7th Cavalry Battle of Little Bighorn flag, owned by Detroit museum, to be auctioned in NYC
By Ula Ilnytzky, APFriday, June 25, 2010
Mich. museum’s Little Bighorn flag for sale in NYC
NEW YORK — A 7th Cavalry flag flown at the Battle of the Little Bighorn is being auctioned in New York City.
The 1876 American flag is valued at up to $5 million. It was found under the body of a fallen soldier three days after the battle claimed the lives of Lt. Col. George Custer and 209 of his men, who were overwhelmed by Sitting Bull and his Lakota Sioux warriors near what’s now Crow Agency, Mont.
One star and a patch of white and red stripes are missing. They were snipped as sacred relics, a common 19th-century practice.
The flag is being sold at Sotheby’s auction house in October by the Detroit Institute of Arts. The museum will use the proceeds to buy art for its collection.
Sotheby’s announced the sale Friday, the battle’s 134th anniversary.
