In "Son of the Morning Star," Mr. Connell explores deeply the personalities of Custer and the other federal and Indian leaders. Custer, seen by some as a hero, by others as the cause of the defeat, was an enigmatic and extravagant figure, fearless in battle and sentimental in repose. It is said that on first seeing through field glasses the more than four miles of Allied Indian camps, he exclaimed, "hurrah, boys, we've got them!" Disregarding a Cheyenne warning, Custer rode to his death--and led to death every man of the Seventh Cavalry who followed him. A foolish miscalculation ended the life of the man the Indians called "Son of the Morning Star." The story is told that after the battle a squaw drove a sewing awl through his ear and into his skull so that he might hear better in the next world.