CAGB Onlin - Recent Publications

Water Carriers Ravine - Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

CAGB Online - Recent Publications

(Front cover) The medieval bell tower in Salisbury Cathedral Close, print by G.B. Jackson, and J. Fougerson, 1759.

(Back cover) A Victorian pipe bowl depicting Buffalo Bill.

Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show entertained the people of Salisbury for one day only in August 1903. “Buffalo Bill in Salisbury: 6 August 1903”, by Gary Leonard, Sarum Chronicle, Issue 26: 2026-27, pp. 25-43. Gary acknowledges two UK members, namely, historian Tom Cunningham for the generous and unstinting help provided in the preparation of this article, and Peter Russell for his support with this and other articles.

'The Crow's Nest' 2025, Volume 24, 2025.

The Crow's Nest, Volume 25, 2026

Custer’s Last Stand Demystified: The Story of an Epic Defeat, by Phil Guarnieri and Bill Rini, £29.99 Paperback – 25 April 2026
Currently available at abebooks.co.uk
The shattering news of the Battle of the Little Big Horn swept into the American consciousness with all the fury of a storm at sea surging ashore. For a still-young nation celebrating the centennial of its birth and anticipating the promise of a boundless future, the news of Custer’s death ride hovered over the nation’s celebrations like a nuclear winter.
Ever since, gnawing questions surrounding this epic defeat have haunted the national imagination. How could the most famous regiment in the United States Army, led by a great war hero and its most renowned Indian fighter, succumb so disastrously and totally to the primitive savagery of the Western frontier?

Since no trooper or scout who rode with Custer survived, answers to the debacle have never come easy, even for those determined to know the truth. From the first sighting of the massive Indian village, this new account provides a first-class, gut-wrenching historical reconstruction of events that is a model of prodigious research, as it builds, step-by-step, a case for what happened and why on that sweltering afternoon in June 1876.
Drawing upon hundreds of personal accounts from both sides, furnishing exhaustive timelines and exquisitely detailed, uncluttered maps, the authors amplify old evidence while plowing untrodden ground in search of elusive clues.
The result is a narrative bristling with the unholy cacophony of war, blending the art of superior storytelling with the historian’s factual rigor. Unearthing fresh revelations of the great West’s most storied and spellbinding encounter, this climactic slaughter along the banks of the Little Big Horn ultimately drove the Plains Indians and their way of life to an unmarked grave-even as other forces forged together a Continental nation of mythical proportions.

In Custer’s Boots: The Little Bighorn Campaign: Revelations, Reconstructions, and Reviews, by Gordon Richard, Amazon UK, 192 pp, Paperback £22.48, Kindle £13.95 (15 December 2025).
The Battle of the Little Bighorn remains one of the most debated events in American military history. In this collection of meticulously researched essays, the author challenges long-standing myths, examines key decisions made by Custer and his superiors, and re-evaluates the evidence surrounding the battle and its participants. Drawing on articles published in leading historical journals, this volume delves into topics such as Custer’s reconnaissance, the accusations that he disobeyed orders, the strength of the warrior force he faced, and the reliability of testimony from the Reno Court of Inquiry. It also investigates the fate of the 7th Cavalry’s horses, the provenance of a multi-million-dollar battle relic, and the distortions of modern internet sources.

Extermination or Civilization: America’s road to the Great Sioux War, by Rob Cormican (2 Dec. 2025)
“Let us have peace,” President Ulysses S. Grant declared. Few imagined that within a decade his Army—led in part by George Armstrong Custer—would march into Sioux country and ignite one of the most consequential wars of the American West. Extermination or Civilization presents a meticulously documented account of the decade leading to the Great Sioux War, drawing on contemporary newspapers, congressional records, military documents, journals, books, and firsthand published accounts. It reveals how political expediency, shifting federal policies, and the attractions of gold, converged to push the nation toward conflict. For readers seeking a grounded, primary-source-driven history of America’s westward expansion through Indian land and its entanglement with post–Civil War Reconstruction politics, this book offers a compelling and essential perspective.

The Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Richmond, VA.

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2027
A personal invitation from U.S. member, Matt Liddic, to the 2027 LBHA Conference in Richmond, Virginia, at the Four Points by Sheraton. Save the date, June 10th to the 13th. The room rate is $145. The focus for 2027 will be Tom Custer’s actions at the battles of Sailors Creek and Five Forks.