George Armstrong Custer

George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. He graduated from West Point in 1861, last in his class, yet reached a higher rank than any other officer of that class. Promoted to brevet brigadier general of volunteers at the age of 23, he commanded the Michigan Brigade at Gettysburg, where his force defeated the cavalry attack led by J. E. B. Stuart at East Cavalry Field. In 1864 he served under Philip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley campaigns, and in April 1865 his division blocked the final retreat of the Army of Northern Virginia and he received the first flag of truce. After the war he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 7th Cavalry and fought in the Indian Wars on the Great Plains. He was killed on 25 June 1876 at the Battle of the Little Bighorn together with every soldier of the five companies he led.