ABSTRACT
The confidential report General Terry submitted to General Sheridan was not meant for public release. Having read the report, Sheridan sent it by messenger to the Secretary of War. Unbeknownst to him, that messenger was a newspaper reporter who promptly forwarded it on to the press. Terry’s criticisms of Custer thus became public, although that was never his intention. In focusing on the deviations Custer made from the agreed battle plan and from Terry’s orders to him, the report raises the question of whether Custer had disobeyed orders or had merely exercised the legitimate discretion accorded a commander in the field. Such questions, in turn, factored in the debates that raged over who was to blame for the debacle. They were picked up by newspaper reporters and Custer critics and have since been rehashed ad nauseam by students of the battle. Some of them read Terry’s confidential report as a callous attempt to deflect any criticism from himself to Custer while others read his official report as an honorable attempt to shield the dead Custer from criticism.
