AUG 6: Pending Court-Martial

On Aug. 6, 1867, documents are finalized and await General Ulysses S. Grant’s signature ordering a general court-martial for George Armstrong Custer. He was arrested on July 21 at Fort Harker, Kansas by district commander Col. Andrew J. Smith and charged with absence without leave from his command and conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline.

A trial date was eventually set for Sept. 15, 1867 at Fort Leavenworth Kansas. Custer would be defended by an old friend from West Point, Capt. Charles C. Parsons, and the prosecutor was Capt. Robert Chandler (Judge Advocate.)

The presiding officer would be Col. William Hoffman, 3rd Infantry, and members of the court were Col. Benjamin Grierson, 10th Cavalry; Col. Pitcairn Morrison, retired; M.R. Morgan, commissary of subsistence; F.D. Callender, Ordnance Department; Lt. Col. Thomas English, Fifth Infantry; Maj. Henry Asbury, 3rd Infantry; and Maj. Stephen C. Lyford, Ordnance Department.

General of the Army Ulysses S. Grant. (Credit: Library of Congress)