Last in Their Class ― Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point

Today’s Goat, the celebrated West Point cadet finishing at the bottom of his class, carries on a long and storied tradition. George Custer’s contemporaries at the Academy believed that the same spirit of adventure that led him to ?blow post” at night to carouse at local taverns also motivated his dramatic cavalry attacks in the Civil War and afterwards. And the same willingness to stoically accept punishment for his hijinks at the Academy also sent George Pickett marching into the teeth of the Union guns at Gettysburg. The story James S. Robbins tells goes from the beginnings of West Point through the carnage of the Civil War to the grassy bluffs over the Little Big Horn. The Goats he profiles tell us much about the soul of the American solider, his daring, imagination and desire to prove himself against high odds.

James S. Robbins is a columnist for USA Today and Executive Director of the American Security Council Foundation. In addition to this book, he is the author of This Time We Win: Rethinking the Tet Offensive, Native Americans: Patriotism, Exceptionalism and the New American Identity, both from Encounter Books; and The Real Custer: From Boy General to Tragic Hero by Regnery History. Dr. Robbins holds a PhD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Massachusetts, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in political science from the University of Cincinnati. He has taught at The Fletcher School, Boston University, Marine Corps University, National Defense University, and other schools. His awards include the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award, and the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association first prize award for editorial writing. He is a member of the advisory board for the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA.