George Custer (1839 - 1876) was a U.S. military officer who became famous during the American Civil War and further broadened his legend as a brave, but brash commander in settling the American West. George wrote this poem in 1856 when he was passionately in love with Mary Jane (Mollie) Holland. He was seventeen; she was a teenager, too, though we don't know exactly how old. Ambitious from an early age, George was teaching school in Ohio while petitioning for admittance to West Point. There were a fair amount of reasons he should not have been accepted, but Mollie's father had some pull and, knowing that a cadet could not be married and would have to be in New York--far away from his daughter!--for the next five years, he was happy to use his influence to send George on his way. Ultimately, George married Elizabeth (Libbie) Bacon, whom he knew as a child, and the two enjoyed a loving and supportive relationship from their union in 1862 until his death at Little Bighorn.