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Post by Diane Merkel on Sept 24, 2006 9:55:04 GMT -6
From a website visitor: What became of this lady after Custer ?
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Post by Diane Merkel on Feb 10, 2008 23:56:06 GMT -6
I've had a second inquiry about Fanny. Can anyone help? I found your post online regarding Fanny Fifield. I, too, was interested to know what happened to her. According to Monroe County records, she is probably the daughter of Benjamin Fifield, and married a man from Boston named Charles U. Thomas. I can't find anything on Charles Thomas...yet. If you know more than this, please share your information with me.
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 11, 2008 2:29:54 GMT -6
This is great. Till now, we've not even had that much. Now there's a sporting chance!
Does the visitor by any chance know what became of the Wadsworth girls, as well?
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Post by Scout on Feb 11, 2008 7:43:45 GMT -6
Elisabeth, that is a great question. The Wadsworth girls. These two had an incredible brush with history in their youth. They were part of the in-crowd with the Custers. Did they ever write about it in later years? I imagine they had enough stories to fill a lifetime. Oh, the gossip! What were the rest of their lives like? I would think pretty boring compared to the first part!
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Post by Tricia on Feb 11, 2008 8:23:33 GMT -6
And as we have discussed before .... the Bean sisters. Thank goodness we at least have a foothold on the much-maligned (by Libbie) booty call ....
Wonderful information!
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 11, 2008 8:40:03 GMT -6
I think they must have written something ... In General Custer's Libbie, Lawrence Frost refers to a letter Nellie wrote to Libbie from Binghamton, New York -- now what was she doing there? -- after the battle, saying, he says, "that the General had given her the happiest two months of her life". There might have been some specific references in it, which would be nice. It's cited as being in Frost's own collection, so where it is now, who knows. And in the Langellier/Cox/Pohanka Keogh biography, there's a photo of the two girls dressed up in cavalry uniform tunics and wearing TWC's and Keogh's medals. It's captioned with a minor anecdote about Keogh making a teasing remark to them when he and some other officers are trying to teach the girls to shoot. Infuriatingly, it's unattributed, and I can't see anything in the bibliography that looks like a likely source for it; but it seems more probable that it originally came from Emma or Nellie than from anyone else. (If it was from an officer, he'd surely have been named.) So yes, maybe there are some letters or diaries out there somewhere with wonderful "what I did on my holidays" information ...
OK, after a swift Google: there's a Wadsworth standing for election in New York State in 1862; there's General Wadsworth, whom Custer had known, killed in 1864; the name of Wadsworth strongly linked with Binghamton. We're usually given to understand that these girls come from Monroe, but maybe that's not so?
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Post by Tricia on Feb 11, 2008 9:02:59 GMT -6
Funny ... teaching the girls to shoot. Wasn't one of the first phrases uttered to Kate Gibson Fougera--by the entire male population of Fort Lincoln--"can you shoot?"
That certainly had to catch a virginal youth off guard, if it didn't frighten the daylights out of her.
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cat
New Member
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Post by cat on Feb 18, 2008 23:07:08 GMT -6
Hello all,
I emailed Diane regarding the Fanny Fifield Boston connection. I also have information on one of the Wadsworth girls.
Emma, who was 24 years old when she visited the Custers in 1875, married Albert S Baker from Summerfield, MI sometime between 1875 and 1880.
Her parents names were John N and Maria W Wadsworth, and she had three brothers and two sisters (yes, there was another Wadsworth girl.)
Cat
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Post by Melani on Feb 19, 2008 2:06:35 GMT -6
Were they any relation to Craig Wadsworth of Buford's staff?
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cat
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Post by cat on Feb 19, 2008 8:06:31 GMT -6
To the best of my knowledge, they are not related. Cpt. Craig Wadsworth was the son of General James Wadsworth from a prominent Geneseo, NY family while John N was from Rochester, NY. (There was a high concentration of "Wadsworths" in NY in the 1800s.) I have emailed an ancestor of Gen James Wadsworth, Craig's father, to see if he has any insight. I will post anything that I discover.
Also, if it is not common knowledge, Craig married Evelyn (Emily) Willing Peters and had two children, named James S (after the General) and Craig (Junior). He died in Philadelphia in 1872.
Anyone intersted in Nellie Wadsworth speculation or, more correctly, gossip?
Cat
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 19, 2008 9:38:59 GMT -6
You bet!
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cat
New Member
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Post by cat on Feb 19, 2008 10:22:36 GMT -6
I have just had a phone conversation with Mr. Strong, a direct decendent of Gen Wadsworth, the father of Cpt Craig Wadsworth. Mr. Strong has a history degree, and is a geneology buff, as am I. We determined that Noyes Wadsworth, the first cousin of General Wadsworth was one of three brothers who moved to Michigan, two of which settled Monroe County Michigan. John N was probably the son of Noyes, and John N was the father of the Wadsworth sisters. Voila! As a side note, Mr. Strong is also the oldest male direct descendent of a Mr. Walcott who was an American Revolutionary War soldier. Fascinating stuff! Thanks for putting me on the trail.
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cat
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Post by cat on Feb 19, 2008 11:16:12 GMT -6
Speculation of the worst kind alert! This, however, is the kind of gossip which leads to research, at least, for me it does. Some, or all of this, may be known to this group.
There is a "love letter" in amongst the Libbie Custer papers to the General from an unknown "Nellie." "Nellie" had asked the General to burn it as soon as he received it. Whether Libbie intercepted it before the General received it or took it from him, I don't know. However, she thought it important enough to keep for reasons known only to her. The text reads verbatim, errors and all: Dear Gen Try and come down tonight if possible for I have many things to say to you Remember I love you for one Oh do not disappoint me for the love of heaven burn this as soon as you read it and oblige your own loving Nellie.
Now, this is a currently unknown Nellie, however--There is also a picture of GAC with the sisters in Monroe, and Miss Nellie Wadsworth is looking at him quite lovingly. Bear in mind though, that Nellie and Libbie corresponded after LBH, so, who knows. I ALSO know that Libbie tolerated large amounts of nonsense.
Suffice it to say that I'm looking for examples of Nellie Wadsworth's handwriting. And, being a very determined researcher, I have great hope of finding at least one. I will be trying to gain access to the archive of Libbie's papers. Who knows what else one will turn up.
Also, GAC signed an autograph book for Rebecca Richmond which asked of him 40 questions. When asked his favorite style of beauty, his immediate response was "Blonde (a la Lydia Thompson)". Lydia Thompson, of course, brought burlesque to the US. It was very mild by latter standards, but she wore tights and very short outfits.
I will email anyone with pictures regarding any of this and a picture of the actual love letter if they are interested.
I am very interested in Myles Keogh, and his relationship with the Custers. (Myles is an interesting guy all on his own too.) I know that the General was not fond of him, but I'm not sure why. Does anyone know the story behind this? Was Tom also not a Keogh fan?
Does anyone know anything about GAC's suppposed mulatto mistress during the Civil War? According to Ervin L Johnson, Asst Prof and Assoc Curator Special Collections Department, Univ of VA Library, Custer's wagon of person possessions was captured on June 11, 1864 at the battle of Trevelion Station, which included his "mulatto mistress." The whole wagon was pushed over a precipice, (mistress included) according to the Richmond Whig, when the Union army were approching the Confederate postion. This could also be Confederate propaganda...
Cat
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Post by conz on Feb 19, 2008 12:33:53 GMT -6
Cat,
I believe the General's black cook was captured there. I'm sure Eric has the scoop...
Clair
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Post by ericwittenberg on Feb 19, 2008 13:19:50 GMT -6
Does anyone know anything about GAC's suppposed mulatto mistress during the Civil War? According to Ervin L Johnson, Asst Prof and Assoc Curator Special Collections Department, Univ of VA Library, Custer's wagon of person possessions was captured on June 11, 1864 at the battle of Trevelion Station, which included his "mulatto mistress." The whole wagon was pushed over a precipice, (mistress included) according to the Richmond Whig, when the Union army were approching the Confederate postion. This could also be Confederate propaganda...Cat I can shed some light on this episode. Early on the morning of June 11, 1864, the Michigan Cavalry Brigade marched from its campsite. Its mission was to cover the flank of the rest of Sheridan's command by taking a parallel route. When the head of the column turned onto the Gordonsville Road (modern day U.S. Route 33) and started west, Col. Russell Alger's 5th Michigan, leading the way, spotted all of Wade Hampton's wagon train parked in front of him. Alger ordered his regiment to charge, and they did. Custer saw an opportunity, and ordered the rest of the MCB to pitch in. While the Confederate wagon train was captured, the commotion caused Thomas L. Rosser to bring his Laurel Brigade forward at the charge, sabers drawn. They blunted Custer's charge and a mounted melee occurred. Hampton also responded and dispatched a second brigade--his old brigade--to go to Rosser's aid. Later, Fitz Lee's entire division came up, and Custer's Wolverines found themselves completely encircled in what has been described as a living triangle just east of Trevilian Station. I describe this episode as Custer's First Last Stand, as there are some striking parallels. In any event, a charge by some of Fitz Lee's Virginians did, in fact, capture GAC's headquarters wagon, including, as he put it, everything he owned, including his toothbrush and some saucy (for the time) letters from Libbie that were published in one of the Richmond newspapers as an example of the barbarity and depravity of the Yankees. GAC later chided Libbie for the content of her letters in a letter that's in the Merington book. Also captured were Capt. Jacob Greene, Custer's adjutant, and Eliza, his black cook. Eliza, known to the Wolverines as the "Queen of Sheba" for the way she conducted herself, was described by the Confederates who captured her as a "saucy wench." She had her own wagon and was well known among the men. Eliza made such a nuisance of herself that she escaped that night and made her way back to Custer's headquarters, which happened to be located in the front yard of Charles Goodall Trevilian, for whom the railroad station had been named. It has been speculated that Eliza was such a pain in the butt that the Confederates were happy to let her go and simply turned a blind eye to her "escape." While not an authority on GAC by any stretch of the imagination, I have never seen anything that even remotely speculated that there was any untoward relationship between Eliza and Custer. Eliza also was not a mulatto; from the photo I've seen of her, she was quite dark complexioned. For anyone interested in more detail on this, I cover all of this in great detail in my book Glory Enough for All: Sheridan's Second Raid and the Battle of Trevilian Station. For those of you LBH fanatics, you might find other parallels interesting. George Yates was one of the officers of the 7th Michigan Cavalry who found himself encircled with Custer that day. Later, when Alfred Torbert, Custer's division commander, grew worried about Custer, he started sending staff officers to try to find him, and all but one failed to get through. Among Torbert's staff that day was Capt. John J. Coppinger, and one of the staff officers who tried but failed to get through to Custer was Capt. Marcus Reno........ Eric
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