CUST. 685 CUSTER. 4!), ami in the pacification of the country after the Sepoy Mutiny. After his return frlmi the Kast, be lilleii various hieal olliees; heeame a nienilier of several societies, anil is a constiint eontriliutor to certain religious publications. Among his works are: Modern Luiiyiiagcs of the iJast Indies (187S) ; Modern Lanyuayes of Africa (188.3); Modern iMnyiiayes of Oceania (1887); Modern Lanyuayes of the Caucasian Group (1887) ; Modern Lanyuayes of the Turki Branch of the VraJ-Altaic Family (1880) ; Linyuislic and Oriental Essays (5), si.Y scries (1880-99). CUSTARD - APPLE. The name commonly given in the West Indies and other tropical coun- tries to the fruits of certain species of Anona, a genus of trees of the natural order Anonacea;. Some of the fruits of this genus are among the
- most delicious produced in tro|iical countries,
as the chcrimoyer (q.v. ), and even the common custard-apple {Anona reticulata) of the East and West Indies. The custard-apple is a large, dark-brown, roundish fruit, sometimes from its size and appearance called bullock's-heart in the West Indies; the tree is of considei'able size. The custard-apple is represented in the north- ern United States by the common papaw (Asi- 7/11)10 Iriloha). There are two or three which are natives of western Africa. To the genus Anona also belong the sweet-sop, the sour-sop, the pinana or pinha, all of them tropical American fruits, and the alligator-apple of the West In- dies (Anona pulnstris) , a fruit which in its present unimproved state is proliably not worth cultivation. CUS'TER, George Armstrong (1839-70). An American soldier, born in Xew Rnmley. Harrison County, O)iio. He graduated at West Point in 1861, was assigned as a second lieutenant to the Fifth United States Cavalry, and arrived at the front on the day of the first battle of Bull Run. He served successively as an aide on the stafTs of Generals Phil Kearny. William F. Smith, and McClellan. was promoted to be a captain of volunteers, and served throughout the Peninsular campaign of 18G2. In .Tune, 18G.3 he was made a brigadier-general of volunteers, and was placed in command of a brigade of Michigan volunteer cavalry, which, under his leadership, became one of the most efiicient and best-trained bodies of cavalry in the Federal Army. At the head of these troops he distinguished himself at the battle of Gettysburg. His Inigade was then at- tached to Sheridan's cavalry cor]is, with which he sered in the campaigns in Virginia in the spring and summer of 1804, and the subsequent operations in the Shenandoah Valley. Placed in command of the Third Division of Sheridan's corps, he won a victory at Woodstock and dis- tinguished himself at the second battle of Win- chester (Cedar Creek). He was brevetted major- general of volunteers on October 10, 1804, for his services, defeated General Early at Waynes- boro, and took part in the battles of Five Forks, Dinwiddle Courthouse, and other engagements of . Grant's last campaign. After several months' service in Texas during the winter of 18G.5-06, he applied for leave of absence, in order to ac- cept the offer which had been made him to take command of the cavalry which .Tuarez was or- ganizing to drive the Emperor JIaximilian out of Mexico. His request being denied, he accept- ed the position of lieutenant-colonel of the Sev- enth Cavalry. In 1807-08 he gained his first experience as an Indian fighter in Gen. V. S. Hancock's campaign against the Cheyenncs, l>ringing the campaign to a successful conclusion by a decisive defeat of the hulians at Washita, 1. T., in November, 1808. lrom 1871 to 1S7.'{ he was stationed with his regiment in Kentucky. In the spring of the latter year he was ordered to Dakota Territory to operate against the Sioux, who, under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, had formed a confederacy with other tribes in Dakota and Slontana, and had succeeded in or- ganizing one of the most formidable Indian re- volts the United States Government had ever had to contend with. During the next three years Custer and his command saw <-onsiderable active service in the Black Hills country and along the valley of the Yellowstone. In the spring of 1870 General Sheri<laii planned a cam- paign against the Indians which he hojied would be decisive. Three expeditions were set under way, with the expectation thaf they would meet and act in conjunction against Sitting Hull and his force of about 0000 Indians, who wcr<^ sup- posed to be encamped somewhere near the junc- ture of the Rosebud and the Yellowstone. Gen- eral Crook, with 2500 troops, was to advance from the east ; General Terry, with a force of about the same size, from the south ; and Gen- eral Gibbon, with a smaller force, was to follow the Yellowstone from the west. Custer and his regiment of 000 strong formed i)art of (feneral Terry's force. On -June 17 Crook, feeling his way along the Yellowstone, came upon Crazy Horse and some hundred of his braves on the Rosebud, and engaged them in a sharp but inde- cisive struggle. Terry and Gibbon had mean- while effected a junction on the Yellowstone, at the mouth of the Big Horn, without encounter- ing Indians in any number. After their engage- ment willi Crook on the Rosebud, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull led their forces in a southwest- erly direction, until they were directly south of Terry and Gibbon, where they set up their tepees on the west bank of the Little Big Horn. 'This new move of the Indians was discovered by scouts sent out by Terr}', who immediately de- termined to march upon them. He sent Custer and his cavalry ahead to prevent them from turning to the ea.stward, and pre|)ared to follow by boat up the Big Horn with all his own troops and Gibbon's, with the understanding that he would meet Custer at the junction of the Big and Little Big Horn on Jine 20. But Custer, riding night and day, reached the place a day ahead of time. His scouts discovered the Indian encampment on the morning of .June 25. ilis- taken as to the number of liis antagonists, Cus- ter, with his accustomed impetuosity, determined to attack them at once, without waiting for Terry. He divided his troops into three divi- sions, lie kept with himself five companies, with which he planned to attack that part of the village that lay directly before him, dividing the remaining six companies between Major Reno and Captain Benteen. the latter being sent two miles to the southward, while Reno advanced midway between Benteen and Custer. Thus fatally divided, the Seventh Cavalry advanced to the attack of an enemy outnvnubering them ten to one. lienteen's advance took him far south of the village. Reno's rather spiritless attack led him against the south end of the village,
