Arts & Culture 2020

Much Ado About Custer: Rethinking the “Indian Wars”

Mon Sep 28, 2020
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Event Video

For decades, the fight for the American West has fascinated writers and readers alike. The mystery of Lt. Col. George A. Custer’s death, the lives of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and the catastrophe at Wounded Knee have been too powerful to resist. Yet it turns out that the United States Army’s unpublished manuscript correspondence – hidden away in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. – radically changes what we think about the era.

This lecture will explore the misguided notion of those so-called Indian Wars, the forgotten peers of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and why Custer still looms large in popular memory.

Our virtual programs are graciously sponsored by Alpine Bank. Colorado Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities have also provided funding as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act economic stabilization plan of 2020.

Event Video

Event SPEAKER(S)

Catharine Franklin

Catharine Franklin

Assistant Professor, 19th century U.S.

Texas Tech University