Summary of Stephen E. Ambrose's Crazy Horse and Custer

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 The Great Plains of North America stretch from the Mexican border to the Canadian frontier. They are semiarid and essentially treeless. They can be a delight for life, or a misery, depending on the weather.

#2 The Plains are a windy environment, and the animals that live there are accustomed to it. The climate is healthy and invigorating, and the grass is abundant. The buffalo provided an apparently inexhaustible meat supply.

#3 The horse was introduced to the Americas by the Spanish, and within a few decades was in use by the tribes of the southern Plains. The Indians enjoyed the horses, and when they acquired a gray or brown horse, the first thing they did was to paint the skin.

#4 The horse was another white man’s innovation that the Plains Indians were able to take advantage of. The gun gave the eastern tribes great advantages over their western neighbors, and the Sioux were the only Indian nation to defeat the United States in war and force it to sign a peace treaty favorable to the red man.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669356073

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Stephen Ambrose's Crazy Horse and Custer

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Great Plains of North America stretch from the Mexican border to the Canadian frontier. They are semiarid and essentially treeless. They can be a delight for life, or a misery, depending on the weather.

#2

The Plains are a windy environment, and the animals that live there are accustomed to it. The climate is healthy and invigorating, and the grass is abundant. The buffalo provided an apparently inexhaustible meat supply.

#3

The horse was introduced to the Americas by the Spanish, and within a few decades was in use by the tribes of the southern Plains. The Indians enjoyed the horses, and when they acquired a gray or brown horse, the first thing they did was to paint the skin.

#4

The horse was another white man’s innovation that the Plains Indians were able to take advantage of. The gun gave the eastern tribes great advantages over their western neighbors, and the Sioux were the only Indian nation to defeat the United States in war and force it to sign a peace treaty favorable to the red man.

#5

The Sioux, a tribe with many divisions, came onto the Plains at an ideal time. They were able to take control of a vast region stretching from the Missouri River on the east and north to the Black Hills on the west, and to the Platte River on the south.

#6

The Plains Indians were too rich for the white men’s liking. They were independent, and they would not work. The Indians exhibited an improvidence that impressed the traders. They did not have the slightest idea of a future, and they trusted to nature to supply needs as they arose.

#7

The Indian was for the white man an extreme example of everything he was not: lazy and improvident, but also extremely energetic and capable of great bursts of energy when needed.

#8

The Sioux were a tribe that constantly fought with the Ojibways, Crees, and Crows. They would gather on one side of a valley, and the Ojibways on the other. They would shout taunts back and forth, and occasionally a young brave would dash forward on his pinto and gallop into the Crow line.

#9

The traders found little to admire in the Indians, but they were still trying to make money off of them and exploiters rarely find many admirable characteristics among the group they are exploiting.

#10

The Oglala Sioux and the emigrants who passed through their territory in 1846 got along well, as they had always done when trading with the Indians. But when the emigrants became a flood, the Sioux were horrified at the lack of discipline among the whites’ children.

#11

The Old Smoke band was typical of Plains Indians, and they moved frequently. When the moving village crossed a stream, utter confusion reigned, in contrast to the emigrant trains. The horses and dogs plunged right in, their travois floating along behind.

#12

The Sioux were a conservative people who were well-liked by the whites who came into contact with them. They had no desire to change their way of life, but they wanted the goods that the whites had.

#13

The Sioux were a tribe that was split over how to respond to the challenge of the white man. Some wanted to obtain what the white man offered, while others wanted to keep their own culture.

#14

The United States was a country of striking diversity in 1839, with immigrants from all over Europe and Africa. There were few national institutions, but there were national feelings and traditions. Americans had unbounded respect for republican government and a deep loathing of monarchy.

#15

Ohio was a typical American state, with a diverse population that came from all over the country and the world. The state was rich due to the hard work of its residents, the influx of speculative capital from Europe and the eastern states, and the destruction of its natural resources.

#16

Americans worked hard because they believed it was their duty to do so, and they were always optimistic about the future. The American political system protected a man’s right to possess exclusively what he had earned or built, which encouraged him to earn or build more.

#17

The American West was a prime investment opportunity for European and eastern capital. Very few people in the West ever got rich, at least by eastern standards, but the