DIA Sells Custer Flag for $1.9-million

MONROE, Mich. (WJBK) - It is the only U.S. flag not captured or lost during the Battle of Little Bighorn, and it has been auctioned off. Custer's last flag sold for just under $2-million, but some feel it is a sad sign of the times.

Custer was murdered three times, once on the battlefield over a hundred years ago, then two years ago when he was laid off and Friday when the battle flag from Custer's last stand was auctioned off in New York by the Detroit Institute of Arts for $1.9-million.

"I think it's kind of a shame to see a lot of our heritage being sold. We're in an economic downturn right now, and so a lot of places are struggling, trying to exist as best they can, and the sacrifice that the country's making is a lot of pieces of history are being sold, going overseas," said Steve Alexander. "It'll be hard to bring them back."

Steve Alexander does not know where he ends and General George Custer begins. He dresses like Custer, lives in Custer's old house in Monroe and he thinks he may even be Custer reincarnated.

The flag was found under a dead solider and sold to the DIA for $54 in 1895. Its sale is a blow to both country and Custer, said Alexander.

"What I stand for is trying to keep living history alive, remember our past and remember the heritage of what our country was founded upon," he told FOX 2's Charlie LeDuff.

Meanwhile, the DIA said poverty is not the reason.

"The museum is auctioning it because it is a huge piece of history, and we are essentially an art museum. It doesn't fit our collection," said Annmarie Erickson with the Detroit Institute of Arts.

The fading reputation of Custer -- Once considered a swashbuckler of the Old West, he led 600 cavalry men to their deaths in 1876 attacking a camp of 10,000 warriors. The wipeout shocked the country, and the Army later returned and crushed the Indians.

Things have turned out little better for the present day "general".

LeDuff asked Alexander what he is doing now for work. He answered, "I'm cleaning toilets for a janitorial service, but we make do with the best we can."

The ironic twist in all of this is that the DIA will use the money to purchase Native American art.