Half-length studio cabinet card portrait of Thomas Custer in uniform. Monona, Iowa; Eddy. Photographer's imprint to mount recto. 

A fine portrait of Thomas Custer (1845-1876), the two-time recipient of the Medal of Honor during the Civil War and younger brother to George Armstrong Custer. The handsome officer is captured in full dress uniform, with epaulettes bearing his regimental insignia and two Medals of Honor pinned to his breast beneath decorative cords. 

Thomas Custer enlisted with the Union Army when he was just 16, serving in the early campaigns as a private in the 21st Ohio Infantry. He fought at several key battles, including the Battle of Stones River, Missionary Ridge, and the Atlanta Campaign. He mustered out as a corporal and then joined Company B of the 6th Michigan Cavalry, commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He also became aide-de-camp to his brother, George Armstrong Custer, accompanying him in the final year of the war. It was in 1865 that he twice captured Confederate regimental flags - the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry flag at Namozine Church (3 April 1865) and two more rebel flags at Sailor's Creek (6 April 1865). For his actions, he received the Medal of Honor, becoming the first to receive two. 

Immediately following the war in 1866, he was appointed First Lieutenant in the 7th Cavalry. He kept the peace in Reconstruction Era South Carolina and participated in the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873 and the Black Hills Expedition of 1874. He was appointed Captain of Company C in 1875. The next year he was serving as aide-de-camp to his brother, George Armstrong Custer, during the Black Hills War. He died alongside his brother at Little Big Horn and was buried on the battlefield. He was exhumed with other soldiers and reburied the next year at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards] [Late Indian Wars, Great Sioux War, George Armstrong Custer, Battle of Little Bighorn, Lakota, Lakota Sioux, Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse]