Sold – Gen. Custer Implores Col. Tilford to Command a Wing on His Black Hills Expedition

Autograph Letter Signed, Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory, June 26, 1874, to Tilford. “As the services of another field officer are greatly required by the cavalry of the expedition and as you had previously announced your readiness to take the field, while the medical officer reports you physically qualified, I have decided it best to give the expedition the benefit of your services and in so doing I am sure the interests of the service will be promoted, since personally I will be extremely gratified.” As with the previous letter, this comes directly from the Tilford descendants and has never before been offered for sale. Tilford surely thought his duty was to lead his men at this important juncture and agreed, serving as wing commander on the expedition.

The expedition set out from Fort Lincoln on July 2, 1874. There were 110 wagons and about a thousand men in all. It reached French Creek on July 30, where the prospectors Ross and McKay immediately found a few flecks of gold in what is now the town of Custer. Gold was found in greater quantities three miles further east, where a “Permanent Camp” was established August 1-5. Reconnaissance parties explored to the south and east while photographer W.H. Illingworth recorded a number of views in the surrounding area. Some of those who stayed behind sank a prospect shaft and filed the first gold claims. August 14 was the expedition’s last day in the Black Hills. Three weeks earlier this had been a completely unknown place, but soon the white world would be reading extensive stories and reports from the trail.

Not only was the expedition itself dramatic and eventful, but it would play a pivotal role in some of the best-known events in the West. Newspaper stories lured a band of prospectors to the Black Hills within a matter of weeks, the first of thousands who would enter illegally despite treaty rights of the Sioux. The gold rush made white settlement a fait accompli and ruined any chance of peace with the Cheyenne and Sioux, who became bitter and refused to run from Custer in Montana two years later at Little Big Horn. The Sioux and the 7th Cavalry would face each other again in 1890, when an effort to disarm a band of Ghost Dancers went terribly wrong at Wounded Knee.

Tilford was on leave in 1876 and was not at Little Big Horn. He ended up serving 22 years in the cavalry, retiring as a Brigadier General on July 1, 1891. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.