Lt.Col. George Armstrong Custer and War of 1812 Veterans

From the book "Custer in Photographs" by D. Mark Katz.

Yesterday I bought this book at the Friends of the Woodstock (Illinois) Library book sale room.  It contains every known photograph of the man, at least up until the publish date in 1985.

Quite an accomplishment, but you can only look at so many pictures of Custer and it gets boring.

However, on page 90, I found a picture of him posing with War of 1812 veterans on July 4, 1871.  These were quite some elderly gentlemen back then.

Custer stands in the back row in one of his classic, but not in a military uniform, poses looking to his right whereas all the rest are looking forwards.

Could this be one of the largest gatherings of War of 1812 veterans ever photographed?    There are 19 of them in the picture.

--Brock-Perry