History of New Rumley, (Harrison County) Ohio United States of America

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Biographies:

Thomas Ward Custer, soldier, was born in New Rumley, Ohio, March 15, 1845; son of Emmanuel H. and Maria (Ward) Kirkpatrick Custer. Being but sixteen years old and small of stature when the civil war began he failed in all his efforts to enlist until late in 1863, when an Ohio infantry regiment received him as a private and be served in the west. His brother, Gen. George A. Custer, then in the army of the Potomac, succeeded in having him appointed on his staff as an aide-de-camp and he was commissioned second lieutenant in the 6th Michigan cavalry, to date from Nov. 8, 1864. He rode by the side of his famous brother in many cavalry charges and at Namozine Church, April 2. 1865, he captured a Confederate flag. He took a similar trophy during the battle at Sailor's Creek, April 6, and in the encounter was severely wounded in the face by the discomfited color-bearer. Undertaking to charge the enemy a second time he was ordered by his brother to the rear to have his wonnds dressed, and not being obeyed, the general placed the brave boy under arrest. Congress awarded him a medal for thin exploit. He accompanied his brother to Texas in 1865 and was mustered out of the volunteer service in November, 1865, receiving brevets as captain major and lieutenant-colonel. He joined the regular army as 2d lieutenant in the first infantry, Feb. 23, 1866, and on July 28 was commissioned 1st lieutenant and assigned to the 7th U.S. cavalry commanded by his brother. General Custer's estimate of his brother's soldiership was tersely expressed: "If you want to know my opinion of Tom, I can only say that I think he should be the general and I the captain." He accompanied the general in the expedition against the Sioux, and died at his side in the battle of Little Big Horn, Montana, June 25, 1876.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

George Armstrong Custer, soldier, was born in New Rumley, Harrison county, Ohio, Dec. 5, 1839; son of Emmanuel H. and Maria (Ward) Kirkpatrick Custer. His paternal great-grandfather, K?ster, was a Hessian officer, who after the Revolution settled in Pennsylvania, where he married, and afterward removed to Maryland. George was educated at the district school, at Stebbins academy, and at Monroe seminary. He then taught school at Hopedale, Ohio, and in 1857 obtained an appointment as cadet at the U.S. military academy, where he was graduated in 1861. He was assigned to the 2d U.S. cavalry as 2d lieutenant, reported at Washington, D.C., in July, 1861, to General Scott, and was entrusted by him with dispatches to General McDowell at Centorville, Va., which he delivered July 21, as the battle of Bull Run was about to begin, and then joined his regiment on the field. In the fall of 1861 he was ordered home on sick leave and on his return in February, 1862, he rejoined the army, being assigned to the 5th U.S. cavalry. When McClellan assumed command of the army of the Potomac, March 11, 1862, young Custer was selected by Gen. Philip Kearny as his first aide-de-camp. He rejoined his regiment after the Confederates evacuated Manassas and at the head of a detachment of his company charged the retreating Confederate pickets across Muddy Creek. He then served before Yorktown as assistant engineer on the staff of Gen. W. F. Smith in the left wing under General Sumner. He planned and erected the earthworks nearest the Confederate lines and when the enemy evacuated the place, he was with Hancock in pursuit of the retreating army. He was the first officer to wade the Chickahominy in the advance of the army, mark-flag the ford and reconnoitering the enemy's position on the other side. This service won from the commananding general an appointment as aide-de-camp on his staff with the rank of captain, to date from June 15, 1862. On the next day, with two companies of cavalry and one of infantry, he surprised the "Louisiana Tigers," acting as a picket guard, and stampeded them, taking several prisoners and personally seizing the colors, the flint such trophy captured by the army of the Potomac. He took part in all the battles of the Peninsula and when (General McClellan was superseded he returned to his command, having been raised to the grade of 1st lieutenant on the recommendation of his late chief in July, 1862. When General Hooker, the new commander, organized the cavalry as a separate corps of the army of the Potomac and General Pleasanton was made a division commander, Lieutenant Custer became a member of his staff and took part in the battles at Brandy Station and Aldie, Va. In connection with Col. Judson Kilpatrick and Colonel Doughty of the 1st Maine regiment he brilliantly led a cavalry charge at Aldie and for the action was promoted brigadier general of volunteers to date from June 23, 1863. He was thereupon given command of tbe Michigan cavalry brigade which he led in the battle of Gettysburg and with Gregg and McIntosh resisted the efforts of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart to turn the left flank of Meade's army. This action secured him his brevet as major in the regular army to date from July 3, 1863. He pursued with his brigade the retreating army of General Lee through the valley and in an engagement with the enemy at Cutpeper his horse was killed under him and he was badly wounded. Upon his recovery his brigade was assigned to the 1st division of Sheridan's cavalry corps and he led the advance of the corps to within four miles of the Confederate capital, but being unsupported by infantry, on May 11, 1864, the entire force swung around to White House on the Pamunkey river and there cooperated with General Grant. In a second cavalry raid near Gordonsville the Confederates shot Custer's color-bearer and the general saved the flag by tearing it from the staff and hiding it under his coat. He was in the cavalry charge of Sept. 19, 1864, which determined Sheridan's victory of that day and on Sept. 26 he was transferred to the command of the 2d division, West Virginia cavalry, but before assuming command received promotion to the command of the 3d cavalry division. He shared with Gen. Wesley Merritt the battle of Woodstock, Oct. 9, 1864, which was a sabre fight in which they routed the Confederates and followed up the victory by a pursuit of the enemy for twenty-six miles. At Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864, Custer and Merritt with from six to seven thousand horsemen, held in check, with the aid of a few batteries, 20,000 Confederate troops flushed with the victory of the morning, and the cavalry thus allowed the demoralized Federal infantry to reform behind their effective sabres, when ordered to do so by Sheridan as he came up at the end of his historic ride. Custer's part in this fight won for him the brevet of major-general of volunteers a few months later. His division of 4600 men joined in the last raid of Sheridan and on March 2, 1865, at Waynesboro, Va., he met and overpowered Early, taking eleven guns, 200 wagons, 1600 prisoners and seventeen battle flags. The news of his prowess secured from the mayor of Charlotteville the keys of the town as he approached the place, and the next meeting with Early at Frederickshall Station nearly resulted in the capture of the Confederate leader. The battles of Five Forks and Dinwiddie Court House were further witnesses of his valor and he received for the services there rendered the brevet of brigadier-general in the U.S. army to date from March 13, 1865. In the pursuit of Lee's army he received the first flag of truce with overture for surrender and he was one of the officers present at the surrender at appomattox, receiving as souvenirs of the occasion the towel used as a flag of truce and the table on which the agreement for surrender was written. In general orders addressed to his troops from Appomattox, April 9, 1865, he recounted as among their achievements in the past six months "the capture in open battle of 111 field-pieces, 65 battle-flags, upwards of 10,000 prisoners including seven general officers," and the record of having "never lost a gun or a color" and of baring "never been defeated." He took part in the grand review at Washington and was then ordered to Texas, where he was mustered out of the service as major-general of volunteers. He then asked for a year's leave of absence in order to accept from President Juarez the position of chief of cavalry, in the struggle of tbe republic of Mexico against maximilian, but the government refused and he rejoined his regiment, the 7th cavalry, at Fort Riley, Kansas. In the spring of 1867 he joined General Hancock's expedition against the Cheyenne Indians, his first experience in Indian warfare, and he closed the campaign by defeating them at Washita river, Nov. 27, 1868, killing one hundred and three warriors and taking prisoners fifty-three squaws and children, almost annihilating the band and forcing the remnant back to their reservation. In March, 1873, his regiment was ordered to Dakota to guard the Northern Pacific railroad construction and here he first met the hostile Sioux. In July. 1874, he headed an expedition to the Black Hills and in the spring of 1876 formed a part of the expedition under General Terry sent against the Sioux tribe, when he was directed to take his regiment up the Rosebud river to the head waters of the Little Big Horn to cooperate with General Gibbon's command sent up the Big Horn, another tributary of the Yellowstone. The plan was to surround the Indians and prevent their escape. At 8 A.M., June 25, 1876, he had made seventy-three miles and had crossed the divide between the Rosebud and the Little Big Horn rivers, when he separated his force into three commands, one under Major Reno, another with Captain Benteen in command, and with the five remaining companies he moved up the right bank of the Little Big Horn, expecting the other commands to operate on either flank of the Indian village when discovered. He struck the Sioux village of 9000 warriors in the centre and it extended one and one quarter miles to he rightt and left. Reno's division had reached the village on the extreme left, given battle and retreated before Custer came up, and the Sioux greatly outnumbering his little force drove him from point to point, annihilating company after company. Finally, left with only forty officers and men. Custer fought the unequal battle for three hours and all were slain. The general's remains were removed to the U.S. cemetery at West Point, N.Y., in 1877. He published My Life on the Plains (1872). He died on the battlefield of the Little Big Horn, Mont., June 25, 1876. His wife, Elizabeth (Bacon), whom he married in February, 1864; has published Boots and Saddles (1885); Tenting on the Plains (1888); and Following the Guidon (1890).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor