Editing George Armstrong Custer (section)

==Birth, siblings, and childhood==
Custer was born in [[New Rumley, Ohio]], to Emanuel Henry Custer (1806–1892), a farmer and blacksmith, and his second wife, Marie Ward Kirkpatrick (1807–1882), who was of English and Scots-Irish descent.<ref>[//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/1850_census_Custer.jpg Custer] in the [[1850 US census]], North Township, Harrison County, [[Ohio]].</ref> He had two younger brothers, [[Thomas Custer|Thomas]] and [[Boston Custer|Boston]]. His other full siblings were the family's youngest child, Margaret Custer, and Nevin Custer, who suffered from asthma and rheumatism. Custer also had three older half-siblings.<ref>Wert (1996), pp. 17–18.</ref> Custer and his brothers acquired a life-long love of practical jokes, which they played out among the close family members.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Emanuel Custer was an outspoken [[Democratic Party (United States)|Jacksonian Democrat]] who taught his children politics and toughness at an early age.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kidd|first=James|title=At Custer's Side|publisher=Kent State University Press|year=2001|pages=74|quote="The elder Custer was a democrat, a 'Jacksonian' Democrat, and remained such all his life. His sons were trained in that political faith."}}</ref> In a February 3, 1887, letter to his son's widow Libby, Emanuel related an incident from when George Custer (known as Autie) was about four years old: 
<blockquote>"He had to have a tooth drawn, and he was very much afraid of blood. When I took him to the doctor to have the tooth pulled, it was in the night and I told him if it bled well it would get well right away, and he must be a good soldier. When he got to the doctor he took his seat, and the pulling began. The forceps slipped off and he had to make a second trial. He pulled it out, and Autie never even scrunched. Going home, I led him by the arm. He jumped and skipped, and said 'Father you and me can whip all the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whigs]] in Michigan.' I thought that was saying a good deal but I did not contradict him."<ref>Elizabeth Bacon Custer, ''Tenting on the Plains, or General Custer in Kansas and Texas''. (New York, Harper & Brothers, Inc., 1895). p. 182.</ref></blockquote>