I tried to make it clear that the yellow flag would not have been a regulation regimental standard.

As you might expect I do not agree that an unofficial HQ flag is "out there." I have read that Crook and Merritt used flags to designated their HQs when they were in the field in 1876. Commanding officers had a good deal of power, and I don't think that there was any regulation against such flags.

Custer was not in trouble because Washington thought Custer was a bad officer. Custer was in trouble because he testified against Grant's former Secretary of War in hearings and an impeachment trial.

Custer was an excellent battlefield commander and organizer. He could have sat behind a desk and been promoted the Col of the 3rd Cavalry effectve 25 Jun 1877. He could have stayed behind the desk and been promoted to Brig Gen with a lot of other Democrats in Cleveland's administration, and he wouldn't have had to leave his desk until as a 58 year old Maj Gen he beat hell out of the Spaniards in Cuba.

Custer was a straight out spagetti pulling leader, and that's why he wanted to command in the field.

The quote from Seifert, was from p. 72 of "Custer and Company: Walter Camp's Notes on the Custer Fight," Bruce R. Liddic and Paul Harbaugh, editors.

Camp's notes, re: flags, on his interview with Seifert read:

"Sgt Robert Hughes, who was killed with Custer, carried the Regimental flag. It was yellow flag with an eagle. The colors (stars and stripes) were not carried at Little Big Horn.

"The flag carried by Vickory was Custer's brigade flag that he carried in the Civil War".

In my article I picked up the quote from "carried" and mistakenly added the word "a" before "yellow." In my Article the Seifert quote appears as follows:

"August Seifert, Company K, said, Sergeant Hughes 'carried the Regmental flag. It was a yellow flag with an eagle. The colors (stars and stripes) were not carried at Little Big Horn...The flag carried by Vickory was Custer's brigade flag that he carried in the Civil War.'"

The Godfrey quote was taken from p. 173 of "On the Little Bighorn with Walter Camp," Richard G. Hardoff, compiler and editor. The Godfrey quote reads:

"Vickory carried the 'regimental standard,' a yellow flag. The national flag was not carried on the expedition."

In July 2008, Michael Donohue sent me a copy of a then recent article by Wes Eben from a Hardin, MT newspaper. He didn't send me the date or name of the paper, but I'll see if I can find it on line. The article contaned a photo of a postcard on which the flag had been sketched.

The best sourse for the 1868 photos is Mark Katz' "Custer in Photographs." The photo also appears in Lawrence Frost's "The Custer Album." I check the LBHA sites to see if the photo has been posted.

I'm not good with computers, and I'm using a hand me down computer that's over 10 years old anyway, so I really wouldn't know how to begin to post the photos.

If you wish, you can send me your address via e-mail, and I will mail photocopies to you. I'm not very mobile right now, and it might take me a couple of weeks to get the material to you. My E-mail address is levelpuddle039@aol.com.

I think the Paxson painting is useful. While there may have been a great deal of "artistic licence," I think it is significant that the painting contained a yellow flag with an eagle, and that at least one of Paxson's sources was Godfrey. While I cannot say that there is enough evidence to state conclusively that there was a yellow flag at the Custer Battle, I think there is enough to keep the question open and that it would be wrong to write off the idea.

Regarding the blue flag in the Paxson painting, if you have a really good print (I haven't checked all the links yet) you'll see that the flag has crossed sabers with a "7" above and "U.S." below.

Ray