The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-07-20
THE GALLANT CUSTER.
Some Interesting Gossip About the Dead
General-Custer as n Soldier and n
Lover. tia a %

Lover.
G''Curtis, !" in The Chicago Inter- ocean.l
Clusters strong points as soldier
were his almost unapproachable
bravery, his dash, ardor, confidence,
and his self-possessiOn and composure
that were never shaken in the most
desperate resorts. l have seen Custer
in circumstances when it was hard for
me to believe that he was human; and
/ am confident that when, overwhelmed
and surrounded in that ravine, and
staring death in the face, he loaded the
Remington rifle be always carried as
eoolly and aimed it as accurately as if
he had been target shooting on the
parade-ground at his post. Yet have
seen tears in his eyes, that were drawn
out by the sufferings of dog. One of
the tender points in his nature was his
sympathy for brutes. He never allowed
an animal to be abused or to suffer in
any way if it was in his power to pre-
vent it. l have seen him dismount
robust men from half-starved horses;
and have heard him order soldiers pun
ished for abusing beasts. 1t used to be
Il remark commonly made in his COM
mand that Custer would turn awounded
soldier out of an ambulance to leta sick
dog ride. But this is an exaggeration.
Many people have the idea that Gus
ter was a rough, staggering, swearing,
drunken trooper He was Just the OPP
posite He was asn dainty a bean in
ladies' society, and as entertaining a
guest at dinner table, as one often
L're.r ho hoe n ron Il a
drop, even the highest wines. He used
to, in the earlier years of the war, but
to his wife's sweet influence he surren-
dered the habit, and became not only
temperate himself, but 9 ea aaHl Cd
THE APOSTLE OF TEMPERANCE. 3. ri
He never swore, nor would he allow
an oath to be uttered in his presence.
have heard him rebuke his officers
many a time for swearing, and for one
of his soldiers to utter an oath in his
hearing was the grossest sort of insub-
ordination. Cavalry and profanity
seem somehow to be co-essential, but it
was not so in Custer's case. Another
anomaly was that he never used tobacco
in any form. Think of trooper with
out plug and pipe in his pocket!
| With one of the sweetest, gentlest,
brightest women in the world for a
wife; in house on the frontier, where
the gentler arts were mingled with the
privations and the rudeness of half CIV
ilization; with library where Ruskin
/ lay beside a revolver, and Jean lngelow
kept companionship with cartridge
box; with a drawing-room where a vel
vet carpet was strewn with half-cured
bear and wolf skins; where delicate
lace curtains were held in place by ant
lers, and where elk heads and stuffed
owls ornamented the piano, Custer
lived, illustrating in himself the anom-
ally of a hunter and literateur; an assO-
ciate of savages and a patron of art.
He was one of the best marksmen in the
army, and one of the best horsemen.
Marvellous stories are told of his feats
in both particulars. He had almost as
many guns as there are varieties of
manufacture, and his stable was filled
with the best biooded horses in the
land.
CUSTER OWED HIS RAPID ADVANCEMENT
during the war to the faculty he had of
Selling opportunities, and manipulating
them to success. He was the youngest
officer of prominence in the war, being
a Major-General at 90, having advanced
from the lowest grade of subaltern to
the command of an army in little over
two years. have heard him tell many
times how he got his first start in the
service. He was sent to West Point at
the age of 16, by the Hon. John A. Bing-
ham, and throughout his course kept
only medium standard of scholarship,
eXcelling, however, in engineering, tao
tics, and in all the manly sports. A
few days before the graduating exer-
cises Of his class were to take place,
Custer was thrown into the guard house
by order OF the commandment for having
permitted q fisticuf encounter between
! two Under classmen while he was officer
of the day. He was not permitted to
take part in the ceremonies of gradua-
ton, and when his class left the Military
Academy for the regiments to which
they were assigned, he lay in dis
grace, awaiting a cOurt-martial.
This was in June, 1861. The war
had just begun, and the armies were
organizing. There was great want of
competent drillmasters, and some one
suggested to General Scott that there
was superior drillmaster in the guard
house at West Point. So young Custer
was. sent for, and placed at one of the
barracks Washington to instruct the
! green volunteers in the manual of arms
Just before the battle of Bull Run, Nc
| Dowell, who was in command of the
Army of the Potomac, asked for an en-
gineer. Custer was detailed to act
/ temporarily in such a capacity on Nc
Dowell's staff, and took an active part
in that battle, distinguishing himself
for GOODNESS, bravery, and efficiency,
and aiding materially in the reorganiza-
ton of the army afterward. His serv-
ice was so important that the order for
his court-martial was revoked, and he
was sent into active service with the
Fifth Regular Cavalry under McC lellan.
1t was not difficult in those days for a
! young man of his ability, enterprise,
and daring, to rise, and in 1868 he found
himself Major-General, at the age
of %.
l have heard from his lips
| HE oIOh1 Ot his COI hISHlP,
and it was so characteristic of the man,
so illustrative of his can't-be- beaten dis
position, that it must be told. During
his absence at West Point his family
moved from Ohio to Monroe, Mich,
where they now reside, and after one
of his campaigns in Virginia the boy
general went home on furlough. He
was fresh from some of his raids, and
he had already captured more flags and
prisoners than any officer in the war.
There was an ovation for him at his
home. The people of Monroe rejoiced
in his successes then, as they are mourn
ing for his fate to-day. But there was
one gentle maiden in that town, Miss
Bacon, the daughter of one of his
fathers neighbors, who had no taste
for soldiers, and who rather frowned
than smiled upon the gallant young
cavalier. As fate would have it, Gus
ter was more attracted by her than by
all the other ladies in this new home he
was visiting for the first time, and her
repulses aggravated him till his obsti-
nacy was aroused, and he determined