The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1929-06-20

student of military science
Will turn for lessons in tactics 1t was
an affair of handful of United States
cavalrymen pitted against an over
Whelming force of Sioux, Cheyenne
and Arapahoe Indians, and if it has
any particular Importance in American
history, it is only because it marked
the last outstanding success scored by
the red man against the white.
For this was the engagement off
cially known as the battle of the Lit
tie Big Horn River, Mont, June %,
1876, but familiar to most of us under
the name of Clusters Last Fight
Thereby is revealed the reason why
this battle seems destined to be re-
membered when greater and more i'm
portant military conflicts are long
since forgotten. The reason centers
around the flaming personality of Gen.
George Armstrong Custer.
"A brigadier general at twenty-three
major general at twenty-five, great
indian fighter at twenty-seven. he went
to- his death at thirty-seven, the i'm
mortal hero of American youth, and
the mystery and gallantry of his death
will keep his name shining when all
but scant dozen of the great figures
of American military history will be
forgotten forever" So writes his
latest biographer, Frazier Hunt, in the
book Custer" published by the Cos
mopolitan Book corporation, and Hunt
happily and aptly characterized this
soldier as no other biographer has vet
done when he uses as a subtitle for
his book the phrase "The Last of the
Cavaliers"
For George Armstrong Custer was
truly the last of the Cavaliers. He
was born in 1899 and died in 1876
There are men still living who saw
him often and knew him well. But he
does not belong in this period of re.
cent American history Among the be-
black-hatted blue uni
formed generals of the Union army.
this boy general with his coat of black
velvet, his wirebrimmed hat, his navy
blue Shirt with a broad collar adorned
with gold stars and held together at
the throat with wide flowing scar
let necktie, his trousers stuck in great
cavalry boots, and with his golden
curls reaching to his shoulders, is sad
y out of place. More appropriately
should he have led charge against
SromWell's Roundheads and after rout-
ng them received the thanks of that
gay monarch, King Charles the Sec
nd or he should have been a follower
u the fortunes of Bonnie Prince
Charlie and ended his short career
mid the flashing claymores at Cul.
odenmoor.
"A fighter of fighters and soldier
i soldiers, he was the beau sabreur
/ the American army" one historian
las called him. He was born of SOL
Ter ancestry he grew up surrounded
y soldier traditions; he became sol
Ter by choice and he died as sol.
Ter would choose to die. The Gus.
ers were fighting stock. His great
randfather had been a Hessian mer-
enary in the Revolutionary war. "He
7as a curly-haired blond giant who
as fighting for the fun of it, writes
unt. When the war was over and he
18th his fellow Hessians, was paroled
e decided to settle down and grow IN
18th the country. The family name {
kuster was changed about the time t
lis good-natured Saxon fighter moved .
ON pennsylvania TO Maryland. His t
the blacksmith and farmer. ]
mnlanuel Custer, felt the call of the h
ontier and migrated to Ohio, and q
ere it was that the sturdy tow-headed h
~ was born in 1880. n
War was in the air again. The fall b
the Alamo down in San Antonio n
I'd the great stretch of country north q
the Rio Grande owned by Mexico /,
Id burned its way into the hearts of
e country. A bitter hatred was far a