George Armstrong Custer

George Armstrong Custer (born December 5, 1839, New Rumley, Ohio, U.S.—died June 25, 1876, Little Bighorn River, Montana Territory) was a U.S. cavalry officer who distinguished himself in the American Civil War (1861–65) but later led his men to death in one of the most controversial battles in U.S. history, the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Although born in Ohio, Custer spent part of his youth in the home of his half sister and brother-in-law in Monroe, Michigan. After graduating from McNeely Normal School (later Hopedale Normal College) in Ohio in 1856, he taught school before matriculating at the U.S. Military Academy, from which he graduated last in his class in June 1861. Having entered the army as a second lieutenant at the start of the Civil War, Custer saw action at the First Battle of Bull Run (July 21, 1861). Later, catching the eye of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, the commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, Custer joined that important officer’s staff and developed contacts with many senior commanders. In 1863, at age 23, he became a brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers, leading the Michigan Cavalry Brigade, which consisted of four regiments from his adopted home state. Dubbed the “Boy General,” Custer distinguished himself in numerous encounters, including the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), the Battle of Yellow Tavern (May 11, 1864), and the Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864), which led to his rise to division command and promotion to major general before he turned age 25. During the closing days of the war, his relentless pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia and Gen. Robert E. Lee helped to hasten their surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9, 1865.

America’s top Indian fighter

With the end of the Civil War, the citizen soldiers of the U.S. Volunteers disbanded. Custer reverted to the rank of captain in the regular army, though he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and became acting commander of the newly formed 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment. In 1866 Custer and his 7th Cavalry reported to western Kansas to take part in Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock’s expedition to awe hostile Plains Indians with the military strength of the U.S. Army. Unable to adapt successfully to Indian warfare, Custer began acting erratically. He ordered deserters shot without trial. Instead of waiting for supplies to be loaded at Fort Wallace, he abandoned his regiment and went to Fort Riley to visit his wife. A court-martial at Fort Leavenworth found Custer guilty of misconduct in 1867 and suspended him from rank and pay for one year.

Custer and his wife, Elizabeth (Libbie) Bacon Custer, were deeply committed to each other and wrote long passionate letters when separated. They were partners in Custer’s romantic pursuit of glory and fame, acting the roles of the cavalier and his lady. Custer was said to have had a theatrical presence and sensibility. He perfumed his cascading blond hair and augmented his often specialized uniforms (ranging from a brocaded velveteen jacket during the Civil War to a frontiersman’s buckskins in the West) with a red tie and a large broad-brimmed hat (which also protected his fair skin from sunburn).

Britannica Quiz

Famous Faces of War

The army’s inability to subdue the Plains Indians led Custer’s superiors to give a soldier with his aggressive instincts a second chance. They returned him to duty before his court-martial sentence expired, and in September 1868 he rejoined the 7th Cavalry in southwestern Kansas. In November his command surprised and destroyed the Southern Cheyenne chief Black Kettle’s village on the Washita River. (Black Kettle and his people had already been the target of a controversial surprise attack by the army in 1864 known as the Sand Creek Massacre.) This somewhat dubious success—the majority of the Indians are thought to have been women, children, and older people rather than warriors—was the army’s first major victory over the Southern Plains tribes following the Civil War, and it established Custer’s reputation as America’s top Indian fighter, which he retained well after other army officers’ exploits had surpassed his.

In 1874 Custer led an expedition to investigate rumours of gold deposits in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory (now in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming). The region had been recognized by treaty as the sacred hunting ground of the powerful Lakota Sioux. Custer’s exaggerated reports sparked a gold rush, however, and the U.S. government directed that the Sioux and their Northern Cheyenne allies move onto reservations by January 31, 1876, or be deemed “hostile.”