Born in 1839 in the tiny hamlet of New Rumley, Ohio, George Armstrong Custer was the eldest son of Emanuel and Maria Custer. His childhood was defined by the modest, rigorous environment of a frontier-era household. He was an energetic youth, often restless and deeply conscious of his family's working-class status. These early years instilled in him an intense, burning ambition to distinguish himself. He did not want to remain a simple boy from a small town; he sought the recognition and status that he felt his natural abilities warranted, planting the seeds for his lifelong, obsessive pursuit of glory.