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Beyond Lewis and Clark - Timeline 1874

The Army Explores The West

General George Armstrong Custer.  Image courtesy of U.S. 
Army Military History Institute.

General George A. Custer (1839-1876)

George Armstrong Custer was a Civil War veteran who gained national attention on the Western frontier. In 1874 the government sent Custer on one of the last military mapping excursions in the West. Commanding a 1,000-man force, he rode into the Black Hills to survey its resources, particularly gold. Custer’s mission also was to estimate the size and strength of the Sioux nation.

 

Custer's Black Hills expedition, 1874.

 

Beyond Lewis and Clark is an online exhibit developed by the Kansas Museum of History. It is the result of a partnership between the Kansas Historical Society, the Virginia and Washington State historical societies, the U. S. Army's Frontier Army Museum at Leavenworth, and the U. S. Army Center of Military History.

Contact us at kshs.kansasmuseum@ks.gov