The Real Custer (60 page)

“No military man ever charged Custer with conservatism, hesitation, excessive deference to the opinion of others, or unwillingness to ‘go in and win,'” the pro-Republican
New York Times
countered.
¹¹
Republicans blamed the Democrat-controlled House Appropriations Committee for refusing to fund outposts on the Yellowstone that would have enabled a more formidable force to take the field. Grant believed Custer bore sole responsibility, saying, “I regard Custer's Massacre as a sacrifice of troops, brought on by Custer himself, that was wholly unnecessary—wholly unnecessary.”
¹²
But Nevin Custer said it was Grant's fault. “I didn't intend to say it, an' I won't say much,” he observed many years later, “but I'll tell yuh this, if it hadn't been for U.S. Grant, George Custer would-a been alive today.”

Those sympathetic to the Indians saw the tragedy as the inevitable and ironic outcome of the Black Hills gold rush that Custer helped encourage. The
New York Sun
blamed Custer's quest for fame. Custer meant “to fight alone, and alone win a great battle and harvest the glory of a victory which should put an end to Sioux warfare,” the paper editorialized. “It was a great stake, gallantly but madly played for, and ruinously lost. The dashing cavalryman, charming gentleman, and accomplished scholar paid his life and the lives of his male relatives, and the lives of over three hundred of the best soldiers in the army, as the penalty for his rash ambition.”
¹³

Samuel D. Sturgis, whose son James died in the battle, concurred with this view and said Custer felt he needed to prove himself after being humiliated by President Grant. “What I especially deprecate is the manner in which some papers have sought to make a demigod out of Custer, and to erect a monument to Custer, and none to his soldiers,” he said in an interview a few weeks after the massacre. “Custer was a brave man, but he was also a very selfish man. He was insanely ambitious for glory, and the phrase ‘Custer's luck' affords a good clue to his ruling passion.”
¹⁴
Sherman and Sheridan also thought the attack was ill-considered, though Sherman later told General Thomas L. Crittenden, whose son had also perished in the battle, “When Custer found himself in the presence of the Indians, he could do nothing but attack.”
¹⁵

George McClellan argued that Custer was not reckless but made a calculated risk based on years of experience in battle. “On that fatal day he simply repeated the tactics that he had so often successfully used against large bodies of Indians,” McClellan wrote. But given his insufficient knowledge of the strength and morale of his opponents, as well as ignorance of the terrain on which the battle was fought, “he was suddenly surrounded by overwhelming masses of well-armed warriors, against whom the heroic efforts of his command wasted themselves in vain.”
¹⁶

Godfrey concurred, arguing that criticisms were based on hindsight and had Custer succeeded, “he would have been hailed as a genius and hero, and nothing ever would have been said about disobedience, rashness and blunders and court martial.”
¹⁷

Terry sought to dodge blame that might be cast in his direction by saying if Custer had followed orders, their columns would have met at the objective simultaneously, and the Indians would have been defeated. “The movements proposed for General Gibbon's column were carried out to the letter,” Terry wrote, “and had the attack been deferred until it was up I cannot doubt that we should have been successful.”
¹⁸
Custer would probably have argued that he was following his orders, since Terry told him to use his initiative. For his part Gibbon believed that speculation either way was pointless because “General Custer is dead and cannot tell his side of the story or of the motives which influenced his action.”
¹⁹

Some blamed Benteen for not responding more urgently to Custer's order to “come on” and “be quick.” But most blamed Marcus Reno, either for not carrying the fight to the village as ordered, or for retreating across the river, or for not going to Custer's assistance when he could—or all three. Thomas Rosser wrote a widely reprinted letter to the
St. Paul Pioneer Press and Tribune
blaming Reno for deserting Custer, though this was only conjecture. Custer biographer Frederick Whittaker made a public case against Reno, implying he may have left George to die on purpose. Reno then demanded a court of inquiry to clear his name. The court met in 1879 and took testimony on the battle from many of the surviving participants. The proceeding found Reno not culpable for Custer's death, but that did not end the debate. Meanwhile, the hapless Reno was court-martialed twice for “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman”: first for attempting to take advantage of another officer's wife (1877) and then for drunkenness and lewd behavior directed at Colonel Sturgis's daughter (1879). He was found guilty both
times, suspended for the first offense, and discharged for the second. Reno died in 1889, and Libbie Custer successfully blocked his burial at Custer Battlefield National Cemetery, saying the honor did not befit the coward of the regiment.
²⁰

In 1877, on Sheridan's initiative, the bodies of most of the officers killed at Little Bighorn were exhumed for reburial.
²¹
Captains Tom Custer and Yates and Lieutenants Smith, McIntosh, and Calhoun were buried at Fort Leavenworth on August 3.
²²
Lieutenant John J. Crittenden was not moved; his father General Crittenden argued that “there can be no fitter resting place for the true soldier than that spot which his blood has hallowed.”
²³
Boston Custer and Autie Reed were buried in the family plot in the Woodland Cemetery in Monroe, Michigan.

George Custer's body was packed in a wooden box, inspected at Fort Lincoln by post surgeon R. G. Read, and sealed. It was shipped to Poughkeepsie Cemetery in New York, just north of West Point, and placed in a vault to await burial. Eventually a rumor spread that the remains were not Custer's but a teamster's.
²⁴
Frank Palmer of Company C, who had been part of the original burial detail, insisted this was impossible. And with the body came one of the Spanish spurs Custer had borrowed from Frank Huger after the Battle of Sailor's Creek a few days before Appomattox, which had originally belonged to Mexican president Santa Anna. Custer had neglected to return the spurs after the war, but Libbie gave the remaining one back to Huger.
²⁵

Custer's funeral took place on October 10, 1877. The coffin was draped in the same flag used in the funeral of Louis McLane Hamilton, killed at Washita, who was buried in Poughkeepsie. Thousands of people lined the streets of the town to watch the procession from the cemetery to the riverfront. Custer's remains were transported to West Point by the side-wheeled steamer
Mary Powell
and taken to the Cadet Chapel to lie in state. Custer's sword and hat were placed on the dais near a two-foot column of dried flowers, and a wreath encircling the words “Seventh
Cavalry” was at the foot. A festooned American flag was on the back wall above the head of the coffin, and a blue silk banner with gold letters that read “God and Our Native Land.” The brief funeral service was conducted by post chaplain Dr. John Forsyth. Libbie, in black, was escorted by Superintendent Major General John Schofield. Emmanuel Custer was present, with Maggie Custer Calhoun and Nettie Smith. Lieutenant Braden, wounded on the Yellowstone in 1873, Custer classmate Stephen Lyford, who had served on his court-martial, and William Ludlow were among the pallbearers.

A draped caisson carried the coffin from the chapel to the cemetery. Libbie walked behind it, weeping, supported by General Schofield. A riderless horse followed, with the regalia of a major general, and back-ward-turned boots. Then came family and friends. The Corps of Cadets marched in their battalions, and the band played a dirge. Numerous Army and Navy officers, war veterans, and local militia units accompanied the procession, and thousands of people crowded the Plain and stood along the route.

They walked a half mile to a peaceful, shaded field on the escarpment above the Hudson River that had been a burial site since the time of the Revolution. Dr. Forsyth concluded the service by the graveside. George's remains were lowered into the earth; some dirt was sprinkled on top; and the Corps of Cadets fired three volleys in salute. The cadets honored George in another way he would have appreciated, adding a new verse to their traditional drinking song and informal hymn:

            
In silence lift your glasses; a meteor flashes out.

            
So swift to death brave Custer, amid the battle's shout.

            
Death called—and crowned, he went to join the friends of

            
long ago,

            
To the land of Peace, where now he dwells with Benny

            
Havens, Oh!
²⁶

The Indian fighter, Boy General, and gallant goat of June 1861, had returned to West Point for his final rest.

Libbie Custer joined George there over half a century later. She died on April 6, 1933, two days short of her ninety-first birthday. She had never remarried but remained true to her Autie and his memory for the rest of her life. She had little means of support when George died, with no savings to speak of and a widow's pension of thirty dollars per month. She worked for the Society of Decorative Arts in New York City and over time developed her talents as a writer. She wrote three best-selling memoirs of her days with George,
Boots and Saddles, Tenting on the Plains
, and
Following the Guidon
, and also produced commentaries on art, culture, and public life. Libbie spent summers with other women writers and artists at the colony at Onteora Park in the Catskills, traveled the United States and the world, and lived comfortably to the end of her days.

Libbie tirelessly defended George and his image in the press and in public, writing detailed though idealized accounts of their life in the West and bluntly challenging the general's critics when they periodically appeared. She lobbied successfully to take down a statue of George by James Wilson McDonald that was erected on the Plain at West Point in 1879 without her approval or input. It was removed in 1884 and later disappeared under unusual circumstances.
²⁷
An obelisk inscribed “George Armstrong Custer, Major General, U.S. Volunteers” was placed on the statue's decorative pedestal, and the monument currently stands at Custer's grave.

Libbie gave full support to the statue of George erected in Monroe in 1910 called
Sighting the Enemy
. It was by sculptor Edward Potter and portrays Custer at Gettysburg, on horseback, looking into the distance, during one of the key events of his life. It captures the same intense feeling that Rosser described in witnessing Custer about to charge on the
Yellowstone, the passion and anticipation of a battle to be joined. It was the General Custer that Libbie most wanted people to remember.

Libbie made public appearances at other commemorative events but skipped the fiftieth anniversary ceremony at the Little Bighorn battlefield in 1926. She never once visited the site of her Autie's death. She lived on Park Avenue late in life, a fixture in New York society, her spacious apartment a veritable museum of Custer artifacts. Libbie was buried alongside George at West Point, the band playing “Garryowen” as she was laid to rest.

By then George Custer might have been mostly forgotten, a soldier from times long past who had a brief moment of glory before his flame was extinguished. However, he was more famous than ever when Libbie died, and would remain so. Custer's Last Stand had taken on a symbolic role far greater than its military importance and was a vehicle for art, literature, history, strong emotion, and endless debate.

The tragic romance of Custer began early.
Galaxy
magazine, which had been serializing George's memoirs when he died, wrote, “Never was there a life more rounded, complete and symmetrical than that of George A. Custer, the favorite of fortune, the last cavalier.” They said to him alone “was it given to join a romantic line of perfect success to a death of perfect heroism.” They compared the cavalry at Little Bighorn to the Spartans at Thermopylæ and said it was Custer's fate “to die like Leonidas.”
²⁸
Novelist Frederick Whittaker rushed out
The Complete Life of General George A. Custer
in December 1876, a sensationalized biography that was criticized by some in the military establishment but became a popular hit.