Scholars discuss Custer battle legacy for Bismarck Posted on 1/4/2011
Conversations at BSC continues Sunday, Jan. 9, with a look at Lt. Col. George A. Custer's time at Fort Abraham Lincoln and Bismarck's legacy from the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
The conversation between humanities scholar Clay Jenkinson and BSC President Larry C. Skogen, a history specialist, begins at 3 p.m. in the Bismarck State College Sidney J. Lee Auditorium.
During this conversation, Jenkinson and Skogen will parse the events that led to Custer's departure for Montana with the Seventh Cavalry on May 17, 1876. Sunday's program also will continue discussions exchanged between the two scholars as they walked the battlefield together nearly two years ago.
"We in Bismarck have an intimate connection to the battle," Skogen said. "The expedition launched from here, this city received the first word of the encounter, and a Bismarck Tribune reporter was killed covering it."
Skogen, who had a 26-year military career, taught a Custer section in his western history course at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He said they plan to talk about Sitting Bull and other players to create an historical background for trying to make sense of why, 150 years later, the Battle of the Little Big Horn is such an emotive topic for people.
The program is free and open to the public and funded in part by the North Dakota Humanities Council. For more information on Conversations at BSC, visit http://www.bsctalk.com/ or call 224-5600.
