Benteen: Saint or Sinner

[joewiggs]

I agree tbw, despite his short comings Benteen would have never knowingly not come to Custer's aid. Brininstool was such a Custerphobe that he would have resented any individual who did not join him in a collective hatefest of Custer.

Regardles, SB has presented a very valid point as to Freddy's silence to Brininstool's request. How about plain old indifference!? How many people may have burdened him year after year while insisting that he commit to one side or the other; we will never know.

He may have grown tired of the Bull ***t and elected to just stay out of it!

[whitebull]

...or he might have figured out that his Daddy left the man high and dry. Wasn't it Benteen and Reno who swore they didn't hear any firing coming from Custer's men?

In other words, Freddy might have figured out that his father fumbled the ball a little bit and became a bit ashamed of his Pa. I haven't read as much as other members of the board but I remember reading that Benteen was a hard man to get to know and figure out. maybe his son felt the same way!

[stumblingbear]

Could it be that Benteen was so set in his ways that he just couldn't adjust to seeing Custer as anything but obtuse. Even at the end, he assumed that Custer was holding out like he and Benteen were. When he realized the truth, he blamed Custer for even dying the way he did. In other words, dying when Benteen thought he was very much alive. How dare Custer do such a thing???

[whitebull]

You know what folks, I believe the ole boy was a sinner! Why you may ask? Well when your own kin don't like you what can I say. I've been reading "Touched by Fire by Louise Barnett and in it I found some really interesting things about the personal life of Custer and the other guys involved in the battle. For example a little bit about Benteen and his son, Freddy:

"These are understandable motives, but they hardly seem enough to explain benteen's dogged hatred. E.A. Brininstool, a Custerphobe, wrote to Custer biographer Frederick van de Water That Benteen's son Freddy had closed off discussion by claiming to have no idea why the two men were enemies. Brininstool noted that the younger Benteen did not like to talk about his father and ignored inquires: 'I sent him a batch of letters written by this human skunk W. J. Ghent of Washington {a Custer partisan}, in which he brands the old man {Benteen} as a liar and drunkard, and yet that damnable son refuses to take any action or even to get mad over such a defamation of character.'"Perhaps Freddy, the only survivor of five children, had found his father difficult to live with, too, or perhaps he was merely immune to the virus of conjecture over the Last Stand that others found so infectious."

I don't know folks but, i get the impression that Freddy just didn't want to defend his father for one reason or another.

[joewiggs]

You're reading a very fine book WB. A little different then most as it deals, in depth, with Custer's personal relations with his family rather than the battle sequences.

I thought the portion of the book you noted spoke volumes about the relationship, or, the lack thereof between father and son.

Freddy appeared not very interested in discussing his father.

Freddy was responsible for unloading the family secret that Benteen was responsible for the arrest and confinement of Freddy's grandfather during the Civil War.

In a letter to his wife, Benteen acknowledged that fact and was,evidently, disturbed with his son for doing so.
Knowing Benteens vindictive character, Freddy may have paid a severe price for his indulgent nature..