Quick Reference
Background
General George Armstrong Custer, his dash akin to hubris, had always seen adventure where others felt dread. On his way to fight Indians in March of 1876, then, he not untypically - for him - gaily invited a friend to a don buckskin suit and come along for the ride; which would, of course, end up in the death of all who rode with him just three months later:
If you desire to take the most interesting trip of your life don your buckskin suit and report at Fort Lincoln by April 1st. I can promise you an Indian fight. You can participate or become a spectator in either case I will agree to return you not only alive and well but feeling younger and better by at least ten years.
Custer would be starting out with his wife, he explains here, tomorrow or the next day, for Fort Lincoln - there to command of a large expedition to head into the Yellowstone to take on the Sioux. He invites Stoughton to make the "trip of your life", in which Stoughton might choose to be "a spectator or a participant," in an Indian fight, but promising “in either case... to return you not only alive and well but feeling younger and better by at least ten years.” He extends the invitation to the painter Albert Bierstadt, who also has a standing invitation to visit and accompany Custer to the Yellowstone.
This excursion, to which Custer cockily invited spectators here, ended with his famous Last Stand at the Little Bighorn. It was there, on June 25th, that he rode to his death – and led to the death of every man in the 7th Cavalry who followed him. Custer had split his soldiers into three smaller fighting units in order to surround the Indians, unaware, too late, of how massive the Indian encampment had grown since his arrival.
Physical Description
Autograph Letter Signed (“G.A. Custer”), 4 pages, octavo, Metropolitan Hotel, St. Paul, March 1, 1876. To “My Dear Friend” (Stoughton)
Used with permission of Shapell Legacy Partnership.
all pages and transcript
Page 1/4
METROPOLITAN HOTEL.
St. Paul, Mar 1, 1876
My dear Friend
Mrs Custer and I will start tomorrow or next day for Fort Lincoln by rail, I expect to leave that point about April 1st in command of a large expedition consisting of Cavalry and infantry for the Yellowstone country, anticipating active hostilities with the Sioux.
Steamers will carry supplies to me up the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, leaving Lincoln about the time I do. Now if you desire..
Page 2/4
to take the most interesting trip of your life, don your buckskin suit and report at Fort Lincoln by April 1st. You can then either accompany the troops on the march to the Yellowstone or take the steamer and join us there weeks later when the weather will be more delightful and the country more interesting. I think I can promise you an Indian fight. You can participate or become a spectator in either case I will agree to return you not only alive and well but
Page 3/4
feeling younger and better by at least ten years. I would include Mrs [sic] Stoughton in the invitation but that I fear ladies would not find it agreeable to go. However, I can promise her a hearty welcome at Fort Lincoln from me and mine. Let me hear from you address me at Fort Lincoln Dacota [sic].
By the way I hope you will not forget to call on my friend Barrett at the New York Hotel. I am sure the acquaintance would be mutually
Page 4/4
agreeable. If you see Mr [sic] Bierstadt who like yourself has a standing invitation to visit me, had you not better unite and come with me to the Yellowstone river [sic]
Mrs Custer joins me in kind regards to yourself and Mrs [sic] Stoughton.
Truly your friend
GA CUSTER