General Custer died among family at the Battle of the Little Bighorn; four other members of his extended family were also killed. This lot of letters, written mostly from Custer's Michigan hometown, includes an 1865 letter from the general's youngest brother Boston Custer and a letter from their sister Margaret "Maggie" Custer. Both Boston and Thomas Custer, as well as Margaret's future husband John Calhoun, later met their ends alongside General Custer in 1876. Also includes 2 letters from father Emanuel H. Custer, one from "Sister Eliza," and one from a family friend named Sallie. One of the father's letters, dated 16 January 1868, responds to distressing news, "seeing in the papers that you were arested for murder . . . let me know the worst of it" (the charges were later dismissed).

with--two amusing accounts exchanged between the general and his brother Thomas Custer. George apparently loaned Thomas a hunting dog, and Thomas then billed George $4.50 for "one pair of slippers destroyed by your infernal pups." George responded with a bill for $7.50 for the loan of the dog. These two documents are unsigned, but are authenticated as partially in the General's hand by Custer historian Lawrence A. Frost.