Frederic S. Remington (1861-1909) is one of the most iconic of all American artists, especially those that captured life in the American West. His talents were diverse and included painting, illustrating, sculpting, and writing. He made his way to Montana when he was just 19 in 1881. Remington remains among the most influential artists in the shaping of the popular memory of the American West, capturing it, as it was unfolding. His extensive body of work is centered on the American West, with many pieces—such as the present example—originally created as illustrations for period publications. While a considerable portion of his oeuvre consists of more generalized portrayals of quintessential Western themes, the work offered here is distinguished by its depiction of a significant historical event involving one of the most prominent figures in Western legend: General George Armstrong Custer. Accordingly, this piece possesses exceptional historical relevance and aesthetic appeal. The painting was created in 1888, twenty years after the battle, as the basis for Frederic Remington's illustration in "A History of the United States and Its People for the Use of Schools" and "The Household History of the United States and Its People" by Edward Eggleston published by D. Appleton & Company of New York in 1888 and 1889 and can be seen on page 367 and page 363 respectively. Eggleston was a noted historian and author and was one of the organizers of the American Historical Association and later its president. The illustration from "The Household History of the United States" is also listed on pages 147-148 of "Frederic Remington, Artist of the Old West with a Bibliographical Check List of Remington Pictures and Books" by Harold McCracken from 1947. The painting can be seen on page 114 work 216 of "Frederic Remington: A Catalogue Raisonne of Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings" by Peter H. Hassrick and Melissa J. Webster from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in 1996 where the painting is described as "oil on academy board" and as measuring 18 1/2 inches by 24 1/2 inches. It is signed "Remington" in the bottom left. The note in the book states: "This scene depicts General George Custer's Seventh Cavalry attacking a Cheyenne Village. Note the similar pose of the running Indian in the foreground to that of Waneepah, 1888. This composition is similar to that of The Battle of the Washita, drawn by Kappes and reproduced in Frederick Whittaker, A Life of Major-General George A. Custer (Sheldon & Co., 1876, first edition) "A History of the United States and Its People for the Use of Schools" and "The Household History of the United States and Its People" were written as a textbooks for schools as well as home libraries; thus, this painting and the illustration by Remington helped shape how Americans imagined the Battle of Washita for generations and continues to be used to illustrate the battle today. In the book, Eggleston wrote: "Though there were no horses in America when the white men came, the Indians of the plains now have a race of small ponies, acquired long ago from the early Spanish conquerors of Mexico. The plains Indians fight on horseback, and are said to be 'the best light cavalry in the world.' They were in the habit of committing their outrages on the settlements in the summer, when there was grass for the ponies. In the winter, when the ponies were almost starved, they took shelter in remote valleys, and counted themselves safe from attack, on account of the difficulty the white men found in moving wagon-trains. But, in November, 1868, General Sheridan sent General Custer, after the snow had fallen, to attack the hostile Indians in their villages. Custer, carrying his provisions on mules, followed the trail of a war party, under the chief Black Kettle, to their town on the Washita [wau'-she-taw] River, in the Indian Territory, and fell upon the sleeping savages at daybreak, defeating them with great slaughter. This battle terrified and subdued the Indians of the Southern plains, who no longer felt safe from punishment in their winter retreats. But, in a later war with the Sioux of the Northern plains in 1876, Custer, having attacked a force outnumbering his own, was surrounded and killed, with all the men under his immediate command. In this fight the Sioux were led by Sitting Bull." The Battle of the Washita demonstrated Custer's willingness to engage in aggressive action to quickly overwhelm a "hostile" village without fully assessing the larger situation and also highlighted one of the main strategies to make such an attack successful: the quick capture of the non-combatants to force the warriors to disengage. There is no question Custer had the Washita on his mind, eight years later, on that faithful day in the valley of the Little Bighorn. It is with the utmost pleasure and reverence that we at Rock Island Auction present this landmark work, which so eloquently unites two of the most enduring and iconic figures of the American West: Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the celebrated artist Frederic Remington Provenance: Private Collection Cincinnati, Ohio; Kodner Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri (Label verso); Private Collection Dallas, Texas