Custer was the great American hero. Very few men can equal his gallantry and bravery.
An outstanding soldier, he came up through enlisted ranks becoming a commissioned officer. At end of the Civil War, he was not yet twenty-one years old.
During the Civil War his bravery (and perhaps recklessness) earned him not one but two Medals of Honor from Congress. He was the first fighting man to receive two Medals of Honor and the only man to receive two during the Civil War. His heroics have been compared to the Civil War as Alvin York and Audie Murphy have been to World Wars I and II.
All of his brothers proclaimed him, without a doubt, hero of the Custer family. This included the oldest brother who graduated at the bottom of his class at West Point.
His daring was costly. He was badly wounded and, as a result, remained partially crippled in one arm. He could not put on a coat on without assistance.
Custer was ecstatic to remain on active duty after the war. He was extremely jubilant he was part of the Seventh Cavalry headed for a great battle somewhere to the west in the Dakotas or in Montana. He could kick some more butt, so to speak.
Indians hated Little Hair, as they called him. One, in particular, threatened to cut his heart out and eat it.
After the great battle, he was found full of arrows with his skull smashed and his scalp gone. Those discovering the battlefield could not pull out a deeply embedded arrow from his brain—obviously fired in the top of his head at very close range after he was down.
Both his abdomen and throat were split wide open. The only way anyone could identify him was by the initials TWC tattooed on one arm.
Thomas Ward Custer did not live to see his thirty-second birthday.
With the Seventh Cavalry that fateful day in June 1876, were brothers George Armstrong, Tom, and Boston. Also along were nephew Autie Reed and brother-in-law James Calhoun. They all followed older brother George's orders and met their death at the Little Big Horn.
What interesting info. I have never heard that information about his family before. Thanks
It is said that George often said Tom should have been the General, George had Tom arrested once during the war, tom refused to go back for medical aid when wounded.
Roma Jean,
One might say the Battle of the Little Big Horn was a family affair or a family outing.
It would have paid to be the Black Sheep of the family that day. Did they all wives and children? I no Custer didn't. If I remember his wife devoted the rest of her life to his memory. I always wonder what happens to the families. The people we never hear about.
Tom and Boston were not married.
Custer, himself, was thirty-six and Elizabeth, his wife, was thirty-four. They had been married twelve years but no children. She never remarried and did not die until 1933. There is even a sound film of her talking about her husband. The film might have been part of an early newsreel.
Autie Reed was eighteen and probably not married.
James Calhoun was thirty and married to Custer's sister, Maggie who was twenty-four.
Boston Custer was twenty-five and not married.
Tom Custer was thirty-one and not married.
The Custer parents had nine children ranging in age from forty-eight to twenty-four.
Commissioned officers were removed from the battlefield and buried elsewhere. Generally, the others were buried and then reburied in a mass grave at the Little Big Horn.
Both Custer and Elizabeth are entombed at West Point.
Today was the big day, 132 years ago.
Whether or not Custer was a hero depended which side you were on. Also he did not enlist he recieved an appointment to West Point in 1857 and graduated at the bottom of his class just missin being court-martialed by the commencing of the Civil War.
You are incorrect.
You misread and you misunderstood and you misspoke.
Go back to the top and read again.
what did I musunderstand, misread or mispeak about?
I disagree with Custer being a hero. He was a hothead and had an ego that knew no boundary. He won two medal of honors during the civil war or the war between the states if you are a southerner but he won those medals through his ruthlessness. He should not have split his troops and waited for artillery before attacking the camp. Custer was told the size of camp by his Crow scouts and they knew that it would have been suicidal if they attack without reenforcement. Custer's officers hated him. I know that it was sign of the times that the saying "a good indian was a dead indian." But to kill women and children during these engagments what I considered cowardly. On the History channel did an show on the Battle of Little Big Horn if it ever come on again watch it. It might clear up a lot questions.
Archeobabe, exactly.
The person under discussion as the great American hero in the original thread was not George Armstrong Custer.
The person under discussion was Thomas Ward Custer.
The messages ensuing were talking about the Battle of the Little Big Horn being a family affair.
I might add that George Armstrong was convicted under court-martial after the Civil War--in the state of Kansas.
He did not win a medal of honor.
Ok, I admit when I make a mistake. I reqad and did some research and realize now you were talkin about Tom not George, my apology sir
For a minute there, I thought you were going to try to convince me I was "splittin hairs" and there was no difference between Tom and George.
>:( buyer beware and don't forget to read the fine print for some people will try to trick you.
Too many Custers can spoil the soup! My great grand father was with George for a time and did not care for him at all. Thought he was very foolish and shallow in his thinking, and sad but not surprised he got people killed. I have no idea what he thought about the other Custers. I know Great Grand Pa disliked Indians, but thought what was done to Black kettle and others was a disgrace. He thought the buffalo soldiers were fine soldiers, and very honorable. I don't know much more of the family history of that time.
More than one family branch was spoiling the soup.
Thomas E. Thompson was an outstanding newsman and editor but his Howard Courant on several occasions reported that Elisha D. Custer was a brother of George Armstrong.
The Elk County History book picked up on that and includes it in local history.
Elisha Custer was the Howard County treasurer who embezzled $30,000, equivalent to about $800,000, today.
Tom was living in Boston, Kansas, at the time Custer fled the county never to be seen again.
Turns out that if they were related, he was George Armstrong's cousin.
Forgive me that I mistook the article about T W Custer, I thought that is was about George Custer. I don't know to much about this Custer. Is there any books written about the forgotten Custers?
Three that I could find:
Tom Custer: Ride to Glory
Tom Custer
In His Brothers Shadow
Most of the books written about Custer and the Little Big Horn mention Tom and the others mainly because they were all there.