The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-04-16
WILL HONOR Custer
MONROE, MICH, TO ERECT MoNU.
MENT TO iTs SOLDIER HERO.
Famous Cavalry Leader Was Born
in Ohio, But Always Regarded
Wolverine Village AZ His
Home.

has ever called Michigan his home,
there is as yet, 81 years after his
death. no memorial within the Dor.
ders of the state to Gen. George A.
Custer.
To remedy this the citizens of Mon
roe are now agitating the erection Of
a handsome monument to this dash
ing cavalryman who, from his later
boyhood, always looked upon Monroe
as his home.
Though Gen. Custer was born in
Ohio and though his parents contin.
ued to live there, with the exception
Of one year, Custer himself went to
school at Monroe and spent much of
his time there with his sister, Mrs.
Reed, who had married a Monroe
man.
His appointment to the military
academy at West Point was given
him by an Ohio congressman, but It
was always to Monroe that he re.
turned for his furlougbs during his
academy course as well as on his
later leaves of absence during the
war. There he was married to Miss
Libbie Bacon, daughter of Judge Ba.
con. one of the most prominent OF
the towns citizens, and there was the
sorrow greatest when the dread news
came on that Fourth of July of cen.
tennial year of the annihilstion by
the Sioux under Sitting Bull of the
gallant general and his whole com.
mand of the Seventh cavalry on the
Little Big Horn in Montana, eight
days previous.
Since that day the federal govern
ment has made the site of the last
battle" a national park, marked the
route of the Seventies last march
and erected handsome monument on
the site where Custer himself fell.
But Michigan, on whose name he
shed luster by his command of the
Michigan brigade" during 1853 and
1864, has done nothing toward pro
viding memorial to his deeds.
1t was Custer and his Michigan
brigade" that during the civil wal
restored the cavalry arms to the place
it had occupied in the days Of Napo
leon, when the dashing cavalry
charges at Murat were an important
factor in almost every battle.
Appointed brigadier general wher
but two years out of West Point fol
gallantry In small actions as an Of
ficer on the staff of Gen. PleasantOn
commanding the cavalry corps of the
Army of the Potomac, Custer was as
signed to the Michigan brigade.
composed of the First, Fifth, Sixth
ana Seventh Michigan regiments Of
cavalry. At this time the cavalry
was rather looked down upon by the
other branches of the service, but
the tactics of Custer and his mich
igan boys soon changed all this. In
stead of depending upon the carbine
as the cavalry had done in the civi
war up to that time, Custer placed
his trust in the saber and in the eff
cheney of the sweeping mounted
charge to dismay his enemy. Tha
the cavalry came to be looked upor
as an effective force from that tim,
on was due as much to Custer ant
his actions as to any other single In
tluence.
For a year he commanded tn,
Michigan brigade and then was ad
vanced to the command of the Thirt
division of the cavalry corps. His cx
ploits there attracted the attention o
the whole north and that of the soutl
az well, and his generalship durinl
the. closing campaign which ended II
the surrender OF Appomattox left hin
with the highest individual fame a
cavalry commander of any man
either northern or southern, with tn
single exception OF Phil Sheridan.
After the war, when the principa
duty of the cavalry. to which ne wa
assigned as lieutenant colonel OF tn
Seventh, was Indian fighting. Gus
ters success was as great as It ha,
been against the southern legions
and In not single instance did |
fail, except In the last battle"
And even there the claim, made a
the time by Clusters friends, that hi
defeat and annihilation were the d
rect results Of the failure OF his sui
ordinates to obey his orders ha
never been disproyed so that there 4
nothing from his first action in 1856
until he was shot down In the mids
of his men on tho Little Big Horn Ii
| 1876 to tarnish his fame as brav
man. gallant soldier and a brillian
commander. .fs
The citizens Of Monroe have takel
up In earnest the matter of monr
ment to be erected In the city of hi
adoption and will probably 60 to tn
Legislature with request for assist
| ance In raising the money necessary
| xuhinh ~ 10 6gurn1 Wilt ha .,hnut cor