Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The whole contention of this book is that Frank Finkel was really Sgt. August Finckle of Company C, reportedly killed in the Custer fight on the Little Big Horn. But the problem is that Finkel only claimed to be Sgt. Finckle when the original name he gave, Frank Hall, could be found on no known rosters. But author Koster claims Finkel never used the name Frank Hall. He claims it was a lie made up by Finkel's second wife Hermie Billmeyer and offers up a plethora of bizarre reasoning to prove it. CUSTER SURVIVOR drags us through a painful array of genealogist and so called handwriting experts who verify the author's claims. But not so fast. In a 1921 interview with Finkel in the Walla Walla Bulletin, written by W.H Banfill, himself a student of the battle, Finkel said he enlisted under the name "Frank Hall" so that his parents wouldn't find out. In another version Finkel said he "rode back to Ft. Benton and was discharged." He even says so in CUSTER SURVIVOR (pg.109). The 1921 article/interview was given four years before he even met Hermie Billmeyer. So much for research. When no military papers could be found on Finkel he simply changed his story and stated, "I never had any discharge papers from the army for I was never discharged. There was none of my command left to apply to (some 24 soldiers of C Company survived the battle) and I wasn't going to chase all over the country to find some one to discharge me. As far as the army was concerned, Frank Hall was reported dead along with the rest of Custer's men and I let it go at that." That quote comes straight from Finkel himself in 1921. In another version Finkel said his discharge papers, which he said he never had, were "burned in a house fire;" He said he enlisted in Omaha and fought Arapahos "on the Mexican border;" He was transferred to the Seventh Cavalry in 1876; There are no military records anywhere which prove any of Frank Finkel's far-fetched tale. But the author has fallen under the Finkel spell and facts be damned. Ft. Benton had been closed for over one year at the time of the 1876 battle but Finkel, like any good prize fighter, ducked and dodged any serious questions thrown at him. He made one story up to cover another. Finkel was invited by the city of Hardin, Montana, to be the honored guest at the 1921 Custer Battle Anniversary but was a no-show. His 1921 revelation was run in newspapers from Seattle to Anniston, Alabama. He successfully hoodwinked his wives, children, relatives and friends alike with the tale. According to Koster Mrs. Billmeyer spent years trying to obtain a military pension for a name she invented. This makes absolutely no sense. Finkel had the "facts" surrounding his "sole survivor" story up and running long before Mrs. Billmeyer came on the scene. Over 50 men made the same claim that Frank Finkel made. In the end Frank Finkel was just a better liar and story teller. CUSTER SURVIVOR, like the Billy Heath book and Nathan Short story, is nothing more than fiction presented as history. Save your money on this silliness and buy Roger Williams' 2009 "Military Register of Custer's Last Command" which lists every soldier connected with the 1876 Sioux Expedition. Or James Donovan's "A Terrible Glory." Both great books by serious Little Big Horn researchers.