The New York Herald raised contributions in July 1876 for a memorial to slain military leader George Armstrong Custer.

‘American Progress’ by George A. Crofutt (1873) shows an allegorical female figure of America leading pioneers westward.

Lt. Colonel George A. Custer of the 7th Cavalry Regiment in his study at Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory

George Custer and the 7th Cavalry enter the Black Hills in Dakota Territory on July 22, 1874.

Union and Confederate troops clashed at Battle of Bull Run in Virginia on July 21, 1861.

Lakota Sioux Chief Sitting Bull surrenders to the U.S. Army at Fort Buford in Dakota Territory.

W.M. Cary depicts George Custer’s fight at Last Stand Hill in his illustration, “The Death Struggle of General Custer” (1876).

Grave marker “Custer”

U.S. Army scout William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody killed Cheyenne warrior Yellow Hair on July 17, 1867 in northwest Nebraska.

George Custer’s widow, Elizabeth “Libbie”, sat down for an interview with a reporter from the Spokane Falls Review for a story published on July 16, 1890.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock was Lt. Col. George Custer’s superior officer when Custer left his post at Fort Wallace, Kansas on July 15, 1867, in pursuit of his wife, Libbie.

Author Chris Wimmer weaves facts and interesting anecdotes about some of the West’s wildest characters in the book, “The Summer of 1876.”

In July 1862, Custer served as aide-de-camp to Gen. George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Jeopardy host Ken Jennings bears a resemblance to Gen. George Armstrong Custer.

On July 11, 1876, the New York Herald newspaper published, posthumously, the final letter sent by their reporter Mark Kellogg, who accompanied Custer and the 7th Infantry to the Little Bighorn. Kellogg was killed during the battle.

Maj. General George Armstrong Custer always served in the U.S. Cavalry

Headlines in newspapers across America trumpeted the news that America’s greatest Indian fighter, George Armstrong Custer, had been wiped out along with five companies of men at Little Bighorn in Montana Territory on June 25, 1876.

More than 2,000 men of the 7th Cavalry camped near Hiddenwood Creek in North Dakota on July 8, 1874. They were on their way to explore the Black Hills of Dakota Territory.

On July 7, 1917, construction is underway on Camp Custer near Battle Creek, Mich. It is one of 16 training centers under construction by the U.S. Army to train recruits for military action in Europe during World War I.

Libbie Custer and husband George Custer were married on Feb. 9, 1864. Libbie was 34 when she was widowed in June 1876.