George Armstrong Custer: United States cavalry commander (1839–1876)

George Armstrong Custer
Allegiance	United States of America Union
Service/branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1861–76
Rank	Major General of Volunteers Lieutenant Colonel (Regular Army)
Commands held	Michigan Brigade 3rd Cavalry Division 7th U.S. Cavalry
Battles/wars	American Civil War First Battle of Bull Run Peninsula Campaign Battle of Antietam Battle of Chancellorsville Gettysburg Campaign Battle of Gettysburg Overland Campaign Battle of the Wilderness Battle of Yellow Tavern Battle of Trevilian Station Valley Campaigns of 1864 Siege of Petersburg Indian Wars Battle of the Washita Battle of the Little Bighorn

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 a brevet promotion from First Lieutenant to Brigadier General of United States Volunteers at the age of 23.

Custer remained in the Army after the Civil War and served as an officer in the Indian Wars. He died with all this men in the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876.

 

Wiki Commons has media related to George Armstrong Custer.

• Custer Battlefield Museum
• Little Bighorn History Alliance
• Custerwest.org:Site For Traditional Scholarship
• Kenneth M Hammer Collection on Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Archived 2008-05-12 at the Wayback Machine