Synopsis
Don Weinell’s site-by-site field guide leads us to George Armstrong Custer’s camps during the campaign of 1876, from Fort Abraham Lincoln to the Little Bighorn. As volume 2 of the Heritage Guide Series, this work orients and edifies the independent traveler’s experience of heritage resources on the northern plains. Whether traveling by bike, auto, or imagination, the reader can follow Weinell into the Great Plains landscape for a prairie pilgrimage.
Featuring 2 fold-out maps, 77 full color maps and photographs, GPS coordinates, detailed instructions, and narrative sketches, this field guide takes you on the ground and back in history.
Heritage Guide Series, Volume 2
About the Author
Don Weinell’s interest in Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn began in high school in the late 1970s. As an assignment in his American History class, he and several other classmates had to write and perform a skit about the battle. The seed was planted, but it wasn’t until ten years later, after reading Son of the Morning Star, by Evans S. Connell, that the roots finally took hold. He has read numerous books on the subject since that time, and he has visited the battlefield on three separate occasions.<br><br> In 1982 he graduated from Northeast Louisiana University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in General Studies, minoring in Biology and Military Science. Upon receiving his degree, he was also commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army. After serving three years on active duty, he returned to graduate school and earned his Master’s of Science in Biology. He continued to serve in the Louisiana Army National Guard and was eventually promoted to Captain.<br><br> In 1991, he began an almost thirty-year career as an environmental scientist with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. In 1996, he resigned his army commission in order to spend more time with his family and his civilian career. As an environmental scientist, Don was involved with various aspects of assessing, monitoring, and regulating the quality of the waters of Louisiana. He also responded to emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010.<br><br> After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Don decided to put on a military uniform again. Because of his age, he could not be re-commissioned into the army, so he enlisted in the US Air Force Reserve and was trained as an aircraft mechanic. During a deployment to Southwest Asia in 2009, he became interested in Oregon Trail history after reading Massacre along the Medicine Road: A Social History of the Indian War of 1864 in Nebraska Territory, by Ronald Becher. In 2012, Don began a solo, unsupported bicycle trip, which followed the original route of the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon. This journey became the basis for his first book, Bicycling the Oregon Trail.<br><br> Building upon that adventure, he and his friend Kevin Nee decided to bicycle the route Custer took leading up to his fateful battle at the Little Bighorn. As they prepared for the ride, Don discovered how little information was readily available about Custer’s route. After the journey was completed in 2018, he decided a better guide to Custer’s route was needed. Hence, he wrote this book.
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