| Show of ate aa va 7 A r IL 0 U 4 al by ELMO SCOTT WATSON UND 25 la Is the of a battle which will be forever famous in american 1 history it was not a V battle upon which great issues so for far as the fate 0 of f the nation hung in point of the number of combatants engaged it was almost insignificant it wag waa not a battle to which the 7 student of military science wll 11 turn for lessons in tactics it was waa nn an affair of a handful of united states cavalrymen pitted against nn an overwhelming wh elming force 0 of sioux cheyenne and arapahoe indians and if it tins has any particular importance in american history it la Is only because it marked the last outstanding success scored by the red man against the white for tills this was the engagement ou dally known as the battle of the little littie big horn river mont june 25 1870 but familiar famil lur to most of us under the name of custers Ou lost last fight thereby U N repealed the reason why this battle seems destined to be remembered when greater and more important military conflicts are long since forgotten tile the reason centers around the flaming personality of gen clen georgi armstrong custer A brigadier general at twenty three a major general at twenty five a great grant indian fighter at twenty seven lie he went to ills death at thirty seven the immortal hero of american youth south nud and the mystery and gallantry of his death will keep ills his name shining when all but a scant dozen of the grent great figures of amerlean american military history will be forgotten forever so writes his latest biographer frazier hunt flathe in the book Cn citer ster ll 11 published by tha cosmopolitan mo book corporation and hunt happily and aptly characterized this soldier boedler as no other biographer tins has yet done when lit hn uses as a subtitle sub title for 1 its ills book the phrase the last of the cavallars cavaliers Cava Caval liers lers for george armstrong custer was truly the last of the cavallars cavaliers Cava Caval liers lers ile he was born iq it 1839 and died in 1840 1870 there are men still living who saw him often and knew him well but lie he does not belong in tills this period of recent american history among tho the bewhiskered black blue uni formed generals of the union army this boy general with ills his cont coat of black velvet itis ins wire brimmed hot hat his navy blue skirt shirt with a broad collar adorned with gold stars and field together at the throat with a wide flowing scarlet necktie hla trousers stuck in great cavalry boots and with his golden curls reaching to ills hla shoulders Is sadly out of place more afore appropriately should lie he have led a charge against roundheads Round heads and after routing them received the thanks of that gay monarch king hing charles the second or lie he should have been a follower of the fortunes of bonafe prince charlie Cli arlle and ended ills his short career amid the flashing claymores cla ymores at cut cul loden moor A tighter fighter of gaters gh and a soldier of soldiers he was the beau of the american army one historian has called him ile he was born of soldier ancestry estry lie he grew up surrounded surround eil by soldier traditions lie he became a soldier by choice and lie he died as a soldier would want choose to die tile the custers were a fighting stock his flis great grandfather bad been a hessian mercenary in the revolutionary war ile he was a curly balked blond giant who was fighting fight illg for the fun of it writes hunt when the war was over and lie he with his fellow hessians was paroled lie he decided to settle down and grow up with the country the family name of kuster huster was changed about the time this good natured saxon fighter moved from pennsylvania to maryland ills grandson the blacksmith and farmer emmanuel custer felt the call of the frontier and InI migrated grated to ohio unit nm 1 here it was that the sturdy towheaded tow headed boy was born in 1839 war was in the air again the fall of the alamo down in san antonio and the great stretch of country north of the illo grande owned by mexico had bad burned its way into the hearth of the tb e country A bitter matryd was oar far aki M X 00 M ing jig up against Alex mexico teo peaceful america was getting re ready ady to have lier her regular oue one wa war r per ion conflict even tho the backwoods settlements in ohio wore were thrilled by the righteousness of one sided patriotism silver tongued orators were making the little red brick schoolhouses school houses and the white framed churches fairly rang with re he member the alamil E emmanuel custer joined tho the local mil itla the new plumley and so our oar future gen general erdt little ilithe antle which was the home manufactured nickname for armstrong teased and tensed teased until ills his mother made him a uniform out of one of paws suits and paw whittled out a gun for him by tile time the mexican war camri along in earnest earliest 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 backwater of pioneer life this farmer fanner boy grew up in a warm reflection of the th e thrilling atmosphere pt ct war ile he dreamed of belaga aru MIT boy find and marching with old general generia scott or general taylor in the dexl can campaign farming was not for him the sabre ard tile the musket were to be ills his tools but ills his opportunity did not come for several years A visit with relatives in monroe momoe midi resulted la in two years of schooling at an academy there two years at a followed by a school teaching joo back hoine in ohio then came a chance to go to the he united states military academy at west point and when lie was enrolled there in the spring oi of 1857 he was at last started toward realizing ills lifes ambition custers career at the academy was not an n impressive one from the beginning lie he was among the immortals tile the ten lowest in scholarship today they call them goats the first year he stood 58 in a class of 68 ills second secand year he ranked 53 in a class of GO jn in his third year lie he was no 57 in a class of 57 and lie he was graduated no 35 in a class of 85 35 but if custer dail not distinguish himself in ills his academic work and was constantly acquiring demerits which more lhnn once brought him film to the brink brifil of dismissal from the academy tie he was something of greater value than mere classroom knowledge for writes hunt it would be almost impossible to overestimate aliat the four our years at west point had done for this blond haired smiling six elx foot farmer boy from eastern ohio its fine traditions had sunk deep nto into his heart and mind without ills his being in the least aware of 0 f it the magnificent spirit of the place reflected in the three words word ot its motto duty honor country had given elven for him a tone a resonance to the ancient business of arms it was as if some one had taken him by the hand to a hilltop and shown him the glory of mounted knights in armor going forth to war tor for honor honer for renown and for the battles sake cake in the very air of west point he breathed the very greatness of the sword it would not have been surprising if custer had chosen to follow the fortunes of the confederacy and to have added the color of ills his person personality allty to the roll of its cavalier leaders such as jeb stuart and john morgan instead he chose to stick with the union anil although lie failed to graduate with its his class because at almost tile the last moment he be had committed it a grave breach of rules which led to ills court martini martial and his retention at the academy finally he was ordered to fo washington for duty in the summer of isol IBM As a lieutenant in the second cavalry he saw action almost ceya aw jm W car p i the ilie battla battle of kotsull Bull run and tile next year as an officer lu iu the fifty cavalry to which lie he hid h ald licen been trans trains berred lie he so distinguished himself on several occasions s as to win ivin a position on the staff of general mcclellan custers Ou career in tho ilia civil war has been described ha as meteoric end and a casual survey of it will viii show ellow how apt the word Is mcclellan ut tit once promoted ted jilin ellra to a captaincy when mcclellan bulled as commander of the army of faiq potomac and was removed custer suar buffered ed ills his only eclipse of the war blit within a year lie he was wag on general Pleason tons staff distinguished himself in n charge archarge during durin a cavalry fight figh t with jeb stuart and his gray horsemen which resulted in the capture ov of a aa battle lag flag and a hundred prisoners diio next day lie he i 4 was as recotr I 1 td the rank of brigadier general a brigadier general I 1 at evv twenty three tho the youn youngest gestin in tle the union armyl aimy ai my 1 11 lie Q was placed in command of the michigan cavalry brigade b af pf four regiments much to the disgust of volunteer colo colonels nels ofte old eno enough ugh to be hla his father veterans WHO raved and stormed at having placed over thena them that ouster custer brat from fionn Mor Mot iroe that kid general that aa d d whippersnapper from west I 1 point I 1 but on the third day on that terrible field at gettysburg tills this goy boy general not ant only y welded ills his brigade of Wove rines to him with bonds of steel but in a curious cavalry battle defected defeated jeb stuart and ills confederates who had hitherto been considered invincible lie he became the idol of ills his men they bought bolts of red coth cloth and ties for themselves they let lej their hair grow long ln in imitation of af ills his A wild boy named custer became famous throughout the ibe union army A year later with more brilla brilliant ant victories to his credit sheridan made him a major general and gave him command of the third cavalry division george armstrong custer age twenty five was a major general gener nf with twelve under his command twelve regiments which idolized him as had the three regiments of wolverines rines the story of custer the indian fighter Is too well known to need repetition here it itis 13 the story of one success 1 after another as leader of the seventh cavalry which still find and for foi all time seems destined to be known as custers regiment until that june day in isa 4 hen in sight of the great indian village strung along the little nig ilig horn he made the fatal division of ills his forces and tru trusting sting to the custer luck lucac which had carried him safely through a decade of warfare he rode rede into battlo battin for the last time A fitting epitaph to tills this last of the caa allom allera may be found in these words wod of to the millions of plain americana american be Is remembered not as aa a commander of a dashing clashing and victorious division 0 of cavalry that captured pr prisoners lioner and 65 battle flags from a gallan tand stubborn foe oe but as an indian fighter who with a handful of troopers tro opera eleven ell even years later galloped to a tragic death deatha lie ile had fought lee and Stone stonewall willi jackson jeb stuart and tho the gallant pelham 1 erent and remembered soldiers but it was the naked sioux war hors of the plains who sent cent him to deat deathless bles fame the gods of battle attle have their own inscrutable way wai of making heroes |
