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Thomas Ward Custer


Thomas Ward Custer (March 15, 1845 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and two-time recipient of the Medal of Honor in the US Civil War. He was a younger brother of General George Custer, perishing with him at the Battle of the Little Big Horn on "Last Stand Hill", June 25, 1876.














Thomas Ward Custer was born on March 15, 1845, in New Rumley, Ohio, a small village near the  Virginia (now West Virginia) border. He was the fifth son of the second marriages of Emanuel Custer and Maria Ward Kirkpatrick.


















Their first two offspring having died in infancy, Tom arrived in a family which then consisted of older brothers George Armstrong (born in 1839) and Nevin Johnson (born 1842), plus several half brothers and sisters. Maria and Emanuel had two more children, Boston (1848) and Margaret Emma (1852). Margaret (Maggie) later married James Calhoun and was fated to lose three brothers and a husband on that tragic day in 1876.


























Tom Custer successfully enlisted in the Union Army in 1861, at age 16, after lying about his age in a previous attempt while he was still 15.  He enlisted  as a Private, Company H, 15th Ohio Infantry in Sepember 1861. He served three years as an enlisted man prior to being commissioned Second Lieutenant of Troop B, 6th Michigan Cavalry in 1864.

At the Battle of Stone's River (Murfreesboro) on December 31, Colonel John F. Miller's brigade, containing the 21st Ohio, was in the centre of the Federal line.






















As "the battle raged with uninterrupted fury" around them, the officers and men of the regiment "universally fought with desperation and bravery", according to their Colonel, James M. Neibling. At one point they repulsed a bayonet charge. But when the hard-pressed units on the Army's right flank gave way, the brigade was forced back too.

The next two freezing nights were spent on the field, both sides reforming and altering position, before action resumed on January 2. Once again the Northerners soon fell back in disarray, but then the enemy attack began to lose momentum. Seizing the opportunity, and without waiting for authorisation from his superiors, Miller ordered his brigade to charge across the river to support the beleaguered units. The 21st Ohio, Neibling reported, "although... much impeded by the disorganized flight of infantry, artillery, and riderless horses... reached the opposite bank of Stone's River and engaged the enemy.





















This was to be the only full-scale fight which Tom Custer saw with his regiment, for in April 1863 he managed to get himself assigned to escort duty on the staff of Major General James S. Negley, the 21st Ohio's division commander.

Many years later, General Negley told Libbie Custer (Autie's widow) that he remembered Tom as "a splendid soldier" and "bore testimony in unstinted words to the courage and fidelity of the lad". No doubt the high-spirited but hard-working Tom had exactly the right character to appeal to Negley who was "a huge, handsome man who radiated good will without losing firmness."


























For his part, Tom Cuter was delighted to be back in the saddle instead of slogging with the foot soldiers. He was in Negley's escort at the Battle of Chickamauga, but this was not, it would be fair to say, Negley's finest hour. On September 20, the General chose to retreat to Rossville at a time when he was needed to support the Federal left flank. Whether his judgment was impaired due to the physical illness which nearly kept him from the battlefield that day, or whether he was only doing the best he could in view of the fact that he had lost contact with most of his troops, the result was that he was immediately removed from duty until a Court of Enquiry could consider his case the following January. The Court exonerated him of all blame but his days of active service were over.





















Tom Custer was probably lucky not to have been fighting with the 21st Ohio at Chickamauga. They did not retreat with Negley but stayed until the last, and were one of the final Federal units to withdraw. Armed with Colt revolving rifles, they used up over 43,000 rounds of ammunition, but were eventually almost surrounded by the enemy and had to cut their way out with a bayonet charge. Their casualties numbered nearly half the regiment: 28 killed, 84 wounded and 131 captured or missing.

Among the wounded was Liberty Warner, who was captured and later paroled. His enthusiasm for a fight had quickly disappeared. A month after the battle, he wrote: "Oh, the scenes of blood that I have seen. I wish that they could cease, not that I fear it, but it so hardens a person, a dead man seems no more than a dead sheep or a log of wood."



























Tom Custer proceeded to serve in the escorts of a succession of generals over the ensuing months. At Missionary Ridge and Chattanooga, from November 20, he was on the staff of Major General U.S. Grant himself.

After a furlough, during which he attended the wedding of brother Armstrong to Elizabeth (Libbie) Bacon on February 9 in Monroe, Michigan, Tom spent only a short period back with his regiment before joining the staff of the Fourteenth Corps' Gen. John M. Palmer for the Atlanta Campaign. He was with General Palmer in time for the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain on June 27.

Following Palmer's resignation in early August over a ranking disagreement, Tom Custer stayed on at Fourteenth Corps Headquarters, under General Jefferson C. Davis, for the Battle of Jonesboro on September 1.

Tom Custer was with the Fourteenth Corps as it and the rest of William Tecumseh Sherman's forces pursued John Bell Hood's Confederate army into Alabama. By late October, Sherman was at Gaylesville, and it was here that Tom Custer, who had risen to the rank of corporal on his January re-enlistment, received news of a much more significant promotion.

George Armstrong Custer, was a Brigadier General of Volunteers commanding Third Cavalry Brigade, Army of the Potomac, and obviously pulled some strings, since Tom Custer was appointed an Aide-de-Camp on George's staff upon his arrival and served at that position for the remainder of the war.


























Thomas Custer was the first man to be awarded two Medals of Honor, both for capturing Confederate regimental flags. His first was for action near Namozine Church, Virginia on April 3, 1865. Tom’s unit ran into a Confederate stronghold in a church building. Tom led his men straight over the Rebel barricade, and single-handedly captured fourteen of the enemy. 





















Three days later  at Sayler's Creek, Virginia, he was to lead a similar charge. This time, however, a second line of Confederates were waiting. Undeterred by the heavy fire, Tom Custer spurred his horse forward, intent on taking the Confederate flag. Streaking toward the flag bearer, Tom Custer reached for his prize. Just then, the flag bearer raised his pistol and fired at point blank range. The bullet tore through Tom’s cheek.
Still, he managed to kill the Confegerate flag bearer and gallop back to his own lines with the flag. Racing back to safety he yelled to his brother, “Armstrong, the damned Rebels have shot me. But I’ve got my flag.” He was so intent on returning to the battle that his brother had to arrest him to get him to go to the wounded area. For his heroism on that day, Tom Custer was to receive his second Medal of Honor  - three days apart.


























Tom Custer was just 1 of 19 two-time winners in U.S. history. Ironically his older brother, George Armstrong Custer, was the first Union soldier to capture an enemy flag in the Civil War.

Thomas Ward Custer distinguished himself by winning successively the brevets of captain, major, and lieutenant colonel, although he was barely twenty years of age when the Civil War ended.

Tom was mustered out of Volunteer Service as a Brevet Major in November 1865. Tom then secured a commission as Second Lieutenant, First U. S. Infantry in February 1866. When the Seventh Cavalry was formed five months later, his brother George was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment and secured a transfer and promotion for Brother Tom. The two served together for the remainder of their lives.

Tom Custer was also wounded at Washita in 1868, and served in the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873, and the Black Hills Expedition of 1874.

Their first encounter with Indians came in mid 1867 as they chased hostiles through the unforgiving Kansas plains. The marching was long and draining. As men began to desert, George decided to implement a no holds barred policy on desertion. When thirteen men ran off on July 13, George sent out Tom and others to bring them back, telling them that none were to be brought back alive. For this George Custer was to be court martialled and suspended for a period of one year.

In 1868 George returned for the Washita Campaign. When the Seventh rode upon Black Kettle’s village Tom was first lieutenant of Company D – who were assigned to a squadron under command of Captain Louis Hamilton. Hamilton was subsequently killed in the Battle.



















Officers of the 7th Cavalry.


The Seventh was assigned to Fort Abraham Lincoln, near Bismarck, Dakota. Throughout this period some of Tom’s vices became apparent, His drinking had degenerated into alcoholism.


















George Armstrong Custer (blue dot) and Thomas Ward Custer (orange dot) at "Autie" Custer's quarters at Fort Abraham Lincoln, North Dakota in November 1873, with Seventh Cavalry officers and family, including the George's wife Elizabeth, and their brother in law Capt. James C. Calhoun and his wife Margaret (Custer) Calhoun.





















Tom Custer had never married. His fiance, Lulie Burgess, died before their wedding. Tom Custer spent most of  his time with his brother and sister in-law, Elizabeth Bacon Custer.







































In 1873,  the Yellowstone Campaign. The Sioux tried to trap Custer’s men. Just in time the calvary fell back, but not before four men, one of which was a doctor, were cut off from the rest and subsequently were killed.

About a year later, it was reported that a Sioux Warrior named Rain in the Face was at the Standing Rock Agency boasting of killing the four white men. Tom Custer was sent to arrest him. During the arrest Tom Custer humiliated Rain in the Face by slapping and hitting him. Later the warrior escaped and vowed that he would one day rip out Tom Custer’s heart.Thomas Ward Custer was promoted to Captain in 1875 and was given a command in the 7th Cavalry.























The Seventh Cavalry was a vital part of the 1876 Campaign to defeat the hostile Sioux. They were to be part of a pincer movement under the command of General Alfred Terry. On June 22, Gen. Terry ordered George Custer south from the Yellowstone River. Then the Seventh Cavalry rode off towards the Valley of the Little Big Horn. Soon the trail of a large village was found.

Ignoring the warnings of his Indian scouts George Custer decided to attack. He split his command into three, with Major Marcus Reno to attack the village from the front, while Captain Frederick Benteen scouted the hills to the south. George Custer would take Five Companies and attack from the west.

What happened from there is a matter of conjecture. Tom Custer was in charge of Company C, who accompanied George and four other Companies. It appears that Tom’s Company got caught in a deep ravine by the hords of Indians who swarmed upon them.
















There are some situations, however, where bravery, excellent judgment and fast reactions are not enough, as was the case on June 25, 1876, when five companies of the 7th Cavalry were wiped out to a man by the Sioux and Cheyenne, at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Thomas Ward Custer died with his brothers. His body was found a few yards from George Armstrong Custer, while nearby were the remains of another young brother, Boston Custer (a civilian guide on the expedition). A brother inlaw First Lieutenant James Calhoun, commander of Company L, was lying elsewhere on the field.

Thomas Custer's body had been so heavily mutilated it was only possible to identify him by means of a tattoo he was known to have had  – a flag, the goddess of liberty and the initials T.W.C. 

Ironically, First Lieutenant Edward S. Godfrey, who identified Tom's mangled remains, had, like him, been a soldier in the 21st Ohio, back in 1861.

The gravediggers buried Tom Custer alongside his brother George on "Last Stand Hill" where they died during the "Battle of the Little Big Horn".


























It was widely rumored that Rain In The Face, who had escaped from captivity, after being arrested by Tom Custer, and was a participant at the Little Bighorn, had cut out Tom Custer's heart and eaten it as revenge. Years later Rain In The Face denied such an action stating "I wouldn’t eat a white man’s stinking heart.".





















Like the others on the battlefield, a marble marker rests at the approximate place where Tom Custer's body was found. Tom and General Custer’s markers are next to each on Last Stand Hill. The General died a little higher on the hill, near the Monument. Some say they were buried in the same battlefield grave.


















Access road to the Custer Battlefield  site.



















Battlefield Marker Stones which are located where each body was found.


























Thomas Custer was exhumed the next year and reburied in the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery.






















Funeral and burial service for Thomas Ward Custer and his brother in law, James Calhoun, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on Aug. 4, 1877.This picture was originally published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, on Sept. 8, 1877.






















The Civil War and the Indian fighting career of Thomas Ward Custer has been overshadowed by the exploits of his older brother George Armstrong Custer. Tom Custer's bravery in battle, possibly even exceeded that of  his older brother George.. General Custer would often state, that it was his brother Tom Custer who should have been the general, not himself.



























Thomas Ward Custer’s career stands on it’s own merits.