Endorsement signed “G. A. Custer,” penned at the conclusion of a manuscript copy of a communication sent by Brigadier General Alfred Terry to Custer as the Adjutant General of the Department of Dakota, concerning the requested amendment of a “certain remark and note in the Army Register for 1875,” relative to the Volunteer record of Lieutenant William Badger of the 6th Infantry. The communication, four pages, 7.75 x 9.75, July 21, 1875, supporting the omission of Badger’s mention in the register, reads, in part: “I concur in the opinions expressed in the foregoing endorsements. I served in the same Army Corps with Lieutenant Badger for more than three years: during a portion of that time, he was under my command. He always bore an excellent reputation; he was esteemed and respected as a gallant and faithful officer. When he was arrested, tried and cashiered I, in common, believe, with all other officers who knew him was struck with profound astonishment. I could not but believe that a great mistake had been made, or that a great injustice had been done. I have taken it for granted that his restoration to the service was the acknowledgment of such a mistake, or of such injustice: for certainly he would not have been restored had it been believed that his dismissal was justified by the facts in the case. If his dismissal was unjust, to blazon it now to the Army and to the country in the Official register, with no explanation, seems to me to be a new injustice, one which should not be inflicted upon him, unless some rigorous rule of law or unchangeable regulation requires it.” The communication is signed by O. D. Greene as assistant adjutant general, and the immediate lower section is endorsed vertically by Custer, with an administrative hand adding the location, “H’dqr’s Fort A. Lincoln DT, July 29, 1875,” and his rank, “Lieut. Colonel 7 Cavy, Brevet Maj, Gen’l USA, Commdg.” The document is countersigned by two other 6th Infantry officers at Standing Rock, Dakota Territory: 2nd Lieutenant Theodore H. Eckerson and Captain John S. Poland. In fine condition, with light toning along the folds.
William Badger (1826-1897) mustered in Company D, of the Fourth Infantry Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers on September 18, 1861, as a captain. He was dismissed from service for unknown reasons but was later exonerated and commissioned as a colonel of the regiment. He later served as a captain in the 10th Regiment of the New Hampshire Militia, in the 6th US Infantry, and was a quartermaster at Fort Lincoln when Custer's 7th Cavalry was stationed there preceding the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
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