SHERMAN, William Tecumseh. [George Armstrong Custer].
William Tecumseh Sherman Autograph Letter Signed To George Armstrong Custer.
Washington, D.C.: July 7, 1869.
$18,500.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-152506
+$500
Rare Autograph Letter Signed by Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman to George Armstrong Custer, Regarding His Attempt to Secure a Transfer to West Point
Rare autograph letter signed by General William Tecumseh Sherman, addressed to General George Armstrong Custer and concerning Custer's attempt to secure a transfer to West Point. The letter is signed "W.T. Sherman", three pages, octavo, on Head-Quarters Armies of the United States letterhead and dated July 7, 1869. The letter reads in part: "I received your letter of June 29, 1869 at Chicago, but had no time there to answer. The subject of a change at West Point was discussed by the President and myself whilst there last month, and the President directed me to make no change this year. So you see nothing can be done this year..." In near fine condition with minor separations at the folds. 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.
William Tecumseh Sherman Autograph Letter Signed To George Armstrong Custer.
$18,500.00
In Stock