The Development of George Armstrong Custer's Effective Career

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George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and also in the Indian Wars. Raised in the cities Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted in West Point in 1858, where he was graduated last in his class. However, with outbreak of the Civil War, all officers were needed, and Custer was called in to serve for the Union. General Custer developed a strong reputation throughout the Civil War. He fought in the first major engagement, and also in the First Battle of Bull Run. His association with many important officers helped him with his career, as his success as a highly effective cavalry commander. Custer was also promoted to the rank of major general and major general of Volunteers. At the conclusion of the Appomattox, in which his troops played a big role, Custer was at General Robert E. Lee's surrender. After the Civil War, Custer was sent to the west to fight in the Indian Wars. His final battles dominate his prior achievements. Custer and all men with him were killed in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in the year 1876, fighting against Native American tribes in a battle that is to be known in history as "Custer's Last Stand”. According to Custer’s family letters, Custer was named after George Armstrong, who was a minister. Custer was born in New Rumley, Ohio, to Emanuel Henry Custer, a farmer and also a blacksmith, and Marie Ward Kirkpatrick. He had two younger brothers, Thomas Custer and Boston Custer, who died with him on the Battlefield of Little Bighorn. His other siblings were Margaret Custer, and the weak, unhealthy Nevin Custer. Custer had several older half-siblings also. During the Civil War, Custer was frequently known as "The Boy General... ... middle of paper ... ...residence on the post has been preserved and is currently maintained as the Custer House Museum and meeting space .The 85th Infantry Division was nicknamed The Custer Division.The Black Hills of South Dakota is full of evidence of Custer, with a county, town, and the Custer State Park all located in the area.The Custer house at Fort Lincoln, near present-day Mandan, North Dakota has been reconstructed as it was in Custer's day, along with the soldiers' barracks, block houses, etc. Annual re-enactments are held of Custer's 7th Cavalry's leaving for the Little Bighorn.On July 2, 2008, a marble monument to Brigadier General Custer was dedicated at the site of the 1863 Civil War Battle of Hunterstown in Adams County, Pennsylvania. Custer Monument at the United States Military Academy was first unveiled in 1879. It now stands next to his grave in the West Point Cemetery.

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