Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/105

 CUSIER

CUSTER

sand liorsemen, held in check, with the aid of a few batteries, 20 000 Coufederate troops flushed with the victory of the niorniBg, and the cavalry thus allowed the demoralized Federal infantry to reform behind their effective sabres, when or- dered to do so by Sheridan as he came up at the end of his historic ride. Custer's jiart in this fight won for him the brevet of major-general of volunteers a few months later. His division of 4600 men joined in the last raid of Sheridan and on March 2, 1865, at Waynesboro, Va., he met and overpowered Early, taking eleven guns, 200 wagons, 1600 prisoners and seventeen battle flags. The news of his prowess secured from the mayor of Charlotteville the keys of the town as he approached the place, and the next meeting with Early at Frederickshall Station nearly re- sulted in the capture of the Confederate leader. The battles of Five Forks and Dinwiddle Court House were further witnesses of his valor and he received for the services there rendered the brevet of brigadier-general in the U.S. army to date from March 13, 1865. In the pursuit of Lee"s army he received the first flag of truce with overture for surrender and he was one of the officers present at the surrender at Appomattox, receiving as souvenirs of the occasion the towel used as a flag of truce and the table on which the agreement for surrender was written. In gen- eral orders addressed to his troops from Appo- mattox, April 9, 1863, he recounted as among their achievements in the past six months " the capture in open battle of 111 field- j^ieces, 65 bat- tle-flags, upwards of 10,000 prisoners including seven general officers," and the record of having "never lost a gun or a color" and of having "never been defeated."' He took part in the grand review at Washington and was -then or- dered to Texas, where he was mustered out of the service as major general of volunteers. He then asked for a year's leave of absence in order to accept from President Juarez the position of chief of cavalry, in the struggle of the republic of Mexico against Maximilian, but the govern- ment refused and he rejoined his regiment, the 7th cavalry, at Fort Riley, Kansas. In the spring of 1867 he joined General Hancock's expedition against the Cheyenne Indians, his first experi- ence in Indian warfare, and he closed the cam- paign by defeating them at Washita river, Nov. 27, 1868, killing one hundred and three warriors and taking prisoners fifty-three squaws and children, almost annihilating the band and forc- ing the remnant back to their reservation. In March, 1873, his regiment was ordered to Dakot--^ to guard the Northern Pacific railroad construc- tion and here he first met the hostile Sioux. In July, 1874, he headed an expedition to the Black Hills, and in the spring of 1876 formed a part of

the expedition under General Terry sent against the Sioux tribe, when he was directed to take his regiment up the Rosebud river to the head waters of the Little Big Horn to co-operate with General Gibbon's command sent up the Big Horn, another tributary of the Yellowstone. The plan was to surround the Indians and prevent their escape. At 8 a.m., June 25, 1876, he had made seventy-three miles and had crossed the divide between the Rosebud and the Little Big Horn rivers, when he separated his foi-ce into three commands, one under Major Reno, another with Captain Benteen in command, and with the five remaining companies he moved up the right bank of the Little Big Horn, expecting the other commands to operate on either flank of the In- dian village when discovered. He struck the Sioux village of 9000 warriors in the centre and it extended one and one quarter miles to his right and left. Reno's division had reached the village on the extreme left, given battle and retreated before Custer came up. and the Sioux greatly outnumbering his little force drove him from point to point, annihilating company after company. Finally, left with only forty officers and men. Custer fought the unequal battle for three hours and all were slain. The general's re- mains were removed to the U.S. cemetery at West Point, N. Y., in 1877. He published My Life on the Plains (1872). He died on the battle-field of the Little Big Horn. Mont., June 25, 1876. His wife, Elizabeth (Bacon), whom he married in Feb- ruary, 1864; has published Boots and Saddles (1885); Tenting on the Plains (1888); and Fol- loicing the Guidon (1890).

CUSTER, Thomas Ward, soldier, was born in New Rumley, Ohio, March 15, 1845; son of Emmanuel H. and Maria (Ward) Kirkpatrick Custer. Being but sixteen years old and small of stature when the civil war began he failed in all his efforts to enlist until late in 1863, when an Ohio infantiy regiment received him as a private and he served in the west. His brother. Gen. George A. Custer, then in the army of the Poto- mac, succeeded in having him appointed on his staff as an aide-de-camp and he was commis- sioned second lieutenant in the 6th Michigan cavalry, to date from Nov. 8, 1864. He rode by the side of his famous brother in many cavalry charges and at Namozine Church, April 2. 1865, he captured a Confederate flag. He took a simi- lar trophy during the battle at Sailor's Creek, April 6, and in the encounter was severely wounded in the face by the discomfited color- bearer. L^ndertaking to charge the enemy a sec- ond time he was ordered by his brother to the rear to have his wounds dressed, and not l)eing obeyed, the general placed the brave boy undA»- arrest. Congress awarded him a medal for thi&