Trophies Trophy News

Trophy from the Battle of Little Bighorn may reach pounds $12 million at auction

An American flag found at Little Bighorn after ‘General’ George Custer and nearly 270 men were wiped out by Indian warriors could fetch $12 million US (pounds 8.2 million) when it is auctioned later this year.

The battle guidon of the 7th Cavalry was recovered after Custer, 36 – who was in reality a lieutenant colonel – and his men were defeated by thousands of Lakota and Cheyenne Indians in June 1876, in what has become known as Custer’s Last Stand.

The victorious Indians stripped the corpses of trophies, but seemingly missed the bloodstained flag, which was hidden under the body of a soldier.

It was recovered by Sergeant Ferdinand Culbertson, a member of a burial party, and was sold for $54 (pounds 35) in 1895 to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Another 7th Cavalry guidon was found later in an Indian village, but is reportedly moth-eaten and in poor condition. The institute is selling its flag to pay for new acquisitions, after saying it barely saw the guidon because it was almost continually on loan to other institutions. Sotheby’s will auction the tattered piece of swallow-tailed silk, just over 32ins by 26ins in size, in October. A star and a patch of the stripes are missing, cut out of the fabric in the 19th century as souvenirs.

The auction house has estimated it will fetch between $2 million and $5 million (pounds 1.3 million to pounds 3.3 million), but hopes it could exceed the auction record for a flag – the $12.3 million (pounds 8.2 million) paid for an American flag captured by the British in 1779 during the War of Independence.

“It’s not a piece of decoration. It’s a sacred relic. People died for this flag,” said David Redden, a Sotheby’s vice-chairman.

He said Custer’s Last Stand was an “extraordinary clash between the two cultures of America”. He added: “Anything connected with that, particularly something that’s as significant as a battle flag, also has that kind of iconic stature.”

The battle was part of the Great Sioux War, which started after the U.S. government tried to drive the Indians out of the Black Hills region of Montana. The 7th Cavalry surprised the Indians in their village, but had underestimated the enemy’s strength and were annihilated.

Guidons served as battlefield beacons marking company positions.

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