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Ambition can be a good thing. But when ambition is over-egoed it goes blind...
George Custer graduated last in his class from West Point, but don't let that fool you. What he lacked in study habits he more than made up for in innate strategic ability and ambition.
As an officer in the American Civil War, he played an important and decisive part; at Bull Run; at Gettysburg and Appomattox. He was present when Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Grant.
And ...he wanted to be president.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with wanting to be president, BUT lend your eyes to this...
After the Civil War there was a grand celebration and review in Washington. On the reviewing stand was the victorious commander of the Union Army, General Grant.
During the parade, Custer, on horseback, shot by his commander without saluting. It was intentional on Custer's part and therein lies his problem.
His arrogance, ego and ambition running together in a blind torrent, just couldn't pass up the opportunity to publically show up his commanding officer.
Ten years later when Grant was president, Custer went west.
The republicans were courting him to run for president and he needed one more thunderous splash that would cement his name and his fame as the great American Indian hunter.
Indeed, he thought for certain that the death of more natives would mean life to his campaign.
That final splash was going to be made at a place called Little Big Horn.
I just read a fascinating book, Custer's Fall, by David Humphreys Miller, which details the battle of Little Big Horn from the Native American Point of view. How often do you see that?
It was published in the 1950s after Humphreys spent decades interviewing Indian survivors of the battle-that is natives on both sides; those that fought against Custer and those that worked for him as guides and scouts.
One thing was clear: Custer had all the data that told him an attack at Little Big Horn was a bad idea. The hodge podge of tribes quilted together under Sitting Bull had overwhelming numbers compared to Custer's regiment.
Custer didn't believe the numbers and thought the reports of native superiority were simply cowardly excuses not to fight.
His scouts told him. The best talent around him warned him. But ambition, consumed by a burning ego, didn't allow him to see the facts for what they were.
From the book:
"The Crows {some of his Indian scouts} keep saying you'll find a good many more Sioux down there than you'll be able to handle," said {Mitch} Bouyer, {a half-breed who most considered the best Indian guide in the country}. "The way they put it, there are more Sioux than all your soldiers put together have bullets."
Custer's eyes flashed. "You going soft on me Bouyer?"
"Soft?"
"Yellow. Cowardly. Like an old woman. Call it anything you like."
The half-breed blinked and shook his head. "If we go in there, we will never come out."
At his elbow, Bloody Knife {Custer's most trusted Indian guide} made sign talk, saying, "His tongue is straight. What he says is true."
Long Hair {Custer} cast a narrow glance at his old favorite. "You too, Bloody Knife?"
In answer, Bloody Knife looked up at the sun and signed farewell, saying, "I shall not see you go down behind the Shining Mountains tonight."
Custer ignored the data and their counsel. We all know the rest of the story.
Custer and his men charged headlong into a buzz saw of Native American warriors. Custer was one of the first to die. Mitch Bouyer and Bloody Knife died with him.
American politicians and journalists tried to spin a heroic yarn about "Custer's Last Stand."
But President Ulysses S. Grant knew better. He told the New York Herald, "I regard Custer's massacre as an unnecessary sacrifice of troops brought on by Custer himself."
Temper your ambition. Cool your egos. The most gifted of leaders, who choose to be blind, fail.
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