Thomas Custer George Custer had become sterile after contracting gonorrhea while at West Point, and that the father of these children was his brother Thomas. Thomas 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 for bravery during the American Civil War. A younger brother of George Armstrong Custer, he served as his aide at the Battle of Little Bighorn against the Lakota and Cheyenne in the Montana Territory. Together with the younger Boston Custer, the three brothers were killed in that overwhelming defeat of United
Battle of the Little Bighorn Sitting Bull's ranks for the summer buffalo hunt. The agents did not take into account the many thousands of these "reservation Indians" who had unofficially left the reservation to join their "uncooperative non-reservation cousins led by Sitting Bull". Thus, Custer unknowingly faced thousands of Indians, including the 800 non-reservation "hostiles". All Army plans were based on the incorrect numbers. Although Custer was severely criticized after the battle for not having accepted reinforcements and for dividing his forces, it must be understood that he had accepted the same official government estimates of hostiles in the area which Terry and Gibbon had