|
|
| |
| |
Civil War Congressional Double Medals of Honor Recipient
Captain Thomas Ward Custer, United States Army
First Lieutenant Tom Custer, 7th US Cavalry, wearing his Medals of Honor, c.1873.
Capt. Thomas W. Custer, holder of two Congressional Medals of Honor,
fell with the "last stand" group near his older brother, General George Armstrong Custer
Tom Custer was the only soldier in the Civil War to receive the Medal of Honor twice for separate actions.
CITATIONS:
CUSTER, THOMAS W.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, Company B, 6th Michigan Cavalry. Place and date: At Namozine Church, Va., 10 May 1863. Entered service at: Monroe, Mich. Birth: New Rumley, Ohio. Date of issue: 3 May 1865. Second award. Citation: Capture of flag on 10 May 1863.
SECOND AWARD
Place and date: At Sailor Creek , Va, April 1865. Date of issue: 26 May 1865. Citation: 2d Lt. Custer leaped his horse over the enemy's works and captured 2 stands of colors. having his horse shot from under him and receiving a severe wound.
Chronology
TWC: Thomas Ward Custer
GAC: George Armstrong Custer
EBC: Elizabeth Bacon Custer
1845
15 March: TWC is born at New Rumley, Ohio.
1849
Custer family moves to a farm north of town.
1851
TWC attends the Creal School.
1860
Custer family moves to Tontogany, Wood County, Ohio.
1861
August: Nevin Custer joins the Union Army, and is discharged.
2 September: TWC joins Company H of the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry as a private.
19 September: TWC is mustered in at Findlay, OH.
October: The 21st Ohio joins in the invasion of Kentucky; arrives in Lexington mid-month.
29 October: TWC with his regiment in camp near Hazel Green, KY.
1862
January - early February: TWC in camp at Bacon Creek, KY.
February: 21st Ohio in the advance on and occupation of Bowling Green, KY. Joins in the invasion of Tennessee.
March - early April: 21st Ohio near Murfreesboro, TN, rebuilding bridges.
April - May: 21st Ohio in the advance on and occupation of Huntsville, AL. Regiment on duty as guard to the city's Provost Marshal.
May 26: 21st Ohio leaves Huntsville for Athens, AL.
June - July: Company H of the 21st detached to Elk River, TN; duties include clearing the railroad.
Mid July: Company H returns to Athens.
Late August: 21st Ohio leaves Athens and takes part in the advance on Nashville, TN.
September - early December: 21st Ohio on garrison duty in Nashville (the Siege of Nashville).
Mid December: 21st Ohio marches towards Murfreesboro.
31 December: TWC participates in the Battle of Stone's River (Murfreesboro), TN.
1863
2 January: Battle of Stone's River continues.
January - April: In camp at Murfreesboro, TN.
20 April: TWC detailed as an escort for Gen. James Negley.
19-20 September: Battle of Chickamauga, TN.
November - December: TWC escort for Gen. George Thomas and Gen. U.S. Grant.
24-25 November: Battles of Missionary Ridge, TN.
1864
1 January: TWC re-enlists as a corporal.
9 February: TWC in Monroe, Michigan, for the wedding of GAC and EBC.
June - August: Escort for Gen. John Palmer.
27 June: Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, GA.
1 September: Battle of Jonesboro, GA.
September: Escort for Gen. George Thomas.(?)
23 October: Gaylesville, Alabama. TWC mustered out of service to accept a commission as 2nd lieutenant with the 6th Michigan Cavalry, Company B.
8 November: TWC arrives in Winchester, Virginia, and is assigned to the staff of GAC.
19 December: TWC with the Third Cavalry Division moves up the Shenandoah Valley towards Staunton, VA.
21 December: Battle of Lacey Springs, VA.
25 December: TWC spends Christmas in Winchester, VA.
1865
January: TWC granted leave of absence.
27 February: TWC with Third Cavalry Division moves up the valley to begin Sheridan's spring campaign.
1 March: Skirmish at Mount Crawford, VA.
2 March: Battle of Waynesboro, VA.
3 March: TWC enters Charlottesville, VA.
18 March: Return to White House Landing, VA, and the Army of the Potomac.
29 March: The start of the final campaign of the Army of the Potomac. Union cavalry begins movement to the extreme left of the Union flank to draw out the Confederate Army.
31 March: Battle of Dinwiddie Court House, VA.
1 April: Battle of Five Forks, VA. TWC has horse shot from under him.
3 April: Battle of Namozine Church, VA. TWC captures flag and wins his first medal of honor.
6 April: Battle of Sailor's Creek, VA. TWC captures flag and wins his second medal of honor, but is shot in the face.
9 April: At field hospital, Burkesville, VA.
11 April: Admitted to Cavalry Corps Hospital, City Point, VA.
24 April: TWC receives his first medal of honor from the Secretary of War.
Late April - mid May: TWC on furlough home, at Monroe, MI.
22 May: Receives his second medal of honor.
23 May: Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac in Washington DC.
24 May: TWC, GAC and EBC depart for New Orleans, LA.
18 June: TWC arrives in New Orleans.
Late June - early August: At Alexandria, LA.
Late August - late October: At Hempstead, TX.
22 August: TWC is appointed brevet major.
14 October: TWC appointed brevet 1st lieutenant, captain, major.
24 November: TWC mustered out of service without his knowledge.
1866
31 January: TWC receives notification of his discharge from the service. He leaves for home.
February: TWC in Monroe, MI.
23 February: TWC assigned as 2nd lieutenant in the 1st US Infantry. This assignment made later and post-dated.
24 April: TWC at Detroit, MI, to be officially mustered out of service.
20 May: TWC at Detroit, MI.
28 July: TWC assigned as 1st lieutenant, 7th US Cavalry.
22 October: TWC in Washington DC, to take Army board exams.
23 November: 7th Cavalry at Fort Riley, Kansas.
3 December - 10 March 1867: TWC assigned as Regimental Quartermaster.
11 December: TWC ill with malaria or rheumatism.
1867
January - March: TWC ill.
2 March: TWC is appointed to the brevet rank of captain, major, lieutenant-colonel.
Late May: TWC leaves Fort Riley to join troops in the field.
31 May: TWC in temporary command of Company H.
Spring - Summer: Hancock Expedition.
1 June: GAC, TWC and six companies of the 7th Cavalry leave Old Fort Hays, KS, on scouting expedition.
22 June: TWC is given the brevet rank of 1st lieutenant for gallantry at Waynesboro, 2 March 1865. TWC given the brevet rank of captain for gallantry at Namozine Church, 3 April 1865. TWC given the brevet rank of major for gallantry at Sailor's Creek, 6 April 1865.
24 June: As officer of the day, TWC alerts the troops to a dawn attempt by Indians to stampede the horses. TWC in command of one of the detachments sent to pursue the Indians.
7 July: TWC is in the party sent out to pursue and bring back deserters.
15 July: TWC in detail which leaves Fort Wallace, KS, with GAC.
18 July: TWC and Lieutenant Cooke accompany GAC from Fort Hays to Fort Harker, KS (arriving 19 July).
22 July: After the arrest of GAC, TWC is among those who return with supplies to Fort Wallace.
7 August: On detached service at Fort Harker.
12 August - 29 October: TWC at Fort Leavenworth, KS, to attend the Court Martial of GAC.
15 September: GAC's Court Martial begins.
25 September, 7 October & 8 October: TWC testifies at the Court Martial.
11 October: Court Martial ends.
29 October: TWC returns to Company H.
28 November: TWC appointed captain by brevet.
1868
11 February: TWC stationed at Fort Leavenworth, KS.
2 March: TWC escorts Rebecca Richmond to Planter's Hotel, Leavenworth.
10 April: TWC with Company A leaves Fort Leavenworth with Major Elliott.
29 April: TWC in temporary command of Company D.
16 June: Relieved of duty.
28 June - July: TWC commanding officer of Company A.
18 July: TWC arrives at Fort Larned, KS, with Captain Hamilton and Troop A.
31 August: TWC with Company A leaves Fort Dodge, KS, with the Sully Expedition.
5 November: TWC accepts commission by brevet as captain, major and lieutenant-colonel.
12 November: The 7th Cavalry leaves for Indian Territory on the Washita Campaign.
27 November: At the Battle of the Washita, TWC is wounded in the hand. TWC assumes command of Company A.
3 December: TWC is pall bearer at the burial of Captain Hamilton (killed at the Washita).
1869
13 January: TWC almost drowns in Medicine Bluff Creek.
17 January: TWC relieved of command of Company A.
22 January: TWC part of a detachment which leaves Fort Sill, Indian Territory, to accompany GAC on an expedition to track and parley with the Cheyenne and Arapaho.
8 February: The detachment returns to Fort Sill.
2 March: The 7th Cavalry leaves Fort Sill to track the Cheyennes; two captive white women are retrieved.
30 March - 4 April: TWC in command of Company A.
Summer: 7th Cavalry moves to Fort Hays, KS.
24 May: TWC on special duty as commanding officer of Company M.
19-28 May: TWC on duty as member of General Court Martial at Fort Hays.
16-28 June: Leave of absence. TWC accompanies GAC to visit Colonel Sturgis at Fort Leavenworth.
16 July: TWC on detached service as commanding officer of Company M.
11 August: Continuance as commanding officer of Company M.
21 August: TWC requests transfer from Company A to M.
8 September: TWC is transferred to Company M.
20 November: TWC as commanding officer of Company M.
3 December: Receives leave of absence of twenty days.
16 December: Leave of absence extended to three months.
1870
23 March: TWC returns from leave of absence and assumes command of Company M.
2 May: Leaves for Camp Sturgis, KS, near Fort Hays.
11 June: TWC, Lieutenant McIntosh and 33 men of Troop M join Captain Keogh on railroad protection duty.
13 June: Returns to Camp Sturgis.
14 June: TWC at Fort Hays.
July: Commanding officer of Company M.
10 July: TWC at Camp Sturgis.
17 July: Drunken 7th Cavalry troopers fight with Wild Bill Hickok in Hays City, KS. Contrary to later accounts, TWC does not seem to have been involved in the fight or in planned reprisals.
8 August: Company K and M under Captain Owen Hale leave to scout upper Solomon and Republican Rivers.
16 August: TWC loses horse while on scout.
21 August: Scout returns to Camp Sturgis.
5 October: M Troop leaves to replace G Troop on the Solomon River.
24 October: M Troop returns to Fort Hays for winter quarters.
1871
January - 15 February: Commanding officer of Company M.
8 February: TWC receives ten days leave of absence.
18 February: Leave of absence extended by five days.
1 March: TWC returns from leave and is assigned to Fort Hays.
30 March: Seven days leave of absence.
6 April: TWC returns from leave.
23 May: Company M, with G, H and L, leaves Fort Hays for Louisville, KY.
28 May: Arrives in Louisville.
14 June: Arrives in Darlington, South Carolina.
7 November: Company M arrives in Union, SC.
1872
18 January: Company M at Union; TWC requests twenty days leave of absence.
6 February: TWC requests twenty-seven days leave.
20 February: TWC requests extension of leave of absence for sixty days, from home of Lulie Burgess.
March: TWC's leave extended for sixty days.
1 May: TWC returns from leave.
1 December: TWC receives seven days leave.
4 December: TWC's leave extended for thirty days.
24 December: During his leave, TWC's Company M departs Union for Oxford, Missouri.
1873
7 January: TWC returns from leave.
March: Company M moves out to rejoin the rest of the 7th Cavalry.
10 June: TWC arrives with Company M at Fort Rice, Dakota Territory, and reunites with the rest of the regiment.
15 June: TWC arrested with Lieutenant Varnum for "neglect of duty".
19 June: TWC makes his will.
20 June: 7th Cavalry leaves Fort Rice on the Yellowstone Expedition.
21 July: TWC becomes commanding officer of Company B.
4 August: TWC is with GAC in a detachment unsuccessfully ambushed by the Sioux.
11 August: Battle of the Yellowstone. TWC commands Company B.
21 September: TWC arrives with the 7th Cavalry at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory.
18 October: TWC transferred to Company B.
1 November: TWC's transfer effective.
16 November: TWC welcomes GAC and EBC to Fort Lincoln.
5 December: TWC commanding officer of Company B.
1874
1 January: TWC on duty with Company B at Fort Lincoln.
6 February: The house of GAC and EBC at Fort Lincoln burns down and they move in with TWC while a new house is built.
8 March: TWC is temporary commander of Company L.
5 April: Relieved of duty with Company L.
7 April: TWC on leave of absence.
10 May: Leave of absence extended fifteen days.
28 May: Returns from leave and resumes command of Company L.
2 July: 7th Cavalry leaves Fort Lincoln on the Black Hills Expedition.
30 August: Regiment returns to Fort Lincoln.
29 September: TWC on detached service commanding Company L.
12 December: TWC, Captain Yates and 50 men from Companies L and F leave Fort Lincoln for the Standing Rock Reservation.
14 December: TWC arrests Rain-in-the-Face.
1875
22 March: TWC with Lieutenant Cooke, Major Garland and the Wadsworth sisters on leave in Bismarck, Dakota Territory; have their photographs taken at the Goff & Ford Photograph Gallery.
18 April: Rain-in-the-Face escapes from Fort Lincoln.
28 April: TWC, Lieutenant Cooke, Lieutenant Edgerly and Lieutenant Harrington granted leave; TWC and Cooke spend theirs (thirteen days) in St Paul, Minnesota.
April - May: The Wadsworth sisters visit the Custers at Fort Lincoln.
3 July: TWC relieved of command of Company L.
3-24 July: Attached to Company L.
8 July: TWC on leave of absence.
15 July: Returns from leave of absence.
24 July: TWC transferred to Company L; transfer revoked.
1 August: TWC relieved of command of Company L.
7-24 August: TWC in command of a detachment of Indian scouts.
24 August: TWC on duty with Company L.
14 September: TWC granted thirty-day leave of absence; travels to St Paul, Minnesota, with Lieutenant Cooke, General Merritt, and Lieutenant Edgerly. TWC and Cooke then go on, via Chicago, Monroe and Hamilton, Ontario, to join GAC and EBC in New York.
14 October: Leave of absence extended 30 days.
22 October: TWC at Hotel Brunswick, New York.
2 November: TWC applies for 30 day leave extension.
14 November: TWC absent without leave.
18 November: Third leave of absence denied.
27 November: TWC and Cooke arrive at Bismarck, D.T., from St Paul, Minnesota.
28 November: TWC and Cooke reach Fort Lincoln.
2 December: TWC is promoted to captain.
17 December: TWC becomes captain of Company C.
1876
Early March: TWC retrieves GAC and EBC from a snow-bound train.
17 May: The 7th Cavalry leaves Fort Lincoln to take part in the Little Big Horn Campaign.
30 May: GAC with TWC and Companies C, D, F and M scout the Little Missouri River.
25 June: TWC killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn; his body is found yards from GAC's, and he is buried alongside him on 28 June.
13 August: Memorial service in Monroe, MI.
1877
July: TWC's remains removed from their original burial site on the Little Big Horn battlefield and sent to Fort Leavenworth for reinterrment.
3 August: TWC reinterred in grave 1488A at Fort Leavenworth.
LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD
National Monument
Contents
a. A CUSTER PROFILE
b. CUSTER'S LAST STAND 1. Campaign of 1876
2. Indian Movements
3. Plan of Action
4. March to the Little Bighorn
5. Reno Attacks
6. The Annihilation of Custer
7. Reno Besieged
8. Rescue
9. Collapse of the Sioux
10. Custer Battlefield Today
11. Campaign Maps
c. APPENDIXES I. Officers of the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn
II. Low Dog's Account of the Battle
III. Gall's Account of the Battle
IV. A Participant's Account of Major Reno's Battle
d. CUSTER'S LAST CAMPAIGN: A PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY
The Death of Tom Custer
Custer's Crow scouts visit Custer Battlefield about 1913. Left to right:
White-Man-Runs-Him, Hairy Moccasin, Curley, Goes Ahead.
When Emmanuel Custer and Maria Kirkpatrick married, both were widowed with children. Together they added five more offspring. The oldest, George Armstrong, whom the family called Autie, was born December 5, 1839. He was followed in order by Nevin, Thomas, Boston and, finally, a girl, Margaret. In life, they were a close-knit group. Death, too, brought together three of the brothers--George, Tom and Boston--and Margaret's husband on the lonely ridges overlooking the Little Bighorn River. After George, the most famous of the brothers was Tom, but even though Tom received two Medals of Honor, he would always be known as "the other Custer."
Thomas Ward Custer was born in New Rumley, Ohio, on March 15, 1845. When Tom was 4 years old, the family moved from town to a nearby farm. In 1860 they moved again, to farm in Wood County in northwest Ohio. By then, George was seen only infrequently, having moved when he was 14 to Monroe, Mich., to live with his half-sister, Lydia Ann Kirkpatrick, and her husband, David Reed. George attended school there, and later became a teacher. When George returned to Ohio during the summers, he, Tom and Boston engaged in rough-and-tumble horseplay; Nevin's bad health prevented his participating very often. George and Tom developed a strong emotional bond that lasted throughout their lives.
In 1857, George was appointed to West Point. He graduated in 1861, just in time to participate in the First Battle of Manassas. Tom Custer tried to enlist at 16, but was sent home. With his father's permission, he tried again at 17, and on September 2, 1861, he was sworn in as a private in the 21st Ohio Infantry. Tom's only battle with the 21st Ohio was at Stones River, Tenn., in December 1862. George, meanwhile, had risen to brigadier general and commanded the 3rd Cavalry Division in the Army of the Shenandoah.
In October 1864, George arranged for Tom's transfer and promotion to second lieutenant of the 6th Michigan Cavalry, where he served as George's aide. One member of the staff remarked, "If anyone thinks it is a soft thing to be a commanding officer's brother, he misses his guess." Tom earned a citation for bravery and a brevet promotion to first lieutenant at Waynesboro, Va., on March 2, 1865. One month later, on April 3, his unit ran into a Confederate barricade near Namozine Church. Spurring his horse forward, Tom led the Union troops over the barricade and single-handedly captured three officers and 11 enlisted men, as well as a battle flag. He received the Medal of Honor for his exploit.
Three days later, at Sayler's Creek, Tom again faced a Confederate barricade. Believing he could repeat the daring feat, he rode his horse over the barricade only to find a second line of Confederates behind it. He charged into that line and reached for the battle flag, but the flag-bearer pointed his pistol at Tom's face and fired, hitting him point-blank in the cheek. The bullet went through tissue and exited without hitting bone. Reeling from the impact, Tom regained his seat, killed the flag-bearer, and dashed back to his own lines with the flag. "Armstrong," he shouted to his brother, "the damned Rebels have shot me, but I've got my flag." He turned his horse around to ride back into the fight, and George had to arrest him to get him to the dressing station.
For his Sayler's Creek exploit, Tom Custer received his second Medal of Honor, one of only three men to be so decorated during the war, and one of only four in the entire history of the medal. He was also breveted to major. Years later, when Tom had attained the highest rank he would ever reach, George wrote, "If you want to know what I think of him, all I can say is, Tom ought to have been the General and I the Captain." Nevertheless, and despite their close relationship, George occasionally showed traces of jealously over the two medals that Tom wore as often as possible.
When George was named lieutenant colonel of the newly formed 7th Cavalry in September 1866, Tom joined him. Tom and George shared their first Indian war experience in the spring and summer of 1867 during the ill-conceived Hancock campaign. In June and July, one particularly frustrating and fruitless march wore out both men and horses, and large numbers of soldiers began deserting. On July 7, 13 men brazenly ran off, and George told Major Joel Elliott to take out a detail and: "Shoot them. Bring none back alive." Elliott was accompanied by Tom and Lieutenant W.W. Cooke, regimental adjutant. Although seven of the deserters were mounted and escaped, six of them on foot were quickly rounded up and returned to camp. Three had gunshot wounds, and one of them later died.
For shooting the deserters and other serious errors in judgment, George went before a court-martial and was sentenced to one year's suspension. His actions during Winfield Scott Hancock's ineffective 1867 campaign against hostile Cheyenne had provoked a bitter division in the 7th Cavalry, pitting the "Custer Clan" and several other officers against a vehement anti-Custer faction. The division would grow when George Custer returned for the Washita campaign of 1868. Tom was first lieutenant of Company D when his brother led the 7th Cavalry in its attack on Black Kettle's Cheyenne in the Battle of the Washita. Company D was assigned to a squadron under Captain Louis M. Hamilton, who was killed in the fight. Tom received a slight bullet wound to his right hand.
In 1870, the 7th was assigned to Reconstruction duty and dispersed throughout the South. After three years in South Carolina and Mississippi, Tom's company moved west again, to Fort Abraham Lincoln, near Bismarck, Dakota Territory. Out West, Tom engaged in his love of horseplay, sometimes to the irritation of Libbie Custer, George's wife, who frequently accompanied the regiment on marches.
Tom had a weakness for alcohol, women and gambling. He is rumored to have fathered several children in Ohio, and his drinking developed into alcoholism. He learned to control his drinking, probably through the efforts of his fiance, Lulie Burgess of Jersey City. Burgess died before their marriage, and Tom remained a bachelor, spending much of his free time with George and Libbie, as well as with his sister, Maggie, and her husband, James "Jimmi" Calhoun, who was a fellow officer in the 7th.
The three years in Dakota were probably the happiest time for the Custers, who, in the privacy of George and Libbie's quarters, often played like children. "The day rarely passed that Colonel Tom, my husband, and I did not have a game of romps," Libbie wrote. "The grave orderly who sat by the hall door used to be shocked to see the commanding officer in hot pursuit of us by the steps."
In the summer of 1873, the 7th was camped on the Yellowstone, near the mouth of the Tongue River in southeastern Montana, when the pickets spotted six Indians in the distance. The Indians withdrew, firing a few shots and shouting at the soldiers. George followed them, taking along Tom, Jimmi Calhoun and 20 troopers. The Indians stayed tantalizingly ahead, a ploy they had used to trap and massacre a detachment under Captain William J. Fetterman almost seven years earlier. George knew about the Fetterman disaster, but excitement overruled good sense. Taking two orderlies, he rode ahead of the others and followed the six until they came to the edge of a woods, where they halted and taunted the soldiers. George realized he was in trouble and sent the orderlies back for Tom and Calhoun just as some 300 Indians burst from the woods. Wheeling his horse, he dashed back to the others. About that time, Captain Myles Moylan arrived with a squadron of soldiers, and the Indians were thrown back.
This fight had a postscript, which would become part of the mythology of the Little Bighorn. The regimental veterinarian, Dr. John Honsinger; the sutler, Augustus Baliran; and two soldiers separated from the main body and were jumped by Indians. Honsinger, Baliran and one of the troopers were killed; the other soldier escaped to alert the command. In December 1874, George learned that Hunkpapa Sioux warrior Rain in the Face was at the Standing Rock Agency boasting of the killings. "This intelligence created intense indignation in our garrison," Libbie wrote, and George took troops to Standing Rock to arrest him.
The actual arrest fell to Tom Custer. An ex-Confederate named Frank Huston claimed to be in the store at the time: "I saw Tom Custer kick and slap Rain while troopers held him a prisoner, and I got out of the Post Trader's before they came back to get me." Rain in the Face escaped from the guardhouse at Fort Abraham Lincoln on the night of April 18, 1875, and, according to legend, then swore he would tear out Tom's heart.
When the Great Sioux War broke out in February 1876, the 7th Cavalry was part of a column commanded by Brig. Gen. Alfred Terry, marching west to Montana. By then, the Custer household had grown considerably. Besides George, Libbie, Tom, and Jimmi and Maggie Calhoun, there were Boston, the youngest brother, and Autie and Emma Reed, son and daughter of the Custers' half-sister Lydia. Boston was signed on as a civilian packer, while Autie Reed went with the expedition as a guest. Libbie, Maggie and Emma accompanied the column on its first day's march, then returned to Fort Abraham Lincoln.
The first weeks of the march were a time of fun and frolic for the Custers. Tom and George rode ahead, playing jokes on their youngest brother and nephew. Once they pretended they were Indians about to ambush Boston. Eventually, General Terry caught on to the shenanigans and pointedly reminded George that he was lieutenant colonel of a military expedition. By June 22 the Dakota Column was on the Yellowstone River in Montana, where it had linked up with Colonel John Gibbon's column. That day, Terry ordered the 7th Cavalry south. It was to follow Rosebud Creek, then cut over to the Little Bighorn River and meet Gibbon and Terry, who would move south on the Little Bighorn. George's mission was to scout for a large Sioux village that Terry believed was in the vicinity. Terry later insisted he had told Colonel Custer to avoid combat until Gibbon was close enough for support.
The entire command was solemn during the march along the Rosebud. On the night of June 24, 1876, a "Ree" (an Arikara) Indian scout brought a note from Lieutenant Charles Varnum that said smoke from the Sioux fires had been seen. When George read the note, he could not resist an ironic jab at his brother's Medals of Honor. Motioning to Tom, he told the Ree: "[My] brother, there, is frightened, his heart flutters with fear, his eyes are rolling from fright at this news of the Sioux. When we have beaten the Sioux he will then be a man."
Toward sunrise, Varnum sent another message that a Sioux pony herd had been spotted beyond the hostile camp. George went to a high point known as the Crow's Nest to see for himself and, upon returning, ordered the men to rest in camp that day and prepare to attack at dawn. Then Tom gave him some unsettling news: During the march the night before, one company had lost a case of hardtack. When a detail went to recover it, they saw an Indian going through it. The Indian escaped.
Believing the chance for surprise lost, George decided to move immediately against the village. Marching the regiment westward toward the Little Bighorn, he ordered Captain Frederick W. Benteen to take one battalion and scout the hills to the south. Then he sent Major Marcus Reno with a second battalion across the river to attack the village from the front while he took five companies and moved in from behind: Tom, commanding Company C, Jimmi Calhoun, in charge of Company L, and Autie Reed accompaning George. Boston was with the pack train, which would be along as fast as the cantankerous mules allowed.
On the ridges east of the Little Bighorn, George Custer saw Reno engage, and then he continued northward. He sent Sergeant Daniel Kanipe back to hurry the pack train. A short time later, trumpeter John Martin was sent to find Benteen. As he retraced the trail, Martin ran into Boston Custer, who was hurrying ahead to join his brothers. Martin was the last white Little Bighorn survivor to see any of the Custers alive.
What happened next can only be assumed from conjecture, Indian accounts and archaeological investigation. It appears George divided his battalion into two wings, perhaps placing Captain Myles Keogh with three companies, including Tom's and Calhoun's, overlooking a large depression called Deep Ravine. George continued onward with the remaining two companies under Lieutenant Algernon Smith and Captain George Yates. While Keogh and the Sioux Indians sniped with each other by Deep Ravine, George probably advanced beyond the present park boundaries until he came to the Cheyenne camp at the end of the village. Finding it too strong, he retreated back to the site of the present national cemetery to wait for Keogh.
At Deep Ravine, meanwhile, the sniping faded away and the Indians mounted an all-out assault. Keogh's line collapsed and the Indians cut the troops to pieces. Some broke out and began running the mile or so toward George's wing, where Yates may have detached one company to go to their aid. In doing so, he cut his strength in half. The Indians moved in, and Yates' line collapsed. The survivors moved up to what is now Last Stand Hill, where the final Indian assault occurred. It was all over soon, the soldiers seemingly all dead. Then, one badly wounded captain (the Indians remembered the paired silver bars on his shoulder straps) raised himself up on his elbow and lifted his pistol. An Indian seized the pistol and shot the man through the head. It may or may not have been Tom.
Two days later, Terry and Gibbon relieved the battered remnants of the 7th Cavalry, consisting of Reno and Benteen's battalions and the pack train. This group had retreated to a hilltop and fought for some 36 hours until the Indians withdrew.
On June 28, the grisly task of burial began. George, Tom, Boston, and Jimmi Calhoun were identified, although there is little or no mention of Autie Reed, who also died at the Little Bighorn. Tom Custer had been scalped, his face damaged beyond recognition, and his abdomen slit open. The body was identified by a tattoo: the goddess of liberty, a flag, and the initials T.W.C. He was not examined to determine if his organs had been removed, but it is improbable that Rain in the Face made good his alleged vow to tear out Tom's heart. Still the story made good grist for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Revenge of Rain in the Face," in which the victim became George rather than Tom.
Lieutenant Francis Gibson, a member of Benteen's company, recalled burying George and Tom beside each other. They were not burials in the ordinary sense of the word. Terry's forces were not equipped for a disaster like this, and the Montana ground is hard. Dirt was simply scraped over the bodies from both sides. In 1877, a burial detail returned to properly reinter the bodies. Although the gravesites were located, there was little in the way of remains. Most of the thrown up dirt had washed away, and scavengers had torn apart the bodies and scattered the bones. A handful of remains thought to be George's were removed and reinterred at West Point. The presumed remains of Tom Custer, Jimmi Calhoun and several other officers were buried at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. More likely, though, the remains of the three Custer brothers, Calhoun and Autie Reed lie mixed in with the remains of the enlisted men and scouts under the memorial at the Little Bighorn.
 Second Lieutenant Tom Custer (standing) with George Armstrong Custer and Libbie Custer in the final months of the Civil War. Reproduced courtesy of the Library of Congress.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Articles & Briefings
