Tenting on the Plains; or, General Custer in Kansas and Texas

Front matter

TENTING ON THE PLAINS OR General Custer in Kansas and Texas. ' TENTING ON THE PLAINS OR General Custer in Kansas and Texas BY ELIZABETH B. CUSTER Author of "Boots and Saddles" LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & KIVINGTON Limited §t. ptmst.m's *5)mt8c Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C. 1888 [sill rights reserved] DEDICATION TO TENTING ON THE PLAINS. TO HIM WHOSE BRAVE AND BLITHE ENDURANCE MADE THOSE WHO FOLLOWED HIM FORGET, IN HIS SUNSHINY PRES ENCE, HALF THE HARDSHIP AND THE DANGER. CONTENTS. PAGE 1-25 Biographical Sketch of Major-General George A. Custer.

Chapter I

Good-by to the Army of the Potomac— Off for Texas — Twenty Minutes for Dinner — History of Eliza — Down the Mississippi — A Crevasse — General Custer Meeting Confederate General Hood 27-62

Chapter II

New Orleans after the War — General Winfield Scott — Up Red River — The Skill of the Pilots— Our Romantic Lover — At Alexandria — A Negro Prayer-Meeting — Confederate Forts— Quicksands — Alligator Hunting 63-92

Chapter III

Mutiny — Trial by Court Martial — A Military Execution — Marching Through Texas — Foraging for a Bed — Joy over a Pillow — Every Man has his Price — Four Months in a Wagon — Life Without a Looking-Glass 93-130

Chapter IV

Marches Through Pine Forests— Officers Attacked with Break-Bone Fever — Promises of Bold-Flowing Streams — Introduction to the Pine-Tree Rattle-Snake — Scorpions, Tarantulas, Centipedes, Chiggers and Seed-ticks — Crossing the Ponton — " I Went A- Fishing " 131-149 CONTENTS. VIII PAGE

Chapter V

Out of the Wilderness— Our Camp at Hempstead — Hospitality of Southern Planters — The General's Deer-Hunting — A Baptism of Gore — Escape from Being Blown up by Powder — Eliza Establishes an Orphan Asylum — The Protecting Care that Officers Show to Women 150-178

Chapter VI

A Texas Norther — A School-Girl's First Impression of Texas — The Ants as our Thriving Neighbors — General Custer 111 of Break-Bone Fever — Measuring an Alligator — The March to Austin — Chasing Jack-Rabbits—Byron, the Greyhound 179-208

Chapter VII

Byron as a Thief — An Equestrian Dude — Mexican Horse Equipage and Blankets — General Custer visits a Deaf and Dumb Asylum — Tales of Lawlessness — Pistols Everywhere — Entertainments at our Quarters — Eliza's Colored Ball 209-236

Chapter VIII

Letters Home — Extracts— Caught by a Norther — Longing for a Yankee Wood-Pile — Colonel Groome of 1812 — Jack Rucker Beaten in a Horse-Race — Ginnie and her Family — Our Father Custer's Dog 237-259

Chapter IX

Disturbed Condition of Texas — A Woman's Horse Education at the Stables— Leaving Austin for Hempstead — Sam Houston a Hero among our Officers — Detention in Galveston — A Texas Norther on the Gulf of Mexico — Narrow Escape from Shipwreck — Return Home on a Mississippi Steamer. . . . 260-290

Chapter X

Father Custer Gives an Account of how he was a Boy with his Boys on the Mississippi River — A Family Robbery — General Custer Parts with his Staff at Cairo and Detroit — The Silent Heroes — Temptations to Induce General Custer to Resign — Offers from Mexico — One of his Class-mates Enters the Ministry 291-321 CONTENTS. IX PAGE

Chapter XI

Reception by the War Veterans of their Boy General — Appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventh Cavalry — A Raid after a Pretty Girl — Our Family of Horses and Dogs — Orders to Report at Fort Riley, Kansas — Jollifications at St. Louis — Friendship for Lawrence Barrett 322-3J 7

Chapter XII

Good-by to Civilization — Westward Ho ! — The Prairie- Schooner as we First Saw It — A few Comments on the Wisdom of the Army Mule — The Wagon-Master and Mule-Whacker as Types of Western Eccentricity — Carrying Supplies to Distant Posts — First Overland Journey in an Army Ambulance — Arrival at Fort Riley — Border Warfare Between Quarrelsome Dogs — The Hospitality of Officers and their Families — Welcomed and Housed by one of General Custer's Old Friends — Changing of Quarters According to Army Regulations — Preparing a New-Comer for his Call on the Commanding Officer's Family — The New Arrival Presents Himself in very Full Dress — Diana's Horse tells Tales — General Custer Takes his Dogs and gives run to his Horse over the Plains — His Horses Commune with him after their Dumb Fashion — The Strength of his Arm Reserved for the Country — Separated from the Post by the Prairie Divides — We Trade Horses — Phil Sheridan Tested on a Race- Track — Fighting Dissipation in the Seventh Cavalry — General Custer's Temptations — The Family Teach him to Appreciate his Sunburned Nose — Men Who Command the Admiration of Women — The Indestructibility of an Army Demijohn 349-403

Chapter XIII

"Good Society" — An Embarrassing Position for an Officer — The General Extricates Him — A Mock Trial — Varieties of Character— Lessons in Horsemanship — A Disgraced Cavalry Woman — Gossip — A Medley of Officers and Men — War on a Dressing-Gown 404-439 CONTENTS. X PAGE

Chapter XIV

Ristori, and the Course of True Love — A Proposal on the House-top— Gideon's Band — A Letter from Charles C. Leland — Breitmann in Kansas — Clever Rogues Escape from the Guard-House — Marketing in Junction City — Crossing a Swollen River — The Story of Johnnie — An Expedition Leaves Fort Riley for a Campaign 440-48/

Chapter XV

A Prairie Fire — Letters from the General — Lending a Dog for a Bedfellow — Beauty's Bows and Beaux — Negrc Recruits Turn the Post into a Circus — Ladies Fired on by a Sentinel — The Sugar Mutiny — Small-pox in the Garrison — General Gibbs Restores Order — An Earthquake at Fort Riley 488-514

Chapter XVI

Extracts from General Custer's Letters — The March from Fort Riley to Fort Harker — Dogs and Horses on their First Western Campaign — Experiences in Messing in a Country Void of Supplies — Chasing Jack-rabbits.. 515-530

Chapter XVII

Extracts from Letters to General Custer — Crossing Fox River — Account of the Undisciplined Troops — War's Alarms — Mourning for Custis Lee 531-549

Chapter XVIII

Gratitude — A Great Snow-Storm — The Sibley Tent — General Custer Defines his Ambition — The Cook Devises Strange Additions to the Bill of Fare — General Hancock Holds a Council with the Chiefs of the Cheyennes — The Indian Nobility Request that their Supper be Served before the Talk — The Pipe of Peace — A Hint for Further Refreshments — General Custer Visits the Villages of Sioux, Apaches and Cheyennes — A Deputation of Three Hundred Warriors and Chiefs in Battle Line — The General's Description of Them — Civilized and Barbarous Warfare Confronting Each Other — Flight of the Indians — General Custer and his Regiment are sent in Pursuit — Extracts from General Custer's Letters Written from Fort Larned. . 550-561 CONTENTS. XI PAGE

Chapter XIX

Extracts from General Custer's Letters from Fort Hays and Fort Wallace — An Account of Killing his First Buffalo-Calf — The Death of Custis Lee — Extract from a Letter Written by General Hancock on the Indian Depredations — Riding to Meet the Mail — The Doctor Eats Indian Soup in the Village — Some Items Regarding a Match Buffalo-Hunt

Chapter XX

Sacrifices and Self-Denial of Pioneer Duty — Poor Water and Alkaline Dust — Vagaries of Western Water-ways — Digging in Sunken Stream-Beds for Water — Rivers Unfringed by Trees or Shrubs — The Alluring Mirage — A Short Tribute to the Western Pioneers — Their Endurance, Patience and Courage — The Governor of a Western Territory Shines as a Cook as well as a Statesman — The General Writes of his First Buffalo-Hunt — An Accidental Discharge of his Pistol Kills my Horse, Custis Lee — General Sherman as a Special Providence — The Western Town on a Move — Government makes no Provision for Army Women to say their Prayers — Journey to Fort Hays — The Match Hunt of the Regiment — Supper Given by the Vanquished to the Victors — Reception Given by the Elements on our Arrival — The Tent Goes Down — A Scout to Fort McPherson — A Sentinel Fires on his Friends by Mistake — General Custer sends Escort to take us to his Camp — Captain Robbins and Colonel Cook Attacked, and Fight for Three Hours 584-629

Chapter XXI

Encamped on Big Creek — Preparation for Storms — A Flood at Fort Hays — Kansas Lightning — Solicitude about a Clothes-Line — Women to the Rescue — Men Saved from Drowning — A New Kind of Ferry-Boat — Gatling Guns as Anchors — Ghastly Lights— Eliza's Narrative— Flora McFlimsey on the Frontier — The Retreat to a Prairie Divide 630-655. CONTENTS. XII PAGE

Chapter XXII

Ordered Back to Fort Harker--A Drunken Escort — Wild-Flowers — Color without Odor — Game — Wild Horses — A Dromedary on the Plains — A Woman Pioneering — A Riddled Stage — Our Bed Running Away — Cholera — A Contrast — Reckoning Chances of Promotion— The Addled Mail-Carrier 656-675

Chapter XXIII

The First Fight of the Seventh Cavalry — Reinforcements of Black Troops — A Negro's Manœuvre — A Unique Official Report — Peculiar Fortifications — Indian Attack on a Stage — A Desperate Running Fight — A Plucky Woman — Cholera at Fort Wallace — Return of the Seventh There — Swindling Contractors — Desertions — An Ingenious Prison — Fort Wallace Attacked — A Brave and Skillful Sergeant — The Worst Days of the Seventh — No Letters — General Custer's March to Fort Harker for Supplies — A Day at Fort Riley — Happiness at Last 676-702 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Portrait of Major-General George A. Custer Frontispiece. Maps of Texas in 1866 and in 1886 Page 26 Eliza Cooking Under Fire 43 Sabre Used by General Custer During the War 85 A Mule Lunching From a Pillow 123 General Custer as a Cadet 1 37 Our Bunkies 171 Measuring an Alligator 199 General Custer at the Close of the "War (Aged 25) 265 " Stand There, Cowards, will you, and See an Old Man Robbed ?

". 295 General Custer with his Horse "Vie," Stag-hounds and Deer-hounds 333 Maps of Kansas in 1866 and Kansas to-day 348 Conestoga Wagon, or Prairie-schooner 35 1 The Officer's Dress — A New-comer for a Call 375 A Suspended Equestrienne 387 General Custer at His Desk in His Library 409 Gun-stand in General Custer's Library 451 Trophies of the Chase in General Custer's Library 467 Whipping Horses to Keep them from Freezing 497 "Well, You are a Warm-blooded Cuss ! " 523 Smoking The Pipe of Peace 557 A Buffalo Undecided as to an Attack on General Custer 567 A Buffalo at Bay 573 A Match Buffalo Hunt 607 Gathering and Counting the Tongues 611 The Banquet 613 The Addled Letter-carrier 673 Negroes form their own Picket-line 679 An Attack on a Stage-coach BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MAJOR-GEN- ERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER. /^ENERAL GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUS- TER was born in New Rumley, Harrison County, O., December 5, 1839. He was the eldest of a family of five children, consisting of four boys and one girl — Thomas, Nevin, Boston and Margaret. There were three sets of children in the family, as the father, Emanuel Custer, was a wid ower with a son and daughter when he married Mrs. Kirkpatrick, who also had two sons. There was such harmony and happiness among them that outsiders knew no difference between full or half brothers and sisters, and they themselves al most resented the question, saying that it was a sub ject they never discussed, nor even thought about. Armstrong, as he was called at home, became his father's and mother's idol and pride when he first began to talk, for he was very bright and extremely affectionate.

His father belonged to the militia of the county, and took the boy out on training days,, or whenever there happened to be any military display in the town. Almost the first little speechi he learned was a line he picked up from a decla mation one of his elder brothers was committing to memory as a school task. His father was proud, as well as surprised, to hear the little Arm strong lisp out one day, waving his tiny arm in the air, " My voice is for war." How soon this love for military life became a settled purpose no one knows, for the boy was reticent as to his future ; and always tender and considerate of his invalid mother, he would not hurt her by talking of leaving home. He only said, as he followed the plough on his father's farm, that he would not choose that life for his future.

He loved books, and when his brothers either slept or played at the nooning time, he lay in the furrow and pored over the lives of distinguished men or tales of travel and adventure, that the thoughtful father denied himself some comfort in order to buy for his boys. General Custer, when asked once in his home how he came to be able to command a brigade of cavalry at the age of twenty-three, attributed a great deal of the success he had attained to the lesson of self-control he had learned in teaching school, and said that the duties of a teacher were an ad mirable training for a man who afterward com manded troops. The lad Armstrong was deter mined to obtain an education, and taught the district school in order to defray his expenses at an academy at Hopedale. He afterward went to Monroe, Mich., to avail himself of the ad vantages of an excellent academy for boys, and paid his way by working for his half-sister, with whom he lived.

During this time of work and study his mind was fixed on entering the military academy at West Point. He consulted no one, but on his return to Ohio he framed such a manly, earnest letter to the Member of Congress from his father's district, the Hon. John A. Bingham, that, though opposed in politics, he could not refuse, and out of eleven applications departed from the usual rule, and gave the appointment to the son of one who was not his constituent. The leaving-taking at home was the first trial for the boy Armstrong. His choice of profession was a surprise and a great trial to the devoted mother, but she was a superior woman, and real ized that she had reared a son whose life could not be circumscribed by the narrow confines of his father's farm. Cadet life was a period of al most uninterrupted happiness, but, though quick in mastering his tasks, his buoyant, fun-loving temperament kept Cadet Custer very near the foot of the class.

He was wont to say, laughingly, in after years, that it required more skill to graduate next to the foot, as he did, than to be at the head of the list ; as, to keep within one of going out, and yet escape being dropped, was a serious problem. He was graduated in the June of 1861, and was too eager for active service to take the usual leave of absence, but reported for duty at Washington at once. Having had the privilege of choosing the profession he liked, his enthusiasm at the prospect of entering at once into the field had but one serious side. He was deeply attached to his Southern classmates ; and those with whom he had parted with sadness, as one by one they returned to their seceding State, were now to be arraigned before him on an opposite side. But though they afterward fought one another constantly during the war, the attachment of cadet days was too deep-seated to be disturbed.

After the surrender at Appomattox he met and entertained at his headquarters his Southern classmates, while on the night of the surrender seven Confederate generals, whom he had captured, shared his tent and slept under the same blankets with him. On the 20th of July, 1861, Lieutenant Custer reported for duty to the adjutant-general of the army, and was intrusted with despatches from General Scott to General McDowell. After deliver ing the despatches at 3 o'clock in the morning, at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, he reported for duty to the Fifth Cavalry, to which he had been assigned. He was wont to say, laughingly, that he "reached the front just in time to run with all the rest" after the disastrous day at Bull Run. His comrades represent him as the hardest rider among them.

If the regiment was relieved, and ordered to turn into quarters for recuperation, Lieutenant Custer, after seeing to the feeding of his horse, -obtained permission to be absent from his com mand, and was off, as his fellow-soldiers described it, " smelling out another fight." He became lean and haggard, though perfectly well, and his un groomed horse was also gaunt from hard service. On one of these expeditions about the Army of the Potomac, which stretched for miles over the country, General Kearney, who was also a hard rider and an untiring soldier, saw young Custer and invited him to become a member of his staff. Lieutenant Custer remained with him until an order was issued relieving regular officers from staff duty with volunteer generals. In the win ter of 1861-62 he remained with his regiment and served in the defenses of Washington, engaging in the Manassas and Peninsula campaigns; and at Cedar Run he led his squadron ina charge against the Confederate pickets, and forced them to retire across the stream.

He marched with his regiment when the Army of the Potomac changed its base to the Peninsula; and at Warwick was selected as assistant to the chief of engineers on the staff of General (Baldy) Smith, retaining that position until the army halted at the Chicka hominy River. At the siege of Yorktown he was engaged in the superintending of the construction of earthworks, and was also given the duty of making reconnoissances in a balloon, being among the first to discover and report the evacuation of the town. He took part in the battle of Williams burg with General Hancock's brigade, and was highly commended by that officer after leading two regiments to an important position near Fort Magruder. He commanded a company in an important skirmish at New Bridge, near Cold Harbor, ori May 24, which was the result of a reconnoissance to secure information concerning the fords and roads in that vicinity and to attack the enemy, who were reported encamped near the bridge.

General McClellan's headquarters were about a mile from the Chickahominy River, and it was desirous that a safe crossing for the army should be discovered. Lieutenant Custer, in one of his customary sallies by himself, in search of any portion of the army that might be having a skirmish, met General Barnard, of General McClel lan's staff, and offered to try for the ford for which the chief engineer of the army was looking. He not only found a safe and firm crossing to the opposite bank, but concluded, while over there, to make a reconnoissance to ascertain what he could of the position of the enemy. The Gen eral in vain attempted, by gestures, to deter him from this venturesome deed. He reported, on his return, that the principal picket guard could be captured by determined men. General Barnard could not pass such conduct by unnoticed, and asked the dripping, muddy lieuten ant to his headquarters.

It was in this predicament he first met General McClellan, with his brilliant staff, described then as resembling the glittering tail of a meteor as they rode behind their chief in full uniform. Lieutenant Custer was a sorry sight. He often laughed, in describing himself in after years, and drew a comical contrast between his Rozi nante of a horse, rough, muddy and thin, his own splashed, weather-worn clothes, and the superbly equipped men who confronted him. After the chief engineer had reported what the young lieutenant had accomplished, General McClellan rode up to him, and asked if he would like to become one of his staff. He accepted the appointment at once, and was made aide-de-camp of volunteers, with the rank of captain, to date from June 5, 1S62. He immediately asked to be permitted to attack the picket guard he had discovered that day, and at daylight next morning surprised the enemy, who retreated so hastily that they left their dead and wounded on the field.

He took some prisoners, and had also the honor to take the first colors that were captured by the Army of the Potomac. While on the staff of General McClellan he par ticipated in the battle of Fair Oaks, the seven days' fighting, including the battles of Gaines's Mill and Malvern Hill, the skirmish in White Oak Swamp, and the evacuation of the Peninsula. \ \- After General McClellan was relieved from the command of the army, Captain Custer continued on his personal staff, and later was engaged in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, and the pursuit of the enemy to Warrenton. At this time he was promoted in his regiment from second to first lieutenant, to date from July 17, 1862. He took part in the brilliant cavalry engagement at Barbee's Cross-roads on November 5, as a representative of the headquarters staff, and two days after he followed General McClellan into retirement.

He was devoted to General McClel lan, and was grieved and keenly disappointed when his chief was retired from active service. The last magazine article he ever wrote, published after his death, spoke with enthusiasm, affection, and faith undisturbed after fourteen vears. In like manner General McClellan bore testimony to his unwavering friendship for his old aide-de-camp in " McClellan's Own Story," published after his death by Webster & Co. While Captain Custer was on waiting orders he remained in his half-sister's home, Monroe, Mich., among the schoolmates and friends of several years before. As it was winter, and no active operations were going on at the front, he was not impatient, and the time did not drag. It was in Monroe that he met his wife, the daughter of Judge Daniel S. Bacon, and, but for the Judge's opposition to military Use for his only daughter, they would have then been married.

On March 31, 1863, he was discharged from volunteer com mission, and joined his company at Capitol Hill, D. C, on the 3d of April, where he served until May 15, and was appointed aide-de-camp to Gen eral Pleasonton, participated in the closing operations of the Rappahannock campaign, was en gaged in the action at Brandy Station ; and for daring gallantry in the skirmish at Aldie he was appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers, to date from June 29, 1863, and was assigned to the Michigan brigade, which he soon made famous. The men of his brigade adored him, and used to boast to their comrades in other commands, " Our boy-general never says ' Go in, men !' he says, with IO BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GENERAL CUSTER. that whoop and yell of his, ' Come on, boys !' and in we go, you bet." General Custer was then twenty-three years of age, the youngest general in the service ; his golden hair fell in curls on his shoulders, in obey ance to a boyish whim and a bet that he would not cut it till the war was ended.

On his lip was his first downy mustache, but his keen eye marked the determination and ability to command, while his valor was, as the soldiers said, of that sort that asks no man to go where he does not lead. He joined the Third Cavalry Division on the 29th of June, at Hanover, Pa., and participated in the Pennsylvania campaign, and was engaged on the 1st of July in a skirmish with the enemy's cavalry. He had a horse killed under him on the 2d of July, while leading a company of the Sixth Michi gan Cavalry in a charge near Hunterstown. He was conspicuous on the right of the army at the battle of Gettysburg, in conjunction with the brigades of Gregg and Mclntosh, in defeating General Stuart's effort to turn that flank. He moved on the morning of the 4th with the Third Cavalry Division in pursuit of the enemy, and was engaged in the skirmishes at the Monterey House and Hagerstown, the actions at Williams port (6th and 14th), Boonesboro', Funkstown and Falling Waters, and was made a brevet major, to date from July 3, 1863, for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Gettysburg.

He was then employed in central Virginia till the end of the year, and was engaged in the skirmish at King George Court House, and in the advance toward and skirmish at Culpeper Court House (September 13), where a piece of shell wounded him on the inside of the thigh, and killed his horse. He was disabled for field service until the 8th of October. Accepting twenty days leave of absence, he went to Monroe, Mich., to again petition Judge Bacon for his daughter's hand. He was met with great cordiality, offered the sincerest congratulations, commended as only one self-made man can commend another, and a reluctant consent given to the engagement ; re luctant because the Judge believed the military profession too hazardous and uncertain to admit of matrimony in time of war. He returned to his command in October, and was engaged in the action at James City and Brandy Station (where his determined action prevented the capture of his brigade), the movement toward Centreville, the actions at Gainesville and Buckland's Mills, the skirmish at Stevensburg and the Mine Run operations.

In the February of 1864 he went to Monroe, and on the 9th was married to Elizabeth Bacon- They were recalled from the bridal tour by tele grams urging the return of the General to the front, in order that he might take command of a portion of the Army of the Potomac, which was to be sent in a certain direction as a feint to attract the Confed erate army, while General Kilpatrick, with the cavalry (General Custer's brigade with them), attempted to get into Richmond. Leaving his bride at a farm-house at Stevensburg, Va., where his headquarters were established almost in sight of Confederate pickets, he started at once on his arrival, and made so successful a feint that the bulk of the enemy were turned in pursuit. Soon after his return his wife went to Washington, to remain as near as possible during the active operations of the summer.

General Custer took part in the Wilderness campaign. In the re-organization of the cavalry — caused by the removal of General Pleasonton, the death of General Buford, the trans fer of General Kilpatrick to the West — he was transferred, with the Michigan brigade, to the First Cavalry Division, which crossed the Rapidan in May, the main army being toward Orange Court House. He was engaged in the battles of the Wilderness (where the cavalry was on the left) and Todd's Tavern ; in General Sheridan's cavalry raid toward Richmond by the way of Beaver Dam Station and Ashland, during which his brigade had the advance, and by a gallant dash captured at Beaver Dam Station three large trains, which were conveying rations to the Confederate army, destroying several miles of railroad, and releasing four hundred prisoners, who were en route to Richmond.

On the next day he assisted in the destruction of the Ashland Station, and on the nth of May the command was within four miles of Richmond, on the Brook pike, with his brigade again in the advance ; and the action of Yellow Tavern followed, where he won the brevet of lieutenant-colonel for gallant and meritorious services. He was engaged in the actions at Meadow Bridge, Mechanicsville and Hanovertown, the battles of Flawes's Shop and Cold Harbor, and in General Sheridan's second raid, during which was fought the battle of Trevillian Station (where his brigade was at one time in such great peril that he tore the colors from the staff and concealed them in the breast of his coat), and in the skirmish at Newark. After a brief rest near Petersburg, his brigade was transferred from the Army of the Potomac to the Shenandoah Valley, and arrived at Halltown about the 8th of August, and partici pated, with the First Cavalry Division, in the skirmishes at Stone Chapel and at Newtown, the brilliant action at Cedarville, near Front Royal, the combats at Kearneysville, Smithfield, Berry- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GES'ERAL CUSTER. 14 ville and Opequan Creek, the battles of Winchester and Fisher's Hill (where he rendered conspicuous service), and the actions at Cedarville and Luray.

He was made a brevet colonel, to date from Sep tember 19, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Winchester, and brevet major-general of volunteers, to date from October 19, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services at the battles of Winchester and Fisher's Hill. He was assigned on the 26th of September to the command of the Second Cavalry Division, which he attempted to join at Piedmont, but the enemy appeared in force, and he was compelled to return to the cavalry headquarters, where he remained until the 30th, when he was transferred to the Third Cavalry Division and assumed the command at Harrisonburg, and started on the 6th of October with the Army of the Shenandoah, on the return march through the valley, moving on the road nearest the Blue Ridge, and repulsed the army that night at Turkeytown.

On the next day his rear guard was frequently engaged with the enemy during the march toward Columbia Fur naces, and the next day they fought his rear guard with so much persistency that General Sheridan ordered his chief of cavalry to attack them, and at daybreak on the 9th of October the brilliant cavalry action of Woodstock was begun. General Custer, having completed the formation for a charge, rode to the front of his line and saluted his former classmate, General Rosser, who com manded the Confederate cavalry, and then moved his division at a trot, which in a few minutes was changed to a gallop, and as the advancing line neared the enemy the charge was sounded, and the next instant the division enveloped their flanks, and forced them to retreat for two miles, when General Rosser made a brilliant effort to recover the lost ground ; but General Custer rapidly re-formed his brigades, and again advanced in a second charge with the other divisions, and drove the enemy to Mount Jackson, a distance of twenty-six miles, with the loss of everything on wheels except one gun.