Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point

by James Robbins

Overview

Today's Goat, the West Point cadet finishing at the bottom of his class, is temporary celebrity among his classmates. But in the 19th century, he was something of a cult figure. Custer's contemporaries at the Academy believed that the same spirit of adventure that led him to carouse at local taverns motivated his dramatic cavalry attacks in the Civil War and afterwards. And the same willingness to accept punishment from Academy authorities also sent George Pickett into the teeth of the Union guns at Gettsyburg. The story James S. Robbins tells goes from the beginnings of West Point through the carnage of the Civil War to the grassy bluffs over the Little Big Horn. The Goats he profiles tell us much about the soul of the American solider, his daring, imagination and desire to prove himself against high odds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594033841
Publisher:	Encounter Books
Publication date:	03/09/2006
Series:	Encounter Broadsides
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	500
File size:	886 KB

About the Author

James S. Robbins is a Professor of International Relations at the National Defense University in Washington, DC., and Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council. Dr. Robbins is a former Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and frequent commentator on national security issues for National Review, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He appears regularly on international television and radio including the BBC, Voice of America, FNC, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN/FN, among others. He holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Medford, Mass. His research interests include terrorism and national security strategy, political theory, and military history.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition ix

Introduction xiii

Nathaniel Wyche Hunter 1

Benny Havens' 13

Ephraim Kirby Smith 29

The Seminole War 35

Henry Heth 54

Flirtation Walk 67

Zeb Inge 83

Churubusco 94

Chapultepec 107

James McNeill Whistler 117

William Logan Crittenden 133

The Battle of Blue Waters 146

Solomon's Fork 159

The Pig War 173

George Armstrong Custer 183

Absent Friends 195

James McQueen McIntosh 205

Charles Nelson Warner 221

Gettysburg 231

Pickett's Charge 239

Laurence Simmons Baker 255

Five Forks 269

Appomattox 282

The Reunion 298

Charles Dempsey 311

John Jordan Crittenden 323

Hurrah for Custer 335

Washita 346

The Boy President 358

The Sioux Campaign 366

Little Bighorn 373

My Every Thought Was Ambition 385

The Immortals 391

Whither the Goat? 409

A Note on Sources 413

Endnotes 414

Index 481