Custer Monument (West Point) Custer Monument (West Point) Custer Monument is a monument at the United States Military Academy Cemetery, in honor of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer who was killed along with his immediate command at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on 25 June 1876. Congress approved of a statue, to be made from 20 condemned bronze cannons, and for $10,000, of which $6,000 had been subscribed by citizens of New York. The monument was originally located near the academy's headquarters building near the site of present-day Taylor Hall along Thayer Road. Unveiled in 1879, the pedestal had a bronze statue of
Last stand due to the pull on popular imagination. Historian Nathaniel Philbrick argues: During World War I, the expression to fight "with one's back to the wall" became a widely-known way to refer to making a last stand. The London "Times" reported on April 13, 1918 that General Douglas Haig ordered British troops that "Every position must be held to the last man...With our backs to the wall...each one of us must fight on to the end". Last stand A last stand is a military situation in which a body of troops holds a defensive position in the face of overwhelming odds.