Ohio History Journal

George Armstrong Custer        651

 

GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER

 

BY GOVERNOR GEORGE WHITE*

On December 5th, 1839, the people of New Rumley

were extending their neighborly congratulations upon

the birth of a boy. Today, after the lapse of nearly a

hundred years, the people of Ohio are extending to the

village of New Rumley their congratulations upon the

same event; and the nation honors Ohio as the birth-

place of George Armstrong Custer, a national hero.

In the unveiling of this splendid statue, the State of

his nativity pays a deserved, although, perhaps, a be-

lated tribute to a military figure whose record is unique.

A general at the age of twenty-four, his impetuous gen-

ius had already earned for him the confidence of his

superiors in rank; and at twenty-six, when the Civil War

came to a close, he ranked in the esteem of the army, and

in popularity throughout the country, among the tower-

ing figures of that terrible conflict. He stands in history

against no background of mediocrity. His companions

in arms were Sheridan and Sherman, McClellan, Meade,

and Grant. His opponents were Jeb Stuart and Jubal

Early and Robert E. Lee. Yet in this company his name

shines forth upon the scroll of time and gathers lustre

with every passing year.

Men, even heroes, are the products of their heredity

and of their environment. In honoring Custer, we also

pay our tribute to the people of this community. They

too are descendants of the pioneer stock and have lived

among the everlasting hills of Harrison County. Who

 

* Address delivered at dedication of the Custer monument, New Rum-

ley, Ohio, June 22, 1932.

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652      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications can say whether there may be here today another lad destined equally to bring honor to his birth-place in the service of his country? Custer's success did not come to him by chance. It was the product of effort. As, in imagination, we see

him working on the farm, teaching school, preparing himself for entrance to West Point, we think of the words of Lincoln: "I will labor and prepare myself, and one day, my chance will come."  Custer's chance came and it found him prepared. He met opportunity

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George Armstrong Custer        653

with confidence and grasped it with a firm, sure hand.

Our history might have been different had he failed.

Until the day of his death, failure was a word which

Custer never knew. Almost immediately upon his en-

tering the Union army his impetuous daring brought

him to the attention of General McClellan who assigned

him to staff duty. Earning promotion after promotion

by outstanding gallantry and merit, he became an in-

dispensable part of the now famous cavalry arm of the

service whose development marked a new stage in mil-

itary practice throughout the world.  But while he

helped to develop a new system, he always remained an

individual. His talents required room for individual ac-

tion and his superiors soon learned to trust him to his

own resources. A bold daring to seize the chances,

which a quick intelligence perceived, characterized his

career throughout a life of fighting. His yellow hair

streaming in the wind became to his comrades an ori-

flamme and to his enemies, a portent of consternation. He

bore, as it seemed, a charmed life, and his success ap-

peared an augury of fate. His life was a living example

of the extent to which a dynamic and contagious per-

sonality can affect the conduct of a multitude. Truly,

he was of the stuff of which heroes are made.

This son of Ohio is dead; and for many years his

body has slept in its native soil. But his body lives on

and his memory is immortal in the hearts and the minds

of his countrymen. He played his manly part in the

stirring life of his generation and his example will affect

the lives of countless persons in generations yet to come.

We do well to erect this monument to his memory. It

will become a shrine to which the feet of thousands will

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654     Ohio, Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

wend their way. But Custer's enduring monument is

more than a thing of bronze. It stands in no particular

spot in Ohio. It lives in the lives of his admirers. It

permeates the thought of Americans everywhere. Wher-

ever men love courage and honor and high-souled de-

votion to duty, there you will find his monument. He

has left a heritage in which we all may share.

The mighty conflict between the states has long been

stilled. The bitter feelings it engendered have been

soothed in a growing spirit of harmony between the

North and the South. Grandsons of the boys in blue

have fought side by side with the grandsons of the boys

in gray in another, and still a mightier, conflict beyond

the seas. Together, under one flag, the various sections

of our country have gone forward to the accomplish-

ment of a national destiny undreamed of in Custer's day.

Together, under the same flag, we now face peace-time

problems commensurate in their magnitude with those

of war.

By the loyal and united effort of our people, we have

met and solved our military problems. Only by loyal

and united effort can we hope to win through the difficul-

ties which confront us now in peace.

May we not, in this time of stress, draw inspiration

from the man whose memory we honor here today?

Youthful always, the love of life was strong within him.

Yet in the hour of his country's need he counted not

himself but placed his country's need beyond his love of

life. In this spirit a brave and united people can con-

quer every fate. I have an abiding faith that America

will conquer hers.

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