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Post by Diane Merkel on Oct 10, 2005 16:40:38 GMT -6
The following is from a website visitor. Would someone care to explain? How was Lt. Col. G A Custer returned to General? |
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Post by El Crab on Oct 11, 2005 2:25:46 GMT -6
He wasn't. He was just referred to as General, as it was common back then to refer to officers by their brevet out of respect. Much like Custer referring to Benteen as Colonel at times. Somewhat similar to referring to former Presidents as President So-And-So.
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Post by Ray Hillyer on Oct 11, 2005 17:10:19 GMT -6
Custer was five differrent kinds of a General.
He was a Brig Gen of Volunteers, a Brevet Maj Gen of Volunteers, a Major General of Volunteers, a Brevet Big Gen in the Regular Army, and a Brevet Maj Gen in the Regular Army. When in 1876 Custer was referred to as a general by members of the Regular Army, it was not because of the ranks he held during the Civil War but because at that moment he held a Brevet Maj Gen's commission in the Regular Army. The old pre-Civil War rules about brevet rank were changed during and after the war. One of them gave rise to the dispute between Custer and Sully at Camp Supply in 1868. By 1876 an officer could still use his brevet as part of his signature.
Having a Regular Army brevet was important. Reno was a Brevet Brig Gen of Volunteers, but was referred to by his Regular Army Brevet of Colonel. Yates was a Brevet Lt. Col. of Volunteers but had no Regular Army brevets at all, hence he was simply Capt. Yates. These men are all comfortably dead now, and we may safely refer to them by their highest ranks, Generals Custer and Reno and Col Yates. For that matter the same may be said for Generals Benteen, Hare, Godfrey, and Edgerly, Colonels Varnum, Keogh, Weir, Cooke, and Custer, Majors Smith, Moylan, and Mathey, and Captains, DeRudio and Wallace.
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Post by Tricia on Oct 11, 2005 17:18:16 GMT -6
And I believe in 1866 or early 1867, the Army ended the tradition of allowing brevet officers to wear the insignia of their rank. I think the movie "Son of the Morning Star" makes a quiet reference to this. Upon reaching Kansas, GAC still wears the uniform of a major general, which eventually evolves into that of a LTC in 1867. As confusing as this brevet thing is for us, apparently it got to be too much for the Army as well ... but Ray is right. One always referred to a soldier by the highest rank they acheived, brevet or not. So even though GAC was, in reality, a Lt. Colonel--itself a big promotion from his Regular Army/true rank of Captain-- it was polite and proper to call him "General." Custer's letters are filled with his officers' ACW brevet ranks, hence Colonel Keogh, for example.
I've heard the Confederate brevet ranks were even more confusing; they changed from unit to unit, state to state.
Regards,
Leyton McLean
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