Details
CUSTER, GEORGE ARMSTRONG, Major General, Commander of Seventh Cavalry. Letter signed ("G.A. Custer"), Brevet Major General U.S.A. Commanding, "Headquarters Fort A. Lincoln, D[akota] T[erritory],"to John Bunker, U.S. Indian Agent at Standing Rock, Dakota Territory, 11 August 1875. 1 full page, 4to, written in the bold calligraphic hand of an unidentified aide, attractively matted with portrait and engraved descriptive text in an elaborate oversize giltwood frame Unexamined out of frame.
ONE YEAR BEFORE LITTLE BIG HORN, CUSTER INTERCEDES ON BEHALF OF THE SIOUX INDIAN SCOUTS AND THEIR FAMILIES
A letter written a year after Custer's first expedition into the Black Hills, which had resulted in the discovery of gold, in a region regarded by the Sioux as sacred ground. Already prospectors had begun systematic encroachment on those lands, which was to lead to the Sioux uprising under Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull which engulfed Custer and the 7th Cavalry at Little Big Horn on 25 June 1876. The present letter's official, matter-of-fact phrases reveal an unusually humane concern for the welfare of the native American scouts who played a crucial role in Custer's and the U.S. Army's ability to garrison and patrol the Dakota Territory. To the local Indian Agent, Custer explains that: "There are at this Post ten Sioux Scouts who, having larger families, find it impossible to subsist on our ration allowed each enlisted scout. If I send a wagon once a month to your Agency, will you furnish each family the number of rations allowed them by the Indian Department...."
Custer's Sioux Indian scouts (the most famous of whom was "Little Big Man," immortalized in Thomas Berger's novel and the film of the same name) resided with their families at the various Army posts. Although they were entitled to the U.S. rations allocated by the Indian Agency, these were rarely adequate, having been systematically pilfered or siphoned away by corrupt middlemen and agents. For scouts with large families, the resulting privation must have been acute enough to have been brought to the attention of Custer himself, who took what steps he could, by this letter, to ensure adequate food and supplies for the Sioux.
ONE YEAR BEFORE LITTLE BIG HORN, CUSTER INTERCEDES ON BEHALF OF THE SIOUX INDIAN SCOUTS AND THEIR FAMILIES
A letter written a year after Custer's first expedition into the Black Hills, which had resulted in the discovery of gold, in a region regarded by the Sioux as sacred ground. Already prospectors had begun systematic encroachment on those lands, which was to lead to the Sioux uprising under Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull which engulfed Custer and the 7th Cavalry at Little Big Horn on 25 June 1876. The present letter's official, matter-of-fact phrases reveal an unusually humane concern for the welfare of the native American scouts who played a crucial role in Custer's and the U.S. Army's ability to garrison and patrol the Dakota Territory. To the local Indian Agent, Custer explains that: "There are at this Post ten Sioux Scouts who, having larger families, find it impossible to subsist on our ration allowed each enlisted scout. If I send a wagon once a month to your Agency, will you furnish each family the number of rations allowed them by the Indian Department...."
Custer's Sioux Indian scouts (the most famous of whom was "Little Big Man," immortalized in Thomas Berger's novel and the film of the same name) resided with their families at the various Army posts. Although they were entitled to the U.S. rations allocated by the Indian Agency, these were rarely adequate, having been systematically pilfered or siphoned away by corrupt middlemen and agents. For scouts with large families, the resulting privation must have been acute enough to have been brought to the attention of Custer himself, who took what steps he could, by this letter, to ensure adequate food and supplies for the Sioux.