Glorious War: The Civil War Adventures of George Armstrong Custer by Thom Hatch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thom Hatch thinks George Custer has gotten a bad rap. Most of us only know him as an Indian fighter who died with most of his troops at Little Big Horn. His involvement in this morally questionable aspect of American history and the allegation of strategic mistakes that led to this debacle has cast a pall on Custer’s character.

Hatch resorts to the Civil War record of Custer to balance the account. He begins with the early life of Custer, rising from poor backgrounds and being something of a hell-raiser to a mediocre West Point experience where he barely remained in the academy to a sober but daring fighter shaped by both his love for Libbie Bacon and his command experience.

Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer, US Army, 1865

Custer had the good fortune to be assigned to McClellan’s headquarters and his actions at the first battle of Bull Run led to promotion to captain. After McClellan was replaced, he was appointed to the staff of Alfred Pleasonton and was promoted to brigadier general at age 23, just before the battle of Gettysburg. Stationed east of Gettysburg, he holds off the much larger force of Stuart in a courageously fought cavalry battle on the critical third day. Hatch argues that Stuart’s objective was to attack the Union line from behind while Pickett charged from the front and that Custer’s resistance and decisive leadership was critical to the Union victory.

He continues to distinguish himself in the pursuit of Confederate forces and it was under his command that Jeb Stuart was fatally wounded, perhaps one of the greatest blows to the Confederacy apart from the loss of Stonewall Jackson. He leads his troops in what was thought to be a suicide mission in what was later called the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid, designed to be a diversion to a Union thrust toward Richmond. The raid is a startling success, the thrust a dismal failure.

Only under Phil Sheridan do Custer’s skills of careful strategic planning and daring personal leadership come to the full in a series of engagements that broke the Confederate cavalry and devastated the Shenandoah valley, the Confederacy’s breadbasket. He also plays a decisive role in the Battle of Five Forks, after which the Confederates surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse.

Parallel to Custer’s fight for the Union is his fight for the heart of Libbie Bacon, blocked by her father, a distinguished judge who remembered Custer’s poor beginnings and one dissolute episode in his early life. Through an intermediary, he communicates with Libbie, and through his personal reformation and military success wins over the judge, and the daughter’s hand. Hatch emphasizes the moral influence Libbie has on him and apparently it was through her that Custer had a conversion experience under the ministry of a Presbyterian pastor.

Hatch gives us an engaging account of Custer that portrays him as a man of character, a courageous leader and a genuine Civil War hero. My only critique of this otherwise engaging work is that at times it seems to drift into hagiography. A more nuanced approach that was more candid about Custer’s flaws might have actually made the point more powerfully. Nevertheless, this helped me see a side of Custer of which I was unaware that changed my perceptions of this interesting character.

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