The Coolidge examiner., 1933-02-10
olonel lst. Viroinia
CavalYu, 1867
DRAINING Dy JoHA w THONAAsON, JQ.

and to drink the best of the cup OF living. He
died while there was still thread of hope for
victory. He spared the grinding agony Of
the nine months siege, the bleak months that
brought eliminating disasters and the laying
down of the swords at Appomattox. He took his
death wound in the front Of battle, as he want
ed it, and he was granted some brief hours TO
press the hands of men who loved him, and to
arrange himself in order to report before the
God of Battles, Whom he served"
Almost as romantic and exotic a figure as
Beauty" Stuart was another young cavalry gen
eral on the other side of the lnes-Gen. George
Armstrong Custer, the Beau Sabreur of the Blue.
There was a striking similarity between the per-
sonalities Of the two men and the parallelism
persists down to their similar manner Of dying.
The recent unveillng of monument to Custer
in his home town in Ohio has served to recall
the picturesque figure whose career in the Civil
war would have been enough to win him endur-
ing fame even if his tragic death in the most
widely known Indian battle in American history
had not imperishaby preserved his name in the
minds of his cOuntrymen.
Stuart was not quite thirty when he became
a major-general Custer was a brigadier- general
at twenty-three and majorgeneral at twenty
four, hence the sobriquet of The Boy General
attached to him. But to his men he was "Old
Curly" because he let his yellow, curly hair grow
long and sweep his shoulders.
OF the achievements of Custer and his caval-
rymen during the Civil war; his farewell address
to the Third division tells the story: 1.-The rec
ord established by your indomitabe courage is
unparalleled in the annals of war. Your prowess
has won for you even the respect and admra-
tion of your enemies. During the past six months,
although in most cases confronted by superior
numbers, you have captured from the enemy in
Of hot
tie flags and upwards of 10000 prisoners of war,
including seven general officers. Within the past
ten days and included in the above, you have
captured 46 field pieces of artillery and 81 bat
tie flags.
You have never lost gun, never lost color,
and you have never been defeated; and notwith-
standing the numerous engagements in which
you have borne prominent part, including those
memorable battles of the Shenandoah, you have
captured every piece of artillery which the en-
emy has dared to open upon you.
And now, speaking for myself alone, when
the war is ended and the task of the historian
begins when these deeds of daring, which have
rendered the name and fame of the Third Caval-
ry division imperishable, are inscribed upon the
bright pages of our country's history, I only
ask that my name be written as that of the
commander of the Third Cavalry division"
But how differently his name was to be writ
ten! For as Frazier Hunt in his biography Gus
ter, the Last of the Cavaliers has said: ITO
the millions of plain Americans, he is remem-
bered not the commander of a dashing and
victorious division of cavalry that captured 10000
prisoners and 60 battle flags from gallant and
stubborn foe, but as an Indian fighter who with
a handful of troopers, II years later galoped to
a tragic death. He had fought Lee and Stonewall
Jackson, Jeb Stuart and the gallant Pelham
but IL was the naked Sioux warriors of the
plains who sent him to his deathess fame The
gods of battle have their own nscrutable way
of making heroes"
&c by Western Newspaper Union.)