The Life of George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer was a West Point graduate who became famous as a Civil War general and an Indian fighter on the Plains. He was a flamboyant but hardworking and faithful. He strove to be great, and he wanted to leave a place in history. He was popular because he accepted group standards and challenged no one's intellect. Custer's views about the Indian mirrored the country's views of the time. The Americans could not agree on what to think about the Indian, but they did agree on what to do about them. Custer and the American society believed that nothing would stand in the way of the country's d