General George A. Custer

Updated: February 3, 2026

George Armstrong Custer is best known for his "Last Stand" along the Little Bighorn River in what is now southeastern Montana, where he and part of the 7th U.S. Cavalry were killed in June 1876. Long before that battle, however, he had become a nationally known figure as a daring Civil War cavalry commander and one of the youngest generals in the Union Army.

Early Life and Civil War Career

Custer was born on December 5, 1839, in New Rumley, Ohio. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated last in his class in June 1861, just as the Civil War was beginning. Despite disciplinary problems at the academy, he rose rapidly in wartime: at age 23 he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers, becoming one of the youngest generals in the Union Army, and by 1865 he had reached the rank of brevet major general of volunteers.

Custer fought in many Eastern Theater battles, including Gettysburg, where his Michigan cavalry brigade helped turn back Confederate cavalry on the third day of the battle. He served under generals such as Alfred Pleasonton and Philip Sheridan and gained the nickname "The Boy General" for his aggressive style and flamboyant appearance. He was present at Appomattox Court House in April 1865 when General Robert E. Lee surrendered, and the table used for the surrender document was later given to his wife, Libbie, as a keepsake.

Postwar Army and the Washita

After the war, Custer's wartime volunteer rank ended, and he reverted to his regular Army rank. In July 1866 he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the newly formed 7th U.S. Cavalry. Stationed mostly on the western frontier, he took part in campaigns against Native nations resisting U.S. expansion. He continued to have conflicts with his superiors and was once court-martialed and suspended from duty for leaving his command without permission, though he later returned to service.

On November 27, 1868, Custer led the 7th Cavalry in a surprise dawn attack on a Southern Cheyenne village along the Washita River in present-day Oklahoma, a fight now often called the Battle (or Massacre) of the Washita. The village was led by Black Kettle, a Cheyenne peace chief who had previously tried to comply with U.S. demands. Custer's troops killed Black Kettle and his wife and many Cheyenne men, women, and children, destroyed lodges and winter supplies, and shot most of the village's horses. Modern historians and Cheyenne descendants often describe Washita as a massacre of a largely peaceful camp.

Little Bighorn Campaign

In 1876, Custer and the 7th Cavalry were part of a three-pronged U.S. Army campaign, alongside columns under Generals Alfred Terry and John Gibbon and General George Crook, aimed at forcing Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho bands onto reservations. Terry's orders directed Custer to scout up the Rosebud and then move toward the Little Bighorn valley, coordinating with Gibbon to block any escape.

On June 25, 1876, Custer's scouts sighted a very large Native village along the Little Bighorn (Greasy Grass) River. Worried that the village might scatter if he delayed, Custer chose to attack the same day rather than wait for Gibbon's column. He divided his regiment into several battalions to strike from different directions, a tactic that had worked against smaller villages but was risky against a much larger force. In reality, the village along the river may have held around 1,000 lodges and several thousand Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho people, including up to 1,500-2,000 warriors-far more than Army estimates had assumed.

Major Marcus Reno's battalion attacked the upper end of the village but was driven back with heavy losses. Custer, with about 210 men in his own battalion, moved along the ridges to the north and east but was cut off and overwhelmed by converging groups of Native warriors. By the end of the fighting on June 25-26, Custer and every soldier in his immediate command were dead. When Terry and Gibbon reached the field two days later, they found the bodies of Custer and his men scattered along the ridges leading to what is now called Last Stand Hill.

Remembering Custer

Reactions to Custer's life and death have always been sharply divided. Some people have celebrated him as a brave, if flawed, cavalry officer whose aggressive tactics matched the harsh wars of his time. Others point to his role in attacks like the Washita, his willingness to take extreme risks, and his failure at the Little Bighorn as evidence of reckless ambition that cost many lives, Native and non-Native alike.

Today, historians place Custer within the larger story of the United States' expansion across the continent and the violent conflicts that followed. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument on the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana interprets the 1876 battle from multiple viewpoints, including Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, and U.S. Army perspectives, helping visitors understand that Custer's "Last Stand"" was part of a much broader and more complicated history.

Encyclopaedia Britannica: George Armstrong Custer

Updated: February 3, 2026