page_title: George Armstrong Custer
section_title: Monuments and memorials
hierarchical_section_title: George Armstrong Custer / Monuments and memorials
caption_attribution_description: English: Equestrian statue of George Armstrong Custer (Monroe, Michigan)
context_page_description: George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
  Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, but as the Civil War was just starting, trained officers were in immediate demand. He worked closely with General McClellan and the future General Pleasonton, both of whom recognized his qualities as a cavalry leader, and he was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers at age 23. Only a few days after his promotion, he fought at Gettysburg, where he commanded the Michigan Cavalry Brigade and despite being outnumbered, defeated J. E. B. Stuart's attack at what is now known as the East Cavalry Field. In 1864, Custer served in the Overland Campaign and in Sheridan's army in the Shenandoah Valley, defeating Jubal Early at Cedar Creek. His division blocked the Army of Northern Virginia's final retreat and received the first flag of truce from the Confederates, and Custer was present at Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox.
  After the war, Custer was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the Regular Army and was sent west to fight in the Indian Wars.
context_section_description: Counties are named in Custer's honor in six states: Colorado, Idaho (which is named for the General Custer Mine, which was named for Custer), Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.
  Townships in Michigan and Minnesota were named for Custer.
  Other municipalities named after Custer include the villages of Custer, Michigan and Custar, Ohio; the city of Custer, South Dakota; and the unincorporated town of Custer, Wisconsin.
  Custer National Cemetery is within Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, the site of Custer's death.
  The George Armstrong Custer Equestrian Monument of Custer, by Edward Clark Potter, was erected in Monroe, Michigan, Custer's boyhood home, in 1910.
  Fort Custer National Military Reservation, near Augusta, Michigan, was built in 1917 on 130 parcels of land, as part of the military mobilization for World War I. During the war, some 90,000 troops passed through Camp Custer.
  The establishment of Fort Custer National Cemetery (originally Fort Custer Post Cemetery) took place on September 18, 1943, with the first interment. On Memorial Day 1982, more than 33 years after the first resolution had been introduced in Congress, impressive ceremonies marked the official opening of the cemetery.
  Custer Hill is the main troop billeting area at Fort Riley, Kansas.  Custer's 1866 residence on the post has been preserved and is currently maintained as the Custer House Museum and meeting space (also sometimes referred to as Custer Home).
  The 85th Infantry Division was nicknamed The Custer Division.
  The Black Hills of South Dakota is full of evidence of Custer, with a county, town, and Custer State Park all located in the area.
  A prominent mountain peak in the Black Hills bears his name.
  The Custer house at Fort Abraham Lincoln, near present-day Mandan, North Dakota, has been reconstructed as it was in Custer's day, along with the soldiers' barracks, block houses, etc. Annual re-enactments are held of Custer's 7th Cavalry's leaving for the Little Bighorn.
  On July 2, 2008, a marble monument to Brigadier General Custer was dedicated at the site of the 1863 Civil War Battle of Hunterstown, in Adams County, Pennsylvania.
   Custer Monument at the United States Military Academy was first unveiled in 1879. It now stands next to his grave in the West Point Cemetery.
  Custer Memorial Monument at his birthplace was erected by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical society in 1931. It is located near the remains of the foundation of his birthplace homestead in New Rumley, Ohio. Custer Monument is managed locally by the Custer Memorial Association.
caption: Monroe, Michigan, Custer's childhood home, unveiled the George Armstrong Custer Equestrian Monument in 1910
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