George Armstrong Custer

Born: December 5, 1839, New Rumley, Ohio
Died: June 25, 1876 (age 36) Little Bighorn, Montana

George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. At the start of the Civil War, Custer was a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and his class's graduation was accelerated so that they could enter the war. 

Custer graduated last in his class and served at the First Battle of Bull Run as a staff officer for Major General George B. McClellan in the Army of the Potomac's 1862 Peninsula Campaign. Early in the Gettysburg Campaign, Custer's association with cavalry commander Major General Alfred Pleasonton earned him promotion from First Lieutenant to Brigadier General of United States Volunteers at the age of 23.

At the end of the Civil War (April 15, 1865), Custer was promoted to Major General of United States Volunteers. In 1866, he was appointed to the Regular U.S. Army rank of Lieutenant Colonel, leading the 7th U.S. Cavalry and served in the Indian Wars. His distinguished war record, which started with riding dispatches for General Scott, has been overshadowed in history by his role and fate in the Indian Wars. 

Custer was defeated and killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, against a coalition of American Indian tribes composed almost exclusively of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors, and led by the Sioux warrior Crazy Horse and the Sioux chiefs Gall and Sitting Bull. This confrontation has come to be popularly known in American history as Custer's Last Stand.

True or False?

1. Custer spent much of his boyhood living with his half-sister and his brother-in-law in Monroe, Michigan.

2. Custer was graduated a year early, first of 34 cadets in the Class of 1861 from the United States Military Academy, just after the start of the Civil War.

3. Custer was one of the youngest generals in the Union Army at age 23.

4. Custer married Elizabeth Clift Bacon on February 9, 1864.

5. Custer was mustered out of the volunteer service and returned to his permanent rank of captain in the Regular Army, assigned to the 7th U.S. Cavalry.

6. He was court-martialed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for being AWOL.

7. Custer’s body was found with no bullet holes.

8. Custer is buried at the Battle of the Little Big Horn National Monument.

Answers

1. True. Custer spent much of his boyhood living with his half-sister and his brother-in-law in Monroe, Michigan, where he attended school and is now honored by a statue in the center of town.

2. False. Custer was graduated a year early, last of 34 cadets in the Class of 1861 from the United States Military Academy, just after the start of the Civil War.

3. True. On June 28, 1863, three days prior to the Battle of Gettysburg, General Pleasonton promoted Custer from lieutenant to brigadier general of volunteers. Despite having no direct command experience, he became one of the youngest generals in the Union Army at age 23.

4. True. Custer married Elizabeth Clift Bacon on February 9, 1864.

5. False. On February 1, 1866, Custer was mustered out of the volunteer service and returned to his permanent rank of captain in the Regular Army, assigned to the 5th U.S. Cavalry.

6. True. His career took a brief detour following the Hancock campaign when he was court-martialed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for being AWOL, after abandoning his post to see his wife, and was suspended for duty for one year.

7. False. When the cavalry's main column did arrive three days later, they found most of the soldiers' corpses stripped, scalped, and mutilated. Custer’s body had two bullet holes, one in the left temple and one just above the heart.

8. False. Following the recovery of Custer's body, he was given a funeral with full military honors and buried on the battlefield. on October 10, 1877, he was reinterred in the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery, West Point, New York.

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