SHERIDAN, Philip. [George Armstrong Custer].
Philip Sheridan Autograph Letter Signed to George Armstrong Custer.
Chicago: June 25, 1869.
$12,500.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-152485
+$500
Rare Autograph Letter Signed by Civil War General Philip Sheridan to George Armstrong Custer, Regarding His Attempt to Secure a Transfer to West Point
Rare autograph letter signed by General Philip Sheridan, addressed to General George Armstrong Custer and concerning Custer's attempt to secure a transfer to West Point. The first letter is signed "Sheridan", four pages, octavo, written from Chicago and dated June 25, 1869. The letter reads in full: "I am in receipt of your confidential telegram. The Ryan partner did not get the Beef Contract. I have no doubt but that the ring you speak of will do all in their power to defeat me in the law suit but the Dist. Atty. thinks he has all the necessary evidence in the case. I wish you would let me know all the information you have or may obtain on the subject. I have your application for West Point & will keep it here until Sherman comes. I expect him here before the 2d. of July. I wish you would write to him on the subject. He left Washington for St. Louis yesterday the 24th. I expect to go to New York to the Reunion if things look peaceful there but will not go if there is to be the old guards. Give my very kind regards to Mrs. Custer." In near fine condition with mail folds. Accompanied by the original envelope. The letter measures 8 inches by 5 inches. Rare and desirable.
After the Civil War the United States Army was tasked with protecting settlers moving into the western territories, and on November 27, 1868, General George Armstrong Custer led the 7th Cavalry in an attack on the encampment of the Southern Cheyenne chief Black Kettle, an engagement known as the Battle of the Washita that forced the Southern Cheyenne onto a reservation. Custer was widely criticized in the press for the killing of women and children and the taking of prisoners, and, effectively exiled to the Indian Territory as a result, he sought a posting at West Point. Philip Sheridan, who had met Custer as a fellow cavalry commander during the war and became his most ardent defender after Custer's 1867 court-martial for abandoning his post, promised to bring the case directly to Sherman. Sherman, however, bore his own animosity toward Custer, who at that court-martial had tried to blame his absence on Sherman's orders. Of the resulting one-year suspension Sherman remarked that "the levity of the sentence, considering the nature of the offenses of Brvt. Major General Custer, if found guilty, is to be remarked on." Seven years to the day after Sheridan wrote his letter, Custer and half the men of the 7th Cavalry were killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Philip Sheridan Autograph Letter Signed to George Armstrong Custer.
$12,500.00
In Stock