CUSTER GEORGE ARMSTRONG Partial letter written as a West Poi

Sale 2253 - Lot 133

Price Realized: $ 1,920

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

"THE ENEMY (IN FANCY) OVERTOOK US " CUSTER, GEORGE ARMSTRONG. Partial letter written as a West Point cadet to his sweetheart. Autograph Letter to Minnie [St. John], 4 pages, 8 x 5 inches, on one sheet, lacking final sheet and signature. West Point, NY, 21 October [1857]

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Writing in the early months of his undistinguished West Point career, 17-year-old cadet George Custer is full of enthusiasm for the military life: "I still like West Point as well if not better than I ever did. I think if there is a heaven upon earth it must be West Point. I do not think it will ever become monotonous to me." He describes some of the "mimic battles" he staged with the other cadets: "The enemy (in fancy) overtook us and compelled us to stop and resist them (with right good will). We stopped and formed a square and then by bringing our muskets to a charge bayonet we presented a bristling front on all sides which was impenetrable." He would have a chance to practice these tactics nineteen years later at the Battle of Little Bighorn, where they proved less effective against the Sioux than against imaginary foes.
Minnie Olive St. John was born in Custer's hometown, Monroe, MI, in 1844. Her mother Lucy Wells St. John died on 26 September 1857, which is referenced in this letter. She later married Philip Loranger in 1870, and died in Monroe in 1922. Other letters from her correspondence with Custer dated 1857 to 1859 have been cited in Custer biographies, making the attribution reliable.