Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE SUN. NEWBERRY. S. C- FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 27. 1940 DID CUSTER ASPIRE TO BE PRESIDENT? A New Chapter in the Story of a Glamorous American By ELMO SCOTT WATSON (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) S EVENTY-FOUR years ago Cleveland, Ohio, was the scene of a meet ing unique in American poli tics—the “Johnson Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Convention” of 1866. Although a relatively minor incident in President Andrew Johnson’s historic struggle with Thaddeus Stev ens and the other radical Re publican leaders, this con vention has particular inter est because one of its pro moters and outstanding fig ures was a man whose name is glamorous in our military annals. He was George Armstrong Cus ter, “The Boy General With the Golden Locks,” “The Murat of the American Army” and the In dian fighter par excellence until a Sioux bullet ended his spectacu lar career in what is commonly known as the “Custer Massacre.” Custer biographers are strangely silent concerning his part in the Cleveland convention. Yet it was an important milestone in his ca reer. For it was his first venture along a path which, there is rea son to believe, he hoped might lead him to the presidency of the United States! The story of that phase in the career of George Armstrong Cus ter is here told for the first time. That Custer was an active pro moter of the “Johnson Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Convention” is in dicated by an editorial which ap peared in the August 24, 1866, is sue of the semi-weekly edition of Horace Greeley’s New York Trib une. Headed “The Johnson Sol diers,” this editorial began: “Generals Custer, Dix etc. urge their fellow-soldiers in the late Civil war to unite with them in holding a convention in Cleveland to pave the way for a Rebel-Cop perhead triumph in the approach ing election.” The Tribune was one of the leading anti-administration or gans. But, granting the bias of its editorial policy, Custer must have been unusually active in Johnson’s behalf, else he would not have been singled out for spe cial notice, as he was in the Trib une’s coverage of the convention. The Cleveland convention opened in a big tent on the lake front of the Ohio city on Septem ber 17. The first dispatch sent back to the Tribune by its special correspondent refers to Custer incidentally, misspelling his name) thus: In looking around on the members of this Convention, as they assembled for business, I saw many whose histories satisfied me of their object in being here. The most prominent and conspicuous was Custar. His caliber is explained by the remark of an Ohio delegate, who said “Custar is a man with a deal of hmr, but very little brains.” Custar has been supporting the President vigorously since his evidence before the Reconstruc tion Committee and his reward was a promotion tfom Captain to Lieutenant- Colonel ... A Convention will be per manently organized to-morrow morning. Gens. Granger and Custar are spoken of as permanent President. So also is Rousseau and Steedman. There are a number seeking the position in case of a quarrel. Mr. Doolittle (senator from Wisconsin) will settle matters. Custar is his man. That Red Necktie! But, as it turned out, “Custar” wasn’t. Gen. John E. Wool, a veteran of the War of 1812, as well as the Mexican and Civil wars and the oldest major-gen eral in the United States army, was made temporary president. Then, according to the Tribune correspondent’s next dispatch, Gen. Wool—poor, foolish old man— called the Convention to order. On his right sat young, curly-haired Custer, who was easily distinguished by a bright red neck-tie he wore . . . Gen. Gordon Granger was made permanent President of the Convention. . Young Custer, too. was ambitious to have the honor conferred on him but gracefully yielded at the suggestion of Senator Doolittle. Custer felt hurt at this slight, and called it ingratitude. He felt that he was the chief spirit of the Con vention, and the one who first originated the scheme, but Doolittle sleeked Georgie's flaxen curls, and told him it was the President's wish that an older man should be selected. So the quarrel was compromised by putting Custer on the Committee to present the proceed ings of the Convention to his Excellency. This will give Georgie a chance to apply for the vacant Brigadier Generalship in the Regular Army. Even though Custer was denied the presidency of the convention, he continued to be one of its lead ing spirits during the two days’ meeting. The Tribune dispatches repeatedly mention him—and by this time its correspondent had evidently learned to spell his name correctly! They also men tion frequently his red scarf, that bright oriflamme which had been in the forefront of many a thun dering cavalry charge during the Civil war. Apparently Custer was acting as a sort of secretary of the con vention, for there is also fre quent mention of his receiving messages brought to the tent by “the telegraph boy.” One of these telegrams and the conven tion action which resulted from it created a furore later. It came from Memphis, Term., and it was, GEN. GEORGE A. CUSTER In this photograph, taken by Brady in 1865, Custer wears the picturesque costume of the “Boy General”—wide felt hat, blue flan nel shirt and scarlet tie. according to the Tribune corre spondent, “signed by the Rebel Gen. N. B. Forrest of guerilla and Fort Pillow fame, Gen. Chalmers of Hood’s old army and Col. Galloway of that notorious Rebel sheet, The Memphis Ava lanche—stating that the late Reb el soldiers—the same who. mas- ■ sacred negro soldiers at Fort Pillow, and again, more recently, on the streets of Memphis,—in mass convention sent greeting to the Johnson soldiers here, and said they had their sympathy.” This waving of the bloody shirt by the Tribune correspondent was prophetic of the repercussions from this incident which were to come almost immediately. Ac cording to Lloyd Paul Stryker in his biography of Andrew Johnson: Nothing could have done the Johnson cause more harm than this well-inten tioned message. The convention, upon receipt of this Southern message of good will, adopted a resolution thanking the Confederate soldiers for their words of “magnanimity and kindness.” This, in the minds of Thaddeus Stevens and his sycophants, was proof of treason. The Forrest telegram furnished Sumner and his followers with new “evidence” that Johnson had gone over to the Confed eracy. “All other circumstances unit ed,” wrote Blaine, “did not condemn the convention in Northern opinion so deeply as this incident.” In his “A Complete Life of Gen- eral George A. Custer,” Capt. Frederick Whittaker, Custer’s earliest biographer and his chief apologist, without referring di rectly to this aftermath of the affair, admits that Custer’s first venture into politics, via the Cleveland convention, was an ill- advised one and he tries to ex cuse his hero for the error of judgment in this ingenious fash ion: Nothing hurt Custer’s political and mil itary future like the movements of this summer, all of which were due to his generous impulsive way of doing things. Honest to the backbone himself, he could not imagine that others were less so and he fell, as it were, into the midst of a den of hungry political wolves who would have picked his bones clean had he staid much longer . . . But he was saved from the consequences of his in discreet utterances by being ordered to Fort Riley. It is no doubt true, as Whit taker’s statement implies, that Custer’s activities during the summer and autumn of 1866 seri ously impaired the prestige which he had gained as a successful cavalry leader during the Civil war. This should have warned him to keep away from civilian politics but, unfortunately for him, he failed to heed that warn ing. During the next 10 years thfe American public, which had once hailed George Armstrong Custer as the beau sabreur of the Union army, had good reason to applaud him in a new role—that of the foremost Indian fighter of his day. Why he, having added to his fame as a soldier, should have ventured again into the field of politics, which had once proved so sterile for him, is one of the paradoxes of a career that is filled with inconsistencies. For that is what he did when he became embroiled in the fa mous Belknap affair in the win ter of 1875. He volunteered to testify before the congressional committee which was investigat ing charges of graft against Gen. W. W. Belknap, President Grant’s secretary of war, thereby incurr ing the displeasure of Grant. As the result of these latest “in discreet utterances,” Custer was deprived of command of the ex pedition which he was to have led against the hostile Sioux and Cheyennes in the spring of 1876 although he was eventually per mitted to accompany its com mander, Gen. A. H. Terry, at the head of his regiment, the Sev enth cavalry. Disaster overtook him when his regiment was de tached from the main column to locate the hostiles. For, at the Battle of the Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876, the Indians anni hilated the five troops of the Sev enth which Custer led into battle and inflicted heavy casualties upon the other six troops before they were rescued by Terry the next day. Controversy Over Custer. For more than 60 years a con troversy has raged over this bat tle. Critics of Custer assert that he alone was responsible for the tragedy. They say that he was hungry for a victory which would regain for him some of the pres tige he had lost in the Belknap affair and that he was deter mined to grab all the glory of such a victory for himself. So, they assert, he deliberately de stroyed both the letter and the spirit of Terry’s explicit orders and by bringing on a battle 24 hours too soon he not only brought disaster upon himself but he broke up a plan which would have insured defeat of the In dians. Custer-defenders tell another story. They admit his desire for a victory but they deny that he disobeyed Terry’s instructions for they read in them an interpreta tion which gave him considerable latitude of action and fully justify his departure from the letter of those much-debated orders. In the heat of their dispute, they overlook an incident which may furnish a clue to one of the forces that motivated him. This incident suggests that, despite the unhappy results of his pre vious ventures into politics, he was contemplating still another and that his ultimate goal was Washington, D. C., and the White House! Accompanying Custer on this expedition was a party of Arikara or Ree, Indian scouts, many of whom, including a fierce warrior named Bloody Knife, had taken part in Custer’s exploration of the Black Hills two years earlier. Before Terry’s army left Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota terri tory, Custer held a council with the Arikara scouts. Years later Red Star, one of the Arikara scouts, during an in terview with O. G. Libby of the North Dakota Historical society, recalling the council, disclosed that Custer told the Arikaras “he had been to Washington and he had been informed that this would be his last campaign in the West among the Indians. He said that no matter how small a victory he could win, even though it was against only five tents of the Dakotas (Sioux) it would make him President, Great Fa ther, and he must turn back as soon as he was victorious. In case of victory, he would take Bloody Knife back with him to Washington.” Later, during the march into the Indian country, Custer again talked with his Indian scouts. At that time, according to Red Star: He said he had made up his mind to go on this expedition to fight. He said he had been to Washington and had been given instructions to follow the Dakotas. Now that he was on the war-path, if he had a victory, he said, “When we return, I will go back to Washington and on my trip to Washington I shall take my broth er here. Bloody Knife, with me. I shall remain at Washington and be the Great Father. But my brother, Bloody Knife, will return, and when he arrives home he shall have a fine house built for him, and those of you present will be the ones appointed to look after the work that will be placed in charge of Bloody Knife. You will have positions under him to help in what he is to do and you can, when you wish to speak with me or send me word, gather at Bloody Knife’s house and decide what the message will be. Then he will send it to me. He will be given the whole tribe of Arikaras to be head of. I will have papers made out for each of you here and you will have plenty to eat for all time to come, and you and your children. In saying such things, was Cus ter merely “talking big” (army officers who knew him well say that he was given to doing that) in order to impress his Indian scouts and, by making such promises, did he hope to hold them stead fast if they should show an in clination to desert him at a crit ical time in the coming cam paign? Or was he truly “show ing his heart” to trusted Indian friends who would not likely be tray his confidence. There is, of course, no way of knowing which of these two pos sibilities is the more believ able. But they suggest other in. teresting speculations. More than once the American people had elected a military hero President. They had sent “Old Hickory” Jackson, “Old Tippecanoe” Harrison and “Old Rough and Ready” Taylor to the White House. Why shouldn’t they send “Old Curley” Custer, the conqueror of the Sioux, there—if he should win a great victory over the Indians? Were such thoughts as these in the mind of George Armstrong Custer when he told his Arikara scouts that he was going to be their “Great Father”? Was he planning, in the event of victory, to enter the political arena once more and prove that he could win there as well as on the field of battle? Those questions must remain forever unanswered. The lips of the only man who could have an swered them were sealed by death on a barren hillside in Mon tana one hot Sunday in June io the year 1876. I N THE Yankee clubhouse they were talking about the fastest pitcher. The argument got down to Lefty Grove and Bob Feller. I ran in my nomination—a fellow named Walter Johnson. “I never batted against Johnson,’* Bill Dickey said, “but my vote goes for Grove when he was at his best. I can see Feller’s fast one, even if I don’t hit too well—but I couldn’t see Grove’s.” “I never saw | Johnson work,” Joe Gordon said, “and I never saw Grove at his best, at the top. But I’ll string with Bob Feller. He is fast enough for me. Sometimes too fast.” I still stick with Johnson. One answer is that Big Barney pitched more shutouts and had more strike outs than any pitcher in baseball— 113 shutouts, if I recall the exact figures. And Johnson had no chance to ease up with a weak-hitting club. Also every hitter in those days knew a fast one was coming, but they still couldn’t hit the Big Train. “I guess Johnson, with that rec ord, gets the call,” Dickey said. Grantland Rice Dick Bartell Household Neius J // The Detroit Mystery Here’s another angle few fans fig ure out. I asked one of the Tiger stars how he accounted for Detroit’s sudden rise from a sixth-place pick to a pennant contender, and then the mid-season slcw-up prior to the final surge. “Nature,” he said. “In the spring we were afraid of Dick Bartell’s legs and Charlie Gehringer’s legs and back. But we happened to get a damp spring which ran into June. We had soft ground to work on until July. This gave both /eterans a chance to save their legs. Then the sun baked out all diamonds— and what a differ ence this makes to older legs.” “This is true enough,” Bartell told me. “I was a kid again as long as I had soft ground under my feet. But these hard, baked out diamonds are rough on your legs. I could begin to feel the difference in a few days—sore ligaments, sore feet.” Bartell was one of the main fac tors in Detroit’s early summer charge. Both his spirit and his play were major factors in the Tiger drive. And the same goes for Geh- ringer, who stands out as one of the great second basemen of all time. When these two begin to skid the Tiger infield began to look porous. “Figure this one out,” one of the Yankees said. “We all know the value of big, powerful hands in base ball. Hands like Wagner’s and La- joie’s—but one of the best infielders I’ve seen in a long time has the smallest pair of hands in either league.” “Meaning whom?” we asked. “Boudreau, the Cleveland short stop,” he answered. “Boudreau has extremely small hands. They are delicate looking. But I don’t know j of a better shortstop anywhere to day. He has been one of the main reasons for Cleveland’s success. When he gets either hand on a ball it sticks with him.” The Eternal Argument • “I’ll tell you something,” one of the Cleveland veterans said. “Old- timers are always talking about the play of the stars who once made the headlines. They talk about a more scientific game. I’d like to see some of these old-timers handle the ball they hit at you today—infield or outfield. “The game today is twice as fast. This modern ball comes at you like a rifle shot many times. You can’t afford to lose a split second. The same is true in the outfield where line drives come whistling by. It takes much better starting speed to handle the new, faster ball, no mat ter what position you play. Those old-timers were lucky when it came to handling a much slower ball, one that gave you more time to cover your ground. “Baseball today is far harder on the nerves. You have to be alert every second a man is at bat. You are tense all the time in any close game. The old-time game may have been more scientific, but the game today is largely a matter of speed and power.” Pitchers vs. Hitters The clubhouse chitchat drifted around to the comparative value of pitching and hitting. “If you had your choice,” I asked one of the veterans, “who would you take—Ruth, Cobb, Wagner and Foxx —or Johnson, Alexander, Feller and Grove—each at his peak?” “I don’t have to wait on that one,” he said. “I’d take the four pitchers. Give me those four pitchers and I’ll give you any four big hitters you might name in any baseball league, anywhe-e.” THE SCHOOL LUNCH (See Recipes Below) and appetizing, moistened with Whether the children carry their lunch to school or dash home at noon for a hurried meal, autumn school bells bring a major problem to the menu planner. For the mid day repast must give plenty of nour ishment in a form that can be quick ly and easily eaten—and, in the case of carry-away lunches, easily packed as well. Fruit, cookies, sandwiches and milk in some form constitute stand bys for box lunches as well as the school child’s home lunch. Cocoa, cream soups, custards and simple puddings help with the milk quota at the home lunch. Cocoa, or a milk shake, as well as plain milk, can be carried with the school lunch in a vac uum bottle. For the box lunch, sandwiches ought to be carefully wrapped so that they will be fresh Chopped meat a little butter or mayonnaise, hard-cooked egg deli cately seasoned, cream cheese, jams and jellies, all make tempting fill ings. Semi-liquid foods may be put into small glass jars with tightly fitting covers. Supply paper cups for the beverage; and as a novelty, put in a paper straw, especially when you pack chocolate malt or iced cocoa. The sandwiches and softer foods should be placed on top to prevent mashing. Brightly colored lunch boxes are popular, because they are not only easier to pack, and well-ventilated, but are attractive to carry. Literal ly speaking, you can pack every thing in them from “soup to nuts.” The lunch boxes should be kept im maculately clean by careful scald ing each day. You may like to use this menu some day when you have plenty of meat loaf left over from the Sunday dinner: i Meat Loaf Sandwiches Deviled Egg Olives Custard Chocolate Milk Or you might use a menu similar to this for colder weather: Cream of Tomato Soup Peanut Butter and Orange Marma lade Sandwiches Fruit Tapioca Cookie There is always an extra corner Into which you can tuck a surprise. To the smaller children this will be a delight. It may be a few nuts, or a few pieces of good candy, or it may be the little candy bridge favor you received yesterday. A packed lunch can become as tire some to eat as it is to pack. Even you will be thinking of the little surprise you can find to put into it, and thus make this task more of a pleasure to you. So get a lunch box that will be large enough to hold all the neces sary equipment, but will not be too heavy to carry, and begin making your plans for the school lunch. Some of these suggestions may aid you in your plans for the school year: Soups and Beverages. Soups and beverages, if packed in thermos bottles, will stay hot or cold, as the case may be. The cream soups are the most nutri tious, for they contain not only milk but vegetables as well. Try cream of tomato, cream of pea, cream of spinach and cream of as paragus. There is quite a wide choice of beverages. For warmer weather you may like to give the children pine apple juice, grape juice, orange juice, milk or chocolate malt. When the weather becomes cooler, hot chocolate or cocoa are welcome bev erages. Sandwiches. Bread for sandwiches should be cut in thin slices, with the butter and filling spread way out to the edges. The butter is easier to spread if creamed first; and the sandwiches should, be cut into convenient sizes for eating. Vary the kinds of breads that you use for sandwiches: plain or white, whole wheat, rye, brown bread, peanut butter bread, orange Why not plan a little different party for your friends? Have a harvest home party, where your guests can gather for singing, games, and dancing. At the end of August, or the mid dle of September, many of the countries of Europe finished up the harvest season with the har vest festival. There the workers of the fields feasted, danced, and sang, as guests of the mansion. Wreaths, fashioned of grain, flow ers, nuts and corn were hung on the walls, to remain until the fol lowing year. Miss Howe will tell you about a harvest party in her column next week which will contain many at tractive suggestions. bread, nut bread, cornbread, raisin bread, and rolls. For filling you may like to use these suggestions: Chicken, with chopped celery and mayonnaise. Cream cheese on raisin bread. Chopped dates, nuts and orange juice. Ground cooked veal, raw carrots and celery, with salad dressing. Orange marmalade and peanut butter. Cottage cheese, chopped olives and mayonnaise. Hard cooked egg, chopped celery and mayonnaise. Meat loaf, sliced thin. Bacon, mayonnaise and lettuce. Spiced Blanc Mange. 2 cups milk 2% tablespoons cornstarch % cup sugar % teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon % teaspoon nutmeg Vt teaspoon cloves Vt cup nut meats (broken) 1 teaspoon vaniHa extract Scald 1% cups of milk. Mix all dry ingredients together and add the remaining % cup cold milk. Com bine well. Add hot milk to the corn starch mixture slowly. Return to double boiler and cook, stirring con stantly, until the mixture thickens. Cook 5 mini’tes. Remove from flame, add nut meats and extract. Turn into a wet mold and chill. Serve with whipped cream if de sired. . Desserts. With the problem of packing des serts solved, there is a much wider choice than ever before. Rice pud ding, small tarts, custards, oatmeal cookies, brown ies, cup cakes, tapioca, cooked fruit, dates, figs, gingerbread, fresh or stewed dried fruits, and plain cakes are all to be selected to vary the school lunch.. Cream of Tomato Soup. 2 cups canned tomatoes 2 slices onion Vi teaspoon soda 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt Dash pepper 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour 2 cups milk Heat tomatoes with onion, soda, sugar, salt and pepper. Rub through sieve; reheat. Place butter in top of double boiler and melt. Add flour and mix thoroughly. Add milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until mix ture thickens. Pour tomato mixture slowly into white sauce. Mix thor oughly, and serve. Better Baking. Wouldn’t you like some good yum my chocolate nut gingerbread or some of those melt-in-your-mouth meringue cookies right about now? Or how about the delicious sound ing lemon surmy silver pie? Shall I stop, or have I made you hungry enough to want to rush right out into your kitchen and whip up a batch of cookies, or one of those sug gested above? You may have these tested recipes of Miss Howe if you will write, enclosing 10 cents in coin, to Eleanor Howe, 919 North Michi gan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, and ask for her cook book, “Better Bak ing.” You will like them all, for they have been tried in her own test kitchen. (Released by Western Newspaper Union.! Jacket and Skirt For School Miss JUST as necessary as a sharp pencil and a notebook, for a smart start in school, this tailored jacket-and-skirt duo is one thing that every 8-to-16 student should have! Wear it with tailored blouses or sweaters, as a suit; wear it with scarfs, beads or lapel gadg ets, as a frock. Either way, de sign No. 1233-B will be your day- in-day-out stand-by. It’s easy to make, and when home-sewn, costs very little. Flannel, wool crepe, homespun and thin tweed are grand for this style. It looks especially pretty in pastels or plaid and plain com binations. With nipped-in waist, flared skirt and a trio of pockets, it’s just as becoming as it is smart and useful. • • • Barbara Bell Pattern No. 1233-B is de signed for sizes 8. 10, 12, 14 and 16 years. Size 10 requires Z 1 /. yards of 54-lnch ma terial without nap. Send order to: SEWING CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT. Room 1324 211 W. Wacker Dr. Chicago Enclose 15 cents in coins for Pattern No Size Name Address INDIGESTION may affect the Heart Gas trapped in the stomach or gullet may act like a hair-trigger on the heart. At the first sign of distress smart men and women depend on Bell-ans Tablets to set gas free. No laxative but made of the fastest- acting medicines known for acid indigestion. If the FIRST DOSE doesn't prove Bell-ans better return bottle to us and receive DOUBLE Money Back. 26c. Responsible for Injuries A man who is sure to cause in juries to be done to him wherever he goes is almost as great an eiil and inconvenience as if he were himself the wrongdoer.—Sir Henry Taylor. AfiEt^OD CIOGGID NOSE"WOWING ON All 2'AGA1N--WITH 2 PROP kO tURtATMENT OF SELF -SPREADING PENETRO NOSE DROPS i Faith an Incentive Faith is the most powerful in centive and the best guide to fur ther progress in science.—Dr. Birkhoff. LIQUID - TABLETS - SALVE -NOSE DROPS chock* MALARIA In 7 days and relieves COLDS symptom, first day Fry “Rsb-My-TUs«”a Wonderful IM—g Wordless Poem A picture is a poem without vords.—Cornificus. mODERMZE this newspaper. Its columns are filled with important messages which you should read regularly. Whether you’re planning a party or remodeling a room you should jai /allow the sjverthe.iients... to learn ij|| what's new... and cheaper... and better. And the place to find out ifiKl about new things is right here in ‘Slsl f ‘ m