CUSTER'S FALL

After 22 years of inquiry and note-taking (apparently a labor of love) among Arapahoe, Cheyenne and Sioux survivors of the 1876 Battle at Little Big Horn, the story that emerges is roughly this: Custer's men brutally murdered a ten-year old child and then attacked Sitting Bull's camp; the Battle was decided by the superior strategy of the Indian Chief; it was not a massacre, though of course none of the white men or their Indian scouts came through alive; the action lasted about 20 minutes. If American history tells it another way, one must remember that the traditional account is based upon almost no reliable evidence. Mr. Miller interviewed 71 eye-witnesses, and wherever possible checked the memory of one aged veteran against the other. The narrative that results is a bit confusing but very readable.