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

74167

[Indians and Custer] William F. "Doc" Carver

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:1,250.00 USD Estimated At:1,800.00 - 2,400.00 USD
[Indians and Custer] William F. Doc Carver
<B><I>NDIANS AND CUSTER WILILIAM F. "DOC" CARVER. HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT TYPED LETTER SIGNED</B></I> - <I>"W.F. Carver,"</B></I> 3.5 pages, 8.5" x 11". Tampa, Florida, January 28, 1927. Born in Illinois, William Frank Carver (1840-1927) ran away from home at 17 and lived with the Santee Sioux in Minnesota for three years. He was a buffalo hunter in the 1860s and became an expert marksman. Carver later partnered with William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody in a Wild West show and toured Europe and Australia in his own show after the partnership was dissolved. In 1924, Carver, riding horseback, plunged 40 feet into a river when a bridge collapsed. Both horse and rider swam safely to shore and Carver used this experience to create the famous diving horse act on Atlantic City's Steel Pier. In this letter to Col. Charles Francis Bates, Bronxville, N.Y., Carver writes about the Sioux and Custer, stressing the fact that <I>"the white race never gave the Sioux Indians credit for the brains they possessed."</B></I> He talks about Generals George Crook and George A.Custer, in part, <I>"if a body of six hundred Indians could lick a thousand soldiers under the leadership of General Crook, who was supposed to be an Indian-fighter, that ought to prove to you that the Sioux Indians were some bad medicine. The Indians had defeated Crook and knew that he was no longer a dangerous foe, so they turned their attention to Custer and his command. When Custer divided his troops old Chief Gaul and Crazy Horse put their arms around each other, jumped up and down shouting with delight, 'We've got them licked to death,' and rode through the camps shouting, 'Don't let the soldiers get to-gether.'"</B></I> He then goes into detail about Reno, Benteen, and the battle and reveals that <I>"there were three thousand or more Indians fighting Custer, and at least a thousand of them were armed with Winchester repeating rifles, perhaps more…"</B></I> Carver then relates a discussion he had in 1883 with General Philip H. Sheridan about Crook and Custer <I>"when Buffalo Bill and I were showing at Driving Park, Chicago,"</B></I> with General Sheridan telling Carver, in part, <I>"'Why Crook acted the part of a damned old woman. He was supposed to go on and form a junction with Terry, Gibbon and Custer…Custer was a man who never failed me, he would have waded through blood to have obeyed orders…It would have been much better for Reno and Benteen to have obeyed orders and died on the battle field with Custer…There is not a black page in Custer's whole history except what his enemies have made black. He was too honest for the politicians in Washington…'"</B></I> Doc Carver died On September 1, 1927, seven months after writing this letter to Col. Bates who, in 1936, published <I>Custer's Indian Battles.</B></I> As the letter bears the notation <I>"WFC/SC,"</B></I> it was most probably typed by Carver's daughter-in-law, Sonora Carver (1904-2003), who began riding the diving horses off the Steel Pier in 1924. Her life inspired the 1991 Disney movie, <I>Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken,</B></I> starring Cliff Robertson as Doc Carver. In very fine condition, this is a truly remarkable, excellent content, revealing letter about the Sioux and General Custer.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Small (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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