Faint the Trumpet Sounds; The Life and Trial of Major Reno

New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1966. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. xi, [3], 332, [4] pages. Endpaper map. Bibliography. Index. DJ has some wear and soiling. John Upton Terrell gained critical acclaim as a historian of the Old West. The author of more than 40 books, Terrell’s work included war reportage, novels and stories. But he was best known for his histories of the Old West, a region for which he had a particular affinity. He wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle, was a West Coast editor for the old United Press and covered Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army in World War II for Newsweek. His books include: “The Arrow and the Cross: A History of the American Indian and the Missionaries,” “Furs by Astor,” “Journey Into Darkness” and “Faint the Trumpet Sounds” (with George Walton). A novel, “Plume Rouge,” briefly made the New York Times best seller list before World War II. Col. George Walton is best known as the co-author of The Devil's Brigade. He was a lawyer, academician, and WWII army officer who saw active duty in Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany. He later served in a senior position with the Selective Service System. Marcus Albert Reno (November 15, 1834 – March 30, 1889) was a United States career military officer who served in the American Civil War where he was a combatant in a number of major battles, and later under George Armstrong Custer in the Great Sioux War against the Lakota (Sioux) and Northern Cheyenne. Reno is most noted for his prominent role in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where he failed to support Custer's position on the battlefield, remaining instead in a defensive formation with his troops about 4 miles away. This event has since been a longstanding subject of controversy regarding his command decisions in the course of one of the most infamous defeats in the history of the United States military. After the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Reno was assigned command of Fort Abercrombie, Dakota Territory. There, in December 1876, he was charged with making unwanted advances toward the wife of another officer of the Seventh Cavalry, Captain James M. Bell, while Bell was away. A general court-martial hearing began in St. Paul on May 8, 1877. Reno was found guilty on six of seven charges against him, and ordered dismissed from the army. Later, President Rutherford B. Hayes reduced the dismissal sentence to two years. Responding to charges of cowardice and drunkenness at the Little Bighorn, Reno demanded and was granted a court of inquiry. The court convened in Chicago on January 13, 1879, and called as witnesses most of the surviving officers who had been in the fight. After 26 days of testimony, Judge Advocate General W. M. Dunn submitted his opinion and recommendations to the Secretary of War George W. McCrary on February 21, 1879. He concluded, "I concur with the court in its exoneration of Major Reno from the charges of cowardice which have been brought against him." He added, "The suspicion or accusation that Gen. Custer owed his death and the destruction of his command to the failure of Major Reno, through incompetency or cowardice, to go to his relief, is considered as set to rest...." The court of inquiry did little to change public opinion. Enlisted men later stated they had been coerced into giving a positive report to both Reno and Benteen. Lieutenant Charles DeRudio told Walter Mason Camp "that there was a private understanding between a number of officers that they would do all they could to save Reno." In 1904, a story in the Northwestern Christian Advocate claimed that Reno had admitted to its former editor that "his strange actions" during and after the Battle of Little Bighorn were "due to drink". In 1879, while commanding officer at Ft. Meade, Dakota Territory, Reno again faced court-martial, charged with conduct unbecoming an officer, including a physical assault on a subordinate officer, William Jones Nicholson. He was convicted of conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline, and dismissed from the service April 1, 1880. Reno took an apartment in Washington D.C., where he doggedly pursued restoration of his military rank while working as an examiner in the Bureau of Pensions. Condition: Very good / Good.

Keywords: George Custer, Marcus Reno, Little Big Horn, Frederick William Benteen, Cavalry, Elizabeth Custer, Sioux, Alfred Terry, Thomas Weir, Courts-Martial, Board of Military Inquiry, Cowardice, George Crook, Battle of the Rosebud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull

[Book #83128]

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