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George Custer Autograph Letter Signed. Twenty-one pages on five bifolia and one sheet, 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches, Fort Cob...

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Description

After the Battle of the Washita, Custer announces: "The Indian war is over"

George Custer Autograph Letter Signed. Twenty-one pages on five bifolia and one sheet, 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches, Fort Cobb, [Oklahoma]; January 2, 1869. A lengthy and highly personal letter from Custer to his wife, Elizabeth "Libbie" Custer, written a little over a month after the Battle of the Washita. In this extended missive, Custer describes the conclusion of the winter campaign on the southern plains, his role in council with Plains tribal leaders, his handling of captured Kiowa chiefs Satanta and Lone Wolf, and his growing reputation as an "Indian fighter," while also devoting considerable space to his marriage.

Having just led the attack on Black Kettle's Cheyenne village in November 1868, Custer opens with a bold claim: "The Indian war is over. To make a long story short, like Alexander, who mourned because there were no other worlds for him to conquer, Genl Sheridan and your dear Bo can mourn (?) because there are no more hostile Indians to conquer."

Although his victory at the Washita was decisive, Custer's tactics were controversial, particularly the surprise attack on a winter village and the use of noncombatants as "human shields." General Sheridan, who always showed a level of partiality toward Custer, nevertheless continued to rely on him and placed Custer at the center of the post-battle negotiations. Custer describes the ensuing talks in detail:

"Yesterday a grand council was held near my tent. All the head chiefs of the Apaches Kiowas Comanches Cheyennes & Arappahoes the two latter having first come in, were assembled...I wish you could have seen your dear Bo sitting in the circle of Indian Chiefs listening to their speeches and answering them. I do not think in all my talks with the Indians that they with all their cunning have got the better of me once. The other day I asked Genl Sheridan if he did not want to do the talking himself, he replied 'No Custer you are doing first rate keep on.' Well the result of the council was this the Indians have had all their arrogance and pride whipped out of them. They no longer presume to make demands of us."

He goes on to note that he still holds Kiowa Chiefs "Satanta and Lone Wolf prisoner under close guard. Twelve men guard them within twenty steps of my tent. No one is allowed to cross the sentinels line but your 'dear Bo.'" Custer had captured the two chiefs on December 17, 1868, and kept them under close surveillance to ensure that the remaining bands came in to talk. Satanta and Lone Wolf were later released to lead their people to reservation lands in February 1869.

Custer wraps up his discussion of the Indian negotiations by writing: "As soon as the Indians come in, (twelve days) we announce the terms. Such terms too as they have never heard before. No one but Gen Sheridan and I know what these are to be...You have no idea of the veneration with which I am regarded by all the Indians. They look upon me as the greatest Chief they have ever seen."

From there, the letter becomes more personal. Custer repeatedly reassures Libbie of his love and looks ahead to a leave of absence and a possible trip to Washington, while briefly alluding to his arrest and suspension in August 1868 for absence without leave: "I wrote to you in a former letter about my intention to attend the inauguration. Are you pleased with my plans. I can get all the leave I desire, as Gen Sheridan repeatedly tells me...The future never looked so bright to me as it does now. Unless it was when a certain little darl told me she loved me and consented to become what time has proved her to be, my loving and devoted wife." After Custer's arrest, Sheridan personally requested that Custer be reinstated, knowing that he would need Custer for his campaign against the Plains tribes. Originally suspended for a full year, Custer was allowed to return to service after just two months.

Custer also devotes a striking passage to Libbie's friend Nellie (likely Nellie Wadsworth), using notably warm language for a married man writing to his wife: "Tell Nellie it will be the greatest disappointment of my life if she leaves before we return...I wish her to attend the 22nd ball and witness a real military ball...She will never regret it...she and I are not acquainted yet. I want her to know me at home. And I promise that she shall never regret her stay..." Nellie Wadsworth appeared with the Custers in multiple photographs in the 1870s and maintained a long correspondence with Libbie after Custer's death, even as rumors circulated that she and Custer had been engaged in an affair.

Before closing with love and well wishes for his friends and family, Custer adds a final note on his victory: "[I] have won a reputation as an Indian fighter which I would not exchange for that of any other office, and have proven that I can not only reap victories over a civilized force as during the war, but where so many others have failed before me, over a barbarous and cunning foe. My battle of the Washita is destined to stand unrivalled in Indian warfare, and it is the last great battle to be fought with the hostile tribes against which we have been contending."

Signed, "Ever your loving boy, Autie."

Condition: Lightly toned and creased at folds. A few light, scattered stains. Minor loss at the top right corner of the second bifolium, not affecting text.

Auction Info

2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts Signature® Auction #6328 (go to Auction Home page)
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