George Armstrong Custer

Custer's meteoric rise during the American Civil War was swift. At just 23, he became a brigadier general of volunteers, commanding the Michigan Cavalry Brigade, often called the "Wolverines." He led his troops at the crucial Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, where he defeated Confederate cavalry under General J. E. B. Stuart despite being outnumbered. His showy uniform, often seen as flamboyant, was a deliberate choice for command presence; he wanted his men to instantly spot him leading the charge into danger.

He continued to distinguish himself, serving in the Overland Campaign and later with General Philip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, decisively defeating Confederate General Jubal Early at Cedar Creek. In the final days of the war in 1865, Custer's division blocked the retreat of the Army of Northern Virginia. He received the first flag of truce from the exhausted Confederates, marking his presence at General Robert E. Lee's surrender ceremony at Appomattox Court House.

After the Civil War, Custer's military career shifted west, commissioning as a lieutenant colonel in the Regular Army. He was sent to fight in the ongoing American Indian Wars, primarily against the Lakota and other Great Plains native peoples. It was on June 25, 1876, while leading the Army's 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in the southeastern Montana Territory, that Custer, along with every soldier in his command, met his end in what became known as "Custer's Last Stand."

Custer's dramatic final chapter, much like his entire life, remains a subject of intense debate and divided opinion. For decades after his death, his adoring wife, Elizabeth Bacon "Libbie" Custer, worked tirelessly to shape his image, ensuring his mythologized status in American history through her energetic lobbying during her long widowhood, which stretched well into the 20th century.