Thomas Ward Custer (March 15, 1845 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and two-time recipient of the Medal of Honor for bravery during the American Civil War.

A younger brother of George Armstrong Custer, he served as his aide at the Battle of Little Bighorn against the Lakota and Cheyenne in the Montana Territory.

He enlisted in the Union Army, in September 1861, at age 16, and served in the early campaigns of the Civil War as a private in the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

Commissioned a second lieutenant in Company B of the 6th Michigan Cavalry, he became aide-de-camp to his brother George Armstrong Custer and accompanied him throughout the last year of the war.

Custer distinguished himself by winning successively the brevets of captain, major, and lieutenant colonel, although he was barely 20 years of age when the Civil War ended.

He took three officers and eleven enlisted men as prisoner, took them back behind the federal column, and requisitioned another horse, as his had been shot during the charge.

[3] Similar actions in the Battle of Sailor's Creek resulted in Custer being the first American soldier to receive two Medals of Honor.

Colonel Capehart reported the rest of the events in a letter to Libbie Custer: I saw your brother capture his second flag.

An officer of the Third New Jersey cavalry, seeing Custer ride back with the banner flapping, tried to warn him that he might be shot by his own side: "For God's sake, Tom, furl that flag or they'll fire on you!

[3] Until 1948, official references for the date of actions for which Thomas Custer was awarded the Medal of Honor were listed as April 2 and 6, 1865.

In 1874, at the trading post at Standing Rock Agency, Custer participated in the arrest of chief Rain-in-the-Face (Lakota), suspected in the 1873 murder of Dr. John Honsinger.

It was widely rumored that Rain-in-the-Face, who had escaped from captivity and participated at the Little Bighorn, cut out Tom Custer's heart after the battle.

Some historians believe that George Custer had become sterile after contracting gonorrhea while at West Point, and that the father of these children was his brother Thomas.