His Brothers' Keeper by Mark Churms at Ozark Airfield Artworks Aviation Art

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"HIS BROTHER'S KEEPER"

George & Tom Custer 1876

Image size: 11 inches high x 17 inches wide

His Brother's Keeper
On June 27, 1876, the remains of Tom Custer and his brother George were
discovered a few feet from each other upon what was to be forever known as Last
Stand Hill. There they were buried, wrapped in canvas, in a shallow grave.George
Custer was a legend in his own time, the celebrated boy general. But of his
younger brother Tom, he once remarked that "He should have been the General
and I the captain." Perhaps. But Tom Custer showed little desire in life but to
follow his beloved brother, and he did, first from the quiet village of New Rumley,
Ohio to Monroe, Michigan, where the brothers joined in family mischief and
practical jokes.

Then to the bloody battlefields of the American Civil War, where Tom, having
enlisted at just seventeen, became the only man in the Union army to win two
Congressional Medals of Honor, awarded for bravery at the Battles of Namozine
Church and Sayler's Creek. And finally, to the Western plains of a growing nation,
where Tom joined his brother in a war far different from the last, for this was a war
with few battles and with little glory, a war fought against a foe little understood. It
was upon these plains, on June 25, 1876, by the bank of the Little Big Horn River,
that George Custer, while commanding the US 7th cavalry against native
Americans lead by Chief Sitting Bull, found his place in history. Tom Custer rode
with him, commanding C Troop.

The final moments on Last Sand Hill, who died when and where or how they fell,
will never be known. But this much is certain. George and Tom Custer,
surrounded by family and friends, died as they had lived, side by side. At the end,
each truly was his brother's keeper...

Lt. Col. George Armstrong
Custer lies wounded in the
chest with his rolling block rifle
at his feet. His brother, Tom,
fires his last rounds from his
from his British Webley into the
surging tide of Sioux and
Cheyenne warriors. The elite 7th
Cavalry regiments'companies
perish under a hail of arrows, at
"Last Stand Hill".