A 1p autograph letter signed by George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876), signed by him as "GAC" (with "uster" added in another hand) at lower right. August 25, [1864]. Written on the field from the Headquarters of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Cavalry Middle Military Division, on double-sided blue-lined paper. The missing right side of the letter, along with a small quarter-sized area on the left side, were professionally repaired and reconstituted using paper of similar color and thickness, and penciled handwriting in Custer's style. We count approximately 78 complete words and 12 partial words in Custer's hand both recto and verso. The reverse integral address leaf is engrossed by Custer as "Gen Averell / Commdg Cav Div." near the remnants of a copy of Special Orders No. 9 requesting that a private from the 1st NY Dragoons "report without delay." The original state of the partial autograph letter signed prior to restoration can be seen in an included photocopy. Expected weathering and wear, else very good. 5.125" x 8."

George A. Custer addressed this battlefield note to fellow cavalry commander Brigadier General William Woods Averell (1832-1900). Examples of Custer battlefield correspondence are rare.

Transcribed in part, with Custer's words appearing without brackets, and with the restorer's partial or complete words appearing within brackets:

"Hdqrs 1st Br[ig]
1st Div. Cav. M [M D]
Aug 25th 2 [pm]
Gen Averell
Your disp[atch]
is just recd. I [can]
hold myself in r[eadiness]
to move to any [point]
desired, if I r[eceive]
[f]urther instruc[tions]
will go to Sou[th Mt]
pass. Please comm[unicate]
with me. If the [enemy]
appear on the riv[er]
bank and you d[esire]
my assistance l[et me]
know

Truly yours

GAC[uster]."

The letter dates from the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of May - October 1864. Commanding General of the U.S. Army Ulysses S. Grant had appointed General Philip H. Sheridan to oversee the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Sheridan was tasked with scourging the Shenandoah Valley, the Confederate breadbasket, and engaging in total war. He faced off against Confederate General Jubal A. Early in a dizzying series of skirmishes, assaults, and counter-assaults that have led historians to refer to this period of the campaign as the "mimic war." Union forces took Harper's Ferry, West Virginia on August 7, but were pushed back by Confederates to Double Toll Gate by August 11. On August 16, 1864, Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade (also known as Custer's Brigade or the Wolverines) captured 300 Confederates at Front Royal and Guard Hill, but the following day, Union forces were defeated at Abrams Creek at Winchester. The back-and-forth, unpredictable nature of the hostilities continued until August 25, 1864, the very day this letter was written, when two Union cavalry divisions parried Early's attempts to reach Maryland.

On the day this letter was written, Custer's forces had been surrounded and nearly captured en masse on the Virginia side of the Potomac River by the aggressive Confederate forces. This letter was written immediately after Custer and his command used a little known river crossing to reach Maryland. Custer reassured General Averell, then headquartered southwest in the West Virginia hills, that he could take the South Mountain Pass and come to his immediate assistance if the Confederates broached the Potomac River.

Custer's early military career was nothing less than meteoric. He secured no fewer than 12 long-term and brevet promotions between 1861-1865, including the rank of Brigadier General in 1863 and the rank of Major General in 1865. He became one of the Union Army's youngest generals at age 23. Custer participated in nearly all of the major engagements of the Civil War, including the Battles of Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, and Yellow Tavern (during which Custer's peer, the Confederate cavalry commander J.E.B. Stuart, was mortally wounded), along with the Sieges of Yorktown and Petersburg.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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