George Armstrong Custer and the Pennypackers of Pennsylvania: The Life and Death of George Armstrong Custer, #4

By Raymond C. Wilson

While researching family genealogy, I was surprised to learn that my wife is related to Major General George Armstrong Custer, Major General Galusha Pennypacker, Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker, and Frank Knox Morton Pennypacker. This is the story of these four fascinating characters that have played important roles in American history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raymond C. Wilson
• Release date: Oct 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005648091

Raymond C. Wilson

Raymond C. Wilson is a military historian, filmmaker, and amateur genealogist. During his military career as an enlisted soldier, warrant officer, and commissioned officer in the U.S. Army for twenty-one years, Wilson served in a number of interesting assignments both stateside and overseas. He had the honor of serving as Administrative Assistant to Brigadier General George S. Patton (son of famed WWII general) at the Armor School; Administrative Assistant to General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley at the Pentagon; and Military Assistant to the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon. In 1984, Wilson was nominated by the U.S. Army Adjutant General Branch to serve as a White House Fellow in Washington, D.C. While on active duty, Wilson authored numerous Army regulations as well as articles for professional journals including 1775 (Adjutant General Corps Regimental Association magazine), Program Manager (Journal of the Defense Systems Management College), and Army Trainer magazine. He also wrote, directed, and produced three training films for Army-wide distribution. He is an associate member of the Military Writers Society of America. Following his retirement from the U.S. Army in 1992, Wilson made a career change to the education field. He served as Vice President of Admissions and Development at Florida Air Academy; Vice President of Admissions and Community Relations at Oak Ridge Military Academy; Adjunct Professor of Corresponding Studies at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; and Senior Academic Advisor at Eastern Florida State College. While working at Florida Air Academy, Wilson wrote articles for several popular publications including the Vincent Curtis Educational Register and the South Florida Parenting Magazine. At Oak Ridge Military Academy, Wilson co-wrote and co-directed two teen reality shows that appeared on national television (Nickelodeon & ABC Family Channel). As an Adjunct Professor at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Wilson taught effective communications and military history for eighteen years. At Eastern Florida State College, Wilson wrote, directed, and produced a documentary entitled "Wounded Warriors - Their Struggle for Independence" for the Chi Nu chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. Since retiring from Eastern Florida State College, Wilson has devoted countless hours working on book manuscripts.

Book preview

GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER

AND THE

PENNYPACKERS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Written by

RAYMOND C. WILSON

Author of:

Beyond the Bighorn: The Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer

George Armstrong Custer and the Royal Buffalo Hunt of 1872

Custer’s Luck Has Run Out: George Armstrong Custer’s Changing Image

GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER

AND THE

PENNYPACKERS OF PENNSYLVANIA

Published by Raymond C. Wilson at Smashwords

Copyright 2022 Raymond C. Wilson

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Also by Raymond C. Wilson

Commander in Chief

Martyr of the Race Course

The Hessians Are Coming

America’s Five-Star Warriors

The Men Who Saved West Point

Elvis Presley: His Music and Movies

The Men Who Saved the Liberty Bell

Sleepy Hollow: Facts Behind the Fiction

The King and I: My Family Ties to Elvis

Elvis Presley: You’re in the Army Now

Lance of Longinus: The Spear of Destiny

POTUS & FLOTUS: Washington to Biden

Pennsylvania Bucktails: Civil War Sharpshooters

Tecumseh’s Revenge: The Curse of Tippecanoe

McKee Family of Pennsylvania: Loyalists and Patriots

George Smith Patton: Four Men Who Share the Name

Wounded Warriors - Their Struggle for Independence

European Royal Bloodlines of the American Presidents

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume One)

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Two)

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Three)

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Four)

‘Twas Whose Night Before Christmas? Moore Vs. Livingston

If These Walls Could Talk: Huling Hotel and Pack Horse Inn

Beyond the Bighorn: The Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer

George Armstrong Custer and the Royal Buffalo Hunt of 1872

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Presidential Edition)

Kennedy Family of Pennsylvania and Their Native American Kin

Patton: Soldier Who Saved His Life and the One Who Caused His Death

Custer’s Luck Has Run Out: George Armstrong Custer’s Changing Image

Out of Necessity: George Washington’s Surrender of Fort Necessity to the French

Table of Contents

Introduction

Major General George Armstrong Custer

Major General Galusha Pennypacker

Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker

Frank Knox Morton Pennypacker

Afterword

Bibliography

About Raymond C. Wilson

Introduction

Captain and Mrs. Raymond C. Wilson

While I was attending the Adjutant General Officer Advanced Course at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana in 1985, I gave a formal presentation on George Armstrong Custer to my class. It was during my extensive research for this presentation that I learned a lot about Custer’s life and the circumstances surrounding his untimely death at the age of 36. Coincidently, I was a 36 year old U.S. Army captain when I gave my presentation on George Armstrong Custer.

Thirty years after giving the Custer presentation to my class during the Adjutant General Officer Advance Course in 1985, I began researching my wife’s family history. Much to my surprise, I learned that my wife (Billie Jean Null) is related to George Armstrong Custer (shown below). I also learned that my wife is related to Samuel Pennypacker (former Pennsylvania Governor) and Major General Galusha Pennypacker (youngest Union general in Civil War).

Additionally, I learned that my wife is related to Frank Knox Morton Pennypacker -- the amateur sleuth who discovered in 1939 the true identity of General George Washington’s mystery spy that had eluded historical detectives for almost a century and a half.

This chart shows how Ann Eliza Pannebaker (Billie Jean Null’s 2nd great grandmother) is related to Frank Knox Morton Pennypacker through her 3rd great-grandfather Hendrick Pannebecker. It also shows how Ann Eliza Pannebaker is related to Major General George Armstrong Custer through the marriage of Matthias Pennypacker to Mary Custer.

Before delving into the lives of the four main characters in this story -- Major General George Armstrong Custer, Major General Galusha Pennypacker, Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker, and Frank Knox Morton Pennypacker -- I think it is important to provide some background information about the common ancestors of my wife’s four cousins.

Hans Jan Pannebakker (1530-1568)

A mid-1300s A.D. family legend implies that the Pannebakkers fled to Gorinchem (Gorkum), Netherlands from Gaul to escape war-torn and plague-ridden central Europe. The earliest trace of named family individuals tells the partly verified tale of Hans Jan Pannebakker and his wife Nancy Jannechen. Hans was born in Gorkum, Netherlands in circa 1530 and Nancy was born in this same community in circa 1520. The couple had a son named Cornelius Pannebakker who was born in Gorkum, Netherlands in circa 1555. Hans and Nancy were accused of heresy for being a Mennonite and killed by the Spaniards at Utrecht, Netherlands in 1568. Hans Jan Pannebakker, a successful tile manufacturer from Gorkum, Netherlands was burned at the stake and his wife Nancy was stripped and drowned in water.

Hans was burned at the stake / Nancy was stripped and drowned

Martyrs of Gorkum (Gorinchem)

Nineteen Dutch Catholic Clerics from Gorkum, Netherlands (circa 1572)

This story might surprise many for the Netherlands is known as a tolerant and multi-cultural society, this wasn’t always the case.

The Martyrs of Gorkum (Dutch: Martelaren van Gorinchem) were a group of 19 Dutch Catholic clerics and friars who were hanged on 9 July 1572 in the town of Brielle (or Den Briel) by militant Dutch Calvinists during the 16th century religious wars in the Low Countries.

As of 1572, Lutheranism and Calvinism had spread through a great part of Europe. In the Netherlands this was followed by a struggle between the two denominations in which Calvinism was victorious. On 1 April of the next year, Calvinist forces and a rebel group called the Watergeuzen (Sea Beggars) conquered Brielle (Den Briel) and later Vlissingen.

Sea Beggars conquered Brielle in 1572

In June 1572, Dordrecht and Gorkum fell, and at the latter the rebels captured nine Franciscans: Nicholas Pieck, guardian of Gorkum; Hieronymus of Weert, vicar; Theodorus van der Eem of Amersfoort; Nicasius Janssen of Heeze; Willehad of Denmark; Godefried of Mervel; Antonius of Weert; Antonius of Hoornaer, and Franciscus de Roye of Brussels. To these were added two lay brothers from the same friary, Petrus of Assche and Cornelius of Wijk bij Duurstede. At almost the same time the Calvinists arrested the parish priest of Gorkum, Leonardus Vechel of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, and his assistant.

Also imprisoned were Godefried van Duynsen of Gorkum, a priest in his native city, and Joannes Lenartz of Oisterwijk, a canon regular from a nearby priory and spiritual director for the monastery of Augustinian nuns in Gorkum. To these fifteen were later added four more companions: Joannes van Hoornaer (alias known as John of Cologne), a Dominican of the Cologne province and parish priest not far from Gorkum, who when apprised of the incarceration of the clergy of Gorkum hastened to the city in order to administer the sacraments to them and was seized and imprisoned with the rest; Jacobus Lacops of Oudenaar, a Norbertine, who became a curate in Monster, South Holland; Adrianus Janssen of Hilvarenbeek, a Premonstratensian canon and at one time parish priest in Monster, who was sent to Brielle with Jacobus Lacops. Last was Andreas Wouters of Heynoord.

In prison at Gorkum from 26 June to 6 July 1572, the first 15 prisoners were transferred to Brielle, arriving there on 8 July. On their way to Dordrecht they were exhibited for money to the curious. The following day, William de la Marck, Lord of Lumey, commander of the Gueux de mer, had them