June 12-13, 2019 Edged Weapon, Armor, & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/13/2019
This historically important map was the one that Lt. Col. G.A. Custer used in July of 1867 on his march from Fort Hayes, Kansas on the summer Indian campaign which ended at Fort Wallace, Kansas. Our research has shown that it is one of the only Custer used maps from the Civil War or Indian Wars period extant. This map was purchased from his grand niece, Miss Margaret Custer, who lived across the road from the Custer farmhouse with her sister Miriam and her father James Calhoun Custer. She had taken it from the Custer farmhouse attic years earlier. Map is a linen tracing on cloth of General Custer’s line of march during his Indian hunting campaign in July of 1867. Rendered in a horizontal format 19.5” x 23”, with a scale of 4.5” = 50 miles. Drawn in black India ink overall, but showing Custer’s and Major Elliot’s lines of march in red ink. Custer’s campsites are annotated in black ink and each is dated. Elliot’s campsites are in red ink, and each is dated. The line of Custer’s march originated at Fort Hayes, headed north, then returned to Fort Wallace. They traveled as far north as the South Fork of the North Platte River, then south to the Smoky Hill River. Custer had taken 1100 of his troopers on a campaign to quell Indian uprisings that had threatened white settlers for three years. During this time a Lt. Lyman S. Kidder was carrying dispatches to Custer from Gen. William T. Sherman at Fort Sedgewick, Colorado, 90 miles Northwest of Custer’s camp in June 1867. Kidder and his 10 man patrol were subsequently wiped out and killed to a man by a large war party that was known to be roaming the area. Detailed to recover the bodies was Lt. Fred Beecher, Civil War veteran and nephew of famous abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of ‘UNCLE TOM’S CABIN.” He had been assigned to Fort Wallace to erect many of the buildings used for protection against the constant Sioux and Cheyenne Raids. In August of 1868, five months after his involvement with the Kidder affair, Beecher was second in command of the Forsyth scouts under Col. George Forsyth. This unit was ambushed by 1000 Cheyenne warriors on the Arickaree Fork of the Republican River in northeastern Colorado on Sept 17, 1868 and lLt. Beecher lost his life on what is now known as the Battle of Beecher’s Island. This map is from a very important period in the volatile history of the Indian Wars and is extremely detailed. It is a treasure trove of knowledge and a look into the Indian suppression campaigns of Custer and how he campaigned. Map is archivally framed and matted and also includes original albumen sepia toned CDV’s of Custer in his 7th Cavalry dress uniform along with wife Elizabeth. The Custer CDV is from the Mora studio and is signed in Custer’s hand to the reverse; “G. Custer Lieut Col 7th Cavalry U.S.A.” Also included are two original issues of Harper’s Weekly that detail incidents from the campaign. Map is signed by the cartographer, “Henry Jackson, 7th U.S. Cavalry.” Jackson was the Captain of C Troop, 7th Cavalry. He commanded this troop at Wounded Knee and White Clay. He had been with the regiment since 1866, but was on detached service in June 1876 during the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Jackson retired from the Army as a Colonel in 1901. He was promoted to Brigadier General from the retired list in 1904, and died in 1908. CONDITION: Excellent overall. PROVENANCE: Obtained from Miss Margaret Custer by early Americana dealer George Lower owner of the Gettysburg Sutler in 1961. Used as an illustration on pages 14 and 15 of the ‘COURT MARTIAL OF GENERAL GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER’ (University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1968). Also featured in the book, ‘FIND CUSTER - THE KIDDER TRAGEDY’ by Randy Johnson and Nancy P. Allan. From Mr. Lower to Custer historian Dr. Lawrence A. Frost to Dr. Frank Wagner’s cavalry museum collection. CORRECTION: Photos added
Condition: (Excellent).