British Custeriana Series

The third of the series is a collection of essays that examine the confrontation along the Washita on 27 November 1868. The book contains two essays that are introduced by Sandy Barnard. The first is by Second Lieutenant Francis M. Gibson, which is preceded by a concise biography of Gibson by Barry C. Johnson. Gibson, who joined the 7th U.S. Cavalry in October 1867 as a Second Lieutenant, fought at both the Washita and the Little Bighorn in 1876.  Gibson's account of the Washita campaign was initially written for the Regimental History and was subsequently re-published by Colonel Melbourne C. Chandler in his book Of Gary Owen in Glory and then again by Edward Daily in From Custer to MacArthur. The second essay is the debate that took place in 1948 in Chicago between  the late Elmo Scott Watson and late Don Russell. These two newspapermen who had turned Western history researchers argued over whether the Washita should be described as a battle or a massacre?