The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Major General George Armstrong Custer - Jan. 10th, 2005

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[SAMWolf]

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Major General George Armstrong Custer
(1839-1876)

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George Custer, the son of a blacksmith, was born in New Rumley, Ohio, on 5th December, 1839. The family was poor and when he was ten Custer was forced to live with his aunt in Monroe. While at school he met his future wife, Elizabeth Bacon, the daughter of a judge. Custer did odd jobs for her family, but was never allowed into the house.

Custer wanted to become a lawyer but his family could not afford the training so he decided to become a soldier instead. He attended the Military Academy at West Point but he was a poor student and when he finally graduated in 1861 he was placed 34th out of a class of 34.

After leaving West Point he joined the staff of General George B. McClellan and during the American Civil War he saw action at Bull Run (August, 1862), Antietam (September, 1862) and Gettysburg (June, 1863). Custer emerged as an outstanding cavalry leader and at the age of 23, was given the rank of brigadier general and took command of the Michigan Brigade.

Custer developed a reputation for flamboyant behaviour. He led his troops into battle wearing a black velvet trimmed with gold lace, a crimson necktie and a white hat. He claimed that he adopted this outfit so that his men "would recognize him on any part of the field".

In August , 1864, Custer joined Major General Philip Sheridan in the final Shenandoah Valley campaign. Sheridan and 40,000 soldiers entered the valley and soon encountered troops led by Jubal Early who had just returned from Washington. After a series of minor defeats the Union Army eventually gained the upper hand. His men now burnt and destroyed anything of value in the area and after defeating Early in another large-scale battle on 19th October, the Union Army took control of the Shenandoah Valley.



Custer was a strong supporter of his own abilities. He said of his performance at Gettysburg: "I challenge the annals of warfare to produce a more brilliant or successful charge of cavalry." He also managed to persuade journalists to share this view. After Custer took part in the Shenandoah Valley campaign E. A. Paul of the New York Times reported that "Custer, young as he is, displayed judgment worthy of a Napoleon."

On 1st April, Philip Sheridan, William Sherman and Custer attacked at Five Forks. The Confederates, led by Major General George Pickett, were overwhelmed and lost 5,200 men. On hearing the news, Robert E. Lee decided to abandon Richmond and President Jefferson Davis, his family and government officials, was forced to flee from the city.

By the end of the war Custer had been breveted for gallant and meritorious services on five occasions. Although only wounded once he had 11 horses killed under him.


Gen. Custer prepares for battle at Hanover, June 30, 1863.

In January 1866, his commission as major-general expired and he reverted to his 1862 rank of captain in the Regular Army. However, in July, 1866, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel (he was also given the honorary rank of major general) and made second in command of the newly created Seventh Cavalry. He was posted to Fort Riley in Kansas and spent the winter of 1866-67 preparing his troops to take part in the Indian Wars.

Custer's behaviour continued to be erratic. In July 1867 fifteen of his men deserted during a forced march along the Republican River. Custer ordered a search party "to shoot the supposed deserters down dead, and to bring none in alive." Soon afterwards he deserted his command in order to spend a day with his wife. As a result of this actions he was arrested and charged with disobeying orders, deserting his command, failing to pursue Indians who had attacked his escort and ordering his officers to shoot down deserters. Found guilty he was suspended for a year without pay.


Washita River Massacre
Four years after the Sand Creek massacre, Black Kettle and his wife took the rest of the Cheyenne survivers to a new reservation at washita River in Indian territory. But at dawn on november 22 1868 when the Cheyenne villiage were sleeping, the 7th U.S cavallry regement led by George.A.Custer charged the peaceful villiage.

General Philip H. Sheridan recalled Custer to duty and on 27th November, 1868, Custer destroyed the Cheyenne village of Chief Black Kettle on the banks of the Washita River. Custer later claimed that his men killed 103 warriors. However, the majority of the victims were women and children. This action was highly controversial as the Cheyenne were not at war against the Americans at this time. General Harney pointed out: "I have worn the uniform of my country 55 years, and I know that Black Kettle was as good a friend of the United States as I am."

One of his own men, Captain Frederick Benteen, also criticized Custer's behaviour during this operation. He was mainly concerned with what happened to Major Joel Elliott and 18 of his men who had been sent off to pursue fleeing members of the Cheyenne tribe. They had been cut off and massacred by warriors from neighbouring villages. Benteen accused Custer of abandoning these men and had been responsible for their deaths. General Philip H. Sheridan rejected these claims and complimented Custer on his "efficient and gallant services" during the attack.


George Armstrong Custer, his wife Libbie and his brother Tom, who also died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876

In August 1873, Custer was involved in protecting a group of railroad surveyors. The group were attacked by a Sioux war party near the mouth of Tongue River. During the raid two of the surveyors were killed. Later, Charley Reynolds, an Indian scout, told Custer that Rain in the Face had led the attack at Tongue River. Rain in the Face was living on the Standing Rock Reservation at the time and so Custer had him arrested. Custer forced Rain in the Face to confess but before he could appear in court he managed to escape.

In 1873 Custer was a member of General David Stanley's Yellowstone expedition. Later that year he took command of Fort Abraham Lincoln on the River Missouri. In 1874 Custer led an expedition into the Black Hills of Dakota. Later he published an autobiography, My Life on the Plains (1874).

Custer was called to Washington in March, 1876, to testify before a Congressional committee probing frauds in the Indian Service. President Ulysses Grant was furious when Custer's evidence damaged the reputation of his former War Secretary, William Belknap. Grant was so angry he deprived Custer of his command. However, after protests from senior officers in the army, Grant backed down and Custer was able to return as commander of the 7th Cavalry.



At this time the Sioux and Cheyenne were attempting to resist the advance of white migration. On 17th June 1876 General George Crook and about 1,000 troops, supported by 300 Crow and Shoshone, fought against 1,500 members of the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes. The battle at Rosebud Creek lasted for over six hours. This was the first time that Native Americans had united together to fight in such large numbers.

On 22nd June, Custer and 655 men were sent out to locate the villages of the Sioux and Cheyenne involved in the battle at Rosebud Creek. A very large encampment was discovered three days later. It was over 15 miles away and even with field glasses Custer was unable to discover the number of warriors the camp contained.


Before the Little Big Horn

On June 25,1876, the sun rose on a bright Montana morning. The Seventh Cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, was arrayed on the high ground of the Little Wolf Mountains after an all-night march up the valley of the Rosebud.
Crow scouts returned with alarming reports of a large encampment of Sioux and Cheyenne close by, along the Little Bighorn river. Headstrong and audacious to the bitter end, Custer led his troops down off the mountain and toward their date with destiny.

Instead of waiting for the arrival of the rest of the army led by General Alfred Terry, Custer decided to act straight way. He divided his force into three battalions in order to attack the camp from three different directions. One group led by Captain Frederick Benteen was ordered to march to the left. A second group led by Major Marcus Reno was sent to attack the encampment via the Little Big Horn River.

Major Reno was the first to charge the village. When he discovered that the camp was far larger than was expected he retreated to the other side of the Little Big Horn River. He was later joined by Captain Benteen and although they suffered heavy casualties they were able to fight off the attack.


Major Marcus A. Reno

Custer and his men rode north on the east side of the Little Big Horn River. The Sioux and Cheyenne saw Custer's men and swarmed out of the village. Custer was forced to retreat into the bluffs to the east where he was attacked by about 4,000 warriors. At the battle of the Little Bighorn Custer and all his 231 men were killed. This included his two brothers, Tom and Boston, his brother-in-law, James Calhoun, and his nephew, Autie Reed.

The soldiers under Reno and Benteen continued to be attacked and 47 of them were killed before they were rescued by the arrival of General Alfred Terry and his army. It was claimed afterwards that Custer had been killed by his old enemy, Rain in the Face. However, there is no hard evidence to suggest that this is true.


Captain Frederick W. Benteen

General Philip H. Sheridan concluded that George A. Custer had made several important mistakes at the Little Big Horn. He argued that after their seventy mile journey, Custer's men were too tired to fight effectively. Custer had also made a mistake in developing a plan of attack on the false assumption that the Sioux and Cheyenne would attempt to escape rather than fight the soldiers.

Sheridan also criticized Custer's decision to divide his men into three groups: "Had the Seventh Cavalry been held together, it would have been able to handle the Indians on the Little Big Horn." His final mistake was to attack what was probably the largest group of Native Americans ever assembled on the North American continent. President Ulysses Grant agreed with this assessment and when interviewed by the New York Herald he said: "I regard Custer's Massacre was a sacrifice of troops, brought on by Custer himself, that was wholly unnecessary".

Despite this criticism George Custer was given a hero's burial at West Point.

[SAMWolf]

Fort Riley, Kansas

The conclusion of the Civil War in 1865 emphasized the importance of Fort Riley, Kansas in providing protection to the railroad lines being built across Kansas. Evidence of this occurred in the summer and fall of 1866 when the Union Pacific Railroad reached Fort Riley and the 7th Cavalry Regiment was organized at the fort, commanded by Colonel Andrew J. Smith. The regiment's ranks were filled with a hard bitten crew of trappers, veterans from the Civil War and frontiersmen. Subsequently, Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer arrived in December and was appointed to the vacant Lt. Colonel position to take charge of the new regiment.

Generals Custer and Hampton
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
July 3, 1863

In 1861, Custer had graduated from West Point just in time to participate in the First Battle of Manassas. He later served on the staffs of Generals McClellan and Pleasanton. He had a distinguished military career in the Civil War. On 26 June 1863, he was appointed the "Brevet" rank of Brigadier General of Volunteers and placed in command of the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division at Gettysburg and Yellow Tavern. He commanded the 3rd Cavalry Division in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, Fisher's Hill and Five Forks. In April 1865, he was promoted to Major General of Volunteers. At the end of the War, the need for command officers was no longer there and many, to stay in service, accepted demotions to a lower rank and paid the wages of rank now held, but was always given the respect and the title of the higher rank previously held. After the War, Custer was required to revert to his previous permanent rank of Captain. He then entered the painstakingly slow promotion process that was customary in the small regular army. That's why Custer was always referred to as "General Custer".

In 1867, one of Custer's first official acts with the Seventh Cavalry was to organize a regimental band. The reason that "GarryOwen" was adopted as the regimental song, as the story goes - one of the Irish "melting pot" troopers of the 7th Cavalry, under the influence of "spirits", was singing the song. By chance Custer heard the melody, liked the cadence, and soon began to hum the tune himself. The tune has a lively beat, that accentuates the cadence of marching horses. Soon the tune was played so often that the 7th Cavalry became known as the GarryOwen Regiment. GarryOwen" eventually became the official song of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas in 1981.

In March 1867, when Indian attacks became more and more violent in the high plains of western Kansas and eastern Colorado, the 7th Cavalry was given its first opportunity to see what fighting Indians was all about. Under the command of General Hancock, they marched from Fort Riley to Fort Larned where they were joined by 6 infantry companies and a battery of artillery, creating a task force consisting of over 1,400 men.

In April 1867, a meeting was held between the Army and a few chiefs of the Plains Indians. Due to a misunderstanding, when the Army moved their troops closer to the Indian encampment, the Indians feared an attack and they fled under the cover of night. Custer and the 7th Cavalry, given the task of tracking the Indians down, spent the entire summer in the attempt to find them. The only contact they made with the Indians were with small war parties which constantly harassed the troops.

During this campaign, Custer later left his command in the field and traveled back to Fort Riley to visit his wife. Upon arrival there, Custer was placed under arrest for being Absent With Out Leave. On 15 September 1867, Custer was court-martialed and found guilty. He was sentenced to one year suspension from rank and pay. He went home to Monroe, Michigan where he waited out his suspension.

On 24 September 1868, Custer's court martial was remitted and he rerejoined his troops on Bluff Creek (near present day Ashland, Kansas.). Almost immediately upon his arrival, the Indians attacked the camp. Custer and his troopers gave chase and followed the Indians' trail back to Medicine Lodge Creek, but found no Indians. Custer returned to his camp on Bluff Creek where, he and General Sheridan planned a Winter Campaign. Then heavy snows of winter would slow down the warriors, and their ponies would be weak and could not travel far. If the Indian villages were hard hit and their supplies destroyed, the Indians would have to return to the reservation or starve. They knew that during the winter months, the Indians would stay at one location which had good water and a source of firewood for heat; all they had to do was - to find it!

A Confederate prisoner poses with Captain George A. Custer in 1862

Sheridan's plan involved three columns: Colonel Andrew W. Evans with six troops of the 3rd Cavalry and two companies of the 37th Infantry were to travel down the South Canadian River. The second column consisted of seven troops of the 5th Cavalry under the command of Major Eugene A. Carr. They marched southeast from Fort Lyon, Colorado, and connected with Captain William H. Penrose and his column of five troops of cavalry. Then they scouted at Antelope Hills, along the North Fork of the Canadian River. The third column was to march from Fort Dodge under the command of General Sully and George A. Custer.

Washita River, Oklahoma

General Sheridan selected the 7th Cavalry, commanded by George Armstrong Custer, to take the lead. They were to move southward, and engage the Indians. This column was made up of eleven troops of the 7th Cavalry and five companies of the 3rd Infantry. Setting out in a snowstorm, Custer followed the tracks of a small Indian raiding party to a Cheyenne village on the Washita River. At dawn he ordered an attack. It was Chief Black Kettle's village, well within the boundaries of the Cheyenne reservation. Nevertheless, on 27 November 1868, nearly four years after the battle of Sand Creek, Custer's troops charged, and this time Black Kettle could not escape. In a subsequent battle of the Winter Campaign, the 3rd Cavalry under the command of Colonel Andrew W. Evans, struck another Comanche village at Soldiers Spring on Christmas Day. The Winter Campaign had been waged successfully against the Cheyenne in the Oklahoma Territory. The scattered remnants of the Cheyenne were decisively defeated.

Afterwards, most of the Cheyenes, Comanches and other tribes still on the plains returned to the agencies. In March 1869, the Comanche-Kiowa agency was relocated to Fort Sill, a new fort constructed in the Indian Plains Territory, and the Cheyenne-Arapaho agency was relocated to Darlington. Only the Kwahada were still on the Staked Plains. The Kiowa and other Comanches were on the reservation, but by the fall of 1869 small war parties were occasionally leaving to raid in Texas.

In September 1871, the 7th Cavalry was distributed by squadrons and company over seven Southern States to enforce federal taxes on distilleries and suppress the activities of the Ku Klux Klan. Custer was assigned to Elizabethtown, Kentucky where his chief duty was to inspect and purchase horses for the Army.

General Custer sitting with some of his scouts

In February 1873, Custer got the good news that the 7th Cavalry was being reunited and being sent north to Fort Rice in the Dakota Territory. His mission was to protect settlers in the region and the engineers of the Northern Pacific Railroad who were surveying a rail route across the Yellowstone River from the Sioux Indians.

In the last week of March 1873, the 7th Cavalry assembled at Memphis, Tennessee where they boarded steamboats for Cairo, Illinois. At Cairo, the regiment changed to overland rail headed northwest into the winter weather of Yankton, Dakota Territory. The journey to Fort Rice was completed in a 300 mile march, arriving on 10 June 1873.

[SAMWolf]

Custer's Black Hills Expedition

The completion of the overland railroad link provided an easy means of transportation for gold seekers and farmers to come to the area. As the migration continued, trouble with the Sioux increased. On 20 June 1873 an expedition was ordered to move into the Black Hills of Dakota to provide protection for railroad construction parties. The expedition consisted of 1,451 troopers, 79 officers, and 275 wagons. As a focal point of scouting activities, a permanent encampment was established at Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Yellowstone Territories. From 1873 to 1876, Custer commanded the Seventh Cavalry at Fort Abraham Lincoln south of Mandan. In 1874, he led his troops south into the Black Hills, which six years earlier had been set aside as part of the Great Sioux Reservation. When Custer reported finding gold, the government offered to buy the land from the Sioux, but they refused to sell. The Army then allowed gold prospectors to come into the Reservation's hills by the thousands. The Army's action prompted many Sioux to leave their North Dakota reservations and join with other Sioux in Montana led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, who were resisting white government control.


George Armstrong Custer (left center in light clothing) leads a military expedition into the Black Hills of Dakota Territory in 1874

In 1875, the regiment escorted a railroad survey party into the Yellowstone Valley. This expedition brought the regiment into regular contact with the Indian raiding parties, however no serious battles or encounters occurred until the fateful expedition of 17 May 1876. General Alferd H. Terry was in overall command of an Army campaign to relocate the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians from the open plains to reservations. The 7th Regiment rode out of Fort Lincoln on 17 May 1876, with Custer along with the Arikara and Osage scouts leading the way, followed by 1,200 men and 1,700 horses and mules. The 7th Cavalry Band played "The Girl I Left Behind Me".

The intent of Genaral Terry was to trap the Indians between Custer and Major General John Gibbon in the Little Big Horn Valley. Custer had been ordered to move a band of Indians toward the large cavalry force. Custer was to pass all the way down the Rosebud Creek and cross over to the Little Big Horn Valley and move north, in a blocking maneuver to prevent the Indians from escaping south. Custer marched with approximately 700 soldiers, moving south for several days, identifying Indian camp signs all along the way. After making visual contact with the Indians on 23 June, Custer ordered the column to turn west toward the Little Big Horn Valley. On 24 June, the Arikara and Osage scouts identified a party of Sioux following them. The Sioux fled when approached and Custer did not want any of the Sioux encampment to escape. On the night of 24 June, Custer outlined the plan for the next day. When the his regiment reached the Sioux encampment on 25 June 1876, Custer made a decision to attack and fight the Indians.



One of the most chronicled events in the history of the American West was the famous Battle of the Little Big Horn, otherwise known as Custer's Last Stand. Traveling up Rosebud Creek, at 12:07 Custer split his command into three battalions. Major Reno, in command of companies "A", "G", and "M", was directed to attack the southern most end of the village in the valley. Captain Benteen, in command of companies "D", "H", and "K", was directed to explore the area in a southwesterly direction and to "pitch into anything that he might find." Captain McDougall was assigned with "B" Company to guard the pack train. Custer took the five companies of "C", "E", "F", "I", and "L" to make a frontal attack on the encampment.

Comanche - Sole Survivor



Within a short period of time, Custer and his troops were annihilated by the full might of an estimated 5,000 Sioux Indians who were led by Chief Sitting Bull and Chief Crazy Horse. Four days later, the other two battalions of the regiment were rescued by supporting cavalry troops under the command of Generals Terry and Gibbon. In the search for survivors of Custer's forces, not one of the 264 troopers under Custer's command was found alive. Five members of the Custer family were killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn; the General, his brother Captain Tom Custer, brother-in-law Captain James Calhoun, younger brother Boston, and nephew Autie Reed. Both Boston and Autie were civilians.


Comanche, "the only living thing found on Custer Battlefield." This photograph was taken at Fort Lincoln, 1877, about 1 year after the battle. Blacksmith Korn is holding the bridle and Capt. H. J. Nowlan, Seventh Cavalry, is in the background.

Only one horse, with seven arrows in his body, was found in a thicket. The horse, named Comanche, was a gelding ridden by Captain Keogh, one of Custer's officers. In the subsequent campaigns of 1876, troopers of the 5th Regiment rode after the Sioux to avenge the death of their comrades. While Sitting Bull was pursued into Canada, Crazy Horse and the Cheyennes traveled about, comparatively undisturbed. In July 1877, he was finally prevailed upon to come to Fort Robinson, Nebraska on the distinct understanding that the government would hear and adjust their grievances, many of which are still unresolved today.

Additional Sources:

www.garryowen.com
www.americaslibrary.gov
littlebighorn.8k.com
www.pbs.org
www.ndsu.edu
www.affv.nu
gcuster0.tripod.com
www.popularposters.com
www.lilliputmodel.com
www.indianwars.org
www.framery.com

[SAMWolf]

'Custer . . . was a brave, brilliant soldier, handsome and dashing, but he was reckless, hasty and impulsive, preferring to make a daredevil rush and take risks rather than to move slower and with more certainty, and it was his own mad-cap haste, rashness and love of fame that cost him his own life, and cost the service the loss of many brave officers and gallant men. He preferred to make a reckless dash and take the consequences, in the hope of making a personal victory and adding to the glory of another charge, rather than wait for a sufficiently powerful force to make the fight successful and share the glory with others. He took the risk and he lost.'

-- Chicago Tribune (7th July, 1876)

'I regard Custer's Massacre was a sacrifice of troops, brought on by Custer himself, that was wholly unnecessary - wholly unnecessary.'

-- President Ulysses Grant,
interviewed by the New York Herald (2nd September, 1876)

[SAMWolf]

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[Iris7]

Morning, Snippy. About Custer, the articles you picked are good, in my opinion. About the Little Big Horn, I am with Sheridan as in the article:

"Sheridan .... criticized Custer's decision to divide his men into three groups: "Had the Seventh Cavalry been held together, it would have been able to handle the Indians on the Little Big Horn.""

Think so too. The Gatlings and 15,000 rounds per gun wouldn't have hurt, either. Make it a dozen Gatlings.

War is risky, after the fact criticism doesn't help much. Not that Custer was a Tony Franks or anything like him.

[Iris7]

Don't take me wrong. Custer was quite a man. Real Dog of War. One hard a$$ed cavalryman. Always led from the front, never (well, rarely!) was anywhere but where the action was.

Needed a steady boss on the scene, because Custer was too moody and excitable. Sheridan, for instance. There was one tough SOB.

Nothing in comparison with Bedford Forrest, goes without saying. Sheridan or Custer.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[GailA]

Good morning

[The Mayor]

January 10, 2005

Panic Prayers

Read: Psalm 37:1-8

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. —Psalm 37:5

Bible In One Year: Genesis 30-32

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In her book Beyond Our Selves, Catherine Marshall wrote about learning to surrender her entire life to God through a "prayer of relinquishment." When she encountered situations she feared, she often panicked and exhibited a demanding spirit in prayer: "God, I must have thus and so." God seemed remote. But when she surrendered the dreaded situation to Him to do with it exactly as He pleased, fear left and peace returned. From that moment on, God began working things out.

In Psalm 37, David talked about both commitment and surrender: "Commit your way to the Lord," he said, "trust also in Him" (v.5). Committed believers are those who sincerely follow and serve the Lord, and it's appropriate to urge people to have greater commitment. But committing ourselves to God and trusting Him imply surrendering every area of our lives to His wise control, especially when fear and panic overtake us. The promised result of such wholehearted commitment and trust is that God will do what is best for us.

Instead of trying to quell your fears with panic prayers, surrender yourself to God through a prayer of relinquishment, and see what He will do. —Joanie Yoder

Lord, take my life and make it wholly Thine;
Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine.
Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride;
I now surrender, Lord—in me abide. —Orr

Prayer is the bridge between panic and peace.

[alfa6]

Wow, a General Custer Thread for the Monday Freeper Foxhole.

Allow me one Bumperooni for the Foxhole today,

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-Gram.

by Lee Harshman

December 23, 2004

Sgt. 1st Class Malactasi Togafau, from 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, sights his compass in preparation for firing mortars against insurgents near Al Dawr, Iraq. This photo appeared on www.army.mil

I'm a GI, I have chocolate size

[Valin]

On this Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on January 10:
1502 Hendrik Niclaes German/Dutch merchant/cult leader ('Family of Love')
1628 Jan Theunisz Blanckerhoff [Jan Maet], seascape painter)
1738 Ethan Allen Revolutionary War fighter (led the Green Mountain Boys)
1747 Abraham L Breguet French clock maker
1768 James Varicick 1st AME Zion Bishop
1769 Michel Ney French marshal (Waterloo)
1780 M Heinrich C Lichtenstein German zoologist
1815 Alexander Brydie Dyer Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1874
1815 Thomas Williams Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1825 Alexander Travis Hawthorn Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1899
1834 John Acton English historian/MP
1864 George Washington Carver agricultural scientist (estimate date - actual birthdate unknown)
1876 Johannes W "Jan" Eisenloeffel Dutch goldsmith
1877 Frederick Gardner Cottrell inventor (electrostatic precipitator)
1880 Manuel Azaña y Díaz PM/President of 2nd Spanish republic (1936-39)
1883 Francis X Bushman Norfolk VA, silent film actor (Ben Hur, Spy's Defeat)
1892 Dumas Malone Mississippi, historian (Jefferson & His Time)
1898 Sergei M Eisenstein Russian director (Alexandr Nevski)
1904 Ray Bolger Dorchester MA, actor/dancer (Wizard of Oz)
1908 Bernard Lee London England, actor (M in James Bond movies)
1917 Jerry Wexler music producer (Aretha Franklin/Bob Dylan)
1927 Gisele MacKenzie Winnipeg Manitoba, singer/actress (Your Hit Parade)
1930 Roy E Disney CEO (Disney)
1935 Ronnie (the Hawk) Hawkins Ark, rocker (Who Do You Love?)
1939 Sal Mineo New York City NY, actor (Exodus, Rebel Without a Cause)
1942 Walter Hill director (48 Hours, Extreme Prejudice)
1943 Jim Croce Philadelphia PA, singer/songwriter (Time in a Bottle, Bad Bad Leroy Brown)
1945 Rod Stewart London England, singer (Maggie Mae, Da Ya Think I'm Sexy)
1948 Donald Fagen Passaic NJ, rock vocalist/keyboardist (Steely Dan-Peg)
1949 Teresa Graves Houston TX, actress (Laugh-in, Get Christie Love)
1949 George Foreman Marshall TX, world heavyweight boxing champ (1973-74, 95)
1953 Bobby Rahal Indy-car racer (over 15 wins)
1968 Lyle Menendez NY, accused of killing his parents (Menendez Brothers)

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Deaths which occurred on January 10:
0681 Agatho Sicilian pope (678-81), dies
0976 John I Tzimisces co-emperor of Byzantium (969-76), dies at 51
1276 Gregorius X [Tedaldo Visconti], pope, dies
1542 Gerardus Noviomagus [Gerrit Geldenhauer], Dutch theologist, die at 59
1645 William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury, beheaded for treason at 71
1778 Carolus Linnæus "Carl von Linné" Swedish botanist/explorer/"Father of Taxonomy", dies at 70
1824 Victor Emanuel I king of Sardinia (1802-21), dies at 64
1862 Samuel Colt inventor (6 shot revolver), dies at 47
1917 Buffalo Bill Cody army scout & Indian fighter, dies
1934 Marinus van der Lubbe Dutch communist, beheaded in Berlin at 24
1941 Joseph Schmidlin German church historian, murdered at 67
1961 Dashiell Hammett author (Maltese Falcon, Thin Man), dies from throat cancer at 66
1971 Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel French fashion designer, dies at 87
1976 Chester Arthur Burnett(Howlin' Wolf) US blues singer/guitarist, dies at 65
1978 John D Rockefeller III US billionaire/philanthropist, dies at 71
1978 Zeb Turner country-rock performer (Chew Tobacco Rag), dies at 62
1980 George Meany labor leader, dies at 85
1981 Richard Boone actor (Paladin-Have Gun Will Travel), dies at 63
1982 Paul Lynde comedian/actor (Uncle Arthur-Bewitched, Bye Bye Birdie, Bewitched), dies at 55
1996 Alexander Robertus organic chemist, dies at 88
1996 Arthur Sydney Martin spycatcher, dies at 81

---

Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1967 GAULEY JAMES P.---RINGWOOD OK.
1967 STOVES MERRITT III---BIRMINGHAM AL.
1968 HOPPER EARL P. JR.---GLENDALE AZ.
[EJECTION PROBLEMS CRASH]
1968 HALL KEITH N.---GRAND FORKS ND
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1969 SPROTT ARTHUR R. JR.---DELRAY BEACH FL.
1970 ALLEN WAYNE C.---TEWKSBURY MA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 09/90 ID'D 04/91]
1970 CROSBY HERBERT C.---GA
1970 HOWES GEORGE A.---KNOX IN.
1973 CLARK ROBERT A.---NORTH HOLLYWOOD CA.*
1973 MC CORMICK MICHAEL T.---HONOLULU HI.
*Remains ID'd
Servicemen Missing from Vietnam War Identified
United States Department of Defense January 9, 2004 DoD
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1054904/posts?page=2#2

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

---

On this day...
0049 BC Julius Cesar crosses the Rubicon, invades Italy
0236 St Fabian begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0681 St Agatho ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1072 Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo
1356 German emperor Charles I delegates Golden Degree
1429 Order of the Golden Fleece established in Austria-Hungary & Spain
1430 Duke Philip the Good marries Isabella of Portugal
1514 Complutensian New Testament in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek & Latin finished
1550 1st sitting of "Vurige Chamber" in Paris
1642 King Charles I & family flee London for Oxford
1663 King Charles II affirms charter of Royal African Company
1806 Dutch in Cape Town, South African surrender to the British
1810 French church annuls marriage of Napoleon I & Joséphine
1811 Louisiana slaves rebel in 2 parishes
1839 Tea from India 1st arrives in UK
1840 Penny Post mail system started
1845 Poets Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning begin corresponding
1861 US forts & property seized by Mississippi
1861 Florida becomes 3rd state to secede from US
1861 Fort Jackson & Fort Philip are taken over by Los Angeles state troops
1862 Battle of Big Sandy River KY (Middle Creek)
1862 Battle of Romney WV
1863 1st underground railway opens in London
1863 General McClernand's Union troops surround Fort Hindman AR
1863 January-uprising begins in Poland
1870 Georgia legislature reconvenes
1870 John D Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil
1878 US Senate proposes female suffrage
1889 Ivory Coast declared a protectorate of France
1890 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Sapientiae Christianae
1901 Oil discovered at Spindletop claim near Beaumont, Texas
1911 1st photo in US taken from an airplane, San Diego
1912 World's 1st flying boat's maiden flight, (Glenn Curtiss in NY)
1916 Russian offensive in Kaukasus
1920 League of Nations' 1st meeting, Treaty of Versailles in effect
1923 Last US troops leave Rhineland (Germany)
1923 Lithuania seizes & annexes country of Memel
1925 Miriam (Ma) Ferguson sworn in as Texas Governor, nation's 2nd woman governor
1927 Fritz Lang's Metropolis premieres
1928 Soviet Union orders exile of Leon Trotsky
1935 Actress Mary Pickford marries actor Douglas Fairbanks
1941 Joseph Kesselring's "Arsenic & Old Lace" premieres in New York City NY
1941 Seyss-Inquart begins registration of Jews
1942 Japan invades North-Celebes, Dutch East Indies
1943 1st US President to visit a foreign country in wartime-FDR leaves for Casablanca, Morocco
1943 Russian offensive against German 6th/4th Armies near Stalingrad
1944 1st mobile electric power plant delivered, Philadelphia
1944 British troops conquer Maungdaw, Burma
1945 Los Angeles Railway (with 5 streetcar lines) forced to close
1946 UN General Assembly convenes for 1st time (London)
1946 US Army establishes 1st radar contact with Moon, Belmar NJ
1947 British stop ships Independence & In-Gathering from landing in Israel
1949 RCA introduces 45 RPM record
1951 1st jet passenger trip made
1951 UN headquarters opens in Manhattan NY
1956 Elvis records "Heartbreak Hotel"
1957 Anthony Eden resigns & Harold Macmillan becomes PM Britain
1958 Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" reaches #1 on the country and r&b charts, #2 on the pop chart
1964 US version of "That Was The Week That Was" premieres
1964 Battles between moslems & hindus in Calcutta
1964 Panamá severs diplomatic relations with US
1966 Julian Bond denied seat in Georgia legislature for opposing Vietnam War
1966 India & Pakistan sign peace accord
1967 Edward Brooke, takes (Senator-R-MA) seat as 1st popular elected black
1967 PBS (National Educational TV) begins as a 70 station network
1967 Lester Maddox inaugurated as Governor of Georgia
1968 US Surveyor 7 lands near lunar crater Tycho
1969 USSR's Venera 6 launched for parachute landing on Venus
1969 Sweden (1st Western country) recognizes North Vietnam
1972 Triple album set "Concert for Bangladesh" released in UK
1972 Sheik Mujib ur-Rahman arrives in Dacca, East-Pakistan
1979 1st brother Billy Carter makes allegedly anti-Semitic remarks
1980 Last broadcast of "Rockford Files" on NBC
1981 John Severin sets 100-mile unicycle speed record, 9 h 21 m
1981 El Salvador guerrilla group FMLN opens "general offensive"
1983 New York Supreme Court issues a preliminary injunction barring New York Yankees from playing season-opening series against Tigers in Denver
1984 Argentine ex-president/General Bignone arrested
1984 Clara Peller 1st asks, "Where's the Beef?"
1984 Luis Aparicio, Harmon Killebrew, & D Drysdale elected to Hall of Fame
1984 US establishes full diplomatic relations with Vatican after 117 years
1985 Daniel Ortega Saavedra inaugurated as President of Nicaragua
1990 China lifts martial law (imposed after Tiananmen Square massacre)
1991 US Congress begins debate on Persian Gulf crisis
1991 Japan ends routine fingerprinting of all adult ethnic Koreans
1994 Trial of Lorena Bobbitt who cut off her husband's penis, begins
1994 Ukraine says it will give up world's 3rd largest nuclear arsenal
1994 Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan agrees to abolish trade tariffs
1995 "Late Late Show" with Tom Snyder premieres on CBS at 12 30 AM
1996 Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
1996 Jimmy Johnson announced as new coach of Miami Dolphins
1997 Dow Corning provides $2.95 billion to settle breast implant suits
1997 Italy's new 1,000 lire coin shows divided Germany on map
2000 America Online announced it had agreed to buy Time Warner for $165 billion, in what would be the biggest merger in history.

---

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

US : National Clean Off Your Desk Day
Blood Donor Month

---

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Gonzalvo
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Agatho, Roman Catholic pope (678-81)
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Gregory X, Roman Catholic pope (1271-76)
Anglican : Commemoration of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury

---

Religious History
1514 The first section of the Complutensian Polyglot (the world's first multi-language Bible) was printed at Alcala, Spain. (The complete translation was published in 6 volumes in 1517.)
1538 Regarding the doctrine of purgatory, German Reformer Martin Luther reported in a "Table Talk": 'God has placed two ways before us in His Word: salvation by faith, damnation by unbelief (Mark 16:16). He does not mention purgatory at all. Nor is purgatory to be admitted, for it obscures the benefits and grace of Christ.'
1772 Pioneer American Methodist bishop and circuit rider Francis Asbury penned this prayer in his journal: 'Let me sooner choose to die than sin against thee, in thought, word, or deed.'
1858 English poet Frances Ridley Havergal, 21, while on a visit in Germany, penned the verses which later became her first popular hymn: "I Gave My Life for Thee."
1947 U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed: 'May we resolve, God helping us, to be part of the answer, and not part of the problem.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

---

Thought for the day :
"The reluctance to put away childish things may be a requirement of genius."

[Valin]

PLEASE MR. CUSTER
Charlie Drake


(BS = Backing Singers: CD = Charlie Drake)

(Shrieks and ‘Red Indian sounds’ in background)

(BS)That famous day in history
The men of the 7th cavalry went riding on
And from the rear a voice was heard
A brave young man with a trembling word
Rang loud and clear

(CD)What am I doing here?
Please Mr.Custer, I don’t wanna go
Eh, er, Mr.Custer? Please don’t make me go
I had a dream last night about the comin’ fight
Somebody yelled ‘Attack!’
And there I stood with an arrow in my back
Please Mr.Custer, I don’t wanna go
Oh-oh, oh..

(Speaks) Look at ‘em bushes out there – they’re movin’
There’s an Indian behind every one of ‘em
Er, um, Mr.Custer, may I be excused for the rest of the afternoon, please?
Wanna change my library book
Oy watchout - duck your head!
Oo-er, bit late on that one, son
God, I bet that don’t half hurt

(BS) They were sure of victory
The men of the 7th Cavalry as they rolled on
When from the rear a voice was heard
That same great voice with a trembling word
Rang loud and clear

(CD) What am I doing here?
Please Mr.Custer, I don’t wanna go
Er, listen, er, Mr.Custer? Please don’t make me go
There’s a redskin waitin’out there, waitin’ to cut my hair
A coward I’ve been called
But I don’t wanna wind up dead or bald
Please Mr.Custer, I don’t wanna go
Oo-errr, err-oo

(CD speaks) Now, let’s see, what’s the Indian word for ‘friend’?
Oh yes, I know – manyarna, yeah that’s it
Oy, you lot out there ‘Manyarna’
(Arrow whizzes by) Ooo!
Oooh! - no, that ain’t it
Look at ‘em out there
Running around like a bunch of wild Indians
Bunch of wild Indians! Hahahaha
Now this is no time for joking
(Sound of many arrows whizzing by)
Oo…oh…oo…help!
Mr Custer?
Oh my God!

[Colonel_Flagg]

Good morning, Foxhole! Falling in for my Monday read on Colonel Custer.

Hope you are off to a great start this week!

[SAMWolf]

Morning Snippy

[SAMWolf]

Morning Iris7.

IMHO, overconfidence and Custer's ego got him and his men killed.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Aeronaut.