©1996, ProMotion, inc.
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Review by Sandy Huseby
General George Armstrong Custer is the marcher to Valhalla, the warrior's heaven, in this fictional journal written by Michael Blake. Given Custer's love of trumpeting his achievements, he's likely there exchanging tales with the enemies he faced in life. Blake's reputation for western writing was branded in the powerful Dances with Wolves.
In Marching to Valhalla Blake undertakes the challenge of portraying Custer in what might be the general's own words. The timeline of the journal is mid-May to June 1876, during Custer's march across the northern plains from Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory, to the Little Big Horn.
Knowing the outcome does not diminish the impact of Custer's anticipation of that conflict.
Within those few days, Custer chronicles his personal history from his West Point days. There is no small irony that his first Civil War battle leading the Michigan Brigade foretells his entire career, and ultimate end: "I and the brigade were formally praised for our action, but I took no pleasure from it. I had underestimated the enemy and led my men into a trap."
Blake succeeds in portraying the reckless bravado of Custer, in his private as well as military life: his obsession with Elizabeth Bacon, his beloved Libbie; the practical jokes he and his brother, Tom, play on each other.
But Custer's overriding obsession was always the military. Even his courtship of Libbie, and his campaign to win over her father, the judge, had an air of military planning. Their marriage is marked by long periods of separation, and Custer writes often of his yearning for her. Yet the military is always the stronger mistress of his life.
The Custer Blake portrays is a man obsessed with appearances. Years after, he still stings at the fact that he graduated last in his West Point class of 40, pointing out that many did not graduate at all.
Under Custer's pen, the military leaders of his day are made human. And the reader is reminded how history, if forgotten, is destined to repeat itself.
Sandy Huseby is a writer living in Fargo, North Dakota, and Nevis. She is online at
S Huseby@aol.com
©1996, ProMotion, inc.