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Heroes of the Wild West: General Custer
General Custer:
Dedicated defender of the new frontier.
Defeated at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Dedicated defender of the new frontier.
Defeated at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
92 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
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March 11, 2020
This short biography of General Custer is different from many others on the subject in that, while it obviously mentions the Battle of the Little Bighorn, that is not the main thrust of the book.
Nicknamed a rather strange Autie as a youngster, Custer attended the Stebbins Academy, which offered the best education then available in the Mid-West. He was a bright student at Stebbins and at age 14 he moved to the local seminary. But even by then he had his eye on a military career and was keen on going to the West Point Academy. His second choice was a career in education and after gaining his teacher's certificate he began teaching at a small village school at Beech Point.
At Beech Point he fell in love with Mary Holland, the daughter of his landlord, and he proposed marriage but her father was totally against it. So, perhaps with the idea of ridding himself of his daughter's exuberant suitor, Mary's father began pressing Custer's claims to a place at West Point. In the summer of 1857 he duly took the entrance examination and, along with 67 other boys from the 108 tested, he passed and thus began a prison-like existence at West Point.
With the Civil War approaching he spent time with southern classmates although he would fight on the side of the North as he wanted the Union kept together. Then as second lieutenant assigned to the Second Cavalry he arrived at Bull Run, Virginia, on the morning of the first great battle of the conflict, 21 July 1861. And he was opposed by two former West Point classmates, Generals Beauregard and McDowell. The raw Confederate army forced the Union soldiers back and Custer's unit was one of the last to leave the battlefield, for which he was cited for bravery.
The Civil War ground on and Custer found himself in the Fifth Cavalry under General McClellan, who eventually invited Custer onto his staff with the rank of captain. When McClellan was replaced by Brigadier-General Pleasonton, the latter recommended him for the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers because of his gallant conduct at the battle of Aldie.
At age 23 Custer was the youngest general in the Union army and he was instantly recognisable with his hair long and in curls almost to his shoulders. Indeed one officer described him as 'one of the funniest beings you ever saw ... like a circus rider gone mad!' Be that as it may, Custer was the very model of a light cavalry officer and, wounded at the battle of Culpepper in October 1863 he returned to Monroe, where he had earlier met his future wife Elizabeth Bacon. And, despite opposition from her father, he married Libbie, as she was known, on 9 February 1864.
Having served under General Sheridan, particularly in the Wilderness and Shenandoah campaigns, he was made major-general and he was eventually present at the Appomattox Court House to see Lee surrender to Grant on 9 April 1865.
Thereafter he spent a life on the Plains and on 28 July 1866 he was assigned to the newly formed Seventh Cavalry with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. But when he led the Seventh on their first Indian campaign under General Hancock, Custer knew nothing about Indians or Indian fighting and his first Indian campaign ended ignominiously as the Seventh had been involved in a number of what were called 'unpleasant incidents'.
With his wife accompanying him he spent the summers of 1869 and 1870 in Kansas, camping on Big Creek, near Fort Hays, and in 1873 he was transferred to the norther plains of Dakota where he was to spend the last few years of his life. The Seventh was reunited at Memphis and then proceeded to Fort Rice, Dakota Territory, and an expedition to the Yellowstone valley brought them even more fame for their success against the Indians and their exploratory achievements.
However, it was to all end in tragedy when a large Indian encampment was spotted along the west bank of the Little Bighorn River. And in a series of rather strange manoeuvres it ended for Custer when his entire battalion of 210 men was wiped out by the Sioux and Cheyenne on 25 June 1876. Custer, hit by bullets in the left temple and the left side, lay on top of the hill on which the battle had been fought with his brothers Tom and Boston nearby and his cousin Armstrong Reed not far away.
Sitting Bull's vision had come true and Custer's final gamble had failed but his 'Last Stand' at the Little Bighorn has passed into the mythology of the United States; Rosanna Kelly's biography tells the tale succinctly.
Nicknamed a rather strange Autie as a youngster, Custer attended the Stebbins Academy, which offered the best education then available in the Mid-West. He was a bright student at Stebbins and at age 14 he moved to the local seminary. But even by then he had his eye on a military career and was keen on going to the West Point Academy. His second choice was a career in education and after gaining his teacher's certificate he began teaching at a small village school at Beech Point.
At Beech Point he fell in love with Mary Holland, the daughter of his landlord, and he proposed marriage but her father was totally against it. So, perhaps with the idea of ridding himself of his daughter's exuberant suitor, Mary's father began pressing Custer's claims to a place at West Point. In the summer of 1857 he duly took the entrance examination and, along with 67 other boys from the 108 tested, he passed and thus began a prison-like existence at West Point.
With the Civil War approaching he spent time with southern classmates although he would fight on the side of the North as he wanted the Union kept together. Then as second lieutenant assigned to the Second Cavalry he arrived at Bull Run, Virginia, on the morning of the first great battle of the conflict, 21 July 1861. And he was opposed by two former West Point classmates, Generals Beauregard and McDowell. The raw Confederate army forced the Union soldiers back and Custer's unit was one of the last to leave the battlefield, for which he was cited for bravery.
The Civil War ground on and Custer found himself in the Fifth Cavalry under General McClellan, who eventually invited Custer onto his staff with the rank of captain. When McClellan was replaced by Brigadier-General Pleasonton, the latter recommended him for the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers because of his gallant conduct at the battle of Aldie.
At age 23 Custer was the youngest general in the Union army and he was instantly recognisable with his hair long and in curls almost to his shoulders. Indeed one officer described him as 'one of the funniest beings you ever saw ... like a circus rider gone mad!' Be that as it may, Custer was the very model of a light cavalry officer and, wounded at the battle of Culpepper in October 1863 he returned to Monroe, where he had earlier met his future wife Elizabeth Bacon. And, despite opposition from her father, he married Libbie, as she was known, on 9 February 1864.
Having served under General Sheridan, particularly in the Wilderness and Shenandoah campaigns, he was made major-general and he was eventually present at the Appomattox Court House to see Lee surrender to Grant on 9 April 1865.
Thereafter he spent a life on the Plains and on 28 July 1866 he was assigned to the newly formed Seventh Cavalry with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. But when he led the Seventh on their first Indian campaign under General Hancock, Custer knew nothing about Indians or Indian fighting and his first Indian campaign ended ignominiously as the Seventh had been involved in a number of what were called 'unpleasant incidents'.
With his wife accompanying him he spent the summers of 1869 and 1870 in Kansas, camping on Big Creek, near Fort Hays, and in 1873 he was transferred to the norther plains of Dakota where he was to spend the last few years of his life. The Seventh was reunited at Memphis and then proceeded to Fort Rice, Dakota Territory, and an expedition to the Yellowstone valley brought them even more fame for their success against the Indians and their exploratory achievements.
However, it was to all end in tragedy when a large Indian encampment was spotted along the west bank of the Little Bighorn River. And in a series of rather strange manoeuvres it ended for Custer when his entire battalion of 210 men was wiped out by the Sioux and Cheyenne on 25 June 1876. Custer, hit by bullets in the left temple and the left side, lay on top of the hill on which the battle had been fought with his brothers Tom and Boston nearby and his cousin Armstrong Reed not far away.
Sitting Bull's vision had come true and Custer's final gamble had failed but his 'Last Stand' at the Little Bighorn has passed into the mythology of the United States; Rosanna Kelly's biography tells the tale succinctly.
Displaying 1 of 1 review