The Last Stand Never Really Happened!
Watched a very interesting history program on SKY tonight (they've been having an America At War day), and it claimed that, following new evidence uncovered by a forest fire (which left the ground bare and, as a result, fully accessible for archeological exploration), the famous "Last Stand" may not have happened in quite the same way we have long imagined after all. It even claimed that the battle lasted no more than a few seconds, and that some of Custer's soldiers broke off from the defensive circle that the cavalry had formed and fought it out with the indian braves by a gully.
Did anybody else see this program? If so, what did you make of it? Do you think it carries any real credence?
It's funny, isn't it, the way our minds are ingrained with fixed images of famous historical events like Big Horn (e.g. in countless depictions, we ALWAYS see Custer in his buckskins, bravely standing amid his men and firing away at the indians swarming all around his contingent) - and then, when we get to know the TRUE facts of what actually DID happen, all those Hollywood movies we so enjoyed no longer seem quite as accurate as we thought they were. Bit of an anti-climax and all that.
Admittedly, I did used to suspect that Custer may not have been the last man in the contingent to be killed by the Indians, as he was so depicted in the movies. However, after watching that program tonight, I must admit that I was very surprised at the researchers' findings, and never once thought that Big Horn may have played out in such an entirely different scenerio to the one I had always imagined! It's akin to the Iwo Jima thing, isn't it, where John Wayne gets shot whilst erecting the flag (another jazzed up climax cooked up by Hollywood to enhance the film's entertainment factor.)
Consequently, when I watch a movie now based on ANY historical event, I am always wondering just how much of it is true and how much is made up.
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