in the tropics. It is known as the custard apple by Europeans in India. It is an egg-shaped fruit, with a thick rind and luscious pulp. An acrid principle, fatal to insects, is contained in its seeds, leaves and unripe fruits, which, powdered and mixed with the flour of gram (Cicer arietinum), are used to destroy vermin. A. Cherimolia yield the Peruvian cherimoyer, which is held to be a fruit of very superior flavour, and is much esteemed by the creoles. A. palustris, alligator apple, or cork-wood, a native of South America and the West Indies, is valued for its wood, which serves the same purposes as cork; the fruit, commonly known as the alligator-apple, is not eaten, being reputed to contain a dangerous narcotic principle.
CUSTER, GEORGE ARMSTRONG (1839–1876), American
cavalry soldier, was born in New Rumley, Harrison county,
Ohio, on the 5th of December 1839. He graduated from West
Point in 1861, and was at once sent to the theatre of war in
Virginia, joining his regiment on the battlefield of Bull Run.
Afterwards he served on the staff of General Kearny, and on that
of General W. F. Smith in the Peninsular Campaign. His daring
and energy, and in particular a spirited reconnaissance on the
Chickahominy river, brought him to the notice of General
McClellan, who made him an aide-de-camp on his own staff,
with the rank of captain. A few hours afterwards Custer
attacked a Confederate picket post and drove back the enemy.
He continued to serve with McClellan until the general was
relieved of his command, when Custer returned to duty with
his regiment as a lieutenant. Early in 1863 General Pleasonton
selected him as his aide-de-camp, and in June 1863 Custer was
promoted to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers. He
distinguished himself at the head of the Michigan cavalry brigade
in the battle of Gettysburg, and frequently did good service in
the remaining operations of the campaign of 1863. When the
cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac was reorganized
under Sheridan in 1864, Custer retained his command, and took
part in the various actions of the cavalry in the Wilderness and
Shenandoah campaigns. At the end of September 1864, he was
appointed to command a division, and on the 9th of October
fought, along with General Merritt, the brilliant cavalry action
called the battle of Woodstock. Soon afterwards he was made
brevet-major-general, U.S.V., having already won the brevets
of major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel U.S.A., for his services
at Gettysburg, Yellow Tavern and Winchester. His part in
the decisive battle of Cedar Creek (q.v.) was most conspicuous.
He served with Sheridan in the last great cavalry raid, won the
action of Waynesboro, and in the final campaign added to his
laurels by his conduct at Dinwiddie and Five Forks, and in
other operations. At the close of the war he received the brevets
of brigadier and major-general in the regular army, and was
promoted major-general of volunteers. In 1866 Custer was
made lieutenant-colonel of the 7th U.S. Cavalry, and took part
under General Hancock in the expedition against the Cheyenne
Indians, upon whom he inflicted a crushing defeat at Washita
river on the 27th of November 1868. In 1873 he was sent to
Dakota Territory to serve against the Sioux.
In 1876 an expedition, of which Custer and his regiment formed part, was made against the Sioux and their allies. As the advanced guard of the troops under General Terry, Custer’s force arrived at the junction of Big Horn and Little Big Horn rivers, in what is now the state of Montana, on the night of June 24; the main body was due to join him on the 26th. Unfortunately, the presence of what was judged to be a small isolated force of Indians was reported to the general. On the 25th, dividing his regiment into three parties, he moved forward to surround this force. But instead of meeting only a small force of Indians, the 7th were promptly attacked by the full forces of the enemy. The flanking columns maintained themselves with difficulty until Terry came up. Custer and 264 men of the centre column rode into the midst of the enemy and were slaughtered to a man.
The general’s wife, Elizabeth Bacon Custer, who accompanied him in many of his frontier expeditions, wrote Boots and Saddles, Life with General Custer in Dakota (1885), Tenting on the Plains (1887) and Following the Guidon (1891). General Custer himself wrote My Life on the Plains (1874).
See F. Whittaker, Life of General George A. Custer (1876).
His brother Thomas Ward Custer (1845–1876), in spite of his youth, fought in the early campaigns of the Civil War. Becoming aide-de-camp to General Custer, he accompanied him throughout the latter part of the war, distinguishing himself by his daring on all occasions, and winning successively the brevets of captain, major and lieutenant-colonel, though he was barely twenty years of age when the war ended. He was first lieutenant in the 7th cavalry when he fell with his brother at the Little Big Horn.
CUSTINE, ADAM PHILIPPE, Comte de (1740–1793), French general, began his military career in the Seven Years’ War.
He next served with distinction against the English in the War
of American Independence. In 1789 he was elected to the
states-general by the bailliage of Metz. In October 1791 he
again joined the army, with the rank of lieutenant-general and
became popular with the soldiers, amongst whom he was known
as “général moustache.” General-in-chief of the army of the
Vosges, he took Spires, Worms, Mainz and Frankfort in September
and October 1792. He carried on the revolutionary propaganda
by proclamations, and levied heavy taxes on the nobility
and clergy. During the winter a Prussian army forced him to
evacuate Frankfort, re-cross the Rhine and fall back upon
Landau. He was accused of treason, defended by Robespierre,
and sent back to the army of the north. But he dared not take
the offensive, and did nothing to save Condé, which the Austrians
were besieging. Sent to Paris to justify himself, he was found
guilty by the Revolutionary Tribunal of having intrigued with
the enemies of the republic, and guillotined on the 28th of August
1793. (See French Revolutionary Wars.)
See A. Rambaud, Les Français sur le Rhin (Paris, 1880); A. Chuquet, Les Guerres de la Révolution (1886–1895; vol. vi. “L’Expédition de Custine”).
CUSTOM (from O. Fr. custume, costume or coustume; Low Lat. costuma, a shortened form of consuetudo), in general, a habit or
practice. Thus a tradesman calls those who deal with him his
“customers,” and the trade resulting as their “custom.” The
word is also used for a toll or tax levied upon goods; there was
at one time a distinction between the tax on goods exported or
imported, termed magna custuma (the great custom), and that
on goods taken to market within the realm, termed parva
custuma (the little custom), but the word is now used in this
sense only in the plural, to signify the duties levied upon imported
goods. It is also used as a name for that department of the
public service which is employed in levying the duty.
In law, such long-continued usage as has by common consent become a rule of conduct is termed custom. Jessel, M. R. (Hammerton v. Honey, 24 W. R. 603), has defined it as “local common law. It is common law because it is not statute law; it is local law because it is the law of a particular place, as distinguished from the general common law. Local common law is the law of the country (i.e. particular place) as it existed before the time of legal memory.” There has been much discussion among jurists as to whether custom can properly be reckoned a source of law (see Jurisprudence). As to the distinction between prescription (which is a personal claim) and custom, see Prescription. The adoption of local customs by the judiciary has undoubtedly been the origin of a great portion of the English common law. Blackstone divides custom into (1) general, which is the common law properly so called, and (2) particular, which affects only the inhabitants of particular districts. The requisites necessary to make a particular custom good are: (1) it must have been used so long that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary; (2) it must have been continued, and (3) enjoyed peaceably; (4) it must be reasonable, and (5) certain; (6) it must be compulsory, and not left to the option of every man whether he will use it or no; (7) it must be consistent with other customs, for one custom cannot be set up in opposition to another. Customs may be of various kinds, for example, customs of merchants, customs of a certain district
