Brig Gen George Armstrong Custer (b 1837 - d 1876)

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: General Quarters

I think Custer's ratings, which put him roughly in the class with Meade, Reynolds, and Hancock, are too high. His high ratings are based on cavalry command, which is not comparable to commanding large bodies of troops. In the game, these very high ratings make him a prime candidate for army command. That does not seem realistic.

In a lot of the old ACW board games, this problem was handled by giving each general a rating for size of force he could command (without a loss to his ratings). This was usually the "command" rating. McClellan always had low initiative, but the top command rating. A guy like Custer would have had high ratings in other categories but low ability to command large bodies of troops, though some games allowed it if you knocked a point or two from his other numbers. I don't know if "command," which has a tactical function in detailed battle, works or could work that way in this game.

I wouldn't mind going with a system like the one you described, but that will have to wait until we do our big overhaul of the generals system.

For now, do others agree that Custer's ratings should be lowered? He's at 6 leadership, 5, tactics, 6 initiative, 5 command, and 7 cavalry. (The cavalry rating should probably stay at 7, since I read that Custer was second only to Sheridan among Union cavalrymen, and Sheridan has an 8.)

[jkBluesman]

I would reduce tactics and command to fair. If the 7 is not changed he will still do a lot of damage while leading a cavalry charge.
Custer is one of the candidate for future changes like assigning negativ abilities.

[Gil R.]

I had to edit Custer's bio down by about 600 characters (partly because I had added stuff), but somehow managed to do so without losing anything critical -- mainly a lot of rephrasing and eliminating minor details. Here's the bio:

Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer (b. 1839, d. 1876). Custer was born Ohio but grew up in Monroe, Michigan. Before entering West Point, he was a teacher in Ohio. (Local legend has it that he obtained his appointment to the Academy due to a prominent resident’s wish to keep Custer away from his daughter.) He graduated last in the Class of 1861, and came close to expulsion each year due to excessive demerits, many for pulling pranks on fellow cadets. Custer was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry and immediately joined his regiment for First Bull Run, during which he carried messages. After the battle he was reassigned to the 5th U.S. Cavalry. During the pursuit of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s Army of Northern Virginia up the Yorktown Peninsula in early 1862, Custer received permission to lead four companies of Michigan infantry in an attack near New Bridge, resulting in the capture of fifty Confederates. Gen. George B. McClellan, in command of the Army of the Potomac, termed it a "very gallant affair," congratulated Custer personally, and brought him onto his staff as an aide-de-camp. Three days prior to the Battle of Gettysburg, on June 28, 1863, Custer was promoted to brigadier general. Despite having no direct command experience, he became one of the youngest generals in the Union Army at age twenty-three. Custer lost no time in implanting his aggressive character on his brigade, the Michigan Cavalry Brigade (or “Wolverine Brigade”). In perhaps his finest hour, on the third day of the battle he convinced Gen. David M. Gregg, whose division was directly in the path of Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry, to redeploy while Custer stayed to face Stuart. Hours of charges and hand-to-hand combat ensued, before Custer finally led a mounted charge of the 1st Michigan Cavalry Regiment and broke the Confederate assault – foiling Gen. Robert E. Lee's plan to have Stuart attack the Union army’s rear in conjunction with Pickett’s Charge. (The following May, Custer would lead a charge that would result in Stuart’s death.) Custer's style of battle sometimes bordered on reckless or foolhardy. He often impulsively gathered up whatever cavalrymen he could find in his vicinity and led them personally in bold assaults directly into enemy positions. One of his greatest attributes during the Civil War was luck, and he needed it to survive some of these charges: on one occasion, Custer fell from his wounded horse directly before the enemy and became the target of numerous enemy rifles, but was rescued by the bugler, who galloped up, shot Custer's nearest assailant, and allowed Custer to mount behind him for a dash to safety. In May 1864, Custer was given command of the 3rd Cavalry Division after the Wilderness Campaign. Serving under Gen. Philip H. Sheridan in the final year of the war, Custer distinguished himself on numerous battlefields, especially during the Appomattox Campaign, but also gained notoriety for his role in what Shenandoah residents would remember as the “Burning of the Valley.” His performance earned him a promotion to major general immediately after the war and a lasting reputation as a brilliant cavalryman. In April 1865, Lee began his final retreat to Appomattox Court House, pursued mercilessly by the Union cavalry; Custer’s division blocked Lee's retreat on its final day and received the first flag of truce. Custer was present at the surrender of Lee’s army, and the table upon which the surrender was signed was presented to him as a gift. After the war, Custer was offered command of the 10th Cavalry as a colonel, but instead chose the 7th U.S. Cavalry as a lieutenant colonel. It was while commanding this regiment that he gained immortality through his stunning defeat fighting Sioux and Cheyenne in the Little Bighorn Valley on June 25, 1876. Custer is buried in the West Point Cemetery. (Bio by Scott Jennings)

I only had to remove two entire sentences:
“But he had begun a path to a distinguished war record, one that has been overshadowed in history by his role and fate in the Indian Wars.”
“In this role, Custer began his lifelong pursuit of publicity.”

Also, I think I'll lower his Tactics rating to "Fair," putting him overall at 6-4-6-5-7. His ratings and five teachable abilities (including Dreaded) make him one of the best 25-percenters in the game.