Portraying General George A. Custer
Reported by Erik Smith
Web produced by Christiana Ciolac

Steve Alexander portrays his idol, General George Custer, on stage and in museums. Video

Meet a Michigan man who spends part of his life portraying his childhood idol, General George A. Custer.

He unwillingly stepped across the boundary of immortality on a grassy knoll along the rolling banks of the Little Big Horn River.

General Custer in battle

George Armstrong Custer, the fearless fighter, perished in a moment of miscalculation. In death, he had almost miss particularly become the stuff of legends, an instant icon. Ironically, his place in history forever secured by his adversary's own brutal hand.

As he lay bloodied on that ground, could he have imagined that more than a century before a bedroom mirror, that his signature red tie would once again encircle his collar, that he would don his hat to again regale the curious about his exploits on the vast western plains?

Could we have imagined that he would come to life again in a man named Steve Alexander? He has been proclaimed the foremost expert. Much of his discretionary time is actually taken up each year portraying his boyhood hero in museums, on stages, in films, and in various and sundry recreations of the past staged annually around the country sighed.

Steve Alexander

As you might imagine swapping the identity of George A. Custer just does not pay all the bills that come with life in the 21st century.

"Fortunately for me, I work for the road commission and it gives me an extra bonus in that I travel all over the county. It's changed a few things since when General Custer was here but he would have been familiar with it growing up as a boy. That's kind of neat to be able to have that experience," Alexander said.

Steve Alexander was born in Jackson, Michigan, a long way from the Little Big Horn, but not too far from Monroe, Michigan. It was in Monroe that the golden haired warrior married his beloved Libby, and where the newlyweds spent what they believe were the happiest days of their turbulent lives.

What would life be if we didn't have Libby? She was born and raised here. George Custer's life many, many ways become their life. They are history themselves, living breathing textbooks.

"A lot of my research is his books are here because Libby lived through that period of time that we know as the Victorian Era," Alexander said.

General George Armstrong Custer

They even live in the home that they purchased in 1999, the home of Custer, a home they are methodically recreating with the helps of antique fares and garage sales.

No, they are not possessed by Custer's ghost, nor do they see him in the corner of the room. They're just indulging their own love affair with the sense of the history that lives deep within their own hearts.

"I come back from this campaign, I'll start that family you always wanted. We're happy to live here and keep some resemblance of what it was like in 1860."

Despite living two lives separated by more than 125 years, George and Steve and Libby and Sandy seem to get along remarkably well in our day and age. The two families are pretty comfortable with their respective places in history, because each day they are bringing that history to life again.

For more information on George A. Custer, go to Monroe County Library's website by clicking here.

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