George Armstrong Custer

George Armstrong Custer was an United States calvary commander during the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. He was student at West Point, were he graduated last in his class in 1861. Then, it was straight to the battlefields of the Civil War, where he participated in, but not limited to: First Battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, the Gettysburg Campaign, Siege of Petersburg, and the Appomattox Campaign. He developed his strong reputation beginning in the Peninsula Campaign, where when the General in command stopped at a river, afraid to cross it due not knowing the depth. Custer charged out to the middle of the river, stopped, turned around in the saddle and yelled "That's how deep it is, Mr. General!" With that, he was allowed to lead in an successful attack of 4 Companies of Calvary across the river, capturing 50 prisoners and the first Confederate Battle Flag of the War. This began his obsession with publicity. He learned to be an aggressive commander who would take personal risks leading charges from the front. His fame continued to grow, as during Gettysburg, he and his calvary bravely fought off General J.E.B. Stuart's Calvary in brutal hand-to-hand fighting. Performing aptly in all the battles he took part in, he really rose during the battle of Appomattox, in which Custer and his men stood blocking the way of General Lee's Retreat. He recieved the first flag of truce from the force. He was present when General Lee signed the surrender documents, and when that was over, the table on which the surrender was signed was given to Custer as a present for Custer's wife.

His service life was fairly uneventful during reconstruction, but he was back in action during the American Indian Wars, being placed in charge of the newly formed 7th Calvary Regiment. He damaged his reputation during the Traders Post Scandal, in which the American Indians were being sold equipment superior to that of the US Army, and he openly accused President Grant's brother of playing a hand in the corruption. President Grant was so infuriated that he stripped Custer of his command and had him arrested. He managed to convince grant that though he wasn't in command, that he should at least let him finish the Sioux Campaign, and Grant Relented. Soon came Little Bighorn, and Custer divided his forces into three groups: One would attack from the south, one would attack from the south and east, and Custer would attack from the North. The attack from the south stalled 600 yards from the indian camp, where the cavalry dismounted and where attacked and run down by Indian Cavalry, so they turned tail and ran. The South and East attackers were nowhere to be seen, leaving Custer all by himself. With now all the Indian forces against him, Custer retreated to the top of a ridge, where he and his remaining 40 calvarymen made their famous last stand. The rest, is history.

Though due to the defeat at Little Bighorn he is portrayed as incompetent and not very bright, in truth while extremely arrogant and vain, Custer was an extremely skilled leader. While at Little Bighorn he made bad decision of splitting his forces (not considered a bad idea for the time), fingers point away from it being Custer's fault. The Gatling Guns he had been offered were unwieldy and cumbersome for the terrain of the battle, so he refused them, preferring speed. Another reason is that the Indians (for once) had superior technology, armed completely with repeating rifles while the Cavalry were armed with single-shot breach-loaders.

Battle vs. Frederic Thesiger (by LB&SCR)
Custer:

Thesiger:

Unkown place, a grassy plain.

George Custer sat atop his horse, surveying the area of which his next great bout with the Indian menace would take place. He is flanked by four members of his 7th Cavalry who are currently on thier horses also, watching the surrounding area for any signs of an Indian abmush. Thesiger, followed by four British Infantrymen, and advancing through some side brush, senses on full alert. Thesiger pushes some brush aside, and is spotted by a member of the 7th Cav, who points and yells, alerting Custer and the other three of the appearance of an enemy force.

Thesiger looks up as four of the five men on horses dismount and unsling Springfield Trapdoors from their backs, while a man in an officer's hat stays mounted, apparently keen on watching from a distance. Thesiger barks an order and the four infantrymen behind him quickly rush in and form a small line with Martini-Henry's aimed and cocked, waiting for the cavalrymen to walk into range. The four calvary stop, shocked upon the quick reactions of the enemy, and backtrack a few paces before spreading out and then advancing, hoping to split up the fire from the enemy. Thesiger barks another order and the four Martini-Henry's cough, spewing out their bullets in the direction of the cavalrymen. A calvary men takes a bullet to the chest, is spun around, and lands on the ground. .

The calvarymen seek out what little cover exists in the prairie, and take turns firing pot shots at the red-clad infantry with their Trapdoors, and man of the 7th getting lucky and striking an infantryman in the head. Interested, Cuser advances down the hill on his horse, his hand on his Peacemaker as he arrives behind a calvaryman behind a rock. He peers over at the men in red, ignorant of bullets tearing at the air around him, and calms his horse as it starts to panic.

Thesiger draws his Beaumont-Adams and motions his men forward, the four of them advancing under heavy fire from the calvarymen. An infantryman is struck by a bullet in the lower abdomen, and collapses on the ground in agony. Thesiger fires his revolver in the blue-clad men's direction, and succeeds in clipping one in the neck, his wound spurting blood as he collapses. Custer's horse panics upon all the blood, and then a bullet from a Martini-Henry clips the horse, making it buck Custer off and bolt. Custer get's up from his position on the ground and straightens his hat before pressing in on the rock where the member of his group had been, looking at the three of the red infantry vs three of his calvarymen. Custer draws his saber and waves it in the air as he rallies his two men towards the three infantry. Thesiger and his men duck as the two calvarymen fire off shots with their Trapdoors before advacing forward with Custer close behind. Another exchange of fire leaves one infantryman and one cavalryman wounded.

Thesiger, now down to only one man, urges his remaining infantryman to find place to take cover, as Thesiger does the same. Custer and his remaining man keep forward, the cavalryman putting another round into his trapdoor. Custer looks over as the infantryman rises and fires almost point-blank into his remaining man's chest. Custer, in his panic draws his saber and slashes at the man's Martini-Henry, knocking it from his hands and slashing his across the chest

Custer turns around to face Thesiger, who looks just as surprised as Custer had been. Thesiger's face then hardened as he mumbled something alongisde the lines of 'have to do somethings yourself.' as he drew his saber and stalked towards Custer. Custer waved his saber in defiance and let loose an upward slash that Thesiger barely manages to block, and stumbles backwards as the younger Custer's barrage of slashes leaves him unbalanced. Thesiger does see an opening and goes in for a sneaky stab. Custer moves to block, but when he does Thesiger moves his blade and strikes Custer in the lower left abdomen. Custer drops his saber and stumbles backwards. Thesiger moves forward to strike again, but Custer draws his Peacemaker and fires it into Thesiger, who was almost on top of him.

Deadliest Warrior: George Custer

Expert's Opinion
The Majority of voters said that Geoge Custer would have one this battle because in a comparison of Little Bighorn and  Isandlwana, they said that George Custer's defeat was more about erronious scout reports and the fact that the forces facing his were equivilently, or even armed better than his forces were. Thesiger's forces weilded superior weapons yet his tactical blunders enabled his entire center column to be overrun. So, voters said that his weapons were frankly superior, alongside him being a slightly better tactician than Thesiger.