The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1874-08-01
A Pen Sketch of Custer.
Cor. of Chicago Inter Ocean.


He is great mana noble man is General
Custer, and of whom the most of the world
that part which does not know him-has
a singularly wrong idea. came here ex-
pecting to find -whiskered, swearing,
ranting, drinking, trooper, and I found
instead a slender, quiet gentleman, with a
face as fair as girls, and manners as
gentle and courtly as the traditional prince.
Hunting for the drunken raider, found a
literary gentleman, in his library, surround
ed by adjutants and orderlies, to whom he
gave his military directions, while he wrote
and read. His guest for four days, never
sat with a more courteous host, or generous
entertainer, or polished conversationalist.
With one of the sweetest, brightest women
in the world for a wife, his home is that of
cultured gentleman, instead of a royster-
ing cavalryman, as is generally supposed.
General Custer does not drink, notwith-
standing the prevailing idea of his intem-
perance. He believes in and practices total
abstinence. The good temperance teachers
or the day can use him as an example rather
than all object of regret.
General Custer does not swear. In his
constant companionship for more than a
week, under circumstances, too, that have
been unusually trying. I have not heard an
oath from his lips; and what is more. he
does not allow profanity among his subor-
dinates
General Custer does not smoke; does not
use tobacco in any form. One would know
it from the clearness of his complexion and
the pearly polish Of his teeth. Thus far
and unreasonably has the world been mis-
taken, and it really does seem strange to
find
SOLDIER THAT NEITHER DRINKS, SMOKES,
NOR swEARs.
But what, some one will ask, are his
vices? His soldiers will tell you he has
none, unless an almost inordinate love for
the higher brute creation may be called
such, for General Custer has the best dogs
and the best horses he can procure within
the limits of search. His leash of hounds
is probably as large and well-bred as any in
the country, and his own and the horses of
his regiment, the Seventh Cavalry, are fa-
nous all over the States, while he has the
reputation of being the best sportsman and
the most accurate shot in the army.
A BRIEF OUTLINE OF HIS CAREER
will be appropriate in this connection.
Leaving West Point, in July, 1861, he was
sent Immediately into active service in the
Fifth Regular Cavalry, and was soon made
aid-ie-camp to General Me- cClellan, with the
rank of captain. In '63, only % years old,
he was made Brigadier General of volun-
teers, and originated the idea of ''raids, -
which made him famous Immediately. In
1854 he was made a Major General, and
given command of the cavalry in Virginia.
His record since that time is so we'll known
as to need but the single reference that he,
the youngest Major General in the service,
captured more prisoners, more cannon, and
moro flags than any commander in the war
of the Rebellion. At the close of the war
lie was made Lieutenant Gelonel Of the
Seventh Cavalry, and was sent into Texas.
His frontier fighting since that time has
been as remarkable as his record in the
war, and now no man on the plains is more
respected or feared by the hostile Indians
than him whom they call
"THE LoNe-HAIRED cHIEF.n
This spring his golden curls have been
sacrificed; he looks younger, more soIdierly,
although less poetical, and the coming
reconnaissance will prove il he is shorn OF
his strength. At present General Custer is
"a years old--a slender, fair-haired, blue
eyed man. His wife, acharnling lady, who
has shared his marches and victories since
early in the war, is as gentle and cultivated,
and yet as soldierly as a woman can be, and
her home is one green spot, if there be no
others in the frontier life of the officers OF