I agree with your overall assessment of Custer. But I might add that Custer may not have made the tactical mistakes everyone thinks he made at the Little Big Horn. His final battle there has been analyzed and reanalyzed perhaps more than any battle in the Civil War including Gettysburg. Everyone who claims Custer had the wrong tactics needs to consider one vital, indisputable fact---no one knows and can't even make a reasonable guess at when Custer relinquished command of his column and of the rest of the 7th Cavalry present on the field that day. Why? Because everyone be they pro or con regarding Custer forms their opinion with the assumption that Custer died late in the action fighting to the end on Custer Hill. After all don't we call it his "Last Stand?". The truth is no one knows when Custer actually met his end. He very well might have died in the initial attempt to cross the LBH river. Think about it: Custer might have been out of the battle at its very start, not at its end as everyone somehow is led to believe. If such is the case, then Custer tactics to be criticized if you wish to do so, would be limited to issues such as "Why did Custer advance on the Indian village a day in advance of the other approaching U.S. columns?. Or perhaps you may want to criticize his dividing his force when he sent Benteen on scout or when he sent Reno ahead to open the action. His personality aside, one should be careful about evaluating Custer's overall impact on American history in both the Civil War and the Indian War. His record of achievements in the Civil war is superb. IMHO his is record of achievements in the Indian War should also remain superb.