Billy Heath: The Man Who Survived Custer's Last Stand

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Summary: Argument not supported
Review: Although not an historian of the Battle of Little Bighorn, the author does offer compelling evidence that there was a survivor. In addition, the book provides interesting information on the Pa. coal region, Custer, Little Bighorn, etc. The information appears to have been thoroughly researched and well written. It's very evident that the writer believes that Billy Heath is, in fact, the sole suvivor of the Battle of Little Bighorn.

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Summary: Mystery is an Integral Part of the Battle of the Little Bigh
Review: I don't know if Billy Heath survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn, but as a student of the battle and of Custer, I enjoy considering the "what ifs" of history. For a long time History (with a capital H) was only about the great, a contradiction to the principles of our democratic society. Now we have in addition the recuperation of the lives of others, such as the enlisted man Billy Heath. I find his life as a nineteenth-century working man fascinating, above and beyond whatever role he may have played on June 25, 1876. As for the negative portrait of Custer, this is more in keeping with the view of a 7th cavalry enlisted man than a privileged officer (or reader!). See for comparison Private Theodore Ewert's sour view of the Black Hills expedition. Many historians have put stock in the oral tradition of Native American accounts of the battle--why not in the oral tradition of a soldier's family? The detail that William Heath was unmarried can be just as inaccurate as his name being erroneously placed on the battlefield monument. Information about enlisted men is notoriously slippery. As for Frank Finkel and other fraudulent "sole survivors," they have already been written about by others. This is Billy Heath's story, as reconstructed by a determined and intrepid researcher. Was Heath in reality a deserter? History never gives us all the information we want, and that's its challenge.

Rating:
Summary: Mystery is an Integral Part of the Battle of the Little Bigh
Review: I don't know if Billy Heath survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn, but as a student of the battle and of Custer, I enjoy considering the "what ifs" of history. For a long time History (with a capital H) was only about the great, a contradiction to the principles of our democratic society. Now we have in addition the recuperation of the lives of others, such as the enlisted man Billy Heath. I find his life as a nineteenth-century working man fascinating, above and beyond whatever role he may have played on June 25, 1876. As for the negative portrait of Custer, this is more in keeping with the view of a 7th cavalry enlisted man than a privileged officer (or reader!). See for comparison Private Theodore Ewert's sour view of the Black Hills expedition. Many historians have put stock in the oral tradition of Native American accounts of the battle--why not in the oral tradition of a soldier's family? The detail that William Heath was unmarried can be just as inaccurate as his name being erroneously placed on the battlefield monument. Information about enlisted men is notoriously slippery. As for Frank Finkel and other fraudulent "sole survivors," they have already been written about by others. This is Billy Heath's story, as reconstructed by a determined and intrepid researcher. Was Heath in reality a deserter? History never gives us all the information we want, and that's its challenge.

Rating:
Summary: Billy Heath: The Man Who Survived Custer's Last Stand
Review: I was most intrigued while reading this book and could not put it down once I started. Custer's last stand at Little Bighorn is one of the most well known battles in the history of the United States. Few land battles take place where every last person is killed. So everything we can learn about this brutal battle the better off we will be as a country. I don't find it unusual that Billy Heath did not talk about the incident when he returned home. Even today returning servicemen do not necessarily talk about their war experiences to the general public or even extended family members. Certainly the description of how difficult life was working in the Pennsylvania coal mines and trying to make a living adds credence to why Billy Heath kept his war record and experience to himself. I have always found that when trying to understand a particularly difficult situation you always try to get as much information as possibly. This fascinating and scholarly book certainly adds to the understanding of the battle at Little Bighorn. I heartily recommend reading this book.

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Summary: For Custer Survivor Account Enthusiasts Only
Review: Sadly, this nicely designed book with many excellent photographs falls well short of the mark in content and in proving that Billy Heath survived Custer's Last Stand. The author thinks otherwise though, as he writes with 100% certainty that Heath indeed survived the battle. Last Stand survivor accounts have always fascinated me, since the most far-fetched are often humorous and entertaining. The Heath claim is not in the humorous category though. If you are interested in such accounts, you should probably consider buying this book, as Genovese may have unknowingly identitified a Seventh Cavalry deserter whom at least two other writers (Edgar Stewart in 1955 and Doug Ellison in 2001) have deduced left the ill-fated L Troop shortly before its demise.

This book leaves much to be desired though, due to the following:
1. The author decides to forego the use of footnotes, defending the decision on the grounds that it would bog the work down and hinder its readability. A book as ambitious as this ought to gladly bog the reader down! How else to build a solid foundation on what turns out to be a very weak claim?
2. 90% of the text is context--Custer, Indian Wars, coal mining conditions in Pennsylvania in the town where Heath came from, Gilded Age politics. This is the case since there is so very little the author can actually tell us about Heath, which isn't the author's fault as Heath is scarely documented (other than in census and tax records) and left no written accounts behind at all. The details of his life are tabla rosa. Is it necessary to devote an entire chapter of a book about Heath to Custer when the book is comprised of eight chapters, especially when what is presented is a one-sided, negative view of Custer? None of these opinions belong to Heath but are strictly the author's. Readers interested in the details of that controversial commander's life should turn to more balanced biographies by authors such as Utley, Wert, and Barnett.
3. The author states that he hasn't read any other sole survivor accounts and can't provide details on other claims. Here, he could have provided context by at least studying the Frank Finkel story that has been examined in at least three other published works. Finkel's account has been the most highly regarded of sole survivor claims but it, too, falls victim to facts. There are other source worth checking as well--Edgar Stewart, Brian Dippie, various newspaper articles on such accounts, etc.
4. Mr. Genovese does document the existence of a William Heath in Pennsylvania, his 1875 enlistment in the army and assignment to Troop L, one of the five dooomed companies that perished with Custer's command. Heath's name appears on the mass grave monument that has stood since 1881 on Last Stand Hill. The author claims that Heath returned to his wife in the spring of 1877 (note that MEN WITH CUSTER that contains biographal sketches of everyone with Custer at the Little Bighorn states that Heath was unmarried). A William Heath continues to show up on tax records. His statement that he survived the final phase of this legendary battle was passed down through the family. According to family oral tradition, he somehow left the field of carnage, and was picked up by a westward-bound family named Ennis that nursed him back to health (this "miracle rescue" is a characteritic shared with Finkel, who claimed to have somehow stumbled onto a cabin where the occupant nursed him back to health. All this occuring in the wilds of Montana). Heath died in 1891. So sparse are the details surrounding the key question of HOW he survived that the author must speculate on this key point--he "may" have made a run for safety, may have made it to the river, may have hid until dark, etc. Three different survival scenarios are presented.

Conclusions? If the author has the liberty to speculate, the reader can do so as well. Perhaps Heath was one of the members of Troop L who remained with the packtrain in the rear and thus escaped the fate of most of his fellow troopers. The "survival" account was started after his death by family members at a loss as to how he could have survived the 7th's famous battle, unaware that many did through serving under Reno and Benteen, the commands that the packtrain ended up with. His listing as killed in battle was in error and never corrected as he could have deserted in the confusion following the battle. The picture is further clouded by the author's disclosure that Heath had an alias. Most likely though, Heath may well be the unnamed deserter that Doug Ellison's recent booklet MYSTERY OF THE ROSEBUD indicates may have departed the 7th Cavalry prior to the battle, on June 22, three days before the fateful encounter. Nearly fifty years before, Edgar Stewart reached a similar conclusion in his classic CUSTER'S LUCK. Ellison was made aware of Stewart's belief only after he arrived at the same answer
just a few years ago.

One thing is for certain though, even if Heath were actually a survivor of the last stand, his survial significes nothing for history. Survivor or deserter, he totally failed to leave behind any written accounts that could in some small way begin to answer some of the questions about the fabled engagement that his family's oral tradition claims he survived. Instead, we have only one more mystery about an event that already has more than its share of such conumdrums.

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Summary: Billy Heath: The Man Who Survived Custer's Last Stand
Review: This is a gem of a book that not only relives, but provides new information about the fascinating and horrifying battle of Little Big Horn -- Custer's Last Stand. Contrary to common belief among scholars that no white man survived the battle, this book provides solid evidence that one white man actually did survive -- Billy Heath, the Seventh Calvary's farrier (person responsible for the well being of the company's horses). The author, Vincent J. Genovese, supports this startling claim by providing us with photocopies of birth, army, tax, and funeral records. Genovese also enlivens the text with photographs of the key participants (both White and Native American), and important locations. The background information makes interesting and exciting reading -- the harsh life of making a living in the coal mines of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania; the Molly Maguire episode; the biography of George Custer; the balanced presentation of the plight of the Indians; the shocking battle of Little Big Horn itself; and the daring, but necessarily hypothetical, means of escape by Billy Heath. I think this book provides lively and fast-paced reading for the general public and provides ample groundwork for scholars.

Rating:
Summary: Billy Heath: The Man Who Survived Custer's Last Stand
Review: This is a gem of a book that not only relives, but provides new information about the fascinating and horrifying battle of Little Big Horn -- Custer's Last Stand. Contrary to common belief among scholars that no white man survived the battle, this book provides solid evidence that one white man actually did survive -- Billy Heath, the Seventh Calvary's farrier (person responsible for the well being of the company's horses). The author, Vincent J. Genovese, supports this startling claim by providing us with photocopies of birth, army, tax, and funeral records. Genovese also enlivens the text with photographs of the key participants (both White and Native American), and important locations. The background information makes interesting and exciting reading -- the harsh life of making a living in the coal mines of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania; the Molly Maguire episode; the biography of George Custer; the balanced presentation of the plight of the Indians; the shocking battle of Little Big Horn itself; and the daring, but necessarily hypothetical, means of escape by Billy Heath. I think this book provides lively and fast-paced reading for the general public and provides ample groundwork for scholars.

Rating:
Summary: Billy Heath: The Man Who survuced Custer's Last Stand
Review: Wonderful read, a unique and groundbreaking perspective about the battle of little bighorn. A must read for all historians and teachers of history. Genovese presents convincing facts and informative details about how one person was able to live through the battle and later return to his PA home. Many have speculated about survivors. For the first time they can point to the PA grave of the only known soldier to return home from the bloodiest battle of them all. This book is sure to change the perspective of all who have studied this battle, especially the skeptics like myself who doubted the possibility.