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Post by YellowRose on May 16, 2006 19:37:22 GMT -6
Diane mentioned in a previous thread that we need more humor on the board – I agree! So for those interested in two little stories about Custer in Texas, see the two links below. After reading the comments from the diary in the "Mystery of the Missing Socks," I understand why the soldiers did not have a favorable first impression of East Texas (which is actually quite beautiful, by the way). The reason is they went there in August! Yikes, no wonder they saw tons of snakes and bugs. He should have traveled there in October - beautiful fall weather and cool breezes! |
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Post by bubbabod on May 16, 2006 20:25:06 GMT -6
Rose, and if they'd been there in the fall, they could've caught a little of that famed Texas high school football!
But I can tell you, I agree with you about August in Texas. I was born in August, raised in southeast Texas, about 60 miles from the San Jacinto battlefield. I played baseball every summer of my life back there, age 8-19, and don't know how the heck I survived. Just used to it I guess.
I haven't read the stories you linked yet, but I seem to remember Custer served in Austin. I'll have to check it out next trip.
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Post by Tricia on May 17, 2006 8:12:44 GMT -6
Yeah, that entire Louisiana and Texas march seemed positively awful. I can think of fewer places I would want to be in the middle of August! I believe GAC worked in both Hempstead (1st) and Austin, where he and Libbie took up residence in the Texas Asylum for the Blind. Custer spent a lot of his down time teaching handicapped children to ride--it is also where he first learned sign language. Although this period of GAC's life is marked by difficulties with soldiers no longer committed to the Civil War's "lofty" goals--i.e., they wanted to go home--his personal stories from Austin are simply heartwarming. Say what you want about his military career, but I am convinced he would have been a wonderful father ... had he been given that opportunity.
Great articles, YellowRose!
LMC
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Post by bubbabod on May 17, 2006 9:36:38 GMT -6
Leyton, Custer as a father, now, except for the stories of an illegitimate son, that is one subject that has never been talked about: what kind of father he would have been. Maybe that should be the start of a new thread.
Personally, when you read about the Custer Clan, how close they were, how funloving they were, all the wrestling between he and Tom and the pranks, I have a feeling he would have been a terrific, loving father, and his son would have grown up to follow in his father and uncle's footsteps. And a daughter would have been spoiled senseless.
What do y'all think?
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Post by YellowRose on May 17, 2006 22:41:18 GMT -6
Thanks Leyton and Bubbabod for your nice comments. Regarding GAC and Libbie as parents (you asked specifically about GAC but I wanted to also include her): I believe that they both would have made loyal and doting parents. Libbie always felt it was her religious responsibility to raise her children in a Christian home and I believe that she would have. GAC would have supplied the "fun" and pranks. Libbie would have provided religious instruction and smiles. The children would have been beautiful, hopefully with Libbie's "smiling eyes" but the hue of GAC's sky blue. Yes, it is a shame that it was not to be. What a comfort they would have been (hopefully) to Libbie in her elder years. Yes, a girl would have been pampered and spoiled, a la Libbie's upbringing. And sons? Maybe Libbie would have tried to steer them into something like a lawyer (her father being a judge) or perhaps a professor or a writer. After all, both parents could turn quite a nifty phrase! Did either of you know that the Asylum of the Blind in Austin is now the Visitor Informaton Center for the University of Texas? Hook 'em, Horns! Leyton, I have yet to read a complete biography of Custer. You told of some of his stories from Austin. Did you have a particular favorite biography? Thanks for any input. Bubbabod: You know, in Texas, I would just say "Bubba" ;D Oh, yes, the "Friday night lights" - along with a band of 120 and a drill team of 100 - there is no comparison anywhere else. We were lucky, don't you think, Bubba?  ? Best wishes! |
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Post by bubbabod on May 18, 2006 1:36:34 GMT -6
Yellow Rose, my apologies for not including Libby in my question. She'd have made a great mother. We know how she fought to preserve GAC's memory and reputation; just think how she'd have been if there had been a son or daughter, as well.
No, I did not know the old Asylum is the visitor's center. I've been to the LBJ Presidential Library about 20 years ago. Very worthwhile thing to visit.
Ah, Friday Night Lights. Not even a hurricane stopped our team from playing a game in Baytown way back when when I was in high school. No. nothing like Rita or Katrina, but a hurricane nonetheless.
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Post by elisabeth on May 18, 2006 4:04:15 GMT -6
That's an interesting question. Do you think we'd have had the books if there'd been a child? She'd still have had to earn money, it's true; but with a child, she'd have had another outlet to funnel her energies through, and mightn't have been quite so single-minded in GAC's defence. It would have been a great loss to us, as the books are so brilliant!
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Post by crzhrs on May 18, 2006 7:35:36 GMT -6
Libbie may have been even more intense in preserving the gallant image of her husband if there were children involved. She would certainly not want her children hearing and/or thinking their father was responsible for the LBH and would have pushed even harder in his defense.
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Post by YellowRose on May 18, 2006 9:43:06 GMT -6
Libbie may have been even more intense in preserving the gallant image of her husband if there were children involved. She would certainly not want her children hearing and/or thinking their father was responsible for the LBH and would have pushed even harder in his defense. I agree. I believe that she would also have enlisted the child(ren)'s assistance in this quest in later years: preserving his reputation as a gallant soldier as well as a devoted family man. I believe the latter would have definitely softened the reputation of "Old Hard Ass" as some of the soldiers knew him. Perhaps the children would have written books as well. Yikes! You don't think it could have been a "Daddy Dearest" one? I don't believe it would have been. Best wishes |
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Post by elisabeth on May 18, 2006 11:09:47 GMT -6
Wow, YellowRose, what a fun idea! Hmmm ...
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Post by BrokenSword on Dec 1, 2007 9:04:04 GMT -6
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Post by markland on Dec 1, 2007 13:34:20 GMT -6
Yeah, that entire Louisiana and Texas march seemed positively awful. I can think of fewer places I would want to be in the middle of August! I believe GAC worked in both Hempstead (1st) and Austin, where he and Libbie took up residence in the Texas Asylum for the Blind. Custer spent a lot of his down time teaching handicapped children to ride--it is also where he first learned sign language. Although this period of GAC's life is marked by difficulties with soldiers no longer committed to the Civil War's "lofty" goals--i.e., they wanted to go home--his personal stories from Austin are simply heartwarming. Say what you want about his military career, but I am convinced he would have been a wonderful father ... had he been given that opportunity. Great articles, YellowRose! LMC Summer in east Texas in the 1860's; cholera and yellow fever with a touch of malarial fever as seasoning plus the hurricanes. Yep, no place like Texas  You know, out of the 7,344 regular army deaths on the frontier that I have so far, 1,990 died in Texas (27.09%). Of that number, 1,387 died from disease. The majority of the Texas deaths are post-Civil War. Billy |
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Post by WY Man on Aug 2, 2009 18:30:36 GMT -6
I just wanted to add to this thread, though it was last active in 2007. But it seems appropriate that I place this here, since the thread is titled, "Custer In Texas."
In addition to the eastern Texas events of George and Libby Custer, GAC was on a scouting campaign which took him into the Texas Panhandle in early spring of 1869, following the Washita affair of the previous winter. Most forum readers know of this expedition, but I'll summarize it anyway, because I think it had a lot to do with the Cheyennes' feelings toward Custer at LBH.
The expedition took Custer and the 7th Cavalry into the present-day Texas Panhandle, which was Indian Territory in those days. They were following an Indian trail which headed west from the Wichita Mountains in present-day Oklahoma, across the North Fork of the Red River, and into the Texas Panhandle. The trail then turned north, skirting the eastern caprock, and the 7th Cavalry with the 19th Kansas Infantry finally caught up with the Indians on Sweetwater Creek, just north of present-day Wheeler, Texas. They were Southern Cheyennes.
The Cheyennes motioned to Custer, and he walked alone into the lodge of the Sacred Arrows Keeper, and met with the Cheyenne leaders, under Stone Forehead, the Arrow Keeper. Here they smoked the pipe, which I think is strange, considering what a heavy blow the 7th struck the Cheyennes on the Washita, and what the Cheyennes had suffered elsewhere, specifically at Sand Creek in 1864. And these Cheyennes knew full well that these were the same soldiers that attacked them on the Washita.
Anyway, following this initial gesture, Custer learned that the Cheyennes held two White women captives. (Sarah White and Anna Belle Morgan) Nevermind all the captive Cheyenne women and children captured by the 7th at the Washita, still being held. (Were these prisoners at Fort Sill, then under construction? Or, Camp Supply? Or, were they taken to Kansas? Anybody know?)
Custer forced the White womens' release after four days, after he asserted his intentions to hang Dull Knife, Big Head, and Fat Bear, which chiefs the soldiers had earlier seized in the village, following the smoking of the pipe, four days earlier.
The location of this village in the Texas Panhandle was shown by David L. Spotts to residents of the Texas Panhandle in the 1920s, and an outline of the march was described by Spotts, who accompanied the 1869 expedition. I also have copies of some correspondence, in which a legal description of the location is given, and today it is in a cow pasture just north of Wheeler, Texas.
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