The Brothers Custer: Galloping to Glory (Profiles in American History)

The story of the brothers Custer, George, Tom, and Boston, reads like a Hollywood thriller almost too incredible to be true. George Armstrong Custer, known to family and friends as Autie, graduated last in his class from West Point. What Autie lacked in the classroom he made up for on the battlefields of the Civil War. He rose from a brash second lieutenant to a seasoned brevet lieutenant general and leader of thousands of Union cavalrymen. His heroics at Gettysburg turned the tide of battle for the North and likely saved the Union. Autie s brother, Thomas Ward Custer, or simply Tom, enlisted in the Union Army as a private. Tom s spectacular deeds of valor earned him a battlefield commission and not one but two Medals of Honor. Autie s youngest brother, Boston, was too young to serve in the Civil War, but he was not too young to join his older brothers in a date with fate on the Little Bighorn.