Show portrait of a hero one of the be unsolved mysteries of hi history story I 1 Is 3 how custer hurdled the m military flita ay iy promotion system and overnight rose from a mere lieutenant to a general A all 11 anyone knows ls Is a that hat he cretu returned r ned to headquarters on one day after being out on a mission mison 1 on and chums greeted him as general custer thought they were 0 kidd kidding in because he always boasted that hed be a general before the war was over and he was all set get to start punching one of his friends grabbed him by the arm and took him to his tent where he found an envelope containing his com commission afi Is s ion addressed to brigadier G general e george armstrong custer custer who was only 23 years old turned pale and passed out cold buy defense bonds custer Is the man who turned the tide of the civil war by saving the union army from defeat at gettysburg at the time of the battle of gettysburg he was about 15 miles away his brigade had been ordered along with the rest of the i cavalry to wait at big roundtop where jeb stuart and his confederates were expected to attack stuart fooled the yankees by attacking from the opposite direction instead hearing stuarts gunfire custer disobeyed the orders he had received headed straight toward the sound of the guns and charging four times stopped the confederate forces dead in their tracks but for custers Ou trigger thinking the union armies would have been routed at gettysburg the bitter irony is that the man who was defeated because of custers coup was fitzhugh lee the divisional commander of the con federate attack lee was the instructor tor who had saved custer from being expelled from west point by reducing his demerits buy defense bonds one of the greatest military wizards of all time custer was almost expelled from West point for having them the worst record of any student there any cadet who gets demerits over a period of six months Is automatically tossed out of the military academy during his first half year at west point custer piled up demerits he wa was s saved by a sympathetic instructor who reduced them in his studies he was at the bottom of his class and probably the only reason he was graduated was t that hat the civil war started and the union army needed officers buy defense bonds custer always believed in fighting an enemy when he saw one without stopping to consider the cost when he was a kid he be once attended a dance and noticed one of his enemies poking fun at him outside by making faces and gestures through the window ouster rushed up to the window and pushed his fist right through the pane into the guys snoot buy defense bonds custer was a showman who knew how to do things in a manner that hit people between the eyes at the end of the civil war the army paraded in review before the president and other dignitaries in front of the white house just as he be approached the reviewing stand his bis horse reared and started to run away with a nourish flourish custer mastered it and onlookers cheered wildly as custer galloped back into bis big place in line and passed the reviewing stand a second time lie he insisted it was an accident but rivals argued that his horse never acted up before or after that parade buy defense bonds bond s it took a month to make custers custer 3 last stand tor for the film aim they died with their dootson otsOn Bo historians believe the actual battle have lasted more than from hall half to three quarters of an hour custers Cu stert men were so hopelessly outnumbered although sitting bull is usually credited with having been in charge of the massacre actually he be was as far away from the battle as his horse could ge gethin geth thim lm As soon is as he be heard of austers ousters Ou Cu stirs defeat sitting bull returned claiming that be had been in the hills using his power with the indian gods to bring brine about victory the indians know until after the battle that it was custer they had been fighting buy bay defense bonds to la the picture this repartee gets a howl bowl the commandant at west point summons custer and threatening to expel him tor for having a fist fight with a fellow cadet asks him if he has anything to say 1 I know says custer that you could get fired from the army for fighting bay defense bonds custer caster was outs nuts about onions and ate them as though they were apples the last gift he received from his wife before he died was a sack of onions whenever he be was way away from his bis wife hed sit fit up until an all hours houri of the night writing long letters to her during one expedition he wrote her a letter 80 pages long when custer died ct little big horn the indians who killed him bun paid bi him m a tribute that showed the respect even his enemies had for him every man killed in that thal battle was scalped scalded except custer coster |