[CUSTER, George Armstrong (1839-1876)]. Index to Officer's Pay Accounts. A ledger for the years 1841-1870.  

334 pages, on red and blue ruled sheets, 383 x 290 mm, modern black morocco binding.

Listing officers alphabetically, each page divided into 14 columns listing regiment, officer name, date of transfer, "book and page," and "Remarks." The "Remarks" column includes dates of retirement, resignations, deaths and dismissals.  

Included are entries for George Custer and his brother Thomas W. Custer, with the remark: "Killed 25 June '76." An annotation next to George Custer's name in red ink in an unidentified hand identifies him as Lieutenant Colonel of the Cavalry ("Lt. Col. of Cav.").  

Throughout are entries for every United States officer of the period who served in the Mexican-American war, the Civil War, and the Indian Wars. Union officers from the Civil War include Ulysses S. Grant, George B. McClellan, Philip Sheridan, and William T. Sherman. Confederate officers from the Civil War include Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Charles E. Lee, Francis Lee, Richard B. Lee, George Pickett, James Longstreet, Jefferson Davis, and Pierre Gustave Beauregard. Future Presidents Zachary Taylor and John Tyler are listed for their service in the Mexican-American War. The ledger likely served as an index enabling the Army to keep track of their records.  


Property from the Patrick Atkinson Collection, Minneapolis, Minnesota