Civil War Curiosities by Webb Garrison

[Diane Merkel]

One of the books I'm reading now is Civil War Curiosities: Strange Stories, Oddities, Events, and Coincidences. It is basically a series of short paragraphs, organized into 27 chapters. There are four mentions of George Custer which I will share with you for what they're worth:

Chapter 7, Horses Kept the War Alive, p. 72:

On November 23, 1863, Union Maj. Gen. George Stoneman castigated a colleague in writing. Brig. Gen. George A. Custer, he noted, had a reputation for permitting men of his brigade to be "great horse-killers." Small, wonder, therefore, reported Stoneman, that seventeen animals "considered serviceable when they left the depot" probably were "used up as stated" in Custer's terse account of a raid.

To modern readers, such a report seems perfunctory. In 1863 it was serious, indeed. Horses were so scarce and expensive that any officer shown to have pushed them to the point of exhaustion was sure to be severely reprimanded.

Same chapter, p. 75:

Cavalrymen who followed Confederate Maj. Gen. William W. Allen were positive that he lost ten horses. By most accounts, Union Maj. Gen. George A. Custer was wounded only once during the years in which eleven horses were shot from under him. One of his comrades in blue, Brig. Gen. Charles R. Lowell, lost an even dozen mounts. Confederate Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler continued to fight after having sixteen horses killed under him.

Chapter 17, "Rally Round the Flag, Boys!", p. 175:

During the Civil War, numerous officers on both sides seized regimental colors in order to lead charges. Confederate Capt. John C. Carter, later a brigadier, followed this course of action at Shiloh. At Five Forks, it was a major general who did the same thing. One of his men described the action in which George A. Custer was a central figure:

When the line was steadied and moving forward to the attack, he took his colors in his hand and where the fire was hottest led the men on, his horse plunging wildly under him, mad with the excitement of the warring musketry, the hissing of the leaden shower, and the crashing of the troops through the woods.

Chapter 23, From the Sublime to the Ridiculous, p. 222:

Capt. George Armstrong Custer of the U.S. Army wore a regulation outfit. Made a brigadier of volunteers in June 1863, he promptly hunted up the best tailor he could find.

Custer's new uniform of blue velvet, heavily trimmed in gold, may have been the most resplendent of any general officer on either side.

[alfuso]

Forrest lost nearly 30 horses.

He wins.

alfuso

[markland]

"Custer's new uniform of blue velvet, heavily trimmed in gold, may have been the most resplendent of any general officer on either side."

Having lived in eastern NC an hour south of the VA line most of my life before becoming a mid-westerner, I shudder to think of anyone wearing a velvet uniform during one of the typical hot and humid summer days so prevalent there.

Liike wearing a shirt made out of aluminum wrap in the AZ desert during summer.

Best of wishes,

Billy

[Melani]

alfuso said:

Forrest lost nearly 30 horses.

He wins.

alfuso

Or loses, as the case may be.