Custer and Crockett
Page 42
“Isabella and I were kept awake by your nephew’s crying,” I said. “Emanuel Erasmo Custer has strong lungs. Complain to me again when you have your own growing brood.”
“Babies are women’s work. Our work is here,” Tatanka said, for he was a hard taskmaster.
He unrolled a new map, showing lands from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean. Many areas were highlighted, most particularly our disputed northeastern border, for the Buffalo Flag rightly claimed large swaths of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. Lands occupied by Indians tribes but sought after by American politicians.
“We have a new treaty with the Lakota,” Tatanka said. “The Travane Mining Corporation & Trust will extract the gold from the Black Hills, but the hunting grounds will be managed by the People.”
“The Sioux live in the United States. You know we have no authority there. Not without a war we’re not prepared for,” I mildly objected.
Tatanka opened a notebook, ran his finger down the page of the congressional records, and pointed to a particular clause.
“It says here, the tribes are granted sovereignty of their lands by the American Congress. Is this not correct?” he said.
I glanced at the passage, though I already knew what it said. Such articles were common in my own day, though rarely honored for very long.
“Yes, technically that’s true. The tribes are sovereign on their own land,” I confirmed.
“Then tell me why the Buffalo Flag may not make trade agreements with sovereign tribes?”
He had me there. Though I was no lawyer, it seemed to me a case could be made for his argument. And if Washington sought to interfere with such trade? I looked Tatanka in the eye and saw what he was thinking.
“Send the treaty to the State Department. If Secretary Almonte approves, we’ll take it to the next step,” I suggested.
“The proposal was telegraphed to Austin this morning. Tom promises to discuss it at the cabinet meeting,” Tatanka said.
“One less thing for me to worry about,” I concluded.
My staff gradually arrived and the day was spent planning for the Texas trip, deciding who would stay behind to keep an eye on California. Mayor Richardson and Francisco de Haro had the official responsibility, but I still placed my trust in Señora Martínez. Bill Richardson was a conscientious administrator, but his wife was tougher.
And I knew if there were serious problems, Crockett would come down from Sacramento to serve as magistrate. Having declined to run for reelection, David was now spending his days overseeing the Gold Country. A few weeks away from his mansion on Plum Creek, now overflowing with children and grandchildren, would come as a welcome distraction. Isabella and I had spent Christmas with them, and I could tell the Old Bear Hunter was getting restless.
Toward the end of the day, my secretary announced a surprise guest.
“General Custer, the ambassador is here,” Lieutenant Allen said.
“Which one is that, Jimmy?” I asked, for diplomats usually arranged their meetings at Kellogg House on State Street.
“Mr. James G. Birney, sir,” Allen said.
I stood up and put on my official dress coat as the Kentuckian entered, a tall man with good visage, dressed in an elegant black suit.
“President Clay sends his greetings, General Custer,” Birney said, shaking my hand.
“I did not expect him to send a Southerner,” I remarked, for many plantation owners in Congress were still hoping to claim Texas one day. Something the Seventh Cavalry would never allow.
“An abolitionist Southerner, sir,” Birney replied, showing no offense.
“That’s different. Would you care for a cup of coffee? Or something stronger?” I asked.
“Coffee would be fine, General,” he said, making himself comfortable. “I just finished reading your book. The Conquest of California. Quite the adventure story.”
“It sells well,” I said.
“How much of it is true?” Birney asked.
“Enough,” I replied. “What brings you all the way up here on a rainy day?”
“I required an informal meeting. Not one ready for the newspapers,” Birney explained. “The panic of 1837 is still affecting my country, and the tensions along our borders are not helping.”
“And how does this concern me?”
“It is said that Thomas Custer will be the next president of the Nations,” Birney explained. “He is young and popular. My government would like influence, and what better way than to make friends with his famous brother?”
It was not the first time such an approach had been made, but at least Birney was more honest than most.
“What is President Clay proposing?” I asked, taking a deep breath.
Birney reached into his pocket for a letter, stained and folded from a long trip.
“Written in his own hand,” Birney said, handing the envelope to me with grim determination.
I was not wearing my spectacles, nor did I want to expose such a weakness before a man I barely knew.
“May I have the gist of it?” I requested.
“It’s an invitation for the Buffalo Flag Nations to join the United States,” Birney said.
I went back to my desk, found my spectacles, and read the offer carefully. It was generous enough, but hardly acceptable.
“I’m sorry, sir,” I said with genuine contrition, giving the letter back to him. “Please ask President Clay to have patience. In time, we will ask the United States to join us.”
General Custer was not the same man after the war in Texas. When white men would object that he treated Indians, Negros and Mexicans with too much deference, and this happened often, he would sit back in his chair and ask if they knew of the Persian Empire. He spoke of Darius and Xerxes, of Assyrians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, and other strange tribes that live far away. He would rise from his desk, lean on his cane, and say that no such land as the Buffalo Flag had been created since the time of Alexander the Great. There were some who believed Custer still sought power, perhaps even war with the United States, and wrote of him in a disparaging manner. But in his heart, Custer did not believe himself exalted above all others. He spent quiet evenings with his wife, indulged his children, and sought to govern with a justice that surprised those who knew him in harsher days. I once asked him of this, and with a whisper, he said that a tranquil life was his reward for achieving glory.
Keogh’s Marker, circa 1877, by Coffeen-Schnitger
Acknowledgements
Some may consider Custer and Crockett an alternate history book, or simply a time travel book more akin to fantasy, but this has not prevented a good deal of historical research. In May 2014, I drove through Texas visiting Fort Stockton, San Antonio, Goliad, Austin, and Fredericksburg. This was an excellent opportunity to see the countryside, visit with locals, and purchase research materials. On the trip back to California, I was able to see some of the western trails that were close to non-existent in 1836, but would be thriving a mere ten years later. In Custer’s time, General Stephen Kearny’s route to California, and the Butterfield stage line, would have been old history, well-known to army officers and travelers alike.
George Custer was a staunch believer in railroads. He believed in their economic power, and their power to bring civilizations together. The country believed in railroads, too, which is why the United States made the Gadsden Purchase in 1854 to lay tracks from Texas to California. Custer did not live to see the first segment of the Southern Pacific laid between Los Angeles and Fort Yuma, completed in 1877, but he was very aware of the progress. One of his best friends at West Point, Thomas Rosser, scouted routes for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Both envisioned a day when multiple routes would connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.
Prior to researching this novel, I did not realize that California was in revolt against Mexico City at the same time Texas was having its revolution. The revolt has never received much notice by historians, and the biographies of the participants are often vague.
This can be useful when writing fiction, for it imposes fewer restrictions, but I still wanted to capture the important elements of life in California before the gold rush.
A few readers of Custer at the Alamo have questioned Custer’s abilities as an army officer. It should be noted that, as today, there is more to leading men (and women) into battle than jumping on a horse and shouting ‘charge.’ As Lt. Colonel of the Seventh Cavalry, Custer spent most of his days writing reports, ordering supplies, overseeing training, passing judgment on infractions, and treading the treacherous political waters of the post-war U.S. Army. As an example, I will cite the 1873 Yellowstone Expedition, where Custer organized 1,600 cavalry and infantry, thousands of horses and mules, and 275 supply wagons. Accompanying the expedition were surveyors, railroad engineers, newspaper reporters, photographers, geologists, zoologists, botanists, and Indian scouts. And the expedition was successful. When Custer makes his move from Texas to California in Custer and Crockett, I am not providing him with leadership skills he didn’t have.
We should also remember that Custer learned his craft during the Civil War under General George McClellan who, in the words of historian M. John Lubetkin, “had one of the best organizational minds in the country.” McClellan may not have known how to wage war with an army, but he certainly knew how to build one.
Writing books is often not as easy as it looks. I am indebted to many people for the completion of this work: to Matthew Bernstein, my story editor, who helped keep it on track, and my wife, Kwei-lin Lum, for her artistic advice. But most of all, I need to thank the readers of my previous book, whose positive remarks were an inspiration to write a sequel.
References
13 Days to Glory by Lon Tinkle, McGraw-Hill, 1958
Alamo Traces by Thomas Ricks Lindley, Republic of Texas Press, 2003
Archaeology, History, and Custer’s Last Battle by Richard Fox Jr., University of Oklahoma Press, 1993
A Ride with Kit Carson, Geo. Brewerton, Harper’s Magazine, Aug. 1853
A Terrible Glory by James Donovan, Little-Brown, 2008
A Time to Stand by Walter Lord, Bonanza Books, 1987
Béxar Family Connections and the Alamo by Dr. R. Bruce Winders
Boots & Saddles by Elizabeth Custer, Harper & Brothers, 1885
California Land of Promise, Maidee Nelson, Caxton Printers, 1962
Cochise by Peter Aleshire, Castle Books, 2005
Custer by Jeffrey D. Wert, Simon & Schuster, 1996
Custer and the 1873 Yellowstone Survey, M. John Lubetkin,
University of Oklahoma Press, 2013.
Custer, A Soldier’s Story by D.A. Kinsley, Promontory Press, 1992
Custer in Texas by John M. Carroll, Sol Lewis & Liveright, 1975
Custer Victorious, Gregory J.W. Urwin, Associated Univ. Presses, 1983
Custerology by Michael A. Elliott, Univ. of Chicago Press, 2007
Custer’s Gold by Donald Jackson, Univ. Nebraska Press, 1966
Custer’s Luck by Edgar I. Stewart, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1955
David Crockett, Lion of the West by Michael Wallis, Norton 2011
Eye Witness to the Alamo, Bill Groneman, Republic of Texas Press, 1996
Following the Guidon by Elizabeth Custer, Harper & Brothers, 1890
History of the Presidio of Monterey by Kibby M. Horne,
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, 2007
Kit Carson by David Remley, Univ of Oklahoma Press, 2011
Old Trails West by Ralph Moody, Promontory Press, 1963
Sutter’s Fort by Oscar Lewis, Prentice-Hall, 1966
Sword of San Jacinto by Marshall De Bruhl, Random House 1993
Texas in 1837, Andrew Forest Muir, Univ. of Texas Press, 1963
The Alamo Remembered, Timothy Matovina, Univ. of Texas Press, 1995
The Apaches by Donald E. Worcester, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1979
The Custer Reader, Paul Andres Hutton, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 2004
The Custer Story, Marguerite Merington, Devin-Adair Company, 1950
The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick, Viking, 2010
With Santa Anna in Texas, Jose De La Pena, Texas A & M Univ., 1975
Novels by Gregory Urbach
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Custer at the Alamo
Sent 40 years into the past by a spell of Chief Sitting Bull, General George Custer and the Seventh Cavalry join Davy Crockett to defend the Alamo against Mexican forces under the command of General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
Magistrate of the Dark Land
A cowardly lawyer seeks two kidnapped girls in a war-torn medieval land.
The Waters of the Moon Series
Born on the moon and raised by computers, young Grey Waters struggles to survive in a world ruled by machines.
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Tranquility’s Child
Tranquility’s End
Tranquility’s Heirs
Tranquility Besieged
Tranquility In Darkness
Tranquility Down
Tranquility Divided
Tranquility Under the Eagles
Tranquility’s Last Stand
Slave of Akrona
Discovered by an alien salvage ship outside the Laros Stargate, a mysterious castaway is sent to the mining camps of Akrona, there to live his final days as a slave. But this survivor from another world is no slave, and the Arikhan Empire will never be the same again.
About the Author
An avid student of history, Gregory Urbach has been writing science fiction and fantasy for nearly 30 years. From his days working for a campus newspaper, he has also pursued an interest in politics and popular culture. His degree in Urban Studies proved useful when writing the nine book Tranquility science fiction series. In 2013, he published his first fantasy novel, Magistrate of the Dark Land, followed by Custer at the Alamo and Slave of Akrona. All of the author’s books reflect alternate worlds where the concepts of good and evil are challenged by complicated realities.