Custer and Merritt in the Final Acts of the Civil War

In the first volume of The Boy Generals (2021), Adolfo Ovies covered the roles of the cavalrymen Gorge A. Custer, Elon J. Farnsworth, and Wesley Merritt, from their promotion to brigadier generals on the eve of Gettysburg through the end of the battle there, in which Farnsworth was killed. The second volume, not yet out at the time of this writing, will carry the story of Custer and Merritt from the aftermath of Gettysburg through the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864. So in this third volume – albeit second to be issued – Ovies follows their careers through Appomattox, and thence into the post-war fighting on the Plains, and then, for Merritt, through the Spanish-American War.

This is not a history of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac, but a human story of two men. Ovies discuses how, though both were able cavalrymen, they differed greatly in personality and in their views of the role of cavalry, and thus a dysfunctional relationship developed between Custer and Merritt, who out-ranked him. The two came to detest each other. Ovies cites historian Eric Wittenberg, who wrote “the breakdown in the relationship between Custer and Merritt has its roots in the fundamental difference between hussars and dragoons.”

In recounting the differences and interactions between the two officers, Ovies examines the impact of the press and shows how each man handled his relationship with the reporters and sketch artists who were attached to the cavalry.

Ovies explains how the initially cordial relations between the two officers broke down, grew into a fierce rivalry, and then turned into bitter enmity. In part, he argues, this was due to Custer’s resourcefulness, flamboyance, outgoingness, and hunger for publicity, while Merritt was reserved, “a hard-nosed disciplinarian” with little interest in “glory”. Ovies contends that Philip H. Sheridan's combustible personality helped intensify the animosity between the two men.

Due to the enormous volume of documentation available about Custer, compared to the relative paucity of that about Merritt, Ovies does tend to favor him. Ovies refutes many of the charges of rashness and recklessness leveled at Custer, much of them based on the results of the disastrous battle of the Little Big Horn. While it has often been said that Custer needed a firm hand to control him, Ovies depicts him as the Civil War warrior and the Indian fighter. Nevertheless, Ovies does depict Merritt well, revealing his crucial role in the activities of the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac and his post-Civil War role in the U.S. military.

This reviewer highly recommends this volume on Custer and Merritt.

---///---

---///---

Note: The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt, and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, from the Shenandoah Valley to the Surrender at Appomattox is also available in e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium

www.nymas.org