Little Big Horn

* Custer entered West Point the U.S. Military Academy. He graduated last in a class of 34 in June of 1861. * In the two years since the war had broken out, he had been promoted several times all the way to the rank of Brigadier General of Volunteers, commanding the Michigan Cavalry Brigade. * Through the rest of the war he steadily advanced in responsibility and rank. By war's end in 1865, Custer commanded an entire Cavalry Division holding the rank of Major General. In many cases, Generals led their troops on the battlefield by commanding movements from the rear. Custer, however, distinguished himself as a leader who commanded his troops from the front. Oftentimes in a charge he was the very first soldier to engage the enemy. Men found in Custer a gallant leader worthy of following into battle. In the majority of the battles he fought against Confederate forces he was victorious. On many occasions, he narrowly escaped harm in battle; having 11 horses shot from under him and incurring only one wound from a Confederate artillery shell during the Battle of Culpepper Courthouse. As a result he became known for his legendary "Custer Luck." After the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, the huge Volunteer Army was demobilized and Custer assumed his regular army rank as Captain. * In 1866, when the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment was created at Fort Riley Kansas, Custer was promoted to the position of Lt. Colonel of the regiment. * In 1867, serving under General Winfield Hancock, Custer would see his first real experience in the west. Ostensibly, the campaign was to enter into peace negotiations with the Southern Cheyennes and Kiowas along the Arkansas River. Hancock's men and Custer set out "to confer with them to ascertain if they want to fight, in which case he [Hancock] will indulge them."
At the end of the campaign, he was promptly placed under arrest and charged with: absence without leave from his command, conduct unbecoming of good order and military