For most people, Brevet (a temporary, Civil War rank) Major General George Armstrong Custer is nothing more than a guy who led a small number of U. S. Army troops to their greatest defeat at the hands of a Native American force.

Most people will judge him as the heroic figure portrayed by Errol Flynn in the film "They Died With Their Boots On" or as the crazed lunatic portrayed by Richard Mulligan in the film "Little Big Man." They will judge him again, film-wise, when the fictional "Marching To Valhalla" finally gets made, written by Michael Blake, writer of "Dances With Wolves" (a trouble-plagued project that once was to be directed by Oliver Stone with Brad Pitt to play Custer, both of whom have dropped out of the film, whose filming remains to be seen).

Custer was likewise judged by the people who served with him in the Indian Wars, either as a "glory hunter" who sought victory at any cost or as a military genius who planned every engagement from the saddle.

The truth about Custer may be in this book. If he had never fought in the Indian Wars, he would most certainly have been an unquestioned American hero due to his exploits during the Civil War (the mixed emotions of the Indian Wars, much like our involvement in Vietnam a century later, cloud any look at the subject).

What author Gregory J. W. Urwin, a professor of American History at Saint Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City, Kansas, tackles in "Custer Victorious" is the Civil War years in the life of George Armstrong Custer. The Indian Wars are not discussed at length here, only mentioned briefly.

As one of the chapter titles says, this is "the Custer America forgot." A farm boy born in New Rumley, Ohio, Custer grew up in Monroe, Michigan. He had been a teacher in his teens. He was known for his bravery in his youth ---a friend said George had been surrounded by three school bullies, and rather than run away, he said, "I'll take you all on one at a time or all at once." He was also quick to anger, for in his school days a boy had stuck his tongue out at Custer through a schoolroom window --- young George responded by putting his fist through the window and into the boy's face.

He was also a boy of good looks who was popular with young ladies in Monroe, Michigan. His heart, however, belonged to only one, young Elizabeth Bacon. She called him that "Custer boy" in their youth and eventually would give in to her love for him (they were married in 1864 and together until his death in 1876; a beautiful woman by all accounts, she remained single until her death in 1933, spending 57 years defending her beloved husband every chance she got).

Custer went to the U. S. Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, in 1857. He excelled in all things to do with being a soldier --- he was considered a fine marksman, a brilliant swordsman, a great horseman and a very good tactician. He was also always at odds with his superiors.

Custer was not a good student. He knew how to fight, and studying was just not a priority for the 17-year-old who arrived at the USMA in 1857. The Army would have preferred that he study more and follow the rules of academy life.

Not young Custer. He won friends easily and was a loyal friend. When a fight broke out among cadets, the Army would have liked it to have been broken up quickly. Custer, on the other hand, on guard duty saw two cadets fighting and went to the scene, pushing back a growing crowd saying, "Stand back boys. Let's have a fair fight."

Actions like that led to Custer accumulating a huge number of demerits, perhaps still the largest number of demerits ever "won" by a cadet at the academy (he actually had more than the previous record holder, one U. S. Grant).

By 1861, it looked like Custer might not graduate due to his demerits --- not quite the "gentleman" the Army was looking for, behavior-wise. Then the Civil War broke out.

Custer graduated in June, 1861. He graduated 34th in his class. Of course, there were but 34 cadets in the class, so he got stuck with the moniker of "graduating at the bottom of his class" by future historians as a result.

There were members of that class who went, like Custer, to the Union side (the North). Others went to the Confederate Army (the South). It was a war that divided families and, in this case, divided friends. Custer would fight some of his best friends in the years to come.

2nd Lieutenant Custer would fight in every major engagement of the Army of the Potomac over the next four years. As commander of G Company, 2nd Cavalry, his unit was cited for bravery by President Lincoln at the First Battle of Bull Run --- as the Union Army fled in panic, Custer had dismounted his company at a key bridge leading out of Virginia allowing valued Union artillery to escape Confederate capture.

He served as adjutant to several generals, rising to the rank of Captain in the regular Army due to numerous brave acts. Asked by a general if a river could be crossed by infantry, Custer immediately jumped off his horse in the dark of night and into the river. He did so in full sight of his general and of Confederate campfires, fearless of being shot by Rebel guards, and crossed the river --- he reported back, "Yes, it can be crossed." Custer was soon promoted to first lieutenant and then to captain.

At Aldie, Virginia, his regiment's two colonels were shot from the saddle and the regiment began to run from its fight with the feared Confederate General J. E. B. Stuart. Custer, whose uniform was more gray than it was blue and who wore a straw hat, raised his sword and charged, alone, at the Confederates --- he killed several of the shocked rebels before they realized he was actually a Yankee.

Seeing the actions of their brave captain, the regiment rallied in time to ride to Custer's rescue and turn back Stuart's advance. For such bravery, General Alfred Pleasonton had Custer promoted to brevet brigadier general of volunteers and Custer had his first star on his uniform to symbolize becoming a general.

Timing is everything in life. Custer was a cadet in time to become a combat soldier in 1861. He was now a cavalry general in June, 1863, given command of four regiments of cavalry which served as one unit, The Michigan Cavalry Brigade, "The Wolverines."

Custer had a uniform designed. It was not government issue. It was colorful and full of gold braid --- Custer knew he had to be visible to his troops in combat in order to be effective. While most generals spent their time in tents while their troops fought the battles, Custer's headquarters was in the saddle at the front of his troops during their battles.

At first, his officers hated him. He decided to be cool and aloof when he took command, very critical of everything. He knew his youth, being the youngest general in the Army at age 23, would be used against him by jealous older officers if he didn't establish his authority immediately.

The brigade was a wreck due to two years of fighting. It's full strength was supposed to be 4,800 men, but Custer found the brigade to be only half that number in strength (divided among four regiments: the 1st, 5th, 6th and 7th Michigan). He had to make this a battle-ready unit very quickly, but also had to make the best of what he had since manpower was in short supply and reinforcements weren't to come anytime soon.

The month of June wasn't over when Custer got his first taste of commanding a large force in action. On June 30, 1863, the Michigan Brigade engaged Stuart's Confederate cavalry (known as "The Invincibles"), which out-numbered them three-to-one, in a fire fight at Hanover, Pa. Though a minor engagement, Custer impressed the men in his command in his first battle as their leader.

Captain James Kidd, a company commander in the 6th Michigan Regiment of Custer's brigade, wrote:

"I heard a voice new to me, directly in the rear of the portion of the line where I was, giving directions for the movement, in clear resonant tones, and in a calm, confident manner, at once resolute and reassuring. Looking back to see whence it came, my eyes were instantly riveted upon a figure only a few feet distant, whose appearance amazed if it did not for the moment amuse me."

His appearance would later be described by a Confederate officer as being that "of a circus rider gone mad," such was the appearance of the uniform he wore, with long, shoulder-length yellow hair dangling beneath his wide-brimmed cavalry officer's hat.

The brigade advanced to Gettysburg, Pa. On the third day of battle, July 3, 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee had ordered General George Pickett to lead some 12,000 troops across a mile of field against the Union Army's center in a frontal assault. In a lesser-known move, Stuart's cavalry maneuvered to the Union rear (something not in the film "Gettysburg," by the way). If Pickett's infantry pressed the Union front and Stuart's cavalry hit the Union rear at the same time, the Confederates could crush the Union Army, then march 60 miles south and take the Union capitol of Washington, D. C.

Luckily, for the Union, a division of Union cavalry was on the Union flank, a force that included Custer's brigade. Custer was at the head of the column when they encountered a large force of Confederate skirmishers. He counted the puffs of smoke from Confederate guns and determined that only 200 rebels were before him.

Riding up to Company A, 6th Michigan Cavalry, he turned to the stunned troopers and said, "I'll lead you this time, boys. Come on!" The troopers, who'd never seen a general lead a lowly single company (rather than an entire regiment or brigade) cheered.

The sixty men charged down the road. Sixty men against what Custer thought were 200 rebels. The boldness of the act. The fool-hearted nature of the act became apparent when the company slammed into 600 Confederates waiting in battle line down the road out of sight. Shades of the Little Big Horn battle many years later.

As author Urwin notes, "Custer's first grand charge as a general ended like a snowball thrown against a brick wall." The company's captain was wounded and its first lieutenant captured in the charge. Men fell all around Custer, who found himself dismounted after his horse was shot dead beneath him. Nearly 300 of the Confederates cheered and charged at the shredded company (32 of its 60 men were killed, wounded or captured). A private helped Custer onto his horse for a shared ride and the survivors struggled back to the Michigan Brigade's main force.

Custer had to deal with having acted like "a wild staff captain rather than a brigadier." He had wanted to impress his men with his leadership and he had failed. In his memoirs, Custer confided years later that it was the "most reckless and thoughtless stunt" he had ever done.

The Michigan Brigade held its ground and the Confederate cavalry moved against other Union brigades thinking Custer had been soundly whipped. Not so.

A major of the 6th Michigan rode up and said, "I have seen thousands of them over there. The country yonder is full of the enemy."

At this crucial moment, Custer received orders from his division's commander, General Kilpatrick, to rejoin the 3rd Cavalry Division elsewhere on the field. With the major's report, and the sound of guns elsewhere, Custer now how to decide whether to obey orders and go where the fight wasn't, or obey his instincts and move to where he knew the fight was now taking place. Decisions.

You guessed it. He disobeyed orders and rode "to the sound of the guns."

Custer's brigade encountered an artillery barrage from Stuart's division. Custer had artillery of his own, which he ordered into action. Another brigade, commanded by Union General Gregg, was nearby in the woods, and Gregg was technically in immediate command of Custer's brigade as Custer's senior in rank --- but "Gregg's brigade was not even engaged" according to the book's author).

So Custer's lone brigade took on Stuart's three brigades. Custer's artillery silenced the Confederate cannons. An "eerie silence" crept over the field, then the sound of artillery meeting Pickett's Charge on the Union Center was heard, echoing from four miles away. Despite the distance, Custer's men, The Wolverines, felt the ground shake beneath them, Captain Kidd noting that the sound was like "thunder in a storm."

Soon, 1,500 dismounted Confederates advanced against Custer's brigade. The 5th Michigan advanced to meet them, never stopping despite the sudden appearance of fresh enemy cannons that began firing on them. Forming a line at a rail fence, the 500 men held their fire until the Confederates were 120 yards distant, then let them have it with Spencer seven-shot carbine rifles. The first volley, or shot, brought the rebels to a standstill, but one of their officers yelled, "Now for them before they can reload." Unfortunately for that rebel officer, he didn't realize that Custer's men had rifles that could be fired seven times before reloading (in prior years Union cavalry had only a single-shot carbine, requiring reloading after every shot).

Several Confederates surrendered. By the fourth volley, the Confederates were running from the field. Now Custer's artillery concentrated on the new Confederate artillery. Two of the three Confederate cannons were destroyed by direct hits.

Now a much larger bunch of dismounted Confederates came at the 5th Michigan. The 5th was brave, but many of the troopers were in their first combat, and the rebels had learned to duck when the troopers fired this time. Complicating things, the regiment's quartermaster had moved the wagons with the spare ammunition two miles to the rear, so obtaining it was near impossible when you needed it "right now."

Running out of ammunition, the 5th fell back. The Confederates, thinking they were fighting Custer's whole brigade (he had kept the other three regiments in reserve), thought Custer's whole force was in retreat and moved rapidly forward to pursue them.

The 7th Michigan advanced to meet them. Custer rode ahead of them, drew his sabre, and yelled, "Come on, you Wolverines!" Though badly outnumbered, Custer's mounted men drove back the Confederates, who were all on foot. The advance was so swift that companies in advance ran into a stone wall, which was unseen by the companies advancing from behind, which meant that Custer's troopers became massed against the wall, creating total confusion.

The rebels took advantage of this. They soon charged up to the wall from the other side of it and fired into the the cursing Michigan regiment. Other rebels massed at a nearby rail fence and fired into the cavalry's flanks. Some Michigan soldiers dismounted and began pulling down the rail fence by hand, despite the enemy fire.

Up to this point, the rebels didn't know they were fighting Custer. As the Jeff Davis Legion, three Virginia cavalry regiments and a regiment from North Carolina fired into Custer's men, a Union officer fell dying from the saddle. A confederate soldier asked the man who was this commander putting up such a fight. Steven Gaines wrote 43 years later, "He told me it was Gen. Custer. That was the first time I had ever heard the name, but, afterwards, I had occasion to become very familiar with it."

The 7th Michigan tore down the rail fence and attacked. Suffering horrible casualties, they drove back the much greater rebel force. The Confederates counter-attacked and Custer withdrew the regiment.

Two hours of fighting continued, with each side taking and giving up ground (like a baseball game reporter, the author goes into incredible detail about each charge and counter-charge)

During the fight, three of Custer's regiments had been shattered. The 1st Michigan remained to fight eight advancing Confederate regiments, led by General Wade Hampton, "the cream of Stuart's force."

As the 1st moved to the attack, up galloped Custer, "breathless and bare-headed, his yellow curls flowing behind him." Fully believing he would die leading this charge against odds of more than 4-to-1, Custer took the lead of his lone regiment. Anyone else would have ordered a retreat --- not Custer.

The Confederates couldn't believe it. Who was this guy? A nut? "The rebels were shouting --- making catcalls and insults," the author reports, at the audacity of this Yankee commander.

Yelling "Come on, you Wolverines," Custer led them. A witness wrote later, "the 1st Michigan Cavalry rushed on, Custer four lengths ahead." Custer's attack split the Confederate line, with heavy casualties, and inspired the survivors of Custer's other three regiments to ride forward. Some additional cavalry regiments also arrived to support Custer's men, and the Confederates fled in a total route. On the other end of the field, Pickett's attack was crushed and the Union won the battle of Gettysburg.

Custer's brigade was now a veteran unit in love with their commander. They called him "Dandy," "The Boy General" and "Curly" (because of his golden locks of hair). They dressed like him, trying to make their uniforms look like his, even sporting red ties to match his.

As Captain Ballard of the 6th Michigan wrote, "The command perfectly idolized Custer. Our boy-general never says, 'Go in, men!', HE says, with that whoop and yell of his, 'Come on, boys!', and in we go, you bet."

Out of such fighting Custer became known for "Custer's Luck," an ability to beat unbeatable odds. After Custer married in 1864, President Lincoln told Mrs. Custer he wished he had more generals who rode into combat "with a whoop and a holler."

The book details Custer's many campaigns during the war, a fascinating read. The escape from being surrounded at Trevillian Station, the clash with Stuart's force at Yellow Tavern (Stuart was killed by one of Custer's men), and many other battles, right through Appomattox and Lee's surrender (Custer had pressed attacks against the retreating rebels and accepted the white flag of truce from Lee's troops that led to the surrender ceremony --- receiving it as he prepared for another charge; the actual surrender table was later purchased by General Phil Sheridan, the Union cavalry's overall commander, as a gift for Custer's wife).

It's a great read --- from tales of gallantry such as Custer crossing enemy lines to visit a wounded Confederate officer who was his friend, to his removing his hat and bowing to Confederate General Thomas Rosser, a West Point classmate, before the two engaged at Tom's Brook (Custer calling out, "Let's have a fair fight, boys! No malice!"

It's also the story of a young man reaching adulthood in war (he was promoted to brevet major general in 1865 and commanded the 3rd Cavalry Division by war's end). The story of a time of gallantry among soldiers --- Custer had his band play "Dixie" for General Lee as he sadly left Appomattox Court House after his surrender,a move that brought a salute, and a tear, from Lee.

There's also that great love story, of George and Elizabeth. She lived in fear of his death and he wanted her with him as well. She would accompany his units to many a battlefield and share his headquarters to be near him, always knowing their time together might end the next day (such is the life of military wives and families, then as now).

The hardcover edition is 308-plus pages in length, with a forward by Lawrence Frost. Packed with photos and drawings (he was actually photographed and drawn more than Lincoln during the war), this is an intelligent look at an underrated American soldier. A brilliant tale of our Civil War, as well.

The book is also available in paperback. The jacket cover of both the hardcover and paperback editions is from a color painting that hangs at West Point (Custer and his wife are both buried there): it shows Custer in uniform, posing seated with sabre in hand, looking like the golden-haired, blue-eyed general could jump up and strike an opponent at any time.

You might also like:

The story of General Custer's younger brother, who was awarded the Medal of Honor twice, is fascinating reading --- "Tom Custer: Ride To Glory" by Carl F. Day: http://www.epinions.com/content_238532333188

My review of "Boots And Saddles, Or, Life In Dakota With General Custer" by Elizabeth Bacon Custer (the general's wife is the author): http://www.epinions.com/content_185859411588

My review of "The Custer Album: A Pictorial Biography Of General George A. Custer" by Dr. Lawrence Frost: http://www.epinions.com/book-review-2A66-2208941-389299D0-bd3

My review of a wonderful book by Bill and Jan Moeller, "Custer: A Photographic Biography," in which the authors take you to the important sites of Custer's life via 125 full color photographs and a well-written biography: http://www.epinions.com/content_172491902596

My review of Professor Urwin's "Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege Of Wake Island": http://www.epinions.com/content_168364445316

My review of "Troopers With Custer" by E. A. Brinstool: http://www.epinions.com/content_166005935748

My review of "The Little Bighorn Campaign" by Wayne Michael Sarf: http://www.epinions.com/content_115926404740

Recommended: Yes