The Most Desperate Acts of Gallantry: George A. Custer in the Civil War

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 stag...