Post by tbw on Jun 19, 2010 11:38:21 GMT -5
This subject was brought up and addressed on another thread here. And I think it deserves its own place within the files ;D
What bothers me is not so much the phobe or phile aspects of who the people are - who study and write about this stuff today, but the actual ‘files’ which have and give more substance to the truth of the matter. And when it comes to saying whether one idolizes or hates any of these people long ago, it comes down to personal preferences and perhaps, just perhaps what one believes about them.
What some see as a “professional soldier” in any of them is most assuredly measured by today’s standards and not the standards of the time. Whose to say? Who has the proper authority and judgment to discern it today? Soldiers, sailors or candlestick makers? One has just as much authority as the next. Nor does this exclude or preclude any other occupation, ohhhh… say like, psychologist, archeologist, psychiatrist, gynecologist, doctor, brick layer, stone mason, Masonic theorist, mothers, fathers, children of the Holocaust and thousands of others as Benteen himself would add… ad infinitum. Not the least of these is under qualified than the next in their perception, intuition or for that matter, insight.
What isn’t taken into consideration when determining whether Benteen, Reno or Custer was a ‘professional’ or a ‘lousy’ soldier is why were they soldiers at all? Why did they choose to stay in military service long after the Civil War? “Officer and Gentleman” status alone? And if so which one was more likely to stay ‘in service’ for that reason alone?
Those today who see Benteen as the hero of the battle and refuse to see the darker side of his nature, use the same tactics he used in dispersing blame from himself. This man in every instance ever known placed blame on another with and for the same ideals, thoughts and why’s and wherefore’s he did, in other words he projected his own “transference” upon that event or situation to make it look the same as what he thought through the eyes and thoughts of the others involved. The best example of this is Benteen’s thought that Custer, after returning from the Crows nest, didn’t see the village or for that matter any signs of it, ie. His own ’projection’ of thought of what Custer didn’t see, and not what Custer actually observed. It was very easy then to defend his position of saying that his ’march to the left’ was “senseless“, obviously because, Custer himself thought it was too because he didn’t see that village or any part of it prior to sending him on that mission. Another instance of this was his arrogant dismissal of Sgt. Kanipe’s message to ’the pack train’. This message in construct and content was a barn burning plea for assistance, then and there, yet he ’transferred’ his own thought process into the equation by denouncing that message or any message Kanipe would have, should have and indeed did have for Benteen as “senseless” because he wasn’t the “commander of the pack train.” Indeed by what we know, he wasn’t, but Kanipe according to what he said, was sent back to give Benteen “some kind of message” by his own admission. Yet - not so according to Benteen whose transference still reigns.
Custer and his troops were within about one-half mile of
the east side of the Indian camps when I received the follow-
ing messages from Captain Thomas Custer, brother of the
General : — "Go to Captain McDougall. Tell him to bring
pack train straight across the country. If any packs come
loose, cut them and come on quick — a big Indian camp." "If
you see Captain Benteen, tell him to come quick — a big In-
dian camp."
SILENT SENTINELS OF THE SEVENTH.
Speaking now as a private citizen, I do not hesitate to
express it as my opinion that if Reno and Benteen had car-
ried out their orders, Custer and the five troops would not
have met their sad fate. Better and more gallant soldiers
than those who died on this ill-fated field never adorned the
American army, and braver, truer and more efficient officers
than General Geo. A. Custer and his brother, Captain Tom
Custer, never lived.
DANIEL A. KANIPE,
Ex-Sergeant C. Troop, 7th Cavalry.
(Both of the above from the archives of the Montana Historical Society, contributions 1903, by Will Aiken a personal acquaintance of Sgt Kanipe.)
"Benteen's weakness was vindictiveness, which was pronounced. He was indifferent to the minor matters of discipline, and always had the poorest company in the regiment. He was not considered a good company officer, but was a first-rate fighter. It always galled Benteen to serve at such low rank as captain, after having been a colonel in the War. For this reason, he never took the interest in his command that might have been expected of him." (Walter Camp's Field Notes from a fellow officer - Bell)
It seems all but Benteen were pretty good at discerning mileages and distances. His usually comes off as some sort of gobbled D gook that no one seems to understand. What it seems may though be farther from the lie than what most suspect. On the surface it seems like he’s blaming Custer and covering his own arse in the process… too far, too long ad infinitum. But that’s not Benteen’s style, remember he uses “transference” to tell his stories. Was that what he believed, or what someone else he remembered them as saying or doing - that caused it? Remember, it had to be “senseless” for a reason, and NOT be “his” idea! The few times the court challenged him on his statements, he would arrogantly proclaim, “that’s the way I would have it.” Indeed, “the way he would have it” all the way through testimony - chapter by verse.
What some don’t get is the “senselessness” of his cause. What some don’t want to see is the truth behind the lies that he himself perpetrated and then ‘transferred’ this onto others. This isn’t the act of a hero, but of someone with something to hide. And hide it, he did.
It’s not for hate or any other reason that I bring these facts to light. It’s merely the truth. And whatever comes of F. Benteen in the future because of it, for better or worse, at least the truth should prevail over what ’he wanted’, or for that matter, what any of them wanted, but what is needed.
What bothers me is not so much the phobe or phile aspects of who the people are - who study and write about this stuff today, but the actual ‘files’ which have and give more substance to the truth of the matter. And when it comes to saying whether one idolizes or hates any of these people long ago, it comes down to personal preferences and perhaps, just perhaps what one believes about them.
What some see as a “professional soldier” in any of them is most assuredly measured by today’s standards and not the standards of the time. Whose to say? Who has the proper authority and judgment to discern it today? Soldiers, sailors or candlestick makers? One has just as much authority as the next. Nor does this exclude or preclude any other occupation, ohhhh… say like, psychologist, archeologist, psychiatrist, gynecologist, doctor, brick layer, stone mason, Masonic theorist, mothers, fathers, children of the Holocaust and thousands of others as Benteen himself would add… ad infinitum. Not the least of these is under qualified than the next in their perception, intuition or for that matter, insight.
What isn’t taken into consideration when determining whether Benteen, Reno or Custer was a ‘professional’ or a ‘lousy’ soldier is why were they soldiers at all? Why did they choose to stay in military service long after the Civil War? “Officer and Gentleman” status alone? And if so which one was more likely to stay ‘in service’ for that reason alone?
Those today who see Benteen as the hero of the battle and refuse to see the darker side of his nature, use the same tactics he used in dispersing blame from himself. This man in every instance ever known placed blame on another with and for the same ideals, thoughts and why’s and wherefore’s he did, in other words he projected his own “transference” upon that event or situation to make it look the same as what he thought through the eyes and thoughts of the others involved. The best example of this is Benteen’s thought that Custer, after returning from the Crows nest, didn’t see the village or for that matter any signs of it, ie. His own ’projection’ of thought of what Custer didn’t see, and not what Custer actually observed. It was very easy then to defend his position of saying that his ’march to the left’ was “senseless“, obviously because, Custer himself thought it was too because he didn’t see that village or any part of it prior to sending him on that mission. Another instance of this was his arrogant dismissal of Sgt. Kanipe’s message to ’the pack train’. This message in construct and content was a barn burning plea for assistance, then and there, yet he ’transferred’ his own thought process into the equation by denouncing that message or any message Kanipe would have, should have and indeed did have for Benteen as “senseless” because he wasn’t the “commander of the pack train.” Indeed by what we know, he wasn’t, but Kanipe according to what he said, was sent back to give Benteen “some kind of message” by his own admission. Yet - not so according to Benteen whose transference still reigns.
Custer and his troops were within about one-half mile of
the east side of the Indian camps when I received the follow-
ing messages from Captain Thomas Custer, brother of the
General : — "Go to Captain McDougall. Tell him to bring
pack train straight across the country. If any packs come
loose, cut them and come on quick — a big Indian camp." "If
you see Captain Benteen, tell him to come quick — a big In-
dian camp."
SILENT SENTINELS OF THE SEVENTH.
Speaking now as a private citizen, I do not hesitate to
express it as my opinion that if Reno and Benteen had car-
ried out their orders, Custer and the five troops would not
have met their sad fate. Better and more gallant soldiers
than those who died on this ill-fated field never adorned the
American army, and braver, truer and more efficient officers
than General Geo. A. Custer and his brother, Captain Tom
Custer, never lived.
DANIEL A. KANIPE,
Ex-Sergeant C. Troop, 7th Cavalry.
(Both of the above from the archives of the Montana Historical Society, contributions 1903, by Will Aiken a personal acquaintance of Sgt Kanipe.)
"Benteen's weakness was vindictiveness, which was pronounced. He was indifferent to the minor matters of discipline, and always had the poorest company in the regiment. He was not considered a good company officer, but was a first-rate fighter. It always galled Benteen to serve at such low rank as captain, after having been a colonel in the War. For this reason, he never took the interest in his command that might have been expected of him." (Walter Camp's Field Notes from a fellow officer - Bell)
It seems all but Benteen were pretty good at discerning mileages and distances. His usually comes off as some sort of gobbled D gook that no one seems to understand. What it seems may though be farther from the lie than what most suspect. On the surface it seems like he’s blaming Custer and covering his own arse in the process… too far, too long ad infinitum. But that’s not Benteen’s style, remember he uses “transference” to tell his stories. Was that what he believed, or what someone else he remembered them as saying or doing - that caused it? Remember, it had to be “senseless” for a reason, and NOT be “his” idea! The few times the court challenged him on his statements, he would arrogantly proclaim, “that’s the way I would have it.” Indeed, “the way he would have it” all the way through testimony - chapter by verse.
What some don’t get is the “senselessness” of his cause. What some don’t want to see is the truth behind the lies that he himself perpetrated and then ‘transferred’ this onto others. This isn’t the act of a hero, but of someone with something to hide. And hide it, he did.
It’s not for hate or any other reason that I bring these facts to light. It’s merely the truth. And whatever comes of F. Benteen in the future because of it, for better or worse, at least the truth should prevail over what ’he wanted’, or for that matter, what any of them wanted, but what is needed.
