Lieutenant-Colonel And Brevet Major-General George A. Custer, U.S.A.

Lieutenant-Colonel And Brevet Major-General George A. Custer was born in Ohio. He graduated at the Military Academy June 24, 1861, and was promoted second lieutenant of the Second Cavalry the same day. He was detailed to drill volunteers at Washington, and then participated in the battle of First Bull Run July 21, 1861. He was absent, sick, from October, 1861, to February, 1862, and then participated in the Peninsular campaign of the Army of the Potomac, being engaged in the siege of Yorktown. He was promoted first lieutenant Fifth Cavalry July 17, 1862, and captain of staff (additional aide-de-camp) June 5, 1862, and served on the staff of Major-General McClellan in September and October, 1862, and was engaged in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. He participated in Stoneman's raid towards Richmond, aide-de-camp to General Pleasanton in combat at Brandy Station, and on June 29, 1863, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. As such, he commanded a cavalry brigade in the Pennsylvania campaign, and was engaged in the action at Aldie, battle of Gettysburg, various skirmishes in pursuit of the enemy, with constant fighting at Monterey, Smithsburg, Hagerstown, Williamsport, and Boonsborough; in fact, from this time to the end of the war his history is that of the Army of the Potomac, and the actions in which he was engaged are so numerous that it would require the space of this entire sketch to enumerate them. He commanded a brigade of cavalry in the Richmond campaign, cavalry corps in the Shenandoah campaign with Sheridan, and a division of cavalry in the Appomattox campaign of 1865, and was present at the capitulation of General Lee April 9, 1865. He then made a raid to Dan River, North Carolina, from April 24 to May 3, 1865, and was in command of a cavalry division in the Military Division of the Southwest from June 3 to July 17, 1865.