03-10-2010, 06:40 AM
Charles, if you are already two "staff rides" ahead of me and have already conducted the introductory (and perhaps in-depth) research , then you are way ahead of me... all the more reason not to "debate" you. If you are looking for an "assist" or a contrapuntal set of questions to assist in your thinking and exploration, then I shall have to "saddle up", and that will require time and commitment.
I am also very much aware of the creation of the mythlogy surrounding Custer and conscious that my perspective may be skewed from having been steeped in it prior to becoming more aware that all is not what it appears to be (indeed, that it may be a conversely-distorted image of the truth).
I agree with you on your remarks about Sitting Bull's vision. The information I have in front of me backs you up entirely in terms of "spiritual" components and differing worldviews.
If anomalous cognition has possibilities (as it appears to), then perhaps it can be arranged that a series of extended regressive "visits" to Washington, D.C., Fort Lincoln, various telegraph stations (equipped with that era's equivalent of Echelon), Fort Leavenworth, Fort Snelling, and others be made to "eavesdrop" on the minds and politics of the day, the in-fighting within the US military chains of command, and much more during the period of March through June 1976 (and perhaps an occasion in 1875, as well as much earlier*). If Custer is seen to have been a threat to someone in military command or politics -- and of course we are talking about their tight inter-coil then, then one question would seem to be why Grant seemed focused on Custer.
One obvious answer: the scandal involving U.S. Secretary of War William W. Belknap and President Grant's brother Orville.
One less-obvious answer might be simply the recognition that Grant was a former commanding General serving with, along side, over and in cahoots with many of the leading cast of characters in this drama. I'd want to do at least a fast survey of the relationships, problems, alliances, etc. It also sets up the potential mechanics inherent in your hypothesis.
But the scandal seems the likely place to look in depth because it was current and simultaneous. Grant feared or knew that Custer knew something, I would suppose, and feared that it would be used in some forthcoming political candidacy by Custer. In the background politically is still the persecution of the Indian Wars and the degree of safety for the commonfolk during the ongoing westward expansion, the gold in them thar hills, and other factors.
From the venerable WikiPedia, useful only as a starting point:
"... on March 15, Custer was summoned to Washington to testify at Congressional hearings regarding the scandal involving U.S. Secretary of War William W. Belknap and President Grant's brother Orville. After testifying on March 29 and April 4, Custer testified in support of the Democrats before the Banning Committee. After Belknap was indicted, Custer secured release and left Washington on April 20. Instead of immediately returning to Fort Lincoln, he visited the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and traveled to New York to meet with his publishers. While there, he was summoned to the U.S. Senate, possibly a move instigated by President Grant....."
"[As the LBH campaign was beginning to get underway], General Sherman sent a telegram to General Sheridan ordering him to intercept Custer and hold him until further orders. [What other telegrams did he send to others?] Sheridan was also ordered to arrange for the expedition against the Lakota to depart with Major Reno's replacing Custer. Sherman, Sheridan, and Terry all wanted Custer in command but had to support Grant. Sherman wrote Terry: "Custer's political activity has compromised his best friends here, and almost deprived us of the ability to serve him".[citation needed]"
As for the Gatling gun question, I'll reserve further comment and judgment, but will make this comment:
In the simulation game with which I am most familiar with (covering the Battle of the Bulge), there is a wonderful and insightful comment made inside the designer's notes I have used several times and which comes to play here. 'Every time you want to move one of the German artillery units, you must recruit six of your friends and push a heavy sedan around the block in the rain." It keeps simulators honest when moving heavy pieces in pretense [cardboard counters] across hill and dale. So the best way to answer your question would be for me to actually pack and unpack a Gatling gun, bring it in by mule, set it up, fire off a beltful of blanks (apologize to the neighbors), pack it up, and move it 100 yards down the road and do the same thing. I suspect a number of Gatlings were to be the anvil for the cavalry's hammer.
As for rubbing ears with Shirley Horn, I cannot compete. I did, however, once interview Paul Simon, once sat on the stage next to Mark Stein of the Vanilla Fudge as they did "You Keep Me Hangin' On" [because I like you, I will spare your ears], and once saw the reconstituted Dave Brubeck Quartet at Saunders Theater at Harvard, reputed by one recording savant as the best place to record jazz in the US. (I speak of the principal, owner, producer, recording and sound engineer for esoteric, audiophile record label Mapleshade Records, Pierre Sprey, previously one of John Boyd's acolytes at the Pentagon. [There's an inside private story associated with his catalog arrival at my home.])
The visit to Saunders was a present from "my funny valentine" [I met her on Valentine's Day and the rest is history], and I bought three of his CD's. The concert was great -- "you're not going to jump up and shout or anything like that, are you?" she asked -- but came to a fore when Bobby Millitello soloed on a rocking fast-paced rendition of "Koto Sing" -- I have searched since for a recording of it -- in which Millitello was chanting across the mouthpiece of the flute.
I am also very much aware of the creation of the mythlogy surrounding Custer and conscious that my perspective may be skewed from having been steeped in it prior to becoming more aware that all is not what it appears to be (indeed, that it may be a conversely-distorted image of the truth).
I agree with you on your remarks about Sitting Bull's vision. The information I have in front of me backs you up entirely in terms of "spiritual" components and differing worldviews.
If anomalous cognition has possibilities (as it appears to), then perhaps it can be arranged that a series of extended regressive "visits" to Washington, D.C., Fort Lincoln, various telegraph stations (equipped with that era's equivalent of Echelon), Fort Leavenworth, Fort Snelling, and others be made to "eavesdrop" on the minds and politics of the day, the in-fighting within the US military chains of command, and much more during the period of March through June 1976 (and perhaps an occasion in 1875, as well as much earlier*). If Custer is seen to have been a threat to someone in military command or politics -- and of course we are talking about their tight inter-coil then, then one question would seem to be why Grant seemed focused on Custer.
One obvious answer: the scandal involving U.S. Secretary of War William W. Belknap and President Grant's brother Orville.
One less-obvious answer might be simply the recognition that Grant was a former commanding General serving with, along side, over and in cahoots with many of the leading cast of characters in this drama. I'd want to do at least a fast survey of the relationships, problems, alliances, etc. It also sets up the potential mechanics inherent in your hypothesis.
But the scandal seems the likely place to look in depth because it was current and simultaneous. Grant feared or knew that Custer knew something, I would suppose, and feared that it would be used in some forthcoming political candidacy by Custer. In the background politically is still the persecution of the Indian Wars and the degree of safety for the commonfolk during the ongoing westward expansion, the gold in them thar hills, and other factors.
From the venerable WikiPedia, useful only as a starting point:
"... on March 15, Custer was summoned to Washington to testify at Congressional hearings regarding the scandal involving U.S. Secretary of War William W. Belknap and President Grant's brother Orville. After testifying on March 29 and April 4, Custer testified in support of the Democrats before the Banning Committee. After Belknap was indicted, Custer secured release and left Washington on April 20. Instead of immediately returning to Fort Lincoln, he visited the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and traveled to New York to meet with his publishers. While there, he was summoned to the U.S. Senate, possibly a move instigated by President Grant....."
"[As the LBH campaign was beginning to get underway], General Sherman sent a telegram to General Sheridan ordering him to intercept Custer and hold him until further orders. [What other telegrams did he send to others?] Sheridan was also ordered to arrange for the expedition against the Lakota to depart with Major Reno's replacing Custer. Sherman, Sheridan, and Terry all wanted Custer in command but had to support Grant. Sherman wrote Terry: "Custer's political activity has compromised his best friends here, and almost deprived us of the ability to serve him".[citation needed]"
As for the Gatling gun question, I'll reserve further comment and judgment, but will make this comment:
In the simulation game with which I am most familiar with (covering the Battle of the Bulge), there is a wonderful and insightful comment made inside the designer's notes I have used several times and which comes to play here. 'Every time you want to move one of the German artillery units, you must recruit six of your friends and push a heavy sedan around the block in the rain." It keeps simulators honest when moving heavy pieces in pretense [cardboard counters] across hill and dale. So the best way to answer your question would be for me to actually pack and unpack a Gatling gun, bring it in by mule, set it up, fire off a beltful of blanks (apologize to the neighbors), pack it up, and move it 100 yards down the road and do the same thing. I suspect a number of Gatlings were to be the anvil for the cavalry's hammer.
As for rubbing ears with Shirley Horn, I cannot compete. I did, however, once interview Paul Simon, once sat on the stage next to Mark Stein of the Vanilla Fudge as they did "You Keep Me Hangin' On" [because I like you, I will spare your ears], and once saw the reconstituted Dave Brubeck Quartet at Saunders Theater at Harvard, reputed by one recording savant as the best place to record jazz in the US. (I speak of the principal, owner, producer, recording and sound engineer for esoteric, audiophile record label Mapleshade Records, Pierre Sprey, previously one of John Boyd's acolytes at the Pentagon. [There's an inside private story associated with his catalog arrival at my home.])
The visit to Saunders was a present from "my funny valentine" [I met her on Valentine's Day and the rest is history], and I bought three of his CD's. The concert was great -- "you're not going to jump up and shout or anything like that, are you?" she asked -- but came to a fore when Bobby Millitello soloed on a rocking fast-paced rendition of "Koto Sing" -- I have searched since for a recording of it -- in which Millitello was chanting across the mouthpiece of the flute.
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"