In terms of the American Indian Wars in the late 19th century, no battle is as famous as the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25-26, 1876, during the Great Sioux War of 1876 (aka the Black Hills War). The "Battle of the Greasy Grass" as it was known to Native Americans, was one of the greatest battlefield victories in Native American history and one of the worst defeats in U.S. history. In the battle, the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho fought off an attack and then pursued and defeated the 7th Cavalry, including destroying Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's immediate command. Like St. Clair's Defeat during the Northwest Indian War almost a century earlier, the impressive Native American victory did little to slow the tide of western expansion, but it did make legends out of many of the warriors and chiefs that fought that day. By the time the corpses of Custer and his men laid strewn across the plains, Custer was already a very well-known military leader, but his death fighting alongside his command against a superior number of native warriors secured his place in history and has made "Custer's Last Stand" one of the most iconic legends of the American West. As a result, Custer became the most famous U.S. cavalry officer of the Indian Wars, and he and his men have been memorialized in countless works of art and literature. Their defeat shocked the nation. Over the decades, the story of Custer's defeat has been told over and over with varying degrees of accuracy. Much of what happened has been lost to time given no one fighting alongside Custer lived to tell the tale. Instead we have oral histories passed down from Native American warriors who defeated him, reports from surviving members of the 7th Cavalry and the U.S. allied Crow and Arikara scouts that fought elsewhere during the battle, and evidence collected from the battlefield. The basic story is clear. Custer led the 7th Cavalry in an attack on a large combined village of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapahoes on the Little Bighorn River. He believed the village was smaller and contained at most 800 warriors, but instead, they found it contained around 8,000 Native Americans and as many as 1,800 warriors. The 7th Cavalry had 600 men, and 125 men were with the pack train. Custer took command of five companies (210 men) while two other detachments were led by Captain Frederick Benteen and Major Marcus Reno. After the initial attack, Reno's men retreated, and Custer's command remained separated and was encircled by the Native American warriors. Instead of one last stand as is often depicted, there were multiple attempts by groups of his men to fight. Around 40 of the 210 fighting under Custer died surrounded by hundreds of warriors on the hill where a stone monument stands today. Reno's detachment, supported by Benteen's men, fought on to the south through the night and learned of Custer's death the following day. The whole nation was soon shocked by the news of "Custer's Last Stand." As a result, the military committed additional resources to the effort to "pacify" the "hostile Indians" on the plains, and most were defeated and confined to reservations within a year. Colt Single Action Army revolvers are among the most iconic, collectible, and valuable firearms in American history. They are certainly among the top "blue chips" of gun collecting. Thus, it comes as no surprise that when it comes to the classic U.S. contract "Cavalry Model" Colt Single Action Army revolvers, none are more desirable than those used by the U.S. 7th Cavalry under the command of Custer at the historic battle discussed above. Our current revolver falls within the "prime lot" of Colt Single Action Army revolvers issued to Custer's men prior to that fateful day: the Lot Five revolvers, serial numbers 4500-5504. This historic revolver is accompanied by a 1991 dated letter from Kenneth Leonard, a previous owner of the gun. In the letter Leonard stated he obtained the revolver from Jake Herman, Oglala Sioux Indian (today known as Oglala Lakota Nation) from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, in 1965. Jake Herman was a noted member of Pine Ridge. He had served as a tribal policeman and a tribal council member, and in 1965 he was the tribal historian and curator of the tribal museum at Pine Ridge. As told by Harman, “the gun was captured at the Little Big Horn and had been in his family since that time.” Kenneth Leonard purchased it from Herman in 1965. The revolver was examined by noted Colt historian and author John Kopec and his letter of authentication for the revolver is included. He gave this revolver his coveted "gold seal" which signifies the revolver is one Kopec "feels would qualify being in his own personal collection: one for which "no excuses" would ever be required. Few surviving examples will qualify for this distinction." It is very evident why he gave this revolver that distinction considering its historical significance. The revolver was previously listed in his survey back in October 1993. In the survey it falls between known revolvers nos. 4728 (Artillery Model) and 4730 (Artillery Model component). “This revolver originated from within Lot Five. Lot Five (#4500-#5504) was one of the ‘prime’ lots from which those revolvers which had been issued to the Seventh Cavalry were drawn. This issue occurred in July 2, 1874 just prior to their departure into the Black Hills,” noted Kopec. Kopec was familiar with the aforementioned Kenneth Leonard letter and how Leonard obtained the revolver from Jack Herman. In fact, Leonard was one of Kopec’s acquaintances and Kopec personally knew of Leonard’s “exploits into the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation.” Kopec considered Leonard’s letter as “indisputable provenance.” The letter was the best type of “provenance as one would ever hope to find on one of these ‘Custer-era’ Colt Revolvers.” The revolver is cited in “Colt Cavalry & Artillery Revolvers” as being a “presumptive, Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation, Indian use” (page 280). Kopec also stated that the late Dr. H. Sterling Fenn test fired the revolver and the results “showed no firing-pin imprint match with any of the relic pistol cartridges retrieved from the Custer Battlefield.” A copy of Fenn’s file card for this revolver is included. With the exception of the obliterated “US” frame marking, Kopec noted that the serial numbers, Ainsworth’s ordnance inspector “A” initials, and barrel address “remain in perfect original condition.” As for the “US” marking, these letters have been ground off the frame. “This was however carefully accomplished by first removing the triggerguard and cylinder,” wrote Kopec. “The removal of these letters is generally believed to be a characteristic of an Indian captured firearm. Other referenced revolvers with these letters removed are #4817, #4981, #5020, #5065, #5099 and #5128.” The ground off “US” marking only adds to the validity of this revolver having seen combat during Custer’s Last Stand. Kopec’s other observations included the modern replacement trigger, an overall “gun-metal” finish, several replaced trigger guard screws, slightly flattened rear sight, flattened muzzle, original mainspring, and original grips. The serial numbers of the revolvers issued to the 7th Cavalry are within the 4500-6559 range in Colt production Lots Five, Six, and Seven. On page 281 of "Colt Cavalry & Artillery Revolvers...a Continuing Study” by Kopec and Sterling Fenn, 600 of the 7th Cavalry Revolvers are estimated to have come from Lot Five, 300 came from the Lot Six, and just 39 came from Lot Seven. Thus, Lot Five revolvers are particularly desirable as they are significantly more likely to have been issued to the 7th Cavalry. The authors noted, “Serial numbers 4507, 4553, 4597, 4949, 4955, 5100, 5128, 5133, 5153, 5147, 5180, and 5416 all have either documented Seventh Cavalry history, or some lesser degree of Seventh Cavalry history or battle association. All of these revolvers are from Lot Five.” In the table on page 260, Custer’s command (companies C, E, F, I, and L plus ten staff and three scouts) are listed as having revolvers in the Lot Five and Lot Six range. The 212 revolvers from Custer’s men are presumed to have all been looted by Native American warriors. After the battle, 302 of the 632 revolvers carried into the battle by the 7th Cavalry were reported lost, and “At the minimum 252 and probably closer to 280 Colt Army revolvers were recovered by the warriors during the two day battle at the Little Bighorn” as noted on page 261. Many of the revolvers captured during the battle would have been employed by the warriors later in the battle as the warriors finished their rout of Custer’s men and then reformed and engaged Reno and Benteen’s men in the south. Native American capture would explain why some of these revolvers would not have been altered to Artillery configuration near the end of the century and also explains why so few survive given the overall low survival rate of Native American weapons broadly. Since the publication of Kopec's book, a limited number of additional examples have come to light. The most notable of these was serial number 4552 sold by Rock Island Auction Co. on May 14, 2022. That revolver is the finest known Lot Five revolver extant and came with documentation identifying it as a battlefield pickup from the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and it also received a gold seal letter from Kopec and brought an impressive $763,750 at auction, clearly demonstrating the immense interest and value these Lot Five revolvers possess. This historic revolver is in classic Cavalry Model configuration. It has a blade front sight, the top of the barrel is marked with the one-line address "+COLT PT. F. A. MFG. Co HARTFORD CT, U.S.A.+" showing the die breaks in the "o" in "Co" and partially broken "A" in "HARTFORD," the bottom of the barrel has "P" and "A," the ejector has the early "bullseye" head, the "black powder" frame marked with the two-line patent marking on the left side, "A" inspection marks on the trigger guard and back strap just behind the hammer, “P” and “A” on the cylinder, grips without visible cartouches, and matching serial numbers on the cylinder, barrel, frame, trigger guard, and back strap. A copy of Nathaniel Philbrick’s “The Last Stand” is included. Provenance: Jack Herman; The Kenneth Leonard Family; Property of a Gentleman

Good as a Little Bighorn battlefield pickup that spent nearly 90 years with the same Oglala Lakota Nation family. This Ainsworth inspected Lot 5 7th Cavalry U.S. Colt Cavalry Model revolver is a true Indian Wars survivor marked by its captors and displaying an overall gunmetal appearance with some original blue finish on and under the ejector rod housing. The worn grip also displays “frontier issued” character from spending generations in the hand. This revolver has a story to tell! Few of these Lot 5 revolvers remain in original Cavalry Model configuration and even fewer are directly linked to Custer’s Last Stand with what John Kopec called “indisputable provenance.” The proceeds from the sale of this item will go to funding scholarships and to the general fund for special projects at Highlands College, Birmingham AL.