Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/104

 CUSTER

CUSTER

enjoyed the conlidence of Governor BradfV)rd, and on the death ot Eider Brewster becanu i til- ing elder of the church. His wife was the la.st survivor of the Mayflower passengers and died in 1099, aged ninety years. In 1856 a granite nion- unient wa-s erected at Plymouth by the descend- ants of Robert and Thomas Cuslinian. Elder Cusliinrin died in Plymouth, Mass.. Dec. 11, l(>9-,\ CUSTER, George Armstrong, soldier, was born iu New Ruinley. llarri.son county, Ohio. Dec. .■). 1839: son of Emmanuel H. and Maria (Ward) Kirkpatrick Custer. His paternal great-grand- father. Kiister, was a Hessian officer, who after the Revolution settled in Pennsylvania, where he married, and afterward removed to Maryland. George was edu- cated at the dis- trict school, at Stebbins acad- emy, and at Monroe semi- nary. He then taught school at Hopedale. Ohio, and in 18oT ob- tained an ap- pointment as cadet at the U.S. military acad- emy, where he was graduated in 1861. He was as- signed to the 2d U. S. cavalry as 2d lieutenant, repurted at Washington, D.C., in July. 18(51, to General Scott, and was entrusted by him with dispatches to General McDowell at Centerville, Va., which he delivered July 21, as the battle of Bull Run was about to begin, and then joined his regiment on the field. In the fall of 1801 he was ordered home on sick leave and on his return in February, 1862, he rejoined the army, being a.ssigned to the 5th U.S. cavalrj'. When McClellan assumed command of the army of the Potomac, March 11, 1862, young Custer was selected l)y Gen. Philip Kearny as his fir.st aide- de-camp. He rejoined his regiment after the Con- federates evacuated Manassas and at the head of a detachment of his company charged the retreat- ing Confederate pickets across Muddy Creek. He then served before Yorktown as as.sistant engi- neer on the staff of Gen. W. F. Smith in the left wing under CJeneral Sumner. He planned and erected the earthworks nearest the Confederate lines and when the enemy evacuated the place, he was with Hancork in pursuit of the retreating army. He was the first officer to wade the Chickahominy in the advance of the army, mark- ing the ford and reconnoitring the enemy's

position on the other side. This service won from the commanding general an appointment as aide-decaini; on his start witii the rank oi captain, to date from June 15, 1862. On the iie.xt day, with two companies of cavalry and one of infantry, he surprised the " Louisiana Tigers," acting as a picket guard, and stampeded them, taking several prLsouers and personally seizing the colors, tiie tirst such trophy capti.red by the army of the Potomac. He took i)ait in all the battles of the Peninsula and when General Mc- Clellan was superseded he returned to his ccni- mand, having been raised to the grade of Ist lieutenant on the recommendation of Ids late chief in July, 1862. When General Hooker, the new commander, organized the cavalry as a sep- arate corps of the army of the Potomac and General Pleasanton was made a divL^ion com- mander, Lieutenant Custer became a member of liis staff and took part in the battles at Brandy Station and Aldie, Va. In connection with Col. Judson Kilpatrick and Colonel Doughty of the 1st Maine regiment he brilliantly led a cavalry charge at Aldie and for the action was promoted brigadier general of Aolunteers to date from June 2o, 1863. He was thereupon given command of the Michigiin cavaliy brigade which he led in the battle of Gettysburg and with Gregg and Mcin- tosh resisted the efforts of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart to turn the left flank of Meade's army. This action secured him his brevet as major in the regular army to date from July 3, 1863. He pursued with his brigade the retreating armj- of General Lee through the A*alley and in an engagement with the enemy at Culpeper his horse was killed under him and he was badly wounded. Upon his recovery his brigade was assigned to the 1st division of Sheridan's cavalry corps and he led the advance of the corps to within four miles of the Confederate capital, but being unsupported l)y infantry, on May 11. 1864, the entire force swung around to White House on the Pamun- key river and there co-operated with General Grant. In a second cavalry raid near Gordons- ville the Confederates shot Custer's color-bearer and the general saved the flng by tearing it from the staff and hiding it under his coat. He was in the cavalry charge of Sept. 19, ir64, which de- termined Sheridan's victory of that day and on Sept. 26 he was transferred to the command of the 2d division, West Virginia cavalry, but before assuming command received promotion to the command of the 3d cavalry division. He shared with Gen. Wesley ^lerritt the battle of Wood- stock, Oct. 9, 1864, which was a sabre fight in which they routed the Confederates and followed up the victory by a pursuit of the enemy for twenty-six miles. At Cedar Creek, Oct. 19. 1864. Custer and Merritt with from six to seven thou-