Pet peeve of mine: wasn’t Custer a colonel when he was killed? Or a Lt. Col.?
Yes. He made general during the war, but it was a brevet rank and he returned to the rank of captain when the war ended. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel when he got command of the 7th Cavalry.
Pet peeve of mine: wasn’t Custer a colonel when he was killed? Or a Lt. Col.?
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Brevet Major General of Volunteers during the Civil War, Lieutenant Colonel in the Regular Army after the Civil War.
Just an aspect of the much smaller scale of the US Army after the war.
Lt. Col. And 2nd in command of the 7th Cavalry. The actual commander, Col. Samuel D. Sturgis, who replaced the original commander, Col. Andrew Johnson Smith, in 1869, never held a field command. Custer had field commander.