While we were watching the video, I found General Custer to be a really interesting figure, a General who was incompetent, yet somehow managed to get fairly high up in the ranks of the Military. So, I decided to research a little of his back story.
Early Life
George Armstrong Custer was born in New Rumley, Ohio, but spent most of his childhood growing up in Monroe, Michigan. Straight out of High School, he went to West Point. There he graduated as the last in his class, and had received 726 demerits there. He was nearly court-martialed for not stopping two of his Cadets from fighting, but was saved because of the need for officers in the Civil War.
Civil War
Despite being so inept, he managed to do fairly well as an officer in the Civil War. He fought in the First Battle of Bull Run as a Second Lieutenant. Although his cavalry had extra high casualties, he became distinguished for his brave and fearless charges during the Virginia and Gettysburg campaigns. At one point he was suspended from military service because he reportedly abandoned a war campaign. His influential friend General Sheridan managed to get him his position back however. His finest moment was when he managed to break Stuart's charge with his own charge from behind. He was also part of the force that threatened the French in Mexico after the war was over.
Beginnings of the Indian Wars
Custer was one of the most famous generals in the West, and he was one of the first ones to fight the Lakota Indians. He actually almost didn't go on the campaign where he died, because some of his comments infuriated Ulysses S. Grant. He removed Custer from command, but popular opinion force him to put him back on to his post.
It's interesting that he seems to have accomplished everything in his life just by lucky circumstances or necessity and he seemed to have a complete lack of military skill...but then he was so popular that Grant had to let him go on the Indian campaign. I wonder what it was about him that people liked so much, even though so many of the soldiers under his command were killed!
ReplyDeleteApparently he actually called his good fortune "Custer's luck" (well named, if you ask me). He also wore a red scarf (or necktie) into battle, which drew the attention of newspapers and the public. (How he managed to wear such a bright scarf and still not get shot is beyond me. He clearly did have very good luck...until the battle at Big Horn, at least.)
ReplyDeleteSonnet, to respond to your question, I think the people liked a daring, confident man, especially one as young as he was. Because he was successful (even if it was due to luck), his contemporaries focused on him, which probably makes us focus on him as well. A lot of that fame and admiration continues after his death, especially after the way newspapers portrayed his "valiant" and "heroic" death at Big Horn.
It's interesting that Custer was given command of another unit after he abandoned a campaign. For some reason the public loved him even after he had been removed by General Grant. Looking at pictures of him he does seem to have the look of a war hero. It is odd to me that people seemed to care more about what he looked like rather than how he acted. Going deeper though, perhaps it was just his close relationship with Sheridan that saved his career. This is a sad commentary on corruption within the military that I fear still occurs today: who you know is more important that what you know and how you act.
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