George Custer

There are many people in the Civil war that helped the north win it. One of those people is George Armstrong Custer. He was a general for the United States army until he died in the battle of the little big horn.

Custer was born in new rumley, Ohio. He went to college at west point, where he did not stand out at all. After he graduated, two of his classmates got into a fight, but he did not break them up. He was court-martialed, but he the only reason he was allowed to stay in the army was they needed many officers for the civil war.

When the civil war began, Custer did better than expected. He fought for the union in the First Battle of Bull Run. His unit had many casualties, but his aggressive fighting style earned him the respect of his commanders. Custer's units played such a huge role in making Robert e. lee retreat that General Philip Sheridan bought and gave the Appomattox surrender table to Custer and his family.

In 1866, Custer was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 7th Calvary. In 1876, Custer, along with general john gibbon and General George cook, was ordered to lead an expedition against the Lakota Indians. The plan to defeat the Indians by trapping them between the three forces; however, cook's forces and gibbon's group didn't get to the Indians as Custer got there. To beat the Lakota Indians, Custer split his forces into three parts to make sure that no Indians would escape. As they split up, thousands of Indians attacked the 7th Calvary and forced them between a ridge and the Little Bighorn River. The Indians surrounded them, and they killed all 210 men of the 7th Calvary.

Custer's moves cost him his life, but they also got him fame forever. His widow helped make his reputation better by writing books that portrayed Custer as not just a military mastermind, but also an advanced and educated man, a supporter of the arts, and a budding statesman.