LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Collection of Western History #680  / 

74111

G A Custer Autograph Notes pursuing Indians 1867

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:6,500.00 USD Estimated At:8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
G A Custer Autograph Notes pursuing Indians 1867
<B>GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER HISTORIC AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT</B></I> - In pencil, unsigned, one page, 8" x 12.5". Kansas, April 15-25, 1867 . A page from his notes written as he pursued Indians in Major General Winfield S. Hancock's 1867 expedition. In part, <I>"April 15 Left camp on Pawnee Fork 36 miles west by n. of Ft. Larned made 35 miles over Rolling Prairie general dir ection N.W. April 16. Left camp 5 am- made 13-m. but finding no water or appearance of the same. Ret 9 mi…camped - started again 7 pm…due north arrived at Smoky Hill Riv 2 am - April 17…left camp this morning at 10 am. & reached Downer Station 2 pm - where we heard report of Indian dep redations at Lookout Sta. April 18. Left camp…dull morning. Rain as the day progressed…rain at night. camped near Ruin of Lookout Sta. April 19. Left camp 6 am - weather improved. fine when arrived at Hays."</B></I> Custer has continued writing the dates from the 20th to the 25th, all beginning <I>"L.O."</B></I> (probably Look Out), with notes such as <I>"Fine," "made plan of post," "middling,"</B></I> and <I>"Very wet."</B></I><BR><BR>From Custer's <I>My Life on the Plains</B></I> (1874):<I> "Starting my command back to our camp near General Hancock's headquarters, I galloped on in advance to report the particulars to the General. It was then decided that with eight troops of cavalry I should start in pursuit of the Indians at early dawn on the following morning (April 15).</B></I> There was no sleep for my command the remainder of the night, the time being fully occupied in preparation for the march, neither the extent nor direction of which was known…In retracing our steps later in the day, in search of water sufficient for camping purposes, we marched over nine miles of our morning route and at two P. M. of April 16 we went into camp…Resting our animals from two until seven P. M., we were again in the saddle and setting out for a night march, our only guide being the north star. We hoped to strike the stage route near a point called Downer's Station. After riding all night we reached and crossed about daylight the Smoky Hill River…In some places we saw the ruins of the burned stations, but it was not until we reached Lookout Station, a point about fifteen miles west of Fort Hays, that we came upon the first real evidences of an Indian outbreak. Riding some distance in advance of the command, I reached the station only to find it and the adjacent buildings in ashes,the ruins,still smoking. Near by I discovered the bodies of the three stationkeepers, so mangled and burned as to be scarcely recognizable as human beings. The Indians had evidently tortured them before putting an end to their sufferings. They were scalped and horribly disfigured…Continuing our march, we reached Fort Hays."<BR>At Downers Station on the Smoky Hill River, at 9:30 P.M., April 17, 1867, Custer sent a dispatch to General Hancock at Pawnee Fork, 42 miles away. In part, "Indians, believed to be Sioux…yesterday attacked Lookout Station…They killed and burned the three men employed at the station…There is no doubt but that the depredations committed at Lookout were by some of the same Indians who deserted their lodges on Pawnee Fork, and whose trail I followed until they broke up into small bands. In a letter to General U.S. Grant, Hancock wrote, in part, "When I learned from General Custer, who investigated these matters on the spot, that directly after they had abandoned the villages they attacked and burned a mail station on the Smoky Hill, killed the white men at it, disemboweled and burned them, fired into another station, endeavored to gain admittance to a third, fired on my expressmen both on the Smoky Hill and on their way to Larned, I concluded that this must be war, and therefore deemed it my duty to take the first opportunity which presented to resent these hostilities and outrages, and did so by destroying their villages."<BR><BR>Custer's notes, torn and frayed at edges, are uniformly creased. It is accompanied by an 8.5" x 13" portion of a St. Louis newspaper, worn, torn, and frayed, with an article headed: <I>"Gen. Hancock's Indian Expedition,"</B></I> publishing the text of a letter from <I>"Riley"</B></I> about the route through Abilene, Solomon City, and Salina, prior to the events in Custer's notes. Mentioned in the article is<I>"the 7th United States cavalry under command of Lt. Colonel and Brevet Major General George A. Custer."</B></I> Included are typed statements on two 5" x 3" cards, each signed <I>"Lawrence Frost."</B></I> On one card, in full: <I>"This lined piece of paper on which there are various penciled observations of campsites, was found in the Custer farmhouse attic on the north Custer Road, Monroe, Mich. It was crumpled up and pushed toward the bottom of a metal map case belonging to Gen. Custer, and under which there was a crumpled newspaper of an 1867 vintage. Both appeared to have acted as 'fill' so that maps stored in the cylinder would not be damaged when dropped into it, or to make narrow maps more accessible."</B></I> The other card says basically the same about the <I>"Newspaper wadded at the bottom of a metal map case that had belonged to Gen. G.A. Custer…"</B></I> A business card which is present identifies this being from Dr. Lawrence Frost an avid collector from Monroe, Michigan and author of "The Custer Album". This page of Custer's handwritten notes may be all that survives of this period of his life<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Large (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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