George Armstrong Custer was born on December 5, 1839, in New Rumley, Ohio, to Emanuel Henry Custer
(1806-1892), a farmer and blacksmith, and Marie Ward Kirkpatrick
(1807-1882). George had four full
siblings: younger brothers Thomas Custer
and Boston Custer, both of whom died with him on the Battlefield of Little
Bighorn; Nevin Custer, weak and unhealthy; and Margaret Custer, the youngest
child. He also had several older
half-siblings.
George spent much of his youth
with his half-sister and brother-in-law in Monroe, Michigan, where he attended
school. He also attended McNeely Normal
School (Hopedale Normal College), in Hopedale, Ohio; while there, he carried
coal to help pay his room and board.
After graduating from McNeely in 1856, George taught school in Cadiz,
Ohio.
Some of Custer’s ancestors,
Paulus and Gertrude Kuster, emigrated from the Rhineland in Germany around
1693. They were probably among thousands
of Palatine refugees who came to North America with passage arranged by the
English government to gain settlers.
“According to family letters,
Custer was named after George Armstrong, a minister, in his devout father’s
hope that his son might join the clergy.
“Throughout his life Custer was
known by a variety of nicknames. He was
called `Autie’ (his early attempt to pronounce his middle name) and
Armstrong. During the Civil War, Custer
was frequently termed `The Boy General’ in the press, reflecting his promotion
to brigadier general at the age of 23; during his years on the Plains in the
Indian Wars, his troopers often referred to him with grudging admiration as
`Iron Butt’ and `Hard Ass’ for his physical stamina in the saddle and his
strict discipline, as well as with the more derisive `Ringlets’ for his vanity
about his appearance in general and his long, curling blood hair in particular.”
George was admitted
to West Point in 1858 and graduated just after the Civil War started - the last
of 34 cadets in the Class of June 1861. His
class at West Point (originally the Class of 1862) graduated early in order to
meet the need for trained officers in the Army.
Even though his low class rank would ordinarily mea an “obscure posting,”
this fact did not matter as he graduated at the beginning of the Civil War. The fact that he graduated from the Academy
at all was a miracle as “he came close to expulsion in each of his three years
due to excessive demerits, many from pulling pranks on fellow cadets.”
Custer “developed a strong
reputation during the Civil War” and “fought in the first major engagement, the
First Battle of Bull Run. His military
career as well as his success as a cavalry commander was helped by his
association with several important officers.
“Custer was eventually promoted to the temporary rank (brevet) of major
general and promoted major general of Volunteers. (At war’s end, he reverted to his permanent
rank of captain.) At the conclusion of
the Appomattox Campaign, in which he and his troops played a decisive role,
Custer was on hand at General Robert E. Lee’s surrender.”
Following the Civil War, Custer
was sent to fight in the Indian Wars out west.
His prior achievements are mostly overshadowed by his final battle. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 –
a battle now known as “Custer’s Last Stand,” Custer and all the men with him
were killed fighting against a group of Native American tribes.
Custer first saw Elizabeth Clift
Bacon (1842-1933), his future wife, when he was ten years old and was “socially
introduced to her in November 1862 in Monroe when he was home on leave. She was not impressed with him, and her
father, Judge Daniel Bacon, disapproved of Custer “because he was the son of a
blacksmith.” After Custer became a
brevet brigadier general, he gained the approval of Judge Bacon. Custer and Elizabeth Bacon were married on
February 9, 1864, fourteen months after they formally met. They apparently had
no children.
After “the Battle of Washita
River in November 1868, Custer was alleged (by Captain Frederick Benteen, chief
of scouts Ben Clark, and Cheyenne oral tradition) to have unofficially “married”
Mo-nah-se-tah, daughter of the Cheyenne
chief Little Rock in the winter or early spring of 1868-1869. (Little Rock was killed in the Washita
battle.) Mo-nah-se-tah gave birth to a
child in January 1869, two months after the Washita battle. Cheyenne oral history tells that she also
bore a second child, fathered by Custer in late 1869. Some historians, however, believe that Custer
had become sterile after contracting gonorrhea while at West Point and that the
father was, in actuality, his brother Thomas.”
Custer was killed at age 36 in
the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876, and was buried side by side
with his brother Tom in a shallow grave located near the battlefield. “One year later, Custer’s remains and those
of many of his officers were recovered and sent back east for re-interment in
more formal burials. Custer was buried
again with full military honors at West Point Cemetery on October 10,
1877. The battle site was designated as
a National Cemetery in 1876.
George Armstrong Custer gained
the lasting fame he desired after his death.
Counties in six states and townships in two states carry the name of
Custer as do villages, an unincorporated town, and a city. Custer National Cemetery is located in the
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.
There are also statues and monuments honoring Custer as well as Fort
Custer National Military Reservation, Fort Custer National Cemetery, Custer
Hill (the main troop billeting area at Fort Riley, Kansas). “Custer’s 1866 residence on the post has been
preserved and is currently maintained as the Custer House Museum and meeting
space” (also known as Custer Home).
There are also The Custer Division of the 85th Infantry
Division and The Custer house at Fort Lincoln named after him as well as a
town, county, and park in North Dakota.
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