Interview with "General George Custer"

Monroe, Michigan's Own Steve Alexander

If you have ever watched a General George Armstrong Custer documentary or attended a Veteran's Day parade in downtown Monroe, Michigan, chances are that you have seen Steve Alexander in action.

Monroe, Michigan's own General George Armstrong Custer reenactor and historian was gracious enough to grant me a few minutes of his time for this interview. As a life-long admirer of General Custer, I was thrilled by the opportunity to speak with a Custer expert of Mr. Alexander's standing.

Foremost Custer Living Historian

Mr. Alexander (nicknamed "the General" but referred to by "Mr. Alexander" in this article to avoid confusion) has portrayed General Custer in many documentaries that you may have seen on the History and A&E channels. He also works hard at keeping history alive by participating in reenactments and appearing at schools, events and parades nation wide.

He has been named as the "Foremost Custer Living Historian" by the United States Congress and is the recipient of the Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association's Editor's Choice Award.

In addition, he was honored by Tribal Historian Joe Medicine Crow who bestowed upon him the Crow Indian name Ika Dieux' Daka -"Son of the Morning Star"- a name he shares with General Custer.

Monroe--Home Sweet Home

Raised on a dairy farm in Jackson County, Michigan, Mr. Alexander has adopted Monroe as his hometown like General Custer before him .

Mr. Alexander's official website at www.georgecuster.com tells visitors that he first had his interest in General Custer piqued as a child when he saw a copy of H.L. Steinegger's painting of "General Custer's Death Struggle." He told me that his parents had brought him to Monroe to visit the Custer Museum when he was in his teens.

"A television news report on Toledo 13 made me aware of the Sawyer House that was the Custer Museum in Monroe. I convinced my parents to bring me here in 1970 for the family summer vacation. Although lasting only a few hours (we had to return to our dairy farm to milk the cows that evening) I fell in love with the city and what I thought at the time was the overall community's embracement of General Custer."