1878 GENERAL ORDERS NO. 93 – GEN. GEORGE CUSTER MONUMENT AT WEST POINT

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Item Code: 337-282

Official military printing of “AN ACT authorizing the donation of twenty condemned bronze cannon to aid in the erection of a monument to the memory of General George A. Custer, at the Military Academy at West Point,” Adjutant General’s Office, Washington, December 28, 1878.

One page in length, measuring 4 ¾” x 6 7/8”.  Excellent condition; few small holes along left margin. In modern pencil at bottom is “93 in ____ of the series”.

“On October 10, 1877, Custer’s remains were buried at West Point. A large number of officials and civilians turned out for the event, as well as the entire cadet brigade. . . Three volleys were fired over the grave. . .

Two years later, a bronze statue of Custer was erected on a knoll across the road from the Mess hall. More than 3000 visitors attended the dedication. The statue showed a Custer larger than life in full dress uniform and wearing jackboots and holding with arms stretched outwardly a saber in the right hand and a pistol in the left. General Schoefield learned from Mrs. Custer, who was very protective of her husband’s image, that she had not been consulted about the sculptor, Wilson MacDonald, whom she thought was not notable enough to be worthy of the task. She felt that the face of the statue was too old looking, the uniform improper, and that the statue displayed her husband as being armed like a desperado. She tried to stop the dedication of the statue, but it was too late. Through her persistent efforts however, she succeeded in having the statue removed in 1884 by order of the then Secretary of War Robert Lincoln. For many years the statue was stored in a shed at West Point. Mrs. Custer, still not satisfied, requested that the statue be removed entirely from the premises. The whereabouts of the statue is unknown. Perhaps it was donated as scrap metal during WWII. The stone base of the statue was placed at the head of Custer’s grave, and Mrs. Custer had a granite obelisk added in 1905.”

- from “To The Point”, by George Pappas, Prager Publishers, 1993.

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