A cavalry commander and Indian fighter, George Armstrong Custer was born in New Rumley, Ohio, in 1839. He graduated at the bottom of his class at
West Point in 1861, but during the
Civil War, he earned fame as a fearless cavalary leader. At the age of 23, he became the youngest general in the Union Army. After the war, the Army reduced Custer to his permanent rank of captain. He joined the Seventh Cavalry Regiment in 1866 and rose to lieutenant colonel.
In 1876, the Army planned to round up the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians and place them on reservations. Custer's regiment joined the expedition. Mistakenly believing that he had met a force of around 1000 braves, who could be easily rounded up, Custer instead set himself against a force of 2500 to 5000. At the Battle of Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876, Custer and all the men under him were killed. The battle has become known as "Custer's Last Stand."
