Year: 1876

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Clusters strong points AS a soldier were
his almost unapproachable bravery, his
dash, ardor, confidence, and his self
possession and compCsure, that was never
shaken in the most desperate resorts. /
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 squarely in his
face, he loaded the Remington rifle he
always carried as coolly 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 suffering 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 suf-
fer in any way if it was in his power to
prevent it. l have seen him dismount
robust men from half.starved horses, and
have heard him order soldiers punished
for abusing beasts. 1t used to be a re-
mark commonly made in his command
that Custer would turn a wounded
soldier out of an ambulance to let sick
dog ride. But this is an exaggeration.


Many people have the idea that Custer
was a rough, staggering, swearing,
drunken trooper. He was just the OPP
posite. He was as dainty q beau in
ladies' society and as entertaining a
guest at dinner table as one often sees.
For years he never drank even the
lightest wines. He used to in TIE earlier
years of the war but to his wife's in
fuence he surrendered the habit, and be-
came not only temperate himself, but
the apostle of temperance. He never
swore, nor would he allow an oath to be
uttered in his hearing. l have heard
him rebuke his officers many time for
swearing, and for one of his soldiers to
utter an oath in his presence was the
grossest sort of insubOrdination. Cav
airy and profanity seem somehow to be
cOessentials, butiG was not SO in Clusters s
case.


Another anomaly was that he never
used tobacco in any form. Think Of a
trooper without plug and pipe in his
pocket!


With one of the sweetest, gentlest,
brightest women in the world for wife !;
in a home on the frontier, where the
gentler arts were mingled with the
privatiOns and the rudeness of half
civilization; with library, where
Ruskin lay beside revolver and Jean
Ingelow kept companionship with a
cartridge-box; with drawing-room
where velvet carpet was strewn with
halfcured bear and wolf skins, where
delicate lace curtains were held in place
by antlers, and where old heads and
stuffed owls ornamented the piano,
Custer lived, illustrating in himself the
anomaly of hunter and litterateur, an
associate of savages and patron of art.


Custer was one of the best marksmen
in the army, and one of the best horse
men. Marvellous stories are told of his
feats in both particulars. He had almost
as many guns as there are varieties of
and his stable was filled
with the best blooded horses in the land.
During the war Custer always dressed in
what the soldiers of the old school called
an outlandish fashion. He had an utter
disregard for gold-lace and trapping.
His saddle was always the most comfor-
table and not the most snowy he could
find. When he went into battle, he al
ways wore a loose blouse, such as were
used by the ordinary soldiers as an I'M
dress uniform. with the skirts tucked
into his trowsers like shirt. Under his
collar was always strip of red flannel
for a neckcloth, with long ends that
foated out over his shoulder as he rode.
lie always wore some slight insignia of
his rank on his shoulders and that of his
branch of the service on his hat, which
was always broad sombrero. This,
with heavy, clanking spurs on his rough
boots, from the top of each of which the
handle of pistol was always visible,
ponderous saber at his side and a rifle
across his elbow, completed his "outfit."
On the plains Custer always wore
embroidered buckskin suit,
with his red neck-tie and the remainder
of his army dress, with the exception of
the saber, which is never carried on the
plains