America’s Civil War: George Custer and Stephen Ramseur

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The party was just the sort of thing that George ‘Fanny Custer, who often pushed the limits, liked to instigate. Although drinking was forbidden for cadets at West Point, the impetuous Midwesterner was determined to give his graduating friends, especially Dod Ramseur, a proper send-off. Other second-year classmen helping to host the bash included burly Texan and fellow hell-raiser Tom Rosser and Alabamian John Pelham. Maine’s Adelbert Ames and probably Henry Du Pont, scion of a Delaware fortune and Rosser’s roommate, ably represented the North. In addition to Ramseur, a North Carolinian, the guests of honor included Yankees Wesley Merritt and Alexander Pennington. On the appointed night in the spring of 1860, the young men left dummies in their beds to conceal their absence and met at nearby Benny Havens’ Tavern for a last carousal. Over mugs of flip (rum, sugar and eggs), they sang: In the army there’s sobriety, promotion’s very slow/ So we’ll sing our reminiscences of Benny Havens, oh! Everyone there knew by now that war was coming, but that night had been set aside for comradeship.

Stephen Dodson Ramseur and George Armstrong Custer were just about as unlike as any two cadets who had ever attended the U.S. Military Academy. Custer, nicknamed Fanny by his fellow cadets, was tall, blond and voluble. A poor but popular student, he chafed at the restrictions and rules at West Point. Ramseur, on the other hand, was a small, darkly handsome young man whose natural reserve hid an underlying strength of purpose. While not an outstanding student, he applied himself well enough to finish in the top third of the class, and his leadership skills made him captain of cadets. Deeply religious, he was also a staunch Southerner who, since a Yankee had ruined his father in a business deal, had little use for anyone from the scheming, cold-hearted North. He politely defended states’ rights and the institution of slavery, which he called the very foundation of our existence.

Yet the two cadets had become friends, for they did have more than a few things in common. Both were superb athletes, especially on horseback. And although Ramseur was very religious, he was not an insufferable Puritan like some of the New Englanders, and certainly was not too good to enjoy a joke, a drink or a twist of tobacco. In short, he was a boon companion and as such was willing to except Custer, Merritt and a few others from his general dislike of Northerners. Wes Merritt thought him one of the most universally beloved men in the class.

While Custer accumulated demerits and struggled to remain in the academy, Ramseur entered the service as an artillery lieutenant, served in Virginia and Washington City, then resigned in April 1861 when it became obvious that war was at hand. As a former Regular officer, he quickly secured a commission from his home state and command of a prestigious artillery battery manned by gentlemen privates. The young major soon made himself unpopular with his emphasis on strict discipline and unending drill, and to make matters worse the battery saw almost no action for a year. Then, to the relief of the artillerymen and the joy of their taskmaster, the 49th North Carolina elected young Dodson Ramseur as its colonel in April. The regiment missed most of the action in the Seven Days, but joined in the ill-considered Confederate assaults on Malvern Hill, where the newly minted Tar Heel colonel led his men into the very mouths of the Federal guns. A third of the regiment went down, including their commander, hit just above the elbow by a Mini bullet that paralyzed his right arm.

Ramseur’s conspicuous gallantry and the smart appearance of his regiment marked him for promotion. His mentor and patron, Maj. Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill, helped him win a brigadier’s wreath in his division. The brigade, consisting of the 2nd, 4th, 14th and 30th North Carolina regiments, was one of the army’s best. Ramseur did not take command immediately — his arm remained in a sling, healed slowly and caused him a great deal of pain. But while it kept him out of action until after Fredericksburg, it did not prevent him from getting engaged to his cousin Ellen Richmond in January, just before he returned to the army. Upon arrival he quickly won the respect of the men and began to correct what he saw as slackness in the brigade.

Meanwhile, George Custer had managed to graduate from West Point in ‘61 — dead last in his class. Had there not been a war on he might not have graduated at all, but the army needed trained officers and overlooked his many shortcomings. After a brief stint commanding a Regular cavalry company, Lieutenant Custer served on the staffs of several generals, and reportedly captured a Confederate banner at Williamsburg in early May. Still, by the end of 1862 he was only an acting captain, and his frustration with staff assignments led him to campaign shamelessly for election to the command of a Michigan volunteer cavalry regiment. Rejected, he ended up in yet another staff assignment, this time with Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, soon to be the commander of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. His refrain, I’ll be a general before this is over, you’ll see, sounded like so much empty bluster.

The war’s next summer began at Chancellorsville. There Brig. Gen. Robert Rodes, who now commanded Hill’s division, spearheaded Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson’s attack on the Union flank. In the late afternoon of May 2, 1863, Dodson Ramseur and his brigade advanced behind Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Colquitt’s Georgians toward the positions of the Union XI Corps. The movement went badly, however, when Colquitt suddenly stopped to face nonexistent Federal cavalry, blocking Ramseur’s advance. By the time the furious Tar Heel brigadier got his men past them, it was too late to do anything.

The next day, however, was altogether different. Although damaged by Jackson’s attack, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s Union army now hunkered down behind formidable barricades. The Federals beat back two Confederate assaults, leaving Rodes’ men to carry the day. Although Ramseur and his men had to climb over other troops who refused to advance, they took the Federal position, rescuing some Alabamians who had been captured on a previous assault. Fighting off counterattacks with the help of the Stonewall Brigade, they held on until the Union position began to collapse. While it had been an exemplary performance, half the brigade lay dead or wounded on the field. A shell fragment lightly wounded Ramseur that evening, but did no lasting damage.

Once again Ramseur had delivered when it mattered most. Still, he felt disappointed about what he saw as a lack of recognition for himself and his brigade, and complained bitterly about it to his brother-in-law. Ramseur’s next test came at Gettysburg, where he again performed brilliantly on July 1. When Rodes’ attack at Oak Hill went awry, it was Ramseur and his men who picked up the remnants of the other brigades and carried the Yankee position in convincing style. The young brigadier, mounted on a fine gray mare, led his men up and over a stone wall sheltering the defenders. Although the horse perished there, Ramseur remained unhurt.

Major General Jubal Early’s division then arrived on the field and slammed into the Union XI Corps, whereupon their retreat assumed the character of a rout. Although the Confederates pressed their retreating enemy through the town (and Ramseur lost another horse in the process), they failed to take Cemetery Hill, a decision that would cost them dearly. The action now shifted elsewhere, leaving Ramseur and his weary men spectators to the rest of the battle.

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Tags: 19th Century, America's Civil War, American Civil War, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures

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