Custis Morgan was a squirrel adopted as a pet by Mildred Lee in Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War. She named him after her brother Custis and Confederate General John Hunt Morgan, who had escaped from prison much as the squirrel escaped from his cage. Custis Morgan was a biter, and General Lee, feeling that the pet was not entirely safe, jokingly threatened to make him into soup. The rodent ran away one day and never came back, solving the problem. There is a popular joke among Civil War trivialists that Custis Morgan was a Union spy who snuck northward to report to Washington.