Presented in this lot is a Rare D. F. Barry Photograph of Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, the Officers and Wives of the 7th Cavalry prior to the Battle of the Little Big Horn. This photograph, circa 1873, shows Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry officers and officers' wives in front of Custer's home at Fort Abraham Lincoln south of Mandan, Dakota Territory including Custer, his wife Elizabeth, his brother Captain Thomas Custer, and Captain Myles Keogh. George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars, known almost exclusively for leading the fateful and catastrophic defeat of the 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn against a significantly larger force comprised of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors. From the ex-C.M. Russell Museum Great Falls, Montana and John Kleinschmidt collections / O’Dell collections. The original C.M. Russell Museum tag is still present (the same tag from all of the museum displayed items) marked “1396-87 O’DELL”. Provenance: From the John Kleinschmidt collection which was on loan to the C.M. Russell Museum from 1987 to 1993 and included in the "The Cowboy West: 100 Years of Photography 1992-1993 exhibit. Catherine A. O'Dell. An attached museum tag reads, "1396-87 O'Dell". This was on display at the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. Included as additional provenance is the copy of a letter from Barry to Kleinschmidt addressing the photo of Custer, a photo of Chief John Grass (Charging Bear) chief of the Sihasapa band of Lakota and also mentioning being reunited with the "old Indians" at presumably Standing Rock Reservation. David Francis Barry (1854-1934) was one of the most noted photographers of the American Indian and U.S. Army participants in the Sioux War of 1876 and is attributed with some of the most recognizable surviving images from this period in the history of the American West. Barry first came to the west in the 1870’s to apprentice under photographer O.S. Goff, who worked as the photographer at Fort Abraham Lincoln. Barry photographed the Plains at Fort Buford and Fort Yates in the Dakotas and Fort Assiniboine in Montana. He later opened a studio at Fort Yates and became well known amongst the Lakota Sioux taking historic images of Sitting Bull, Rain-in-the-Face, Gall, Spotted Tail, John Grass and received the Lakota nickname “Little Shadow Catcher”. This photograph is in amazing preserved condition considering its age, age tanning observed. Measures 4"W x 7.75"L, weight U6.