Custer in the Maryland Campaign – Jim Hessler

[00:02:35]All right, we're going to go ahead and get started.

[00:03:00]So, if you're a first time guest to our uh summer lecture series, raise your hand. Anybody? Couple folks. Well, welcome. Uh my name is Chris Vincent, the executive director of the Antidum Institute. Uh so, welcome to our summer lecture series. I have the pleasure of welcoming our guest speaker tonight.

[00:03:18]James Hler is a historian, author, and licensed battlefield guide at Gettysburg National Military Park where he's been interpreting the battles since 2003.

[00:03:28]He is author, co-author of four books on the Gettysburg campaign. Uh his latest release is the first day at Gettysburg that just came out last year. His work has earned several distinguished book awards and he has also published articles and respected outlets such as the Gettysburg magazine. Beyond his publication, Jim has co-created and hosts the popular Battle of Gettysburg podcast reaching a global audience of his history enthusiast. He has appeared as a public historian in a major media such as the his history History Channel, NPR, the Travel Channel, uh P Pennsylvania, uh public television, and other programs and content developed with the American Battlefield Trust. Jim currently serves on a board or advisory capacity for the Adams County Historical Society, Gettysburg Museum of History, and the Little Bigghorn Associates. So, please welcome our speaker tonight, Jim Hler.

[00:04:32]Thank you.

[00:04:35]Okay, can everybody hear me? Okay, if I kind of talk at this volume, thumbs going up in the back. Well, um, before I get started, I want to thank Chris. I want to thank the Antidum Institute for inviting me to speak tonight. I want to thank all of you for coming out tonight.

[00:04:49]Um, I see some familiar faces from the Gettysburg area. I saw some hands go up with first-time visitors. So, I appreciate all of you taking time to uh come out. Uh but before last but not least, I also want to acknowledge Tom McMillan who is here tonight from the Antidum and Beyond podcast. The uh topic that I'm doing tonight was something that I did with Tom and John on their podcast. Oh, I guess it was what late last year maybe and just seemed like it would be a good idea to kind of blow this out into a uh bigger topic. At least it seemed like a good idea at the time. So there was a lot of Antidum uh there was a lot of um Antidum thought on this. But as far as Gettysburg, there was a lot of Gettysburg in my bio tonight. I promise I am here to talk about the Maryland campaign. Um as Chris said in the bio, I've been a licensed battlefield guide to Gettysburg for going on 25 plus years. I've also been a lifelong George Armstrong Kuster enthusiast. And sometimes those two things merge together, sometimes they don't. But it seemed like when we were talking about this on the podcast with Tom and John, it seemed like 2026 would be a good year to talk and maybe to reassess George Armstrong Kuster if we ever really stopped assessing George Armstrong Kuster. Because if you don't know, about a month ago at this time, June 25th, 2026, was the 150th anniversary of the mythic Kuster's last stand, the battle in which he was killed in Montana territory. But kind of going back to what I was saying a moment ago, as a Gettysburg guide doing Kuster, I often talk about the idea that the legend begins with him leading cavalry charges during the Gettysburg campaign in 1863. The legend ends with his death in 1876. And then the mythology of it and such still goes on today until 2026.

[00:06:48]Interestingly enough though, the 1862 Kuster often gets overlooked and glossed over in biographies. And yes, that's what we're going to talk about tonight.

[00:06:59]Now, I'm not ready to leave Gettysburg just yet. Another premise, another premise that I often make up at Gettysburg is that I will often say George Armstrong Kuster is the second most famous individual associated with the Gettysburg campaign. Not necessarily the most significant, not necessarily the most important, the best, whatever that definition might be, but the most famous, the second most famous individual associated with the Gettysburg campaign. I'm going to give Abe Lincoln first shot number one.

[00:07:31]Kuster, too. And yes, I would argue George Armstrong Kuster has had more books, uh, more magazine articles, more television movie appearances than Robert E. Lee and even more so than our more recent movie star Joshua Chamberlain.

[00:07:46]But what if I flip the script on that?

[00:07:48]Now, is George Kuster also the second most famous individual associated with Antidum or the 1862 Maryland campaign?

[00:07:59]So, you see what I did there? I swapped out Chamberlain for you guys get Stonewall Jackson. We only get what if we had Stonewall Jackson, but I would argue the idea still applies. George Kuster, second most famous individual associated with Antidum. I will give you Abraham Lincoln as well. And of course, you could argue that talking about the Civil War in the 19th century in general, maybe Kuster would be eclipsed by Ulissiz Grant.

[00:08:28]Neither one of us gets Ulisses Grant at our battles. So this is what we're looking at. George Kuster, famous notoriety, name recognition, still heavily studied as a historical figure.

[00:08:43]So, as I said a few moments ago, the 1862 period, and this is George Kuster in 1862, not the flamboyant redscarfed, long-haired brigadier general we know from later in the war or major general, but this more of a nondescript staff officer. This is the George Armstrong Kuster of 1862.

[00:09:06]And when I told people I was working on this talk, this project, everybody all kind of had the same reaction.

[00:09:17]He was just a staff officer, right?

[00:09:20]Well, yeah, kind of. I mean, spoiler alert, he's just quote unquote just a staff officer serving with George Mlen during the Maryland campaign. But I think there's going to be a lot of incidents and uh episodes and things that are going to tie into making Kuster the more notorious noteworthy individual that we know later on in the war and in 19th century history. So this is the 1861 version of him. I'm just going to go over biographical stuff really briefly tonight. George Kuster born in New Rumley, Ohio, December 5th, 1839.

[00:09:54]That would have made him 22 years old at the Battle of Antidum.

[00:09:59]We always say it would have made him 23 years old at Gettysburg. So I just had to subtract a year. 22 years old at Antidum. Now George Kuster, born in Ohio, comes from a large farm family. Uh extended family, several siblings, half siblings, funloving, practical jokers.

[00:10:18]I always sort of say in comparison a number of my best friends are from Ohio and I love them but they tend to be kind of downto- earthth and a little bit of rough around the edges people and for better or worse that's kind of how I envision the Kuster clan. So graduate 1861 military academy at West Point as probably many of us know ranked last in his graduating class because several cadets had already dropped out for various reasons. last in his graduating class with an impressive 726 demerits.

[00:10:55]Yeah, that always gets a laugh. And at a deeper level too, what it often gets from people is sort of this idea of, oh, Kuster last in his class, he was an idiot. Well, maybe, maybe not. But again, most of those demerits were really more for disciplinary infractions, things that you and I would consider as civilians to be relatively trivial. carving your initials on trees and whistling when you shouldn't be whistling and things of that nature. But nevertheless, even graduating at the bottom of his West Point class in 1861 made him better educated than the vast majority of people in the United States of America at that time. So, just keep that in mind. A roommate noted it was all right with Kuster whether he knew his lessons or not. He simply did not allow it to trouble him. So again, he's carefree, fun-loving, popular with his classmates. He almost did not graduate for failing to break up a fight. And in his own defense, when he was the officer of the guard, in his own defense, he said the instincts of a boy, he called himself a boy, prevailed over the obligations of an officer of the guard.

[00:12:04]And I think particularly as you get into the 1862 period, this idea of George Kuster as a boy, a boy, you know, we call him the boy general, but that idea is still prevalent. Nevertheless, regardless of how he graduates in his class, 1861, of course, he's still in demand because of the Civil War. He still gets called sir. He is mustered into the Union Army as a second lieutenant with the second US cavalry, later the fifth US cavalry.

[00:12:35]Now, as you get to 61 and 62, almost immediately, George Kuster seems to gain notice somewhat through luck. He's selected to uh be on the staff of Phil Carney when Carney needs staff officers.

[00:12:51]Uh but almost through luck, Kuster is going to have a series of staff assignments starting with Phil Carney, but also including other notables as Andrew Humphrey's, Baldi Smith, and then a couple other guys we're going to talk about a little bit later on. And he becomes good and becomes noted for reconnaissance work.

[00:13:11]So that's not as sexy as me coming up here and telling you stories about him leading saber charges across Burnside Bridge or anything of that nature because no, we don't have those stories.

[00:13:21]But reconnaissance work of course was critical, was important. And one thing Kuster became noted for in this capacity was his ability to provide clearheaded intelligence under fire and also an almost inddehaticable energy when in the saddle. And those were two things that stood out and brought him to the attention of some of these generals.

[00:13:45]Now, I'm often as we transition from Phil Carney to this. I'm often asked about this, too. Yes, in the spring of ' 62, he did do a little reconnaissance work by balloon for Professor Thaddius Low. It was one of the few times in Kuster's life and career that he ever admitted to experiencing fear. He said as that gondola went up in the air, he was down in the gondola down in the basket gripping the sides. But when he finally got control of himself, he said, "I had the finest view I ever had in my life, and I could see both armies." So again, once his head cleared, he got down to business.

[00:14:24]May of 62 at Williamsburg, while serving unofficially on the staff of then Brigadier General Winfield Hancock, Kuster led a counterattack at one point.

[00:14:34]that captured the first rebel flag, the fifth North Carolina, credited as a capture by the Army of the PTOAC in the Civil War.

[00:14:46]He recognized the ability or the benefits that being on staff and doing reconnaissance work did for his career.

[00:14:55]A lot of people don't know uh they're more familiar with Kuster's memoirs, his autobiography, My Life on the Plains, which tends to cover the last years of his life in the 1870s. But at the time of his death, George Kuster was also working on his Civil War memoirs, which unfortunately remained unfinished. But he does leave some insights in there about his Civil War career. And one of the things he says was that while on staff duty, I usually accompanied the reconnaissance and expeditions conducted by cavalry, which would make sense since he was part of the fifth US cavalry. And this was in a great measure was due my subsequent promotion to the grade of general officer and my assignment to a cavalary command. So he realized and appreciated what this work did and how it led to his promotions later on. But okay, as we get now into the spring of 1862, as Mlullen has started to come into orbit as command of commander of the army, March of ' 62, Kuster is not on Mlelen's staff yet, not serving under Mlelen yet, but Kuster has, like many in the army, already brought into the charisma of George Mlen. And in March of ' 62, in a letter to his parents, Kuster had wrote, "I have more confidence in him, meaning Mlullen, than in any man living. I would forsake everything and follow him to the ends of the earth. I would lay down my life for him." So like a lot of guys in the Union Army, youngsters, George Kuster was already starruck by George Mlen.

[00:16:34]And so life changed in May of 1862 while doing again reconnaissance work of a river crossing on the chamomy. At this time Kuster was serving under General John Barnard who was chief of engineer in the army. Now as Shelby Foot told the story on the Ken Burns thing and I can't come up here and channel Shel Shelby foot can I? is Shelby Foot told the story on the Ken Burns thing. A bunch of sort of fat, contented generals were sitting on their horse riverside all kind of muttering how deep the water was. And as Shelby told the story, Kuster just sort of dashed into the water and said, "That's how deep it is, General." And it brought him to the attention of Barnard and some others.

[00:17:22]That's embellished a little bit. Uh but the essence of the story is true. Kuster performed two successful reconnaissances for Barnard that um uh basically resulted in Kuster waiting into the water to tell him how deep the river was. And as a result of that, that brought Kuster to the attention of George Mlen.

[00:17:46]So Kuster's served on staffs. He's served for other generals. But now you've done something that the commander of the army, the guy that you know you sort of have your man crush on. I would die for him. Commander of the army is now calling Kuster to headquarters saying, "I've heard about that reconnaissance work, young man. What can I do for you?" And as Mlullen described it later, he said that Kuster was then a slim, long-haired boy, carelessly dressed. I thanked him for his gallantry and asked him what I could do for him.

[00:18:18]Contrary to probably the perception most of us have of George Armstrong, Kuster Kuster actually sort of demurred and said, "No, no, no, General. I I haven't done anything to to um to merit special consideration and little Max said, "Oh, yes, you have." And Mlen offered Kuster a position on staff serving as one of his aid to camps. And this is one of those moments in Kuster's life. We've all had, you know, a handful of moments in our lives, in our career, where a door opened for us. Kuster said yes. And like a rocket, he kind of took off. So general orders number 131, issued by Mlen from headquarters May 28th, 1862.

[00:19:00]Second lieutenant George Kuster, fifth regiment is appointed acting aid to camp to the commanding general and will be obeyed and respected accordingly. So, Lieutenant Kuster is now Captain Kuster, aid to camp to the commander of the army, George Mlen.

[00:19:19]Now, Mlen wrote some letters to his wife, which I'm sure most of you guys know, bragging a little bit about this or that, not that Mlen would ever do that, but regarding staff work, Mlen wrote, he called it the really serious work, especially under fire. So, Mlullen considered this serious stuff under fire. And what did we say earlier?

[00:19:42]You know, the idea that Kuster was good at keeping his head clear under fire.

[00:19:46]But regarding the really serious work, especially under fire, Mlullen told his wife that I have made use of some youngsters I have caught. Now, it's not just Kuster, but obviously we can assume that Captain Kuster is one of these youngsters that he's bragging to home about. And Mlen, if you go through the official records and the reports, Mlen does make use of Captain Kuster as he would any staff officer throughout the 1862 campaigns. Kuster is active in the saddle during the seven days. During White Oak Swamp, near White Oak Swamp in August of 62, Kuster will score his first confirmed kill. And he will brag about it a little bit in a letter back home. He will say he was pursuing a rebel officer. He tried to get the officer to surrender. The officer wouldn't surrender and Kuster killed them. So that's his first confirmed kill August of 1862. And usually at this point, I think we can probably put the boy labels aside. Yes, 22 years old is remarkably young to be telling some of the stories uh that we are telling and are associated with Kuster. But I think if he's starting to score some kills, we can probably say, okay, the boy is at least becoming a man. And again, that was under Mlullen's watch. Now, in his memoirs, Mlen added that Kuster was simply a reckless, gallant boy, undeterred by fatigue, unconscious of fear. But his head was always clear in danger, and he always brought me clear and intelligible reports, even under the heaviest fire. I became much attached to him. That's going to be a common theme as well. Kuster with a number of the guys that he serves under, but for our intents and purposes, we're focusing on Kuster and Mlen tonight. I became much attached to him and they very much develop a father and son relationship that again will play out through the remainder of Kuster's life. And we'll come back to a little bit of the postwar stuff later on. But let's get to the Maryland campaign. So September 14th at South Mountain, Kuster appears in some of the official records and correspondents for the campaign. And if South Mountain, both Kuster and Lieutenant James Martin seem to be detached from Mlen's staff and are attached to Alfred Pleasanton's cavalry during the fight for South Mountain. So again, I've tried to highlight here, look, I'm not coming in tonight as a South Mountain expert or a Battle of Antidum expert. You know, my primary role tonight is to talk about Kuster's part in all of this and and how it influenced them. I'm sure we have a lot of folks in the audience who know South Mountain better than I do, but again, I've tried to highlight here where they would be coming through Turner's Gap in and around the old Mountain House on this American Battlefield Trust map. And we don't see a lot of Kuster in the records. We don't see a lot of Kuster in the records for the September 14th fight, but we do see some stuff on September 15th when the Confederates are now pushing back towards Boonboro. Fitz Lee is sort of uh uh uh commanding the Confederate rear guard here at Turner's Gap and Pleasanton and some others are going to start pushing through on September 15th towards Boonboro. And Kuster shows up in the records a couple of times on this one. And this, by the way, I like this image. It's an Alfred Wad image, which is supposed to be Pleasanton's cavalry being deployed in in the fighting in and around Boonboro.

[00:23:18]So, you know, we can kind of guess that some of that might have looked like that. Pleasanton says in his report, "At daylight on the morning of the 15th, I started in pursuit of the enemy with part of the eighth Illinois Cavalry. The advance came upon the enemy's rear guard. That's Fitz Lee on entering Boonboro. Charged them repeatedly. So we apparently have some back and forth fighting here. Charges and countercharges. I think the Union cavalry charges. They're pushed back.

[00:23:48]They mound up. They they charge again.

[00:23:50]You know, isn't that how all Civil War battles basically flow? But charge them repeatedly and eventually drove the enemy some two miles beyond the town.

[00:23:59]Now in his report, General Pleasanton is going to single out a number of people which was which was common to do so.

[00:24:06]Colonel John Farnsworth of the eighth Illinois Cavalry. Farnsworth is a name that might come up later were conspicuous for gallantry also Captain Kuster first lieutenant Martin aids the camp on the staff of Mlen and who were serving with me at that time. So again we have a acknowledgement from Pleasanton that Kuster was there and also accommodation for gallantry. Now the big thing though that I think about this is that again if Kuster is aid to camp to the commanding general's staff what Kuster and Martin would be doing was they would be serving as Mlen's eyes and ears at the front. Am I right?

[00:24:45]You're basically representing the commanding general. You are the eyes and the ears. You've got to tell Mlen what is going on. And if you're a really good staff officer, you got to be ready to act in Mlen's behalf if things get a little tight. Well, now we're going to bring Joe Hooker onto the scene, commander of the First Corps. Uh I like Joe Hooker. There's a description of him as he starts to come in through the gap on the 15th kind of near the old mountain house. There's a description where it says, "Hooker was in the saddle taking his brandy and water, looking as clean and trim as though he had just made his morning toilet at Willard's."

[00:25:27]Really has nothing to do with Kuster. I just like Joe Hooker, too.

[00:25:32]But Hooker being here now is important because what's going to happen, and I've sort of broken this up with uh some dividing lines here. Kuster apparently under some supervision I'll call it from Hooker. Kuster is going to send a couple of messages to Mlen. And we're going to start with one in the morning that is generally optimistic.

[00:25:56]This one in the sent in the morning says Hooker desires me to inform the general that would be Mlen that we can capture the entire rebel army. General Lee is wounded. Garland is killed. Lee reports that he lost 15,000 men yesterday.

[00:26:11]Hooker says the rebel army is completely demoralized. Hooker has sent Richardson's division in pursuit and will follow. We need our cavalry.

[00:26:20]Cavalry has not arrived yet. So other than saying, "Hey, we need a little bit more cavalry here for a pursuit element." This is a pretty optimistic report. Mlelen messages basically a repeat of this both to his wife at 9:30 and to Henry Hick at 10:00 a.m. saying adding I am pushing everything after them with the greatest rapidity. So in the morning of the 15th Mlen is still under the idea that Lee's army has been routed yesterday at South Mountain. We are pushing them with rapidity and the end of the Confederate army could be in sight. At least that's Mel how Mlullen's communicating at the Hock at 10:00 a.m.

[00:27:03]But by one o'clock in the afternoon, things are changing.

[00:27:07]At one o'clock in the afternoon, Kuster sends another message to Mlen that basically says at this time the enemy who by this time I think has gone through Boonboro and are starting to establish their line along the Antidum.

[00:27:21]Kuster says they are in full view. Their line is a perfect one about a mile and a half long. Long Street is in command. He has 40 cannon that we know of. We can employ equally good position as they now occupy. We can employ all the troops you can send us. So the morning message of hey we're we're pushing them. We got them on the run has now changed in the afternoon to we can employ all the troops you can send us. which again to me is sort of civil war ease for hey if you want us to do something bring on some support and reinforcements. So you know looking at these and we know there's other things going on on the 15th. You know Mlullen's also dealing with the issues at Harper's Ferry and so on. We know other things are going on on the 15th, but at least here at Turner's Gap, you've got George Kuster on the ground on the front line supposedly being headquarters eyes and ears. But I think you could argue too, he's also taken some direction from Joe Hooker here in the background. And we see this transition from optimism to fading. By the afternoon, Lee is not retreating.

[00:28:33]In addition to that, what's in the official records and the reports. In addition to that, Kuster wrote a letter about 10 days later on September 25th, which showed up in one of the Ohio newspapers. It's not a letter that shows up in a lot of books on the topic. I think it was only discovered in recent years. But Kuster adds a little color commentary in this letter. And what he says is as Richardson's division was starting to pursue through Boonboro, Kuster says, "At this moment, Hooker arrived on the ground and taking in at a glance the condition of affairs, ordered Richardson to immediately suspend the attack, saying at the same time, why general, there are enough rebels over there to eat up your entire division."

[00:29:20]All right, so Hooker's the senior guy on the ground. He's saying slow down. A courier was then dispatched to Mlen, informing him of what had transpired.

[00:29:29]Mlelen approved of Hooker's actions in deferring the attack until all of our forces could be made available. Mlelen rode rapidly to the front, gave various orders, and it soon became evident that the great battle would not come off that day. So that's George Kuster's take on what happens on September 15th, 1862.

[00:29:52]one of these controversial days in the history of the army of the PTOIC and in the Maryland campaign where seemed like the gains from South Mountain are starting to evaporate. Now, rather than my opinion on it, I thought what I would do next was just kind of quote a couple of uh uh major historians and sort of their take on how they viewed this.

[00:30:15]And I know you guys maybe are not like Stephen Sears fans. I hear that a lot, like a lot. Um but anyways, Sears wrote that Kuster and other cautionary messages told Mlen after South Mountain that no Lee was not retreating. So that's one that's significance of it.

[00:30:33]More recently, our friend Scott Hartwig in his more masterful to Antum Creek, Hartwig noted that Kuster and Martin could report on what they observed, but they lacked rank and authority to represent headquarters and express its will. And I do think you see a little bit of that. You know, a good staff officer represents headquarters and tells the guy on the ground what I want you to do. Those messages to me kind of seem like Hooker is going to Kuster and saying, "Hey kid, write headquarters and tell him this." And I think Scott picked up on that astutely. They lacked the rank and authority to represent headquarters and express its will.

[00:31:13]Without this influence, Mlelen's army lurched forward from South Mountain. So that's Scott Hartwig's take. And last but not least, I'm going to throw one in from TJ Styles, Pulitzer winning recent biographer of George Kuster. So he argued, whatever you think of everything going on with the army, Styles argued that the charge at Boonboro elevated Kuster from junior staff officer to warrior. So again, we're getting some combat experience here in addition to all the message traffic that is going back and forth. Okay, so now let's get to September 16th and then the 17th.

[00:31:51]So one thing I was told was don't come down here and call the Pry House Mlullen's headquarters.

[00:31:58]All right. You get All right. So, we're going to call it an observation point.

[00:32:03]September 16th and 17th, the observation point at the Pry House. Now, again, I'm going to address address this. Again, those of you who spend more time down here than I do could probably tell me a thing or two about this. Uh, but as we know, like there's sort of this tradition, we'll call it an oral tradition. Uh but I there's this tradition that as Mlen and team were selecting the pry house for headquarters um a young staff officer in the group believed to have been Captain George Kuster informed the family that yes Mlen was going to use this property. Now the quote I used there was from William Frazzanito's Antidum photographic legacy. uh I have never seen that claim uh repeated with any primary source in any more scholarly works. Again, I my understanding is it's sort of an oral tradition within the pry family, I think. So, I wanted to acknowledge that yes, we're aware of that. Yes, that possibility exists, but at least from where I sit, I'm not really aware of any good primary source that actually has Kuster selecting the pry house for well, whatever they use the pry house for. But Frank Shell, the artist for Frank Leslie's Illustrated newspaper, did note that uh I saw there it is again, Mlen's headquarters at the prize farm on a bare hill, a group of dismounted officers.

[00:33:32]The group resolved itself into Mlen Porter and a bunch of other officers unknown to me. Aids and couriers were coming and going with fidgety hurry bringing reports and taking orders. So there's a lot of activity. You all you know and I know sometimes Mlen is criticized or portrayed as kind of being too detached and too far back. But I mean Shell noted that there were a lot of aids and couriers coming and going and yes there was a lot of activity.

[00:33:59]That's what an army headquarters should be doing. So, there's really nothing wrong with with that description. And I'm going to assume, although not mentioned by name, that of course, Captain Kuster would be one of those aids and couriers coming and going. And in fact, we have at least one reference to him. So on the morning of September 17th, the written orders to bring Sumner into position indicate that the commanding general directs that you move Cedric and French across the creek by the fords which Captain Kuster will point out to you. Presumably a reference to Prize Ford down below the pry house which again I've tried to highlight on that map here. So again we have a another reference. He's in the field.

[00:34:45]He's on the front lines. He's doing what you would want somebody you trust to do and that's leading troops into position and he's showing them the Ford to do it.

[00:34:55]So there's another reference to Kuster in the um in the historical record.

[00:35:01]As I said at the outset, this is staff work, you know, historians, tour guides, whatever we are. We write books, we do this, we do that. We talk about generals. We talk about guys who write books and and that sort of thing. Staff officers can often be the hardest to find, right? They're often a commendation here or a mention there.

[00:35:22]And you got to dig deep to find it. But Kuster, going back to that letter that he wrote on September 25th, Kuster did describe his perception and his view of September 17th, that bloody fighting.

[00:35:36]And what he said in his letter was that the battle made about 14 hours of continuous hard fighting. This this is Kuster talking.

[00:35:46]The slaughter had been dreadful. General Mlullen asked each core commander the condition of his troops and each reported that their men were too much exhausted to renew the battle the next morning. Nor is it to be wondered at when we think of all they had gone through during the day. The next day was spent in collecting the wounded, burying the dead. And we can imagine Captain Kuster probably rode the field and saw sites like this, 22 years old, collecting the wounded, burying the dead. The enemy had taken advantage of the darkness to escape across the PTOAC.

[00:36:22]Their defeat had been complete. So that's how Kuster termed it in his letter. Their defeat, the enemy's defeat had been complete. Now, as I said, this ended up in a newspaper. He probably knew when he wrote it, it was going to end up in a newspaper. So, he is towing the party line a little bit, but at least by all indications here, he um he he he considered it a victory. The enemy's defeated had been complete. Now, TJ Styles, the biographer, came up with a interesting observation that I kind of liked. You know, it's not my good fortune that Kuster was on staff because I would have better stories if he was leading guys in combat. But TJ Styles made the note that it was Kuster's good fortune to be on Mlen's staff on September 17th. Kuster, as a rule, and as we would see throughout his life and career, Kuster liked to be at the forefront of charges and as a rule, men like that died on September 17th. So, who knows? Had he perhaps been in a line capacity, a regiment or whatever, maybe maybe the outcome would have been different. But of course, as it was, he survived and and went on.

[00:37:33]Now, for my little big horn afficionados in the audience, there's just a little bonus slide here. How many little big horn enthusiasts would we say we have in the audience? Yeah. All right. All right. Hands going up. No. No. Not Jesse Reno, Marcus Reno.

[00:37:48]Because not only was George Kuster on the field here at Antidum, but so was a young captain by the name of Marcus Reno. And there he's highlighted there in that image. That is a fall of 1862 image from Ron Nichols's uh biography of Marcus Reno. But if you know the Little Big Horn story, to many people, Marcus Reno is is is the man who let Kuster down at the battle of Little Bigghorn and maybe perhaps directly or indirectly resulted in Kuster getting killed. So, it's great irony that you can claim to have both Kuster and Reno on the battlefield here in September of 1862.

[00:38:26]Captain Marcus Reno. He was company H of the First US Cavalry. He spent most of the month of September in the field in the saddle on recon. And Pleasanton's report dated September 19th or noting September 19th. Pleasanton's report says a portion of the first regular cavalry under Captain Reno did good service pursuing the enemy to the river. I have a whole separate presentation on Reno's Civil War career. He's not the screw up that little big horn people think he is, but that's probably for a different night. Also in the O as well, we do have a call out to Captain Marcus Reno with the Quarter Masters Guard. So, there's your Little Big Horn bonus for uh for anybody there. But how about this image?

[00:39:11]That is we get to the Grove Farm image in October of 1862.

[00:39:15]Described as rightfully so, one of the most famous images to be produced during the war. And you all know it. You've all seen it. Mlelen, Lincoln, and there there he is, Captain Kuster.

[00:39:31]Or is he?

[00:39:33]Because there's some like everything else in history, there's some debate about that. Well, here's what we know.

[00:39:42]The original caption by Alexander Gardner, and I'll go back to the picture. The original caption by Alexander Gardner did label Captain George A. Kuster is being in the image.

[00:39:54]And I have juxtaposed that with some examples of what Kuster looked like in the fall of 1862. And I think it's a I it's a pretty good match.

[00:40:04]I think you could certainly make the case that um um that that is Captain Kuster. He's with Mlen and all of that makes sense. Problem is is somebody I guess it was over at the Library of Congress. Somebody said, "Well, no, maybe it's attributed to what's listed in the Library of Congress is Colonel George Bachelder, but Colonel Bachelder would have also been a captain on staff in 1862."

[00:40:28]So, uh, some people think it's that guy.

[00:40:32]Some people think it's that guy. You can imagine the 600 Kuster books I have on my bookshelf think it's that guy. Uh, you know, otherwise I don't really have a dog in the fight on the the quote unquote debate. I don't know what what what Antidum people generally think if it's Kuster or Bachelder, but um certainly you can make the case on that.

[00:40:52]The other thing too is was Kuster nearby when Lincoln was making his presidential visit? Yes, he was. Because one of the things we found in kind of dredging this up was the New York Daily Herald of October 7th describing Lincoln's visit to the Army said that most of Mlullen's staff did accompany him on the visit dot dot dot including Captain Kuster a favorite and with flowing girls. So he was on the ground. So uh again if anybody has a case here that it's batch elder maybe we could have some fun in the Q&A with it. But otherwise, I think we're going to go with Captain Kuster for now.

[00:41:32]So, here he is, our boy, in one of the most famous images to be produced during the American Civil War until somebody proves otherwise.

[00:41:42]Okay, now October 3rd must have been a busy day.

[00:41:47]Or I'm going to guess maybe it wasn't a busy day. I'm thinking Lincoln has Mlen tied up all day. So maybe the captains and the aids to camp can uh have some time around because Kuster does some writing on October 3rd. And one letter that he writes that I wanted to call out tonight is a a frequently quoted one attributed to Kuster. And if you're not watching a great document, well, if you're watching a bad documentary or some books, sometimes they juxtapose some of these things. They kind of make it all sounds like he says this stuff after Gettysburg, you know, when he's been leading leading charges and stuff.

[00:42:24]But there's a quote attributed to him October 3rd, 62 where he says to his cousin, "You ask me if I will not be glad when the last battle is fought."

[00:42:33]Now, as far as my country is concerned, I may wish for peace and will be glad when the war is ended. But if I answer for myself alone, I must say that I will regret to see the war end. I would be willing, yes, glad to see a battle every day in my life. So, he's writing that only a couple of weeks after seeing the horrors of Antidum. Now, he didn't get his wish with a battle every day during his life, but he did at least get a battle on the last day of his life. A little bit of that, too.

[00:43:06]All the Kuster people on YouTube are going to kill me for that one.

[00:43:11]The other thing he did too, as I said, he must had some time to write because the other thing he does is he sends another letter that also ends up in the newspapers describing the presidential visit. And if you're debating, okay, did he or didn't he photobomb the Lincoln photo. Unfortunately, in the October 4th letter describing Lincoln's visit, Kuster makes no mention of a group photo. So, you know, if you're trying to weigh this, you can you go that. He does say during the visit that the day was spent by the president in reviewing the different core of the army and that Lincoln was gratified at the fine condition in which he found the troops and Lincoln frequently expressed his satisfaction of the troop conditions to Mlen. Now Kuster writes this kind of proudly like hey look at the condition of the army. I don't know about you guys, I'm thinking Lincoln is trolling Mlelen a little bit here. Kind of saying, General Mlelen, I'm surprised to see the army in such good condition.

[00:44:09]That's my take on it. But of course, I wasn't there either. But then the other thing is Kuster also ends this with one thing I can assure you that upon successfully perfecting and executing the plans agreed upon last night, the existence of our government will depend upon it.

[00:44:30]So whatever these guys are talking about in the tent here, successfully perfecting and executing the plans could depend the existence of the government.

[00:44:39]And what did Lincoln and Mlen agree upon? Of course, we don't know because by November Mlen is removed from command.

[00:44:47]Now Kuster stayed with Mlen preparing the reports, the official reports of the Antidum campaign. Kuster stayed with Mlen through midappril, April 13th I think it is of 1863. So they would have spent time in Washington I think maybe a little time in New York if I remember correctly but working on the reports. So think about that too when you go through the official reports of the Antidum campaign. George Kuster has his fingerprints all over those things. But that opportunity now, and I say opportunity loosely because obviously Kuster was not happy to see Mlelen removed from command. And you know when the commander is removed, the staff basically has to find a new assignment. But that opportunity did send Kuster home to his adopted hometown of Monroe, Michigan. And it was in late November, Thanksgiving of 1862, that George Armstrong Kuster formally met Libby Bacon at a Thanksgiving party.

[00:45:46]Now, they already knew each other. They had they knew of each other. They had probably met before, but this was sort of the formal, hi, I'm George. Hi, I'm Libby kind of thing. George was smitten at first sight and pursued Libby Bacon like a cavalary charge from here on out.

[00:46:02]overcame some opposition from her father and they were married in February of 1864. So, I'm just going to play a little what if history here.

[00:46:12]Libby Bacon, Libby Kuster becomes critical in the legend of George Kuster because after he dies, her books, her speeches, her public speaking and such are crucial to elevating the legend of George Armstrong Kuster. What if Mlen is never not removed from command? And what if George Kuster was still in the field with Mlen and never had time to go home to Monroe to meet Libby at that party?

[00:46:42]Huh? What if that never happens?

[00:46:45]Come on, guys. Go with me on this. I'm trying to elevate the importance of George Mlen. Go with me on this. So, think about that for a little little what if history that you can you can ponder on your way home tonight. So, they do formally meet though. They do marry in August. I'm sorry, in February.

[00:47:01]They meet in February of 1864 and on their honeymoon to New York City, who does George Kuster introduce his new bride to, Mr. and Mrs. George Mlen. And Libby would later write that at that time, George Mlen ran through our lives.

[00:47:18]We talked of him incessantly.

[00:47:21]Audi adored General Mlen. And that was an adoration that did more or less stay with Kuster throughout his life. and he wrote on it going back to some letters going back to those unfinished memoirs we talked about it he expressed some opinions in writing on Mlen and I want to share a few of them after Mlen's removal Kuster had written his father his father was also an ardent Democrat uh but Kuster had written his father that by politicians abused dishonored disgraced Mlelen will still come forth if he is in command without interference from persons intending to do right, but whose plans are the ruin of the army. So again, Kuster's towing the party line. George Mlen has not been defeated by Roberty Lee has not been defeated on the battlefield. He's been defeated by politicians who want to ruin the army.

[00:48:18]Kuster also considered Mlen's military qualifications and knowledge superior to any officer who subsequently led the army of the PTOAC. Sorry, George me. I know you had George me in here last week, but Kuster was a Mlelen person, superior to anyone who subsequently led the army of the PTOAC. Mlelen's greatest disadvantage, though, was although he was a natural leader, he was thrust into this high and supreme command without preparing himself by apprenticeship, working his way up through the ranks, the regimental colonel, brigade, division, and so on. And Kuster thought that was a shortcoming of Mlelen. And I left that in the presentation for one reason because historians have criticized George Kuster for exactly the same thing.

[00:49:06]>> So what Kuster thought might have been Mlen's shortcoming, historians have said is Kuster's greatest shortcoming as well. And last but not least, Kuster considered Mlelen to have been beaten, as I said, not by the enemy, but by the dominating spirits, largely in control of the federal government, the halfhidden influence of foes in the rear. That was Kuster in writing near the end of his life on George Mlen.

[00:49:33]So May of 1863, everybody remember Alfred Pleasanton from Boonboro in South Mountain. May of 1863, Kuster needs an assignment.

[00:49:43]Pleasanton invites Kuster to join him on his staff. And this is another significant factor I'm going to attribute to your campaign.

[00:49:54]I don't know when George Kuster and Alfred Pleasanton met for the first time, but clearly they spent time in the saddle together at South Mountain. And I would argue and Boonboro and I would argue that Pleasanton must have been impressed enough to come say to Kuster, "Come join me on my staff." So that's another one I'm gonna give you guys here for uh for 1862.

[00:50:17]Now, a soldier who fought with Kuster, Joseph Fought, Joseph Fought, fought with Kuster. Yeah, that's his real name.

[00:50:24]Joseph fought later wrote that if Lieutenant Kuster observed that it was important to make a movement, he would tell the commander to do it and the commander would have to do it, would not question it because he knew Lieutenant Kuster was working under General Pleasanton who would confirm every one of his instructions and movements.

[00:50:42]That's Joseph F writing on the Kuster Pleasanton relationship of 1863.

[00:50:49]Remember what we said about the 1862 version of Kuster that maybe he wasn't quite mature enough or ready enough to direct guys in battle. Remember we said Hooker was kind of maybe telling Kuster what to write in those messages. Well, I would argue here that maybe Joseph Fod is sort of indirectly telling us by spring of 1863, eight, nine months later, Lieutenant Kuster or Captain Kuster if you prefer, is um has kind of learned learned a few tricks along the way. And so it is June 29th, 1863, nine months give or take after South Mountain, Pleasanton promoted commanders who were prepared to fight to personally lead mounted attacks. And as often happens in life, Pleasanton also promoted people he knew and were comfortable with. In June 29th, 1863, Pleasanton going back to South Mountain in Boonboro, but Pleasanton was the one who recommended and got George Kuster promoted as Brigadier General. And what do you know? Not only are they dressing alike, but in October of 63 in a letter home, Kuster would write, "I do not believe a father could love his son more than General Pleasanton loves me." There we go, George. He's, you know, he's sort of taken that symbiotic father-son relationship from Mcqualin and now, at least for now, kind of turned it over to uh to Pleasanton. Uh a psychologist could probably make some money or at least come up with a good article kind of talking about Kuster's daddy issues with all of these guys. But then again, with more than 3,000 articles written about him, I guarantee you somebody already has.

[00:52:38]Now, Mlelen, though, is not yet out of the picture because in in the winter of 1864, in the winter of 1864, a campaign started in Washington to block confirmation of Kuster's appointment to Brigadier General. And what were the objections?

[00:52:57]Well, he's too young. He's an Ohio guy leading Michigan men. That kind of blocks the promotional path for Michigan guys.

[00:53:06]>> What was that? Sorry, I was thinking Ohio State, Michigan.

[00:53:09]>> Oh, yeah. There you go. Right.

[00:53:12]But um but a senator by the name of Jacob Howard also raised the allegation that Kuster was a copperhead, an opponent of the administration, and most seriously a Mlen man. All right. So all those favors George Mlen has done for George Kuster now though might be blocking Kuster's advancement at this right time. Kuster wrote to Howard and said, 'Look, during the time Mlelen was in command, I did support him, but I've never allowed my personal obligation to him for his kindness and his favors toward me interfere with my duty. I don't think he's putting Mlen under the bus, and I'll talk more about that on the next slide, but at least a little bit of that distance to say, "Hey, look, Mlen did great things for me, and I appreciate that, but I never let it interfere with my duty." He also assured Howard that he would not settle for peace as long as the slave remained in bondage and that we would pursue the war here to its to its extermination which as we know you know some of the Democrats are not not known for. Back to TJ Styles the biographer he described this memorably. Styles wrote that that whole thing it was all a lie. It was aggressively false breathtakingly false.

[00:54:26]A great ramshackle house of lies. I wish I could write like that. That's why I don't win Pulitzers. But I think Styles is maybe being a little too hard on the situation here. Every one of us or at least a good majority of this room at some time in our lives or careers had to tell a little white lie or maybe not put the guy somebody under the bus, but at least distance yourself from somebody to get a promotion on the job. And I think that's really all Kuster did. Uh so he's lying clearly on that part of it. But I would agree with the second part of it.

[00:55:02]Regardless of how Kuster felt politically, he never let anything throughout his life interfere with what he considered to be vigorous execution of his duty. And whatever you think of George Armstrong Kuster as a soldier Indian Wars, Civil War, uh you know, not being vigorous should should not be should not be one of them. So Mlen, they stayed in touch. They stayed close to each other. Kuster reportedly had a picture of Mlen either on his wall or on his desk in his office. But Kuster, of course, is killed in 1876.

[00:55:39]Mlelen's memoirs are published in 1887.

[00:55:42]In Mlen's memoirs, he addressed uh criticism against Kuster. You know, oh, people say Kuster was too rash and he did this and he did that. Mlen says in his memoirs that Kuster died as he lived. A gallant soldier and his whole career was such is to force me to believe that he had good reasons for acting as he did. So Mlen to the end was supportive of his boy that boy that he uh had become quite attached to in 1862.

[00:56:13]And so because of that, this is the George Armstrong Kuster that probably we're more familiar with. When we think of the American Civil War, the 1864 to 1865 uh brigadier general, major general of cavalry, this is the guy we think of. Some of these images were what got me excited about history. When I was a kid, seeing pictures of this in books and I kind of, who is that guy? That looks pretty cool. You know, not realizing that a lot of people thought he looked ridiculous. I think he looks pretty cool. Uh, but that's the Kuster that we're more more familiar with. And you know, kind of what I'll say then in closing to summarize, what did we do tonight? Yes, we worked Kuster through the the Maryland campaign, South Mountain, Boonesboro, Antidum, and so on. But um I think in a broader scope, 1862, as I said at the outset, has been a a focus of Kuster's career that has been glossed over by biographers and other historians. You know, we kind of take him from West Point to Gettysburg to Appamatics to Little Bigghorn and, you know, let's get to the good stuff and kind of skip a lot of developmental stuff in between. So 1862 he gets a reputation as a clear-headed tireless officer. He really gets his first significant combat experience and extended campaigning. But that staff promotion to Mlelen in my view changed his life in rescuing him from obscurity.

[00:57:41]And then again the exposure to Pleasanton took it to the next level leading to that promotion to what became brigadier general general. And last but not least, I'll say it again, ponder that what if Mlen stays in command and Kuster doesn't meet Libby Bacon. Whole lot of uh post-war history could have changed as well. So again, I'm giving you guys credit for for that one as well. So in closing, 1862, developing the legend, you go home, you're talking to people this weekend or whatever. Ah, this guy from Gettysburg came and talked about Kuster at at Antidum. And when that person sides and goes, well, he was just a staff officer, right? Tell them no, no, no, there was much more much more to the story, not just a staff officer. So, with that, I think that is my last slide. Uh, I will thank you all for your attention and I guess we'll uh open her up to any questions.

[00:58:46]questions.

[00:58:47]>> Any questions, comments, anything?

[00:58:52]>> Could that mix up with the picture be his brother?

[00:58:54]>> What's that?

[00:58:55]>> Could that mix up with the picture be his brother? No, cuz Tom C the question was with