A powerful dual biography of Gorge Custer and Wesley Merritt, two of the greatest United States cavalry generals, encompassing their differences during the Civil War and post-war fighting in the West, Spanish-American War and military strategies during several campaigns and battles. The main idea of 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.
All three volumes examine the dysfunctional relationship between George Custer and his superior officer, Wesley Merritt. This is not a history of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac, but a human story of two individuals who came to detest each other. “According to Eric Wittenberg, he feels ‘that the breakdown in the relationship between Custer and Merritt has its roots in the fundamental difference between hussars and dragoons.”
The battle of Gettysburg is recounted in Volume 1. Volume 2 picks up the pursuit of Lee's beaten army, the Overland campaign, details the battle at Trevilian Station, and the opening of the Shenandoah Valley campaign. Volume 3 concentrates on the interplay of Custer’s hussar vs. Merritt’s dragoon tactics, and how the differences impacted the actions of their respective divisions during the fighting in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864 and the end of the war.
A strength of volume 3 was Adolfo Ovies examination of the impact of the press and how each man handled their press relations. It was but one factor in the enmity between the two men as they had completely different views on how to maintain their relationship with reporters and sketch artists attached to the cavalry. Additionally, the author’s biggest strength is his in-depth research in his straight-forward story that was well told as he depicts his empathy toward the two main characters. A weakness in this title is Ovies’ bias towards Custer due in part because of the sheer amount of material available on Custer and so little about Merritt.
Adolfo Ovies provides readers with how the general’s cordial relationship broke down, grew into a fierce rivalry, and eventually turned into bitter enmity partly due to Custer’s resourcefulness, flamboyance, outgoingness, and hunger for publicity, while Merritt was reserved, “a hard-nosed disciplinarian” with little interest in “glory”. He contends that General Philip H. Sheridan combustible personality intensified the animosity burning between George Custer and Wesley Merritt.
Readers will be surprised by Ovies’ insistence on refuting the charges of rash and reckless charges leveled at Custer, much of it based on the results of the disastrous battle of the Little Big Horn. It has often been stated that Custer needed a firm hand to control him, but Ovies depicts him as the Civil War warrior and the Indian fighter. The Boy Generals Volume 3 depicts Merritt and his crucial role in the activities of the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac and his post-Civil Role in the U.S. military.
Something that might be recommended in future research by Ovies or by other scholars is a more in-depth study made solely about Merritt’s Civil War career. Perhaps the best of the fifteen chapters is the one on the battle of Sailors Creek and its excellent description of the fighting. Readers will enjoy a wonderful human-interest story in this chapter on Roger Hannaford of the 2nd Ohio Cavalry, 3rd Cavalry Division, who wrote in his diary an exceptional account of Sailors Creek.
Ovies portrays Custer as someone who took chances, and many times was successful. He never advanced beyond the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the post-Civil War period and met a horrific death in Montana on June 25, 1876. Merritt, by contrast, found glory in commanding the expedition that captured Manilla, Philippines during the Spanish-American War, culminating with ending his service as the second ranking officer in the Army, and lived well into old age.
Their relationship deteriorated to the point of open warfare, particularly when Merritt ascended over commander of the Army of the Potomac’s First Cavalry Division. Additionally, Merritt did not recognize the need for publicity with the press, while Custer often embellished and possibly received excessive credit for the actions of many other soldiers such as at East Cavalry Field during the battle of Gettysburg on July 3rd, getting recognition for the number of guns captured in the valley, and promoted by Secretary of War Stanton with General Sheridan’s recommendation after the fighting subsided in 1864.
The volume ends the trilogy that Ovies began in 2006. Volume Three has numerous maps and images, a forward by Scott Patchan, an exceptional conclusion and epilogue, with first-person accounts from common soldiers and officers as the campaign progressed and following the conflict -- their shifting emotions, outlook on fighting the Confederates and Native Americans, stories of comradeship or petty feuds, fears and uncertainties, hopes and dreams, as well as whether to use cavalry mounted or dismounted.
This reviewer highly recommends this volume on Custer and Merritt.
