The Collected Library, Including Americana and Early Photography

Washington: Matthew Brady, n.d. 4 x 2 5/8 in. albumen photograph on slightly larger cardstock mount credited to Brady on recto (minor toning, one small circular impression to print; mount with soiling and wear to edges and corners). Verso with affixed modern typed paper label being a printed version of Katz's caption of this photograph in Custer in Photographs. This image was originally taken by Gibson and thereafter printed as a stereoview and album card by Alexander Gardner.

Several of the men are posed casually with pipes as Custer reclines on the ground with a puppy nestled against him.

Subjects pictured standing, from left to right: Captain Joseph Hancock Taylor, 6th US Cavalry; Captain James McMillan, 2nd US Infantry; Captain William Thomas Gentry, 17th US Infantry. Seated, from left to right: 1st Lieutenant James William Forsyth, 18th US Infantry; 2nd Lieutenant James (Scot) Steward, 4th US Artillery; 1st Lieutenant Charles F. Trowbridge, 15th Infantry; 1st Lieutenant William Graham Jones, 10th US Infantry. Reclining, left to right: 1st Lieutenant Nicholas Bowen, US Engineers; 2nd Lieutenant George A. Custer, 5th US Cavalry.

This remarkable image of a relaxed Custer at camp with fellow staff officers was captured during the Peninsula Campaign, in which Custer would prove himself to be a daring, cool, and clear-headed leader, worthy of a position on General McClellan's staff.

Catalogued in Katz, Custer in Photographs [K-5].