Benteen in his own words

Frederick Benteen in his own words
IN HIS OWN WORDS
source: The Benteen-Goldin letters (Benteen's own words); Larry Sklenar, To Hell With Honor, Custer and the Little Bighorn,University of Oklahoma Press, 2000


psychopath: a person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse.

Gossips and lies spread on Custer's name by Captain Benteen in his letters
Custer was a womanizer, he slept with his black cook, with an Indian captive, with other women, he was a criminal, a monkey, his wife was a whore, he was a fool, a coward...

"There he is, God damn him.  He will never fight anymore." 
Captain Benteen when he first saw General Custer's dead body on the battlefield, June 27, 1876
"I've been a loser in a way, all my life by rubbing a bit against the angles- or hair--of folks, instead of going with their whims; but I couldn't go otherwise --'twould be against the grain of myself."
Capt Frederick Benteen to Pvt Theodore Goldin
 
"In Russia, I would be a Nihilist, sure!"
Captain Benteen, explaining his hatred to almost everybody else.
 
"I am like a moose doing his mess on moonlight."
Captain Benteen on his use of defamatory gossips on General Custer.
 
"They were a crowd of chumps."
Captain Benteen on all the officers of the 7th cavalry.
  
"I thought that Custer could take care of himself ."
Captain Benteen to the Court of Inquiry, explaining why he ignored Custer's orders  to "come on" and "be quick".
 
"What a big winner the U.S. government would have been if only Custer and his gang could have been taken.  The Lord, in his own good time, had at last rounded the scoundrels up, taking, however, many good and innocent men with them!" 
Letter by Captain Benteen to Lieutenant Maguire celebrating his betrayal and the death of Custer and his family.



Ultimate words of a  frustrated loser:

"Custer liked me for it (for hating him), and I always surmised what I afterwards learned, de facto, that he wanted me badly for a friend; but I could not be (...)"

Capt Frederick Benteen