Thomas Custer Henry Harrington actually led Company C during the battle. George and Thomas' younger brother, Boston Custer, also died in the fighting, as did other Custer relatives and friends. It was widely rumored that Rain-in-the-Face, who had escaped from captivity and participated at the Little Bighorn, cut out Tom Custer's heart after the battle. The chief denied it later during an interview. Custer's body was so badly mutilated the remains were identified only by a recognizable tattoo of his initials on his arm. Tom Custer was first buried on the battlefield. He was exhumed with other soldiers the next year and
George Armstrong Custer took his own life. The common media image of Custer's appearance at the Last Stand—buckskin coat and long, curly blonde hair—is wrong. Although he and several other officers wore buckskin coats on the expedition, they took them off and packed them away because it was so hot. According to Soldier, an Arikara scout, "Custer took off his buckskin coat and tied it behind his saddle." Further, Custer—whose hair was thinning—joined a similarly balding Lieutenant Varnum and "had the clippers run over their heads" before leaving Fort Lincoln. George Armstrong Custer Custer developed a strong reputation during the Civil War. He