| Show by ELMO SCOTT WATSON SUNE 25 Is the anniversary of a battle which will be forever famous in american history it was not a battle upon which great Is sues so far as the fate of the nation hung la point of the number of combat ants engaged it was al most insignificant it was not a battle to which the student of military science will turn for lessons in tactics it was an affair of a handful of united states cavalrymen pitted against an over whelmine whelming wh elming force of sioux cheyenne and arapahoe indians and if it has any particular importance in american history it Is only because it marked the last outstanding success scored by the red man against the white for this was the engagement boffl dally known as the battle of the lit tie big river mont june 25 but familiar to most of us under the name of austers ousters Ou last fight thereby Is revealed the reason why this battle seems destined to be remembered when greater and more am military conflicts are long bince forgotten the reason centers around the flaming personality of gen georg armstrong custer A brigadier general at twenty three a major general at twenty five a ireat indian fighter at twenty seven he went to his death at thirty seven the am mortal hero of american donth and the mystery and gallantry of his death will keep his name shining when all but a scant dozen of the great figures of american military history will be forgotten forever so writes his latest biographer frahler hunt in the book custer by the cos mo politan book corporation and hunt happily and aptly characterized this soldier as no other biographer has yet done when he uses as a sub title for bis book the phrase the last of the cavaliere cavaliers Cava liers for george armstrong custer was truly the last of the cavaliere cavaliers Cava liers he was born in and died in there are men still living who saw him often and anew him weil but he does not belong in this period of re cent american history among the bewhiskered black blue formed generals of the union army this boy general with his coat of black lehet his wire brimmed hat his navy blue shirt with a broad collar adorned with gold stars and held together at the throat ft ath a wide flowing scar let necktie his trousers stuck in great cavalry boots and with his golden curls reaching to his shoulders is sad ly out of place more appropriately should he have led a charge against cromwell s and after rout ing them received the thanks of that gay monarch hing charles the sec ond or he should have been a follower of the fortunes of bonnie prince charlie and ended his short career amid the flashing claymores cla ymores at cul loden moor A fighter of fighters and a soldier of soldiers he was the beau of the american army one historian has called him de was born of sol dier ancestry be grew up surrounded by soldier traditions he became a sol dier by choice and he died as a eol dier would choose to die the cus tore were a fighting stock his great grandfather had been a mer cenary in the revolutionary war he was a curly haired blond giant who was fighting tor the tun of it writes hunt when the war was over and he with bis fellow was paroled he decided to settle down and grow up with the country the family name of kuster was changed about the time this good natured saxon fighter moved from pennsylvania to maryland hia grandson the blacksmith and farmer emmanuel rm manuel custer felt the call of the frontier and migrated to ohio an 1 here it was that the sturdy tow headed boy was born in 1839 war was in the air again the fall of the alamo down in ban antonic and the great stretch of country north of the rio grande owned by mexico bad burned its way into the hearts 0 the country A bitter hatred was flar azz ing up against mexico peaceful america was getting ready to have her regular one war per generation conflict een the backwoods settlements in ohio were thrilled by the righteous ness of one sided patriotism silver tongued orators were making the little red brick schoolhouses and the white framed churches fairly ring with remember the alamo 1 immanuel Fm manuel custer joined the local militia the new rumley and so our future general little antle which was the home manufactured nickname for armstrong teased and teased until bis mother made him a uniform out of one of paws suits and paw whittled out a gun for him by the time the mexican war came along in earnest antle was seven and could go through the old scott manual of arms along with the best of them so it was that even in a back water of pioneer life this farmer boy grew up in a warm reflection of the thrilling atmosphere of war he dreamed of being a drummer boy and marching with heroic old general scott or general taylor in the dexl can campaign farming was not for him the sabre and the musket were to be hia tools but his opportunity did not come for several years A visit with relatives in monroe mich resulted in two years of schooling at an academy there two years at a seminary fol lowed by a school teaching job back home in ohio then came a chance to go to the united states military acad emy at west point and when he was enrolled there in the spring of 1857 he was at last started toward realizing bis life a ambition custer s career at the academy was not an impressive one from the be be was among the immortals the ten lowest in scholarship today they call them goats the first year he stood 58 in a class of ca his second year he ranked 58 in a class of CO in his third year he was io 57 in a class of 57 and he was graduated fio 35 in a class of 35 but if custer did not distinguish himself in his aca demic work and was constantly ac quiring more than once brought him to the brink of dismissal from the academy he was absorbing something of greater value than mere classroom knowledge for writes hunt it would be almost impossible to overestimate what the our year at west point had dope for tills blond haired smiling six toot farmer boy from eastern ohio its fine traditions had sunk deep nto his heart and without his being a the least aware of it the magnificent spirit of the place reflected in the three words 0 its motto duty honor country bad given for him a tone a resonance to the ancient business of arms it was us it some one had taken him by the band to a and chown him the glory of mounted knights in armor going forth to war tor honor tor renown and for the battle s sake in the very air of west point be breathed the very greatness of the deword it would not have been surprising if custer had chosen to follow the tor tones of the confederacy and to hac added the color of his personality to the roll of its cavalier leaders such as jeb stuart and john morgan instead be chose to stick with the union aej although he failed to graduate with bis class because at almost the last moment be had committed a grave breach of rules which led to his court martial and his retention at the acad emy finally he was ordered to wash angton for duty in the summer of 1801 As a lieutenant in the second caa airy he saw action almost immell W wr neely at the battle of buu run and the next year as an officer in the fifth cavalry to which he had been trans berred jie so distinguished himself on several occasions as to win a position on the staff of general mcclellan custers career in the civil war has been described as meteoric and a casual survey of it will show how apt the word Is at once promoted him to a captaincy when mcclellan failed as commander of the army of the and was removed caster suffered his only eclipse of the war but within a year he was on general Eleason tons staff dis himself in a charge during a cavalry fight with jab stuart and his gray horsemen which resulted in the capture of a battle flag and a hundred prisoners the next day he ft as recommended for promotion to the rink of brigadier general a brigadier general at twenty three the youngest in the union he was placed in command of the michigan cavalry brigade of four ments much to the disgust of volun teer colonels old enough to be his father veterans who raved and stormed at having placed over them that custer brat from monroe that lid general that d d whipper snapper from west point but on the day on that terrible field at gettysburg this boy general not only welded his brigade of to him with bonds of steel but in a furl ous cavalry battle defeated job stuart and his confederates who had hither to been considered invincible he became the idol of his men they bought bolts of red cloth and made flowing ties for themselves they let their hair grow long in imitation of his A wild boy named custer became ta throughout the union army A year later with more brilliant victories to his credit sheridan made him a major general and gave him command of the third cavalry division george armstrong custer age twenty ave was a major general with twelve rigl menta under his command twelve which idolized him as had th e three regiments of wolverines rines the story of custer the indian fighter Is too well known to need repetition here it Is the story of one success after another as leader of the seventh cavalry which still and tor all time seems destined to be known as custers regiment until that june day in 1870 when in sight of the greit indian village strung along the I 1 ittle big born he made the fatal division of his forces and trusting to the custer luck which had carried him safely through a decade of warfare he rode into tattle for the last time A fitting epitaph to this last of the caa alters may be found in these words of hunt to the million of plain american be Is remembered not as a commander of a dashing and victorious division 0 cavalry that captured 10 prisoners and 65 battle a gallant and stubborn foe but as an indian fighte who with a handful of troupere tro opere eleven years later galloped to a tragic death he had fought lee and stonewall jackson jeb stuart and the gallant pelham great and remembered eol diere but it was the naked sioux war giors of the plain who sent him to deathless fame the gods of battle have their own inscrutable way ol 01 making heroes |
