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George Armstrong Custer is born in New Rumley, Ohio, the third child of Maria and her husband, Emmanuel Custer, who are both Pennsylvania Dutch. Emmanuel, a blacksmith, is also a local justice of the peace.
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Custer, with 67 other candidates, is admitted to the U.S. Army's military academy at West Point. He is the appointee from the 21st Congressional District of Ohio.
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Following the attack on Fort Sumter, graduation of Custer's class is accelerated. He travels to New York to buy weapons and uniforms, then hurries to Washington for a mandatory obligation before rushing to Bull Run to join his assigned unit in the first action of the Civil War.
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Despite painful and embarrassing casualty rates, Custer's clear thinking and aggressiveness during 40 days of combat at Trevilian Station help establish him as unmatched by union cavalry counteerparts. The War Department rewards him with an accelerated promotion to full captain.
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Following a series of brilliant and aggressive displays of leadership in actions including Aldie and Beverly Ford, Custer becomes the youngest-ever general in the U.S. Army, recommened by Generals Pleasanton and Meade, and confirmed by President Lincoln.
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Custer is promoted from Brigadier to Major General following pivotal action at Gettysburg and repeated battlefield success including victories at Yellow Tavern, Cedar Creek, Five Forks and Crooked Run.
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Custer's Third Cavalry Division paces the Union army's offensive and receives the white flag of surrender from the Confederacy at Appomattox Court House. Custer's wife, Libbie, is given the table on which General Grant drafts the terms of surrender.
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As the war ends and officers are mustered out of the army, Custer's division is deactivated. Declining an offer of $10,000 in gold to become adjutant general of Mexico's army, he takes command of the newly formed Seventh Cavalry and heads westward where he can hunt and frolic on horseback with Libbie.
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While he and his closeknit cadry of officers struggle with less motivated, less disciplined soldiers in remote areas of Texas and Kansas, a court martial finds Custer guilty of shooting deserters, as well as leaving his command without authorization. He is absolved of criminal charges but is suspended without pay.
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Custer wins praise for his surprise early morning attack on Chief Black Kettle's sleeping Cheyenne village on the Washita River in Oklahoma, which leaves scores of peaceful Indians dead or otherwise suffering in bitter cold. Many women and children are taken prisoner.
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Custer's Seventh Cavalry is assigned to explore the Black Hills of South Dakota, where gold has been discovered, but where the U.S. Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 forbids whites to pass over, settle upon or reside in the 4,500 square mile region.
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Aggressive pursuit of Indians resisting confinement on government reservations results in the unfathomable massacre of Custer's entire immediate command during his attack on a Sioux-Cheyenne encampment which is larger and better-armed than anticipated. The President blames Custer for the tragedy.
