SOTHEBY'S TO SELL 'CUSTER'S LAST STAND' FLAG

AN AMERICAN FLAG FOUND AT THE SITE OF THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN IS EXPECTED TO FETCH OVER $3 MILLION AT AUCTION. THE FLAG WAS RETRIEVED FROM THE BLACK HILLS OF MONTANA, WHERE LT COL GEORGE CUSTER AND MORE THAN 200 MEN WERE MASSACRED BY INDIAN WARRIORS IN 1876. NEARLY ALL THE MILITARY ARTIFACTS OF THE 7th CAVALRY REGIMENT WERE CARRIED AWAY BY THE VICTORIOUS LAKOTA SIOUX, BUT THE SINGLE SWALLOWTAIL FLAG WAS FOUND DAYS LATER UNDER THE BODY OF A FALLEN SOLDIER. SINCE 1895, THE SILK AMERICAN FLAG, CALLED A GUIDON, HAS BEEN THE PROPERTY OF THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS, WHICH HAS DECIDED TO IT AND USE THE PROCEEDS TO BUILD ITS COLLECTION. THE GUIDON, DISCOVERED BY SGT FERDINAND CULBERTSON WHILE ON A BURIAL DETAIL OF THE BATTLEFIELD, HAS BEEN VALUED AT $2-5 MILLION AND IS TO BE AUCTIONED IN OCTOBER, SOTHEBY'S AUCTION HOUSE ANNOUNCED RECENTLY. THE CURRENT AUCTION RECORD FOR ANY TEXTILE IN $12.3 MILLION, FOR AN AMERICAN FLAG CAPTURED BY THE BRITISH IN A 1779 BATTLE IN BEDFORD, NEW YORK, SOTHEBY'S SOLD IT IN 2006. THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIG HORN, ALSO KNOWN AS CUSTER'S LAST STAND, RESULTED IN THE DEATHS OF 210 SOLDIERS, INCLUDING CUSTER, AS SEVERAL THOUSAND WARRIORS LED BY SITTING BULL FOUGHT FOR THEIR LAND NEAR WHAT'S NOW CROW AGENCY, MONTANA. THE BLACK HILLS OF SOUTHEASTERN MONTANA (PRESENT-DAY SOUTH DAKOTA) WERE DECLARED INDIAN LAND IN THE LATE 1860s. THE CONFLICT ERUPTED WHEN THE GOVERNMENT TRIED TO DRIVE THE INDIANS OFF THE LAND AFTER WHITE SETTLERS DISCOVERED GOLD THERE. THE 1876 BATTLE'S DEVASTATING LOSS CAME AS A GREAT SHOCK TO THE NATION AS IT PREPARED FOR ITS CENTENNIAL. THE GUIDON MEASURES 32 1/2 INCHES BY 26 1/2 INCHES. ONE STAR AND A PATCH OF THE WHITE AND RED STRIPES ARE MISSING, CUT FROM IT AS SOUVENIRS, A COMMON 19th CENTURY PRACTICE, SOTHEBY'S SAID. THE 7th CAVALRY HAD FIVE GUIDONS AND ONE REGIMENT FLAG, THREE OF THE GUIDONS HAVE VANISHED AND THE FOURTH, KNOWN AS THE KEOGH GUIDON, IS IN VERY POOR CONDITION, EATEN BY MOTHS', SOTHEBY'S SAID. GRAHAM WJ BEAL, DIRECTOR OF THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS, SAID THAT BECAUSE THE GUIDON DOESN'T FIT THE CRITERIA FOR A WORK OF ART, THE MUSEUM HOPES, 'TO EXPLOIT IT FOR OUR REAL MISSION, WHICH IS TO COLLECT AND INTERPRET ART.'