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Custer's flag sells, was owned by the Detroit Institute of Arts

Flag recovered from Custer's last stand at the battle of Little Bighorn
(courtesy of the Detroit institute of Arts)
Flag recovered from Custer's last stand at the battle of Little Bighorn

The Detroit Institute of Artshas sold a piece of Americana.    A flag that flew as General George Armstrong Custer'stroops were defeated at the Battle of the Little Bighorn was auctioned off today.

The Associated Press Reports: 

 The only U.S. flag not captured or lost during George Armstrong Custer's "Last Stand" at the Battle ofLittle Bighorn in southeastern Montana has been sold for $2.2 million.

 The buyer was identified only as an American private collector.

The frayed 7th U.S. Cavalry flag - known as a "guidon" for its swallow-tailed shape - was sold Friday at Sotheby's auction house in New York.

 The seller was the Detroit Institute of Arts, which bought the flag for just $54 in 1895. Custer and more than 200 troopers were massacred by Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors in the infamous 1876 battle. Of five guidons carried by Custer's battalion, only one was immediately recovered.

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