CHAPTER XIX.



A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MAJOR-GENERAL CUSTER.
                     (CONCLUDED.)

  As the foregoing biography of Gen. Custer has been
confined chiefly to his military career, it may be well
in conclusion to give some account of his personal
characteristics; and this can be best done in the lan-
guage of those -who knew     him  well.   A gentleman
who accompanied Gen. Custer on the Yellowstone
and Black Hills expeditions, contributed to the New
York Tribulne the following:-
  "Gen. Custer was a born cavalryman. He was never more in
his element than when mounted on Dandy, his favorite horse,-
and riding at the head of his regiment. He once said to me,
'I would rather be a private in the cavalry than a line officer in
the infantry.' He was the personification of bravery and dash.
If he had only added discretion to his valor he would have been
a perfect soldier. His impetuosity very often ran away with his
judgment. He was impatient of control. He liked to act inde-
pendently of others, and take all the risk and all the glory to him-
self. He frequently got himself into trouble by assuming more
authority than really belonged to his rank. It was on the
Yellowstone expedition where he came into collision with Gen.
Stanley, his superior officer, and was placed under arrest and
compelled to ride at the rear of his column for two or three days,
until Gen. Rosser, who fought against Custer in the Shenandoah
Valley during the war but was then acting as engineer of the
Northern Pacific Railroad, succeeded in effecting a reconciliation.
Custer and Stanley afterward got on very well, and perhaps the