Read Online The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer by Thom Hatch - Free Book Online Page B

becoming an item.
    Twenty-eight-year-old Ohioan Thomas Benton Weir had moved to Michigan and enrolled at the University of Michigan but departed during his junior year at the outbreak of the Civil War to enlist in Company B, Third Michigan Cavalry. Weir served as an enlisted man until being appointed a second lieutenant on October 13, 1861, while serving in campaigns and expeditions, including New Madrid, the Siege of Corinth, and battles at Farmington, Iuka, Coffeeville, and Second Corinth. He was promoted to first lieutenant on June 19, 1862—seven days before being taken prisoner. He was released on January 8, 1863. While held prisoner, Weir was appointed captain on November 1, 1862, and eventually received brevets up to lieutenant colonel for his Civil War service. His regiment was assigned to reconstruction duty in Texas in 1865, and as a regular army brevet of major he served on the staffs of Generals Custer and Gibbs.
    Weir was appointed a first lieutenant in the newly formed Seventh Cavalry on July 28, 1866, and promoted to captain on July 31, 1867. During the Hancock Expedition, he had remained back at Fort Hays, Kansas. At the time, Weir may have served as Libbie’s escort in Custer’s absence—as well as other ladies’—which was a normal occurrence for officers at frontier posts.
    The accusation that Tom Weir and Libbie were becoming an item may have been more credible had it not been brought to light by Captain Frederick Benteen, who would become known as a serial Custer critic. No verifiable supporting evidence exists to indicate that Libbie Custer engaged in anything more than a flirtatious passing interest in Weir—if even that—again, a common event on frontier posts where women were few and far between.
    The answer for Custer’s actions may lie in the words of his wife. Libbie was later inspired to recall her husband’s surprise visit to Fort Riley by writing: “There was in the summer of 1867 one long, perfect day. It was mine, and—blessed be the memory, which preserves to us the joys as well as the sadness of life!—it is still mine, for time and eternity.”
    Libbie also wrote about the incident to her cousin when explaining the reasons for the court-martial: “He took a leave himself, knowing none would be granted him. When he ran the risk of a court-martial in leaving Wallace he did it expecting the consequences … and we are quite determined not to live apart again.”
    Why then did Custer race across Kansas? Only he knows for certain. But it would not be too far-fetched, not too much of a romantic notion, given the evidence and the character of the man, to consider that Custer jeopardized his career simply because he desperately desired to see the woman he loved. The courtship and marriage of Armstrong and Libbie was one of the great romances of all time, one that transcends poetic thought and could cause a man to make rash decisions. Custer had likely become so disenchanted with Hancock and that wild-goose chase that he sought solace in the arms of the only person who understood him—in spite of the consequences.
    The inability of Hancock to carry out his mission had allowed the Indians to remain free to terrorize settlements and travelers along the Smoky Hill, Platte, and Arkansas, which compelled Western governors to resume their appeals to Washington for relief. That disappointing result would without question require a scapegoat to blame for the failure.
    Upon reporting to Fort Riley, Custer learned that he would stand a court-martial for his recent actions. It was perhaps a fitting conclusion to an expedition that had become a series of miscalculations and breakdowns of military discipline.
    The court-martial of George Armstrong Custer convened at Fort Leavenworth at 11:00 A.M. on September 15, 1867.
    Colonel A. J. Smith—at the urging of General Hancock—had charged Custer with “absence without leave from his