On the quiet morning of December 5th, 1839, a child was born in New Rumley, Pennsylvania, to Emanuel Henry Custer and his wife Marie Ward Kirkpatrick. They named the boy George Armstrong Custer, in honor of pastor George Armstrong. They had strong desire to see the boy join the clergy, hence the name. George would go on to other things, however, and forever place himself in the annals of time.
The Custer family traces its roots back to Paulus and Gertrude Küster, two Germans from the Rhineland who fled to North America in 1693. Being part Scottish and part German, George was of the most favored racial group in the Union. Nevertheless, his boyhood was spent in poverty. He had two younger brothers, Thomas and Boston Custer. His two sisters died in childhood. George, Thomas, and Boston were fervent patriots from the beginning of their lives, and their father Emanuel had served in the Green Mountain War. Being poor and having nothing to do other than help his father in the blacksmith shop, George began teaching himself to read at age 8. He could write well by the time he turned 10. His favorite subject, much to his parents pleasure, was religion.
George's later childhood was filled with deep questioning of everything. He slowly, and quietly, became an atheist in 1853. However, at age 17 he attended a traveling revival led by Bostonian minister Edward Everett, the same man who "led William Worth to Jesus." Custer said of this event later that "it was as if a fire shot through me. I realized that Christ died for me and all men, and that by believing in him I would be eternally protected and under his care. I believed! When I held that snake over my head, and the Holy Spirit moved my soul, I knew my atheist days were behind me."
Edward Everett, considered by many as the most important American religious figure of the 19th Century, was a fiery orator. At the New Rumley Revival, he set in motion the events that would lead to the New Order of the 20th Century.
A famous excerpt of the sermon Custer was "brought to Jesus" with:
"All the Jews! All the Pagans! All the Papists! All the Sodomites! And all the Traitors! They all are going to burn forever in the darkest pits of Hell! They will burn forever and ever, eternally tormented for their sins and transgressions. Pray to Jesus for mercy upon us all and for glorious victory against His enemies! Come to Jesus! He will set you free. It is He who will save you! And me! And your neighbor! And your country! If we have faith, Jesus will save us all and save the White Race! All Hail!"
The last bit-"All Hail"-was the new rally cry of the extremist far-right of the Union political and religious spectrum. Beginning around 1848, the Union began adopting Roman Imperial symbols and philosophy. The original leaders of the Revolutionary War against Britain had the Roman and Greek
Republics as their role models. Imitating the Roman Empire was seen as imitating a far more successful ancient superpower. As Theodore Burr, the son of Union hero and former consul Aaron Burr, said in 1849: "The time has come for an Empire of the People! We shall have no Caesar or Presidential Overlord. The People shall rule, for in plurality we have security. And we shall build an Empire of Freedom, Justice, and Biblical Virtue. All Hail the People!"
Theodore Burr circa 1845
At that cry, Burr gave a Roman-style chest-thump and salute. The crowd gathered in Philadelphia that day to hear him followed suit by shouting "All Hail!" in unison and thumped their chests and raised their hands. The formal sign of patriotism in the Union was born. Later that year, the Union Army adopted large gold eagle-topped vexilloid banners, named aquilae, or aquilas, in direct imitation of the Roman legions. A huge monument to Willard Crawford was soon erected (1858) in Philadelphia Harbor of the "Founding Father" in a Roman toga, wielding the "Blade of Remembrance" in his right hand (symbolizing America would never forget or forgive the Great Canadian Invasion) and a Fasces in the left, holding it up over his head (symbolizing the Union of States making the whole stronger). This part of the "Gilded Age" in America is regarded as the dawn of
fascism, originating from the Crawford Statue. The first official Union anthem, The Union Forever, was adopted at this time, and it reflected the militaristic culture of the nation:
Yes we'll rally round the flag, men, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom,
We will rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom!
The Union forever! Hurrah, men, hurrah!
Down with the Traitors, up with the Star;*
While we rally round the flag, men, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom!
We are springing to the call of our brothers gone before,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom!
And we'll fill our vacant ranks with a million Freemen more,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom!
We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true and brave,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom!
And although they may be poor, not a man shall be a Slave,**
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom!
So we're springing to the call from the East and from the West,
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom;
And we'll hurl the Traitor crew from the Land that we love best,***
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.
Young Custer was a big fan of this new political movement. He accompanied Everett as an aide on his revival trips, and was present and standing with Everett and Theodore Burr when the Crawford Statue was unveiled. "Autie" Custer was 19 at the time, and his future lay ahead. He served for a time (till 1860) as an evangelist, taking the new craze of snake-handling west to Shicagwa, Iowai, and then to Oshkosh, Michigania. Then, in 1860 he left the ministry to "take up the Sword of Christ" and began his service in the Union military. Thanks to friends in high places, he started out as a sergeant. The wheels of his fateful future began to turn.
* - "Traitors" refers to the Fascist tenet that the Southron republics were rightful Union land who had "betrayed" the United States after Crawford led his coup. The "Star" refers to the central symbol of the Union flag.
** - This lyric refers to the immigrant workers; they are
not "slaves," just very "poor" workers.
*** - This lyric incited anti-Union riots in Maryland and Virginia; it actually states that the Union will someday reclaim and/or conquer all of the "United States" and create an "Empire."
