Early Life
Custer spent much of his boyhood living with his half-sister and brother-in-law in Monroe, Michigan, where he attended school. Before entering the United States Military Academy, Custer attended the McNeely Normal School, later known as Hopedale Normal College, in Hopedale, Ohio. While attending Hopedale, Custer, together with classmate William Enos Emery, was known to have carried coal to help pay for their room and board. After graduating from McNeely Normal School in 1856, Custer taught school in Cadiz, Ohio.
Custer graduated as the last of 34 cadets in the Class of June 1861 from the United States Military Academy, just after the start of the Civil War. Custer's West Point class (originally the Class of 1862) was graduated a year early to meet the Army's pressing need for trained officers. Ordinarily, Custer's low class rank would be a ticket to an obscure posting, but Custer had the fortune to graduate just as the Civil War broke out. Custer's tenure at the Academy had been rocky, as he came close to expulsion in each of his three years due to excessive demerits, many from pulling pranks on fellow cadets.
Read more about this topic: George Armstrong Custer
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