Books & Manuscripts, including Americana

1) SHERIDAN, Philip (1831-1888). Autograph letter signed ("Sheridan") to General George Armstrong Custer, Chicago, 25 June 1869. 4pp., 8vo (203 x 127 mm), folds, mild toning, some ink smudges. Accompanied by original envelope.

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."

2) SHERMAN, William Tecumseh (1820-1891). Autograph letter signed ("W.T. Sherman") to General George Armstrong Custer, 7 July 1869. 3pp., 8vo (203 x 127 mm) on Head-Quarters Armies of the United States letterhead, minor separations at folds.

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..."

GENERAL GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER SEEKS A TRANSFER TO WEST POINT.

Following the Civil War, Americans resumed westward expansion, driven in large part by former Confederates seeking to escape the authority of the United States government. A complication in this migration was the Indigenous population of the western territories, who, during the Civil War years, had become accustomed to living on their lands largely unmolested by white settlers. The United States Army was tasked with protecting white settlers from attacks by Indigenous peoples.

On 27 November 1868, General George Armstrong Custer led the 7th Cavalry Regiment in an attack on the encampment of Chief Black Kettle, which would come to be known as the Battle of Washita River, an engagement that would ultimately force the Southern Cheyenne people onto a reservation.

Philip Sheridan and George Custer met as cavalry commanders during the Civil War and formed a close friendship, with Sheridan becoming Custer's most ardent defender after Custer's 1867 court-martial for abandoning his post, purportedly so he could visit his wife. Following the Washita Massacre, Custer was roundly criticized in the press for American forces murdering women and taking women and children prisoner. For all intents and purposes, exiled to the Indian Territory as a result of the bad publicity, Custer appealed to Sheridan for aid in securing a position at West Point. In the letter dated 25 June 1869, Sheridan promises to bring Custer's case directly to General Sherman.

Not taken into consideration was the animosity General Sherman felt towards Custer as a direct result of Custer's court-martial, as Custer had attempted to place the blame for his desertion at the feet of General Sherman by claiming that he was acting on Sherman's orders to meet General Hancock at Fort Wallace, and upon finding Hancock gone had simply ridden after him in order to fulfill Sherman's orders. Though Sherman did make this request, evidence at Custer's court-martial proved it had arrived after Custer had already left his post. Custer then tried to claim that he was acting on earlier orders from Sherman; these orders, however, only applied to the pursuit of Indigenous tribes. A year's suspension resulted, to which Sherman remarked, “the levity of the sentence, considering the nature of the offenses of Brvt. Major General Custer, if found guilty, is to be remarked on.” This personal animosity towards Custer may, in part, explain Sherman's dismissive response in his 7 July 1869 letter to Custer's plea for a transfer.

The Sheridan letter is dated 25 June 1869 - exactly seven years later, Custer and half the men of the 7th Cavalry would meet their demise at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, an engagement which was widely considered to be a perfect mirror image of the Battle of Washita.