The Victorians used "rash" and "reckless" separately. Reckless also
means daring and
they often used it that way. They tended to use "rash" as we use reckless
today.
Dozens of the Boy General's detractors have stigmatized him as rash and impulsive,
but
a close scrutiny of his CW career can uncover only a single incident to substantiate
that contention. That was his precipitate charge at sundown on 2 July 1863 at
Hunterstown, PA, when he hurled himself and Company A of the 6th Michigan Cavalry
against Wade Hampton's entire brigade. He had been a general only four days.
But the other truth of even this incident is that Kilpatrick ORDERED him to charge as
Custer was preparing a dismounted reconne. Custer protested but Kilpatrick was firm.
As Lt. S.H. Ballard, of the 6th Michigan, noted in an interview: "He always
displayed
excellent judgement in handling his troops. He was different from Kilpatrick who was
rash. Kilpatrick's standing order was 'Charge, God damn them' whether they
were five
or five thousand."
Whenever the Confederates were sighted, Old Curly would shoot ahead of his troopers
and scout the oncoming gray ranks. After gauging the enemy's size and disposition,
he
would formulate a tentative plan of attack and form his waiting squadrons. Once his
command was in line, Custer would return to the point of his former reconnaissance for
a last-minute check, make the appropriate alterations if there was a need, and then
signal his cheering regiments to advance at a gallop.
"I don't suppose any man in the Eastern army had those peculiar qualities of mind
and
heart and dash that Custer possesed," confirmed Ballard. "He was perfectly
endeared
to his men."
Custer's detractors always try to point out that Custer only knew how to
"Charge!"
His record shows otherwise. Custer was not only quick and clever -- he was also
cunning like a fox. His topographical studies at West Point had impressed him with the
importance of terrain to his profession. He made a masterful use of hills and forests
to screen his movements or shelter his troopers, and to give them an added edge over
the Confederates. He fully realized the element of surprise and he made flank attacks
a fine-honed specialty.
Captain Birge wrote: "He was one of those men who never wanted to go back; but it
was
not rashness, but gallantry. He was always wanting to go in. If he saw the enemy, he
wanted to fight him. It was what he went for. He would rather be in battle than out.
He was not rash like Kilpatrick."
Once he had sunk his claws into the foe, Custer was absolutely merciless until they
were broken, beaten and smashed to bits. As Col Nettleton of the 2nd Ohio Cavalry
observed: "A large part of Custer's success was due to the fact that he was a
good
pursuer. Unlike many equally brave and skillful officers, he was rarely content to
hold a position or drive his enemy; he always gathered the fruit, as well as shook the
tree of battle. He regarded his real work as only the beginning, when the enemy was
broken and flying."
It was not just the benign perspective brought on by the broad expanse of years that
fostered such opinions. The letters and diaries of the Wolverines and the Red Tie
Boys -- composed on the spot and at the time they were daily exposed to death, danger,
and hardship -- offer a rough but eloquent tribute to Custer's leadership. Document
after document testifies to the charismatic effect of his boundless valor and the
pride and confidence it instilled in the men and boys who followed him.
The Boy General was a tough, hard-driving officer, but he was not the heartless,
bloody meglomaniac he has so often been portrayed. "He was not regardless of human
life," wrote James Kidd, an officer who served with Custer. "No man could have
been
more careful of the comfort and lives of his men. He was kind to his subordinate,
tolerant of their weaknesses, always ready to help and encourage theAt the outset of
Sheridan's Richmond raid, while the Michigan Brigade was setting the pace for the
Cavalry Corps as it swept down on Beaver Damn Station, Sgt James Rowe developed what
he decided was "the worst headache I have ever experienced." Falling out of
formation, he dismounted and was nursing his throbbing skull when General Csuter and
his staff came cantering by. Custer asked what was wrong, and when Row told him,
instead of delivering a stinging tongue lashing and berating him as a no good slacker,
Old Curly gave him a sympathetic word of encouragement: "Take your time, but try to
get in camp by night." Then he clipped off to the head of the column.
Custer always took time to visit his wounded in hospital, having a word for each of
them. He also took to task those of his men who did not write home regularly -- once
ordered a young man to write to his mother when that soldier's mother wrote to Custer
asking what had become of her boy.
He was not the effete, arrogant martinet his debunkers have depicted. He was also not
afraid to get among the common soldiers or to dirty his hands when there was work to
be done. At Cold Harbor he spent an entire night helping his Michigan Brigade dig in,
showing the men how he had learned to build proper breastworks at West Point and
manhandling the rails himself. He did the same kind of thing at the end of the war,
when his division was ordered to corduroy the road leading up to Five Forks. (later on
on the plains he was not above getting out and cutting down trees for firewood and
shelter)
((Curiously, this brings to mind an incident on a march with Napoleon -- some
artillery was stuck fast and men and horses were having a heavy time of it. Napoleon
dismounted and got down among them and helped them move the heavy piece -- Napoloen,
of course, having started out his career as an artillery officer. Now and then,
Custer liked to place his own guns and even fire them.))
At night, Custer would gather his volunteer officers -- whose only training was
hands-on -- round him and tutor them on the art of warfare.
Custer's Wolverines made one of the few successful charges against entrenched
Confederate infantry, routing them at Cedar Creek. He'd also rode over entrenched
infantry at Third Whinchester.
(references: "Custer Victorious" by Greg Urwin; "Custer, a controversial
life" by
Jeffrey West; "From Winchester to Cedar Creek" by Jeffrey Wert)
linda terrell
Linda Terrell
lindat5(a)mindspring.com
lindat(a)ibm.net