Planters National Bank check, 7 x 2.75, filled out and signed by Custer, “G. A. Custer,” payable to Grinstead & Bradley or order for $2,580.38, March 3, 1872. Check is endorsed on the reverse, “Pay to W. J. Duncan Cashier or order Grinstead & Bradley Lou. Bkg. Co. F. Hoar Clk.” In fine condition, with two light vertical folds, one through a single letter of signature, cancellation cut to center, a couple small pinholes to left side, and light show-through from endorsement on reverse.
After five years of active duty fighting the Cheyenne, Custer’s famed US 7th Cavalry was transferred to Elizabethtown, Kentucky in October of 1871. Their orders were to control the Ku Klux Klan and to break up illicit distilleries, but with the small town’s lack of any real conflict, the 7th settled into a well-deserved break from action. While there, Custer built up a stable of fine Kentucky thoroughbred horses, along with over eighty well-bred hunting dogs. This check, payable to the Lexington banking firm Grinstead & Bradley, was most likely for the purchase of one such horse, as there are records of Custer buying a horse for $2500 in October of 1872. An incredibly scarce check signed during a brief period of respite before heading back into Plains Indians territory, where he would meet his fate just four years later. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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