Custer’s First Last Stand

June 25, 1876. The Battle of Little Bighorn. Custer’s Last Stand. Everybody knows the story. But not everyone knows that 12 years earlier — almost to the day — Custer had his first Last Stand. On June 11, 1864, “the Boy General” and the Michigan Cavalry Brigade almost got the chop in a place called Trevillian Station, Virginia, at the hands of Custer’s West Point roommate and then Confederate Brigadier General Tom Rosser.

After weeks of fighting, Union General Ulysses Grant was still hemmed in on the Peninsula, like McClellan before him. He needed to bust out. Grant planned to slip the Union army away from Lee and steal a march towards Petersburg before Lee even knew he was gone. To do this, he needed to distract Lee.

Grant and his cavalry commander, General Phil Sheridan, planned one of the largest cavalry raids of the war, deep into Virginia, to destroy the Virginia Central Railroad. This would cut Lee’s army off from its supply larder in the Shenandoah Valley and provide cover for Grant’s move to Petersburg.

Two Union cavalry divisions, including Custer’s brigade of Michigan Wolverines, headed for the Virginia Central railroad at Trevilian Station. They knew they were being pursued by Rebel Cavalry. It’s unclear if they knew that the Confederates had beaten them to the town. The Union plan was for three brigades to enter the town on the morning of 11 June. Merritt’s and Devon’s brigades were to move along the main road, Custer’s along a separate, ridgeline track.

Along the main road, Merritt and Devin ran into the center of the Confederate formation, and the largest cavalry-only battle of the war erupted. (For proponents of Brandy Station…there were a few brigades of Union infantry there too, so it wasn’t an according-to-Hoyle all cavalry affair.)

On the ridgeline track, Custer brushed aside some troops on the Confederate flank and entered Trevillian Station virtually unmolested. There, they found the town and station unguarded except for the entire Confederate supply wagon train. Falling into Custer’s hands were several hundred prisoners, 1,500 horses, a stand of colors, six caissons, 40 ambulances, and 50 army wagons. What a prize. But scooping it up and holding on to it were two different things.

It didn’t take long for Confederate General Wade Hampton to learn that there were Yankees at the station and that his wagons were taken. He commanded Tom Rosser’s Laurel Brigade to get back to Trevillian Station, oust the Yankees, and recover the wagons.

For his part, Rosser hadn’t waited for orders. Hearing the hubbub behind him, he faced his brigade about and hurried back to the station. He found Custer in the process of consolidating his winnings. He also found that Custer hadn’t set pickets on the roads and so had no idea that Rosser was about to land on him with both feet.

Rosser’s Laurel Brigade hit the Yankees at the gallop, sabers drawn. In the first rush, they swept away half of the 5th Michigan regiment and recovered most of the wagons. Only hard-hitting, rapid fire from some Michigan horse artillery kept the Laurels from rolling up most of Custer’s brigade. But the Wolverines rallied, Custer formed them into defensive positions and they fought hard. More Rebel cavalry began to arrive, and soon the defensive positions became an all-around perimeter. Custer was surrounded and badly outnumbered. Only the timely arrival of three additional Union brigades prevented total destruction. Arriving in the traditional nick of time, the additional Union cavalry managed to cut open an escape route and rescue Custer and his command. Custer’s luck.

Twelve years later, at the Little Bighorn, there would be no reinforcements to save Custer a second time.