Submitted by Texcritic on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 5:33pm.
I'm not sure to Plains Indians that a blond vs. a strawberry blond/light red head wouldn't both yield a nickname that we might translate as "yellow hair." The freckles sure point towards a possible redhead. I will see if I can scan through some biographies. Thanks.
Custer was very much a blonde. He was of German heritage although by this time the family had been in American for about 200 years. During his western campaigns against the Cheyenne and the Sioux, they called him "Yellow Hair" and "Son of the Morning Star." Of course later photos don't show any sign of this sort of freckling so presumably those photos had been retouched.
Custer's Civil War career is one of the most amazing of just about any officer on either side of the war. Graduated last in his West Point class in 1861 and four years later he was a Major General. In this picture he is at most 25 years old.
