IMPORTANT CUSTER’S LAST STAND MANUSCRIPT
[CUSTER, George Armstrong (1839-1876)]. Manuscript document signed (“E.D. Townsend”), Bighorn on Yellowstone River, 4 July 1876. 8 pages on 4 leaves, small folio (318 x 203 mm), on lined paper, docketed on verso of final leaf, single staple, old folds, paper and adhesive transfer to top edge of final leaf with few small tears. A true copy (docketed with the date 5 November 1878) of the original petition filed by the surviving cavalry members of Custer’s 7th Cavalry, requesting that the U.S. President and Representatives not fill the open vacancies of their fallen comrades with members outside of their regiment and that Major Marcus A. Reno be the new Lieutenant Colonel. “We the enlisted men the survivors of the battle of the slights of Little Horn River, on the 25th and 26th of June 1876, of the 7th Regiment of Cavalry who subscribe our names to this petition, most earnestly solicit the President and Representatives of our country, that the vacancies among the commissioned officers of our Regiment, made by the slaughter of our brave heroic now lamented Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and the other noble dead commissioned officers of our Regiment who fell close by him on the bloody field, daring the savage demons to the last, be filled by the officers of the Regiment only…”
The Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand, occurred on 25-26 June 1876, between the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry Regiment, led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, and a combined force of Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes in present-day Montana. Seeking to enforce government policies and confine Native American populations to reservations, the U.S. Army clashed with the Native American coalition led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Custer’s ill-fated decision to divide his forces and attack a large Native American encampment resulted in a resounding defeat for the 7th Cavalry, killing Custer and nearly 200 of his soldiers in its wake. Edward Davis Townsend (1817-1893) was Adjutant General of the United States Army from 1869-80. During the Civil War, Townsend worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, and it was under Townsend’s signature that orders originated from the War Department including Major General George McClellan’s removal from command letter on 5 November 1862. Townsend boldly signs the petition on the final page. It is unclear why this “true copy” was produced for Townsend, but we can probably assume that it was for a military court case if we look at the notation on the first page, reading “Exhibit No 10”.