Digging Into Custer's Last Stand by Sandy Barnard. 186 pp., Paperback, Illustrated. The Archeological investigation of Custer and his men at The Battle of Little Bighorn.

Digging Into Custer's Last Stand

by Sandy Barnard

In late 1986, when my first edition of Digging into Custer's Last Stand was published, I had few expectations for it. I wanted to provide readers with a human interest account of the digs that would go beyond the technical books and articles the professional archeologists themselves would write and would focus on the human element behind the field work. I assumed my book would find its niche among students of the battle who also had some passing interest in the archeological activities at Little Bighorn. Time has proved how well I pegged my book's roleñand how much I underestimated its popularity. While the battle audience has strongly supported the book over the years, it also has garnered appeal on a wider scale.

Equally surprisingñand perhaps more satisfying personallyñinterest in archeology at Little Bighorn continues at a high level, even though more than 20 years have passed since a prairie fire scorched the Little Bighorn and set in motion a series of projects that have had a significant impact on our understanding of what took place on June 25-26, 1876.

The 1986 book focused solely on the fire of 1983, the archeological projects of 1984 and 1985, and the reburial service of 1986. That book was followed in 1990 by a sequel, Shovels and Speculation, Archeologists Hunt Custer. It offered a review in 1989 project at Little Bighorn as well as similar, but unrelated, work at Fort Abraham Lincoln, south of Mandan, N.D., and the Custer Birthplace site in New Rumley, Ohio. In 1998, an expanded edition of Digging into Custer's Last Stand not only added new chapters about archeological activities at Little Bighorn in the 1990's but it also merged the chapters on the other Custer sites previously published in Shovels and Speculation, augmenting them with updated information.

This third edition of Digging is also expanded with new sections dealing with the Indian Memorial and the Horse Cemetery at Little Bighorn. Additional minor modifications have been made to the text and photographs in previously published sections throughout the book. Truly, that fire in 1983 at Little Bighorn continues to have a profound impact on the battlefield and its historical study.

Sandy Barnard

December 2003