I learned recently that the Lt. Custer, well known for his battle against the Indians, was a General in the Civil War. Why was he demotoed the the rank of lieutenant? Also I heard that a memorial was planned to be built in memory of the Indians at the battle of Wounded Knee. This was some years ago and I wonder if any of you know anything about it.
IIRC, his rank as a General in the Civil War was a temporary, battlefield rank. When the War ended, he resumed the rank that he had. And, BTW, he never even deserved that rank, IMHO.
I’m pretty sure that’s Colonel Custer. Lieutenant Custer was his brother, Tom. The temporary promotion in rank is called a “brevet promotion” This might help.
http://yourpage.blazenet.net/ghkain/Brevets.htm
And he was an incompetent, incapable, self serving, egomaniacal asshole.
He had no understanding of the men under his command, and he never even heard of the word “morale.”
He was a bad soldier, yet he is regarded as a hero.
Go figure.
Didn’t he cause an accident during a parade through DC?
Ummm, I’m pretty sure that there were two Custers at Little Big Horn - Lieutenant Colonel George Custer, who had been first brevetted to Brigadier General of Volunteers and then promoted to Major General during the Civil War, and his younger brother, Captain Tom Custer.
Where the hell is that Bruce Catton volume I was reading?
There were actually 3 Custer brothers at Little Bighorn. Their younger brother, Boston was along as a civillian packer and was also killed.
And, altho George Custer had only the actual rank of Lt. Col., it is OK to call him “General”- as a courtesy, those who had rcvd the temp rank of General, but did not get it made permanent, were called “General”. There were quite a few such men during the Civil war.
Just an apology to the shade of Thomas Custer, for giving him the rank of Lieutenant rather than that of Captain.
Ah, but his wife loved him. She wrote several books about her life with “The General” (how she always referred to him), starting with Boots and Saddles. She always defended him and is probably partly responsible for his reputation as a hero. (I got the impression from her books that she might have suspected he was an idiot, but she loved him anyway).