George Armstrong Custer Equestrian Monument 9, 1864, in the Presbyterian Church here, he married Libbie Bacon, only daughter of Judge and Mrs. Daniel S. Bacon. During the Civil War, Custer served with distinction, including at the Battle of Gettysburg. He received six brevets and was made Major-General before he was 26 years old, a rare distinction. From 1866 until his death at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Custer commanded the famous Seventh Cavalry Regiment, leading them in scouting and Indian fighting throughout Kansas and the Dakota Territory. This statue of General Custer, created by Edward C. Potter, was erected by the State of
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