General George A. Custer 

The Early Years

7th Cavalry

Chronology

Custer's Death

Book Reviews

Bibliography
 
 
 

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Despite the incredible internet and bibliographic bulk on one of America’s most famously unfortunate soldiers, I have attempted to produce information that will be of value to both the new reader on Custer and the experienced Custer student.  The focus of my information will be on Custer during the Civil War, and not so much on the Indian Wars or Little Big Horn. 

George Armstrong Custer seemed to love war.  Just as many men would hide from war, he reveled in it.  War not only brought him national acclaim and high rank but also gave him a power that peace did not allow him.  It seemed that only through displays of the reckless courage that he was able to impress, and even inspire others.  If he had never gone West to die in the most famous frontier battle in history, Custer would have nevertheless received attention as a bold and resourceful leader of cavalry.  He was a leader of cavalry in the last great conflict before the machine finally banished the horse from the battlefield.  In so many writings he is glorified in those charges and the cavalier warfare seems very romanticized.  Gregory J. W. Urwin, a professor of history and leading authority on Custer’s Civil War career, described him as, “Bedecked with gold braid and scarlet scarf as if a cavalier of old, with flowing locks long out of style, he resembled more his dashing enemy J.E.B. Stuart than his hard-bitten mentor Phil Sheridan” (Urwin, pg.223).  His romanticism, however, was lessened with an almost cold ruthlessness that took down the Shenandoah Valley and made him a willing proponent of the new total warfare. 

One thing that has made Custer so famous is, of course, the fact that he was just a boy.  His enthusiasm and recklessness were definite signs of a youthful sense of immortality.  It seems almost incredible that he remained unscratched while continuously engaging in some of the most violent and chaotic combat of America’s bloodiest war.  This perhaps only increased his confidence.  Several books stated that this became known as “Custer’s Luck.”  Even his friends recognized a dangerously explosive side to his character.  Sheridan, who worked with Custer a great deal and knew him well, protected him, and more than any other, advanced his career, feeling that if there was any poetry or romance in war he could develop it.  But Sheridan also recognized the danger inherent in Custer’s personality, characterizing his protégé as “too impetuous, without deliberation; he thought himself invincible and having a charmed life” (Urwin, pg.248).  To Sheridan, Custer was as boyish as he was brave and so he would always need someone to restrain him.  In my web page I will go over the early years and rise of Custer and show how a combination of personal charm, true talent, and careful political string pulling led to one of the most remarkable stories in American military history.   I will go over why this rash young officer was so adored or disliked by his troops throughout the Civil War.  It is a side of Custer that is often ignored by his critics, yet I believe we can learn a great deal from him as a leader if we also analyze him through the eyes of his men.