The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-07-12
GENERAL CUSTER.

GENERAL CUSTER.
His Habits, His Successes, His Pro.
motions, His Courlship and Mar.
riage.
Many people have the idea that Custer
was n rough, staggering, swearing,
drunken trooper. He was just the oppo-
: site. He WAS as dainty beau in ladies'
society, and rs entertaining guest at q
dinner table, as one often sees For
years he has never drank drop, even
the lightest wines. He used to, in the
earlier years of the war, but to his wife's
sweet influence he surrendered the habit,
and became not only temperate himself,
but
THE APOSTLE OF TEMPERANCE.
He never swore, nor would he allow an
oath TO be uttered IN his presence.
have heard him rebuke his offices many q
time for swearing, and for one Of his SOL
diers TO utter an oath in his hearing was
the grossest sort of insubordlnation.
Cavalry and profanity seem somehow to
DO co essential, but 1t was not so in Gus
ter's case. Another anomaly was that he
never used tobacco in any form. Think
of trooper without plug and a pipe in
his pocket! With one Of the sweetest,
gentlest, brightest women in the world
tor wife; in house on the frontier,
where the gentler arts were mingled with
the privations and the rudeness OF half
civilization; with library, where Ruskin
lay beside a revolver, and Jean Ingelow
kept companionship with cartridge box;
with q drawing room where velvet car
pet was strewn with half-cured bear and
wolf skins; where delicate lsee curtains
were held in place by antlers, and where
elk heads and stuffed owls ornamentcd
the piano, Custer lived, illustrating in
himself the anomaly of q hunter and lit
tsrateur; an associate of savages and a
patron of art. He was one of the best
msrksmen in the army, and one e the
best horsemen. Marvellous stories are
told of his feats in both particulars. he
had almost rs many guns rs there are
varieties of manufacture, and his stable
was filled with the best blooded horses in
the land.
CUSTER OWED HIS RAPID ADVANCEMENT
during the war TO the faculty he had of
seizing opportunities, and manipulating
them 10 success. He was the youngest
officer Of prominence in the war, being n
Major General at 22, having advanced
from the lowest grade ofsubaltern 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 l6, by the Hon. John A. Bing-
ham, and throughout his course kept only
medium sta dsrd of scholarship, excel
ling, however, in engineering, tactics, ard
in all the manly sports. A few days be
fore the graduating exercises o. his class
were to take place, Custer was thrown
out into the guard house by order of the
commandment for having permitted fsti-
cuff encounter between two under-class-
men while he was officer ofthe dav. lie
was not permitted to take part in the
ceremonies Of graduation, and when his
class left the military academy for the
regiments to which they were ASST med,
he lay IN disgrace, awaiting court mar
tial. This was in June, 1861. The WAT
had just begun, and the armies were or
gsnizing. There was great want ef
competent drillmasters; and some ono
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 bar
racks near Washington TO instruct the
green volunteers in the manual OF arms
Just before tho 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 tenn
porarily in such scapacity on McDowels
staff, and took an active part in that bat
tie, distinguishing himself for GOODNESS,
bravery, and efficiency, and aiding mate
rally in the reorganization of the army
afterwsrd. His service was so important
that the order for his court. martial WAS
revoked, and he WAS sent into sctlve SER
vice with the Fifth Regular Csvery I'M
der McClellaud. 1t was not difficult IN
those days for n young man of his ability,
enterprise, and daring, to rise, and in 1868
he found himself Msjor General, At the
age of ~.
have heard from his own lips
THE STORY or HIS COURTS HIP,
and il was so characteristic Of the man,
So illustrative of his can't. be beaten dis
position. ths, it might be told. During
his sbsence nj West Point his family
moved from Ohio 10 Monroe, Michigan,
where they now reside, and after one OF
his campaigns in Virginia the boy-eener-
al went home on iurlough. he WAS fresh
from some o his raids, and he had al
ready captured more flags and prisoners
than any officer IN the war. There was
An ovation for him at home. The
people of Monroe rej"iced in his
SUCCESSES then, rs they are
mourning tor his fate to-day. But there
WAS one gentle maiden in that town. =
Mrs Bacon, the daughter of one OF his
fathers neigbbors, who had no tsste for
soldiers, sad who rather irowned than
smiled upon the Young cavalier. As
fs,. wouid hsyc It, Custer WAS more At
trnc,ed by her than sill the other ladies
IN this new home he WAS visiting Tor the
dr., time, and her r'rulsee aggravated
h,m TIL be ohsti acy WAS sr"Cs"i, and
he determined In conquer tins naughty
country ciri who refused To smile with
III. rest OF womankind upon him.
l remember how he described his feel
ings; how he proceeded in his suit
inquired about and ascertained the