Charlottesville. During the war, the direct fighting mostly missed this town. The people here instead supplied swords, uniforms and artificial limbs to rebel soldiers. A 500-bed military hospital tended to a total of 22,000 sick and wounded Civil War soldiers.
In 1861, the 19th Virginia Regiment recruited troops from here and lost 60 percent of its men in the Pickett Campaign two years later. In 1865, town leaders surrendered Charlottesville to General George Custer.
Custer. The Indian Killer. Better for him had he retired then. ...