed three hundred pounds. Two of his wives and several of his children were killed at the start of the battle. He sought revenge and the 7th Calvary paid dearly. Libby Custer met Gall years later and commented on how handsome he was. YCMTU either

Two Moons was a Arikara captive who married into the Cheyenne tribe. He was the model for the buffalo nickel. He traveled to Washington D.C. many times, even meeting with President Woodrow Wilson.

Crow King was a Hunkpapa Sioux chief. He led his band of eighty warriors against Custer's 7th.

To see many more photos of Indians who fought at Greasy Grass check out my blog "Como se llama," November 28, 2008

No photograph exists of Crazy Horse.

Nathaniel Philbrick who wrote “The Last Stand” read sixteen books to research and write his book. “Conquest of the Missouri” was not among them. I actually sent him an e- mail asking if he has read this terrific book. How would you know, with that title, that it would have so much Custer history? More later if he responds.

Have you ever been to Montana Territory? The battlefield is actually now on Crow land. The Sioux being an enemy. When you go, be prepared for the intense quiet of the place. You have the feeling that some thing big happened here. It is the same feeling you get at Gettysburg.

Curley retired from the United States Army. His log cabin is at Old Trail Town in Wyoming. Someone made a theme park by buying up old historic buildings and setting them up as a town at Old Trail Town outside of the east gate of Yellowstone. Right down the street is Cody, Wyoming. You could even stay at the hotel that Bill built. It is still called The Irma, after one of his daughters. You will also find at Old Trail Town the Hole in the Wall gang’s cabin. There is a saloon that Butch and Sundance drank at.

 Did you know that there actually was a trapper / scout with the name of Yellowstone Kelly?

If you sleep at the Irma, tell them Tocino sent you, and ask where you can meet the tour that takes you to see the wild mustangs still roaming the plains.

 

You are not going?  Well on your way back from Samoa, stop in and see some of these United States.

General Gibson has recorded that he said to Custer as the latter left him, "Now Custer, don't be greedy, but wait for us."

Custer called back, "No I will not," -- an ambiguous answer, which might have been intended to apply to either part of Gibbons caution.