TOLEDO TO DETROIT.
Seventy-second Day.
_Erie Hotel_,
ERIE, MICHIGAN,
_July 22, 1876_.
My Toledo friends were ready at the Boody House to give me good-bye when
I mounted at nine o'clock, and I received a right hearty send-off. Upon
leaving the city, instead of continuing westward as usual toward the
"Golden Gate," I had determined for various reasons to swing off from
the direct course, and ride northward to Detroit, moving thence to
Chicago. This new route would take me through Monroe, a town with which
the life of General Custer was more closely associated than any other,
and knowing that I would find much there that would give me a more
intimate knowledge of the man, I looked forward to this part of my
journey with eager anticipation.
The ride to Erie being at some distance from the lake, and over a flat
region, was rather monotonous. Erie itself is a small unimportant hamlet
at the western end of the lake, and a modest landmark in my journey
from Toledo to Detroit. _Paul_, probably impressed with the air of peace
that enveloped the place, made up his mind upon his arrival to give the
good people a display of his mettle, and accordingly tore through the
village streets in the wildest fashion. Having thus introduced himself,
he pranced after I had dismounted until he had had enough; then
returning to his master, his eyes seeming to flash mischief, he looked
as though he would have said, had he been given the power of speech: "I
have been having a fine time, haven't I? and would you like to mount me
and enjoy the fun too? but I dare you!"
When his superabundant spirits had found vent, I had him led away and
myself attended to his wants. Beyond this animated exhibition of my
horse the day passed uneventfully, and at night I enjoyed to its fullest
extent the quietude of a country inn.
Seventy-third Day.
_Erie Hotel_,
ERIE, MICHIGAN,
_July Twenty-third_.
Weather cool and pleasant; went to church in the morning and listened to
a sermon by Rev. E. P. Willard, on the text, "Remember the Sabbath Day
to keep it holy." Doubtless the preacher had his reasons for bringing to
the minds of the Erieans this particular command, but judging from
appearances they needed a very mild admonition. It looked as though
every day were Sunday here.
A letter reached me at this point from my wife, full of concern as to
my welfare if the journey were to be continued across the Plains; and as
she was in very indifferent health at the time, I was about to abandon
my purpose and return. The news of Custer's tragic death had reached the
East, and my intended route running as it did across the Indian country,
filled my friends with apprehension. Closely following this letter,
however, came another, informing me that my wife was improving, and,
with this assurance, I decided not to turn back. By this time, the
freedom and charm of this mode of travel had aroused my enthusiasm; the
imaginary line, losing itself in the Pacific, promised a rich
experience, and the opportunity was golden. The good news from home was
therefore joyfully received.
Seventy-fourth Day.
_Strong's Hotel_,
MONROE, MICHIGAN,
_July Twenty-fourth_.
I was detained at Erie until after dinner, spending part of the forenoon
in a blacksmith shop, where _Paul_ was being shod. By two o'clock I was
on the road again, riding briskly toward Monroe, for the weather was so
much cooler than it had been during the previous week, that I could move
comfortably at a good pace. _Paul_ seemed very proud of his new shoes,
and, although I halted two or three times, covered something over ten
miles by five o'clock.
As I reached the outskirts of Monroe, I was considerably surprised to
find a large number of people assembled on the picnic grounds. They were
accompanied by a band, and greeted me with several national air,
including "Hail Columbia" and the "Star-Spangled Banner." The Custer
Monument Association received me at the City Hall, where I had been
announced to lecture in the evening, as it was my intention to speak in
the interest of the Fund; but the date was changed to the Thursday
following my arrival, with a view to giving its members an opportunity
to co-operate with my advance agents.
Great enthusiasm was everywhere apparent, and the people of Monroe
needed no urging to lend their patronage, when the movement was likely
to reflect honor upon their illustrious dead.
My emotions upon entering this town, long the dearest place in all the
world to Custer, can better be imagined than described. That it was a
favorite with him is not strange, for aside from the tender associations
which it held for him, its pretty homes and broad streets, deeply shaded
by maples, make it a most lovely spot and the very type of peace.
Seventy-fifth Day.
_Strong's Hotel_,
MONROE, MICHIGAN,
_July Twenty-fifth_.
Wrote to my mother in the morning, and after dinner took a stroll about
town. Beyond its associations with Custer, Monroe is interesting through
its connection with one of the most romantic and sanguinary scenes
connected with the war between Great Britain and the United States; for
on the banks of the River Raisin, which runs through it to the lake,
occurred the famous Indian massacre of 1812. Relics of the bloody
encounter are still found on the field.
It was at a time when the British were making successful inroads upon
Michigan, and General Winchester, at the head of eight hundred
Kentuckians, had been ordered to Frenchtown, the old name for Monroe,
the same point toward which General Miller had previously moved on a
mission equally fatal.
Winchester was warned of the advance of the enemy, but thought there was
no cause for immediate alarm, and on the night before the engagement, he
crossed to the side of the river opposite his men, leaving the camp open
to attack. The result was, that he awoke the next morning to find
Proctor's troops putting his men to rout, at the point of the bayonet,
while their Indian allies were adding to the confusion by their deadly
assault.
Although a part of the Americans escaped on the ice of the river, the
field was covered with their dead and wounded, General Winchester being
among the former. When the engagement was over, Proctor rode away,
leaving a detachment to guard the prisoners and wounded, with
instructions that no violence was to be committed; but some of the
savages who followed him having become intoxicated, returned and fell
upon the prisoners with unrestrained frenzy. Most of the latter had been
placed in two small cabins. These were fired, and the victims perished
in the flames, the Indians pushing them back when they attempted to
escape through the small windows. The remainder were massacred and their
bodies left a prey to the wolves. It was this horrible affair that
aroused the Americans and particularly the Kentuckians to revenge; and
when Tecumseh, the Shawnee warrior, who was the chief instigator of
these atrocities, urged the British to hazard an engagement at the
Thames, after their defeat by Perry, they prepared to return with full
interest the blow given their comrades on the Raisin. The battle of the
Thames is well known. Tecumseh, with the war cry on his lips, met his
reward through a Kentucky bullet early enough in the fight to be spared
the shame of defeat. With him fell a powerful foe, but one whom we must
admire even in his death.
"Like monumental bronze, unchanged his look,
As one whom pity touched, but never shook;
Train'd from his tree-rocked cradle to his bier
The fierce extremes of good and ill to brook.
Unchanging, fearing but the shame of fear,
A stoic of the woods, a man without a tear."
Seventy-sixth Day.
_Strong's Hotel_,
MONROE, MICHIGAN,
_July Twenty-sixth_.
Received a large forwarded mail from my advance agents and others, which
I attended to in the afternoon. I was also favored with Detroit papers
referring to my proposed lecture in that city, and the following notice
from the Monroe _Monitor_, which, together with letters from the Fund
Association, I kept as souvenirs of my stay at this place:
"The lecture announced to be given for the benefit of the Custer
Monument Fund, on Monday evening, at the City Hall, was postponed
for various reasons until Thursday evening, at the same place. On
Monday evening several members of the association met Captain
Willard Glazier, and were most favorably impressed with him. They
are convinced that he is thoroughly in earnest, and that his
proposition is a most liberal one. He offers to give the entire
proceeds of his lecture to the association; and not only in this
city, but throughout the State, he generously offers to do the same
thing. This is certainly deserving of the warm recognition of our
own people, at least, and we hope on Thursday evening to see the
City Hall filled. Captain Glazier comes with the strongest
endorsements from well-known gentlemen in the East, both as to his
character as a gentleman and a soldier, and his ability as a speaker
and writer. The Captain served under the late General Custer in the
cavalry, and has something to say regarding his personal knowledge
of the dead hero."
When I started from Boston in May, I little dreamed that before my
journey was finished the troubles in the West with the Sioux would bring
such a result as _this!_ It is true, affairs in Montana and Wyoming
territories had assumed a threatening aspect, but no one doubted the
efficacy of "Custer's luck," and those who followed the campaign looked
upon it as a dramatic and striking incident, rather than a tragic one.
News was slow in reaching points east of the Mississippi and was then
often unreliable, so that if I may judge from personal observation, the
people were wholly unprepared for the final result which was flashed
across the country on the fifth of July.
Seventy-seventh Day.
_Strong's Hotel_,
MONROE, MICHIGAN,
_July Twenty-seventh_.
Rose at an early hour in the morning, and was very busily occupied
during the day with correspondence and preparations for my lecture. The
people of Monroe had asked that I would tell them something of my
experience with Custer during the late war before beginning the lecture,
as everything relating to him was at that time of the most thrilling
interest to them. It was not difficult to comply with this request. The
old scenes of 1863 were as fresh in memory as though they had been
witnessed but yesterday.
My first meeting with Custer was at the third battle of Brandy Station
on the twelfth of September, 1863, as the Cavalry Corps then acting as
the advance of the Army of the Potomac was moving toward Culpeper in
pursuit of Lee's retreating columns. Custer had but recently been
commissioned brigadier-general and this was the first time he went into
action at the head of his brigade. His appearance was very conspicuous.
A mere boy in years, gorgeously equipped, in short, bearing upon his
person all the gold lace and other paraphernalia allowed his rank, he
formed a striking figure--such a one as is seldom seen on the
battlefield. His arrival at Brandy Station was at a critical juncture,
and while we were momentarily expecting a conflict with Stuart's
cavalry, then directly in our front, all had a curiosity to see how the
gayly dressed brigadier would acquit himself. It seemed to be the
general impression that he would not have the nerve to "face the music"
with his bandbox equipment, but he soon proved himself equal to the
occasion. Being ordered to charge the enemy, he snatched his cap from
his head, handed it to his orderly, drew his sword and dashed to the
front of his brigade, then formed in column of squadrons. The command
"Forward!" was instantly given. A moment later "Trot!" was sounded; then
"Gallop!" and "Charge!" and before the Confederates had time to realize
that we really intended an attack, they were swept from the field, and a
section of a battery with which they had been opposing our advance was
in the possession of the young general and his gallant cavalrymen.
No soldier who saw him on that day at Brandy Station ever questioned his
right to a star, or all the gold lace he felt inclined to wear. He at
once became a favorite in the Army of the Potomac and his fame was soon
heralded throughout the country. After this engagement I saw Custer at
Culpeper and Cedar Mountain, and in the skirmishes along the Rapidan
during Lee's retreat from Gettysburg; later, when Lee again advanced
through Northern Virginia, at Sulphur Springs, Newmarket, Bristoe and in
the action of October 19, 1863, near New Baltimore, where I was taken
prisoner.
The incidents which I recalled were those of war, but Custer's friends
here gave me the incidents of peace. Mr. J. M. Bulkley, who is perhaps
more intimately acquainted with the General's early life than any other
man in Monroe, was his old school-chum and seat-mate at Stebbin's
Academy.
When this institution was broken up, and its property sold, Mr. Bulkley
bought the old desk at which he and Custer had sat, and on which as
school-boys they had cut their initials. It stands in his store, and in
it are kept all the papers relating to the Monument Fund.
Custer's next experience was in the Monroe Seminary, and it was while he
was a student there that the pretty little face of his future wife
flashed into his life. The story of this meeting is laughable and odd.
Custer, then a rough, flaxen-haired lad, coming home one afternoon, his
books under his arm, was passing Judge Bacon's residence, when a little
brown-eyed girl swinging on the gate called out to him, "Hello, you
Custer boy!" then, half-frightened by the blue eyes that glanced toward
her, ran into the house. The little girl was Libbie Bacon, daughter of
the Judge. It was love at first sight for Custer, and although they did
not meet again for several years, he was determined to win the owner of
those brown eyes.
[Illustration: OUTSKIRTS OF A CITY.]
Having finished a preliminary course of study and wishing to enter West
Point, he urged his father to apply to John Bingham, then a member of
Congress for the district in which Monroe was situated, for an
appointment. This his father hesitated to do as Mr. Bingham's politics
were opposed to his. The young man was therefore obliged to rely upon
his own efforts. He called upon the dignitary himself. Mr. Bingham was
pleased with the applicant, promised to lend his influence, and the
result was that George Armstrong Custer ultimately received a formal
notification from Washington, bearing the signature of Jefferson Davis,
to the effect that the recipient was expected to report immediately to
the commanding officer at West Point. His course there was about
finished upon the breaking out of the late war. He went at once to
Washington, and through General Scott was launched upon his military
career. What sort of a soldier he was the world knows. What his
character was the following incident may partially suggest. It occurred
early in the war when Custer was beginning to feel somewhat discouraged
over his affairs. He had already done much that was worthy of promotion
and, having a boy's pride and ambition. Fate seemed to be against
him. The clouds vanished one day, however, when the Army of the Potomac
was encamped on the north bank of the Chickahominy near Richmond.
General Barnard, of the Engineers, starting out to discover if the river
was fordable at a certain point, called upon Custer to accompany him.
Arrived at the bank of the stream, he ordered the young officer to "jump
in." He was instantly obeyed, although the pickets of the enemy were
known to be on the opposite side, and dangerously near. Nor did Custer
return, after having found that there was firm bottom, until he had made
a thorough reconnoissance of the Confederate outposts.
Upon their return, Barnard rode up to McClellan, who was about to visit
with his staff his own outposts, and began reporting the recently
acquired information, while his late aide, wearied with the undertaking,
and covered with Chickahominy mud, had fallen to the rear. Gradually it
came out that Custer, and not Custer's superior officer, had performed
the important duty. He was immediately called for, and to his great
embarrassment, for his appearance was far from presentable, was asked by
McClellan to make a report of the situation himself. At the end of the
recital he was asked by his commander, to his amazement, how he would
like to join his staff. McClellan had, by a rare power peculiar to him,
in that short interview, won Custer's unfailing loyalty and affection,
and when Custer was asked afterwards how he felt at the time, his eyes
filled with tears, and he said: "_I felt I could have died for him._"
This promotion marked the beginning of his future success. In recalling
his career, these simple lines, written by a poet unknown to me, and
with which Frederick Whittaker, in his admirable life of Custer, brings
his biography to a close, involuntarily suggest themselves:
"Who early thus upon the field of glory
Like thee doth fall, needs for his fame
Naught but the simple telling of his story,
The naming of his name."
Seventy-eighth Day.
_Varney House_,
ROCKWOOD, MICHIGAN,
_July Twenty-eighth_.
Before ordering _Paul_ in the morning, I called again at the home of the
Custers. The General's father seemed greatly interested in my journey,
and asked many questions concerning my plans for crossing the Plains. I
was shown the rich and interesting collection of relics from the Indian
country which Custer had accumulated, and which adds a picturesqueness
to every corner of the house, and with these, some very striking
photographs of the General taken in every variety of position and
costume. After a pleasant chat, in the course of which Mr. Custer
assured me of his kind solicitude, he walked back to the hotel with me
to see me off.
While riding out of town, I met Mr. Bulkley, and was introduced to
several gentlemen of his acquaintance, many of whom were schoolmates of
Custer during his boyhood. Mr. Bulkley, speaking for the Monument
Association, assured me that everything would be done that could
further my wishes in Michigan.
The lecture last evening was well attended and proved a financial
success. It was therefore gratifying to give the entire proceeds to the
treasurer, Judge T. E. Wing, although he generously offered to divide.
Parting with Mr. Bulkley, I continued on my route, my mind filled with
the events of the three preceding days. Just beyond the town I halted to
look back, and then, determined to prevent any sombre thoughts, which
might follow, put spurs to _Paul_, who very soon covered the thirteen
miles between Monroe and this place. As we neared the village, I caught
sight of Huron River, the _Wrockumiteogoe_ of the Indians, meaning,
"clear water." On its banks are found those mysterious legacies of the
Mound Builders--whether dwellings or tombs, remains for the antiquarian
to determine.
Seventy-ninth Day.
_Farmers' Hotel_,
ECORSE, MICHIGAN,
_July Twenty-ninth_.
Moved from Rockwood at ten A. M., halting for a few minutes at
Trenton, a small village seven miles north of Rockwood; and from there,
riding on to Wyandotte, which I reached about one o'clock, and stopped
only a moment at the Biddle House, finding that dinner was awaiting me
at a private residence. I was ready to answer the hospitable summons
promptly. Between two and five o'clock, I occupied part of the time in
looking about the village, which is chiefly noted for its iron
industries. Farm implements, iron ships, iron rails, and in fact
everything that can be made out of iron, is produced here. After dinner
I rode on to Ecorse, which is three miles beyond, and there found
letters and papers telling me that I was expected at the Russell House,
Detroit, on the evening of the coming Monday. Once within my hotel, I
found the heat almost unbearable, but following a certain method which I
had found by experience to be a successful one, I was enabled in a
measure to improve my surroundings. To those who might think my _modus
operandi_ somewhat unbecoming, I would only suggest that they try my
mode of travel through the same region of country, and at the same
season of the year. Personal experience might change their opinion.
Having been shown to my apartment by the landlord or one of his
assistants, I quietly entered and secured the door, betraying no
surprise upon seeing the inevitable "feather bed." Taking off my coat, I
began by removing the layers of mattresses, which had in them a
wonderful reserve force of July heat. I then took my lamp and held it so
that its lambent flame could warm the cockles of every mosquito's heart
clinging to the ceiling. The mosquitoes, quite averse to the intense
heat, quietly dropped into the little purgatory which I had prepared for
them, and troubled me no more.
So did I secure my repose at the Farmers' Hotel, and in the morning was
in the humor to give the good-natured proprietor, Louis Cicotte--a
typical French Canadian--a very hearty greeting, and an assurance of my
refreshment.
Eightieth Day.
_Farmers' Hotel_,
ECORSE, MICHIGAN,
_July Thirtieth_.
The weather was oppressively warm again on this day, and business in
Ecorse was apparently not "booming." I found the place quite in keeping
with the majority of French villages along the Detroit River--unambitious
and lifeless.
Two acknowledgments came from Monroe soon after I left, referring to the
aid which I had the pleasure of giving to those interested in the Custer
Monument. One was a brief and courteous bearer of thanks, and is as
follows:
_Headquarters,
Custer National Monument Association_;
MONROE, MICHIGAN,
_July 28, 1876_.
This is to certify that the proceeds of the lecture by Captain
Willard Glazier, in this city on Thursday evening, July 27, 1876,
have been paid into the treasury of this association, for which the
members hereby tender him their sincere thanks.
T. E. WING,
_Treasurer._
The other was a letter of introduction and explains itself:
_Headquarters,
Custer National Monument Association_;
MONROE, MICHIGAN,
_July 28, 1876._
TO AUXILIARY SOCIEITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CUSTER MONUMENT
ASSOCIATION:
Captain Willard Glazier, having kindly and generously volunteered to
devote the proceeds of his lectures through Michigan to the fund
being raised by this Association, for the erection of a monument to
the memory of the late General George A. Custer, has made
arrangements to remit to our treasurer here the money derived from
such lectures, and we bespeak for him your earnest endeavor in aid
of our common, glorious cause. Respectfully,
J. M. BULKLEY,
_Secretary._
Our second day at Ecorse ended pleasantly. In the afternoon my brother
and I went for a row on the river, and in the evening took a walk into
the country. We did not meet with any game, although natural history
proclaims this section the haunt of many varieties of bird and beast.
The first settlers even remember having a casual acquaintance with the
deer, bear, wolf, wild cat, and a variety of smaller game, including
that interesting little quadruped, the wolverine, whose name has become
the nickname of Michigan.