Visit George Armstrong Custer’s Ohio birthplace

General George Armstrong Custer is best known for his “Last Stand” at the Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana. But before he was the flamboyant “Boy General” he was simply a boy born in the Buckeye State. 

Custer was born on December 5, 1839, in New Rumley, Ohio. His father was a farmer and blacksmith, and his mother was a homemaker. He had three brothers and a sister. Two of his younger brothers Thomas and Boston Custer would also die at Little Bighorn. 

When Custer was young, he moved to Monroe, Michigan, to live with his half-sister and her husband and attend school. He would later return to Ohio to attend college in Hopedale, which is close to New Rumley. Custer graduated in 1856 and became a school teacher in Cadiz, Ohio, for a short spell before enrolling in West Point in July 1857.  He would graduate last in a class of 34 in June of 1861.

“My purpose is to make my narrative as truthful as possible.” – General George Armstrong Custer

General Custer has a larger-than-life legacy in the pages of American History, but it all started in rural east central Ohio.  Today, you can visit the Custer Monument Historic Site in New Rumley.  The site has a bronze statue of Custer on a stone foundation etched with the words:

 “General George Armstrong Custer, born in New Rumley Harrison County Ohio December 5 1839 ** Killed in battle with the Indians on the Little Big Horn * Montana June 25 1876.”

The monument was erected in 1931 on the land where the home he was born once stood. The original house was demolished in the late 1800s. Archeologists found the site where the house was located originally, and it became part of the memorial.  

The Custer Monument Historic Site is a small site with a big history and is certainly worth a visit. It’s about two hours away from both Cleveland and Columbus and a little over an hour from Pittsburgh.

Photo Credit: Brian M. Powell