By RICKEY ROBERTSON

When General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to General U.S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865, the war was supposedly over. But further south there were several Confederate Generals and units that refused to surrender and they moved into Texas to continue the fight.

General Kirby Smith and General Chief Stand Watie and their units had moved from the area around Shreveport and the state of Arkansas into Texas and Oklahoma and the Union Army had to send units into Louisiana to counter these Confederate units now in Texas. Over 3,000 Union cavalrymen arrived in Alexandria and were commanded by one of the Union Army’s most famous cavalry officers, General George A. Custer.

They would train and resupply then head to Texas to stop the rebellion. Due to Alexandria having been burned in 1864 by the retreating Union Army commanded by General Nathaniel Banks in its failed attempt to win the Red River Campaign and capture Shreveport Custer’s men lived in tents down near the Red River. Custer himself lived in one of the few houses that had not been destroyed in the area of present day downtown Alexandria on 4th Street.

I have read many excerpts of how during this occupation of Alexandria Custer’s cavalrymen would make forays westward toward present day Gardner and Hineston searching for any type of food supplies they could find and on many occasions they would take cattle and yearlings back to Alexandria to be butchered to feed the troops. And sadly Southern folks were starving to death throughout the area.

Custer and his troops stayed from June to August 8, 1865 preparing for the expedition into Texas. When orders arrived for the command to move out and advance into Texas, wagons were loaded with supplies and hundreds of tents were taken down and folded, and over 3,000 Union cavalrymen said goodbye to Louisiana and hello to Texas. It took this large column of cavalry and supply wagons 4 days to get to the Sabine River where they crossed into Texas at “Bevil’s Ferry.”

Custer led his command on into Texas ever watching for Confederate units that had not surrendered. But General Kirby Smith surrendered his army and General Chief Stand Watie surrendered his Confederate unit comprised of Oklahoma Native Americans at Doaksville, Oklahoma on June 23, 1865.

All Confederate units had now surrendered. There would be no more battles. Custer led his troops into Austin, Texas where he eventually commanded a cavalry division during the Reconstruction Period in the South. After the war Custer was given the permanent rank of Lt. Colonel. Custer always wanted to be in the spotlight during his career. He requested a transfer to the northwest territories so that he could be in the fight against the Plains Indian tribes. The flamboyant and fancy dressed Custer did lead his famous 7th Cavalry into battle in 1876 and we all know the story of his great defeat at the Battle of the Little Big Horn where he died fighting with his cavalry detachment . Yes even in death this battle addressed Custer as the hero of the Little Big Horn fight.

So even not in Louisiana but a couple of months, our state can now lay claim that Custer had served in our state before carrying his troops into Texas. Louisiana has so much military history, dating all the way back to the War of 1812 to the present War On Terror, with so many famous officers having been in our state. And now we can add George Armstrong Custer to this list of famous officers!