Beschreibung:

A cdv of George Armstrong Custer as Brigadier General, signed boldly on verso, taken on or about February 15, 1864, by Mathew Brady & Co., illustrated in Katz' Custer in Photographs [K-31]. The cdv is accompanied by the wallet in which a woman by the name of Martha Dickerson Bell kept the signed photograph of Custer. Bell lived in Harrison County, OH as a small girl, and she attended her first classes in a one-room school taught by George Custer. In a newspaper article featuring Bell, also included with the lot, she reminisces about Custer, It's been 78 years ago...But I can still remember the beautiful chestnut sorrel horse which Custer rode to school. Altho he was very proud, he always made over me, because I was such a backward little girl. In a letter written by Bell's grandaughter, Wilma Milksell, which accompanies the lot, she discusses her grandmother's experiences with Custer in more detail. She shares one humorous story about Custer and how he always played games with the children at recess, including their favorite game Black Man. Milksell explains Sometimes when he was it when he caught the larger girls he'd kiss them, adding that her grandmother's sister did not like that one bit. A real photo postcard of Custer's birthplace in New Rumley, OH also accompanies this fine lot. Condition: Some toning to photograph; verso lightly toned and soiled; signature is strong.