Custer and the Little Big Horn

Coinciding with a presentation on George Armstrong Custer by historian and author Dave Ingall this spring, our display highlights local Civil War soldier Lieutenant Elliott Gray who served with Custer in the Civil War.  Gray was with Custer and the famed Wolverine Brigade at Gettysburg when they saved the day July of 1863.  After the war Gray was entrusted with Custer’s famous race horse Don Juan. 

Custer visited Tecumseh with his younger sister and was met by Gray at the train station in Tecumseh.  He entered Don Juan in the Lenawee County fair.  The horse would win first prize and Custer would ride him in front of very enthusiastic crowds.  Don Juan is buried on the old Gray farm off Russell Road where Brady’s Sand and Gravel is now located.