When the Civil War ended, Custer’s transition to the U.S. Army’s frontier service was jarring. The rigid, slow-moving pace of peacetime military life clashed with his need for constant action and personal recognition. In 1867, his frustration boiled over, leading to his court-martial for unauthorized absence—he had left his post to visit his wife—and for the misuse of government cavalry horses during the journey. The proceedings stripped him of his rank for a year, a humiliation that stung deeply and fostered a permanent sense of resentment toward the military bureaucracy.