DIA nets $2.199946m profit

[gazhekwe]

Buying and holding that flag was a great investment for the DIA. I'm glad they sold it. As a piece of history, it does not really fit within the Collection. Sure, they could stick it in the Native American Collection, then spend all their time talking about a white man, Custer, not the Native Americans.

Five years ago, I and a couple of dozen other Metro Detroiters spent some time at the DIA reworking the way they present the collections. The part I worked on was the ethnic collections, African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Native American. Collectively, we all recognized that the pieces in these collections were more than artistic creations, they represented pieces of the spirit of the people who created them, the way of life, and more. We worked out display techniques that would showcase the art AND its place in the society. I really liked that. But Custer's battle flag had no place in our society. NONE. It was something brought to represent our destruction, so I would seriously hate having it displayed in our collection.

It belongs where it can represent the spirits of those men who fought and died with Custer. Always remember, he was not by himself on that battlefield, and those others deserve more than respect for their brave fight. They were fighting for this country just as those in Iraq and Afghanistan are fighting today. Sometimes the country has very bad judgment about how to kill its young men.

This is a list of Custer's battles. He was 35 when he let his hubris lead him into battle with the greatest war chief ever.

1861: Graduated from U.S. Military Acadamy at West Point

1861-1865: American Civil War

First Battle of Bull Run Peninsula Campaign
Battle of Antietam
Battle of Chancellorsville
Gettysburg Campaign
Battle of Gettysburg
Overland Campaign
Battle of the Wilderness
Battle of Yellow Tavern
Battle of Trevilian Station
Valley Campaigns of 1864
Siege of Petersburg

Indian Wars:

Battle of the Washita
Battle of the Little Bighorn

Battle of the Washita - 1868 - Custer and his troops rode down on and annihilated the village of Black Kettle, who was in the process of making peace, and had no intentions.of fighting. He had just returned from a meeting with General Hazen to secure assurance of peace. Despite his flying an American flag, and raising a white flag beside it, the troops poured in and overran the village, killing more than 100 men, women and children. Eight years later, Custer would pay for this with his life.