On June 25, 1876, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer led the 7th U.S.
Cavalry into the valley of the Little Bighorn. By sunset, Custer and
five of his companies lay dead--killed in battle against Sioux and
Cheyenne warriors.
Through the passage of time, Custer's last fight has come to overshadow
the rest of his military career, which had its brilliant beginning in
the American Civil War.
Plucked from obscurity by Maj. Gen. George McClellan, Custer served as a
staff officer through the early stages of the war. His star began to
rise in late June, 1863, when he catapulted several grades to brigadier
general and was given brigade command. Shortly thereafter, at Gettysburg
and Buckland Mills, he led his men--the Wolverines--in some of the
heaviest cavalry fighting of the Eastern Theater.
At Yellow Tavern, Custer's assault broke the enemy line, and one of his
troopers mortally wounded the legendary Confederate cavalryman, J.E.B.
Stuart. At Trevilian Station, his brigade was nearly destroyed. At Third
Winchester, he participated in an epic cavalry charge. Elevated to lead
the Third Cavalry Division, Custer played a major role at Tom's Brook
and, later, at Appomattox, which ultimately led to the surrender of the
Army of Northern Virginia.
Historian Daniel T. Davis, a long-time student of George Custer, has
spent countless hours walking and studying the battlefields where Custer
fought in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. In The Most Desperate
Acts of Gallantry, he chronicles the Civil War experiences of one of the
most recognized individuals to emerge from that tragic chapter in
American history.
