This 2.75 by 3.25-inch (6.98 by 8.25 cm) ambrotype depicts George Armstrong Custer of New Rumley, Ohio before his departure for the United States Military Academy at West Point. An ambrotype is an early photograph created by imaging a negative on glass backed by a dark surface. Seventeen-year-old Custer posed holding a portrait of his sweetheart Mary Holland. The romance apparently ended when Custer left for the military academy. His academic and conduct records were poor while at West Point, but he excelled in the combat arts. He graduated last in a class of thirty-four cadets. Custer was commissioned as a second lieutenant at the start of the Civil War. He gained the attention of his superiors, and at the age of twenty-three was appointed brigadier general of volunteers. At the end of the war, Custer returned to the rank of captain in the regular army and participated in the western Indian Wars. He earned a reputation as America's foremost Indian fighter, despite being court-martialed in 1867 for misconduct in the field. He was killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876.
