NOV 10: Terry is Born

On this date in November 1827, Alfred Howe Terry is born in Hartford, Connecticut. In his lifetime he attended law school and was a Union General in the Civil War, where he led Federal troops in the decisive battle at The Second Battle of Fort Fisher, Jan. 13-15, 1865, in North Carolina.

Terry graduated from the Hopkins School in New Haven in 1838. He attended Yale Law School, but withdrew prior to graduation. He went on to become a lawyer and was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1844. He was appointed clerk of the Superior Court of New Haven County.

Terry is best known as Lt. Col. George A. Custer’s commanding officer and it was Terry, along with Col. John Gibbon of the Montana Column that discovered the bodies of Custer and his men on June 27, 1876, at the scene of the Battle of Little Bighorn.

He died on Dec. 16, 1890, at the age of 63.

Alfred Howe Terry. (Credit: Library of Congress)