Price: $12,500
Union general in the Civil War and Indian fighter; killed at the battle of Little Big Horn.
Autograph Letter Signed, G.A. Custer, full page, quarto, West Point Barracks, [New York], September 20, 1857. As a cadet of the U.S. Military Academy, to Cha[rle]s C. Wil[l]son.
“In my conversation with you on the cars between Cleveland & Toledo some three months ago you told me you were acquainted with a family named Ward living in that part of the State. Wishing to get their address I take the liberty of thus intruding myself upon your notice. I think you told me th[at] he (Ward) had two daug[h]ters, and as you are acquainted with them I would like to know their given names, and if they have any brothers I wish to know their names also. If you will favor me by sending me the address and names of the family of which I speak I will be very much indebted to you….” On the verso of the letter, Willson has, in his reply in pencil, noted the names of Jno. Ward and Miss Augusta Ward, both of Geneseo, New York, indicating that they “are all the names I can give.”
George Custer’s education at West Point was not without incident. In the summer of 1857, he was appointed to the Military Academy by the local representative in Congress. “Though a rapid reader, with a quick apprehension and good memory, he was a negligent student; he was, moreover, mischievous and given to pranks…and he graduated (June 24, 1861) at the foot of a class of thirty-four [Dictionary of American Biography].”
Framed in pale blue and gilt with a period engraving. The frame measures 22 by 17 inches.
This item is associated with these categories in our inventory:
- Civil War
- Military
- Western Americana
