April 6th, 2015 by Siggurdsson
Captain Thomas W. Custer (1845-1876)
Photographer unknown, photo taken c. 1866-1876
(Unless otherwise indicated, all illustrations are courtesy of Wikipedia)
Photographer unknown, photo taken c. 1866-1876
(Unless otherwise indicated, all illustrations are courtesy of Wikipedia)
Today's stroll through history focuses on the American Civil War, and the first man to receive two Medals of Honor for bravery on the battlefield. He was also the younger brother of one of the American military's most renowned officers.
Background
He was born in New Rumley, OH (near Steubenville), the third son of Emanuel and Marie Custer. He enlisted in the Union Army, in September 1861, at age 16, and served in the early campaigns of the Civil War as a private in the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He saw action at numerous battles, including Stones River (Murfreesboro), Missionary Ridge, and the Atlanta Campaign. He mustered out at the end of his three-year enlistment in October 1864 as a corporal.
With a little help from his older brother, George Armstrong Custer, Tom acquired a commission as a 2nd lieutenant in Company B, 6th Michigan Cavalry Regiment. His brother persuaded the commander of the cavalry brigade which included the 6th Michigan, to assign Tom to George's personal staff. Tom accompanied his brother through the Petersburg campaign, through the final Appomatax campaign at the war's end.
Brevet Maj. Gen. George A Custer, U.S. Army
Photographer unknown, c. 1865
Photo courtesy of Prints and Photographs Division
U.S. Library of Congress
Battle of Namozine Church: First Medal of Honor: April 3, 1865
Custer earned his first Medal of Honor for actions during the battle of Namozine Church, on April 3, 1865. Among Union forces charging Confederate barricades, Custer had his horse leap a barricade while coming under fire. The Confederates fell back in confusion before him, while he saw a color bearer. Racing forward he seized the flag of the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry from the bearer and commanded those around him to surrender. He took three officers and eleven enlisted men prisoner, took them behind the federal column and requisitioned another horse as his had been shot in the charge.
Army Medal of Honor, 1862-1895
Courtesy of the U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry
Battle of Saylor's Creek: Second Medal of Honor, April 6, 1865
Similar actions in the battle of Saylor's Creek resulted in Custer being the first American soldier to receive two Medals of Honor. Riding alongside Col. Charles E. Capehart when the command to charge was given, Tom raced his horse toward the enemy barricades through a line of rifle fire, then leapt the barricade to be surrounded by the enemy. He discharged his pistol to both sides, scattering the enemy. He noticed Confederates attempting to make a new battleline and saw the color bearer of the 2nd Virginia Reserve Battalion they were rallying to. Custer charged the bearer. Colonel Capehart reported the rest of the events in a letter to Tom's sister-in-law Elizabeth "Libbie" Custer:
"I saw your brother [in law] capture his second flag. It was in a charge made by my brigade at Sailor's [sic] Creek, Virginia, against General Ewell's Corps. Having crossed the line of temporary works in the flank road, we were confronted by a supporting line. It was from the second line that he wrested the colors, single-handed, and only a few paces to my right. As he approached the colors he received a shot in the face which knocked him back on his horse, but in a moment he was upright in his saddle. Reaching out his right arm, he grasped the flag while the color bearer reeled. The bullet from Tom's revolver must have pierced his heart. As he was falling Captain Custer wrenched the standard from his grasp and bore it away in triumph."
[Pictures taken shortly after the battle show a scar "with minor soft tissue damage to his lower jaw extending to a point just below the right ear"; though the wound to Tom's face was across blood rich tissue and covered him in his own blood, had the bullet gone through the mouth or the soft tissue of the neck it would have likely struck a major vessel and he likely would have bled to death.]
Having captured the flag, Custer held it aloft and rode back to the Union column. An officer of the 3rd New Jersey Cavalry, seeing Tom ride back with the banner flapping, tried to warn him that he might be shot by his own side: "For God's sake, Tom, furl that flag or they'll fire on you!" Custer ignored him and kept riding towards his brother's personal battle flag and handed the captured flag to one of Armstrong's aides while declaring, "Armstrong, the damned rebels shot me, but I've got my flag." Tom then turned his horse to rejoin the battle, but Armstrong (who had only seconds before seen another of his aides shot in the face and fall from his horse dead) ordered his brother to report to the surgeon. Tom ignored the order and his brother placed him under arrest, ordering him to the rear under guard.
Footnote #1: Following the war, Custer was appointed first lieutenant in the 7th Cavalry in 1866. He was wounded in the Washita campaign of the Indian Wars, in 1868. He later served on Reconstruction duty in South Carolina and participated in the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873, where he fought in the battle of Honsinger Bluff, and the Black Hills Expedition of 1874. He was appointed captain in 1875 and given command of Company C of the 7th Cavalry. In 1874, at the trading post at Standing Rock Agency, Custer participated in the arrest of the Lakota Rain-in-the-Face for the 1873 murder of Dr. John Honsinger.
Footnote #2: During the 1876 Little Bighorn campaign of the Black Hills War, he served as aide-de-camp to Lt. Col. George A. Custer and died with his brother. Younger brother Boston Custer also died in the fighting, as did other Custer relatives and friends. It was widely rumored that Rain-in-the-Face, who had escaped from captivity and was a participant at the Little Bighorn, cut out Tom Custer's heart after the battle; though the chief later denied it during an interview. Although his body was mutilated by Lakota women after the battle – as were most of the dead 7th Cavalry personnel – Tom Custer's remains were identified by a recognizable tattoo of his initials on his arm.
Footnote #3: Tom Custer was buried on the battlefield, but exhumed the next year and reburied in Fort Leavenworth (KS) National Cemetery. A stone memorial slab marks the place where his body was discovered and initially buried on the Little Bighorn battlefield.
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