Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1876-07-22
Rosser's Tribute to Custer.

TO Editor Of the Minneapolis Tribune.
The evil which men do lives after them;
The goods oft inferred within their bones.
| am surprised and deeply mortified
to see that our neighbor, P. p. aud t.,
in its morning issue has seen ft TO ad-
Judge the true, brave aud heroic Custer
SO harshly as to attribute his late terri
BILE disaster with the Sioux Indians to
reckless indiscretion. From what | can
gather from General Trrry's instruc-
tions to Generel Custer i is quite evil
dent that it was expse ed. il not ex-
pressed, that Custer sho. ! attack tho
savages wherever found, and as to the
manner of attack Of course that was left
to the discretion and judgment Of Gen.
Custer, and viewing the circumstances
Of this fatal attack from my standpoint,
| fail to see anything very rash in the
planning of it or reckless in its at
tempted execution. On the contrary.
| feel that Custer would have succeeded
had Reno, with all the reserve of seven
companies, passed through and joined
Custer after the first repulse. 1t is not
safe at this distance, and in the absence
of full details, to c~riticise too closely
the conduct of any officer CT this COM
mand, bnt | think il quite certain that
Genersl Custer had agreed with Reno
upon a place If junction in case Of the
repulse Of either or both Of the detach-
ments, and instead OF an effort being
made by Reno for such a junction, as
soon as he encountered heavy resistance
he took refuge in the hills and abandon
ed Custer and his gallant comrades to
their fate.
1t is useless to say that Caster should
have amused those Indians as soon as he
reached them, or diverted their ate n
ton until General Terry could come up
with reinforcemcnts, for, although it is
stated that General Terry was only
twenty or thirty miles off and he moved
by forced marches, he did not reach the
scene Of disaster until three days after its
occurrence. The Indians were running,
aud it is very evident to my mind that
General Terry expected them to make
every possible escape, and Custer was
DOUBTLESS ordered to pursue them, cut
off their retreat and drive them back
upon Terry and Gibbon, and thus
hemmed in between these commands
they were to be crushed.
To do this i was necessary for Custer
to strike them wherever found, and by
vigorous blows aud hot pursuit he was
to drive them into the trap which Terry
had set for them. Infantry on expedi-
tions against Indians can only be used as
guards for supply trains, and 10 the pur-
suit OF Indians on a mission such as Gus
ter's they are as useless as foxhounds in
the pursuit of wild geese. 1t was ex-
pected when tho expedition was sent
ont that Custer and the Seventh cavalry
were to do all the fighting, and superbly
did a portion Of them do it. As a soldier
l would sooner to-day lie in the grave of
General Custer and his gallant comrades
alone in that distant wilderness, that
when the "last trumpet" sounds / could
rise to judgment from my post of duty,
than to live in the place of the survivors
of the siege on the hills. knew Gen.
Custer well, have known him intimate
ly from boyhood, and, being on opposite
sides during the late war, we often met
and measured strength on the fields Of
Virginia, and l can truly say now that /
never met a more enterprising. gallant
or dangerous an enemy during those
four years of terrible war, or a more
genial, w~hole-souled, chivalrous gentle
mar and friend in peace than Major
General George A. Custer.
Respectfully, IT, Rosser.