Charles F. Bates research collection, 1881-1977

Charles Francis Bates, born December 25, 1862, in Monroe, Michigan, received a law degree from Columbia University in 1892. He served in the Spanish-American War and commanded Camp MacArthur in Waco, Texas during World War I. After twenty-four years of service, he retired with the rank of colonel and began practicing law in Bronxville, New York. His fascination with the life and career of George Armstrong Custer, inspired his collection of wide and varied research materials and resulted in the publication of several works, including Custer's Indian Battles (1936). He became friendly with Elizabeth Bacon Custer, General Custer's widow, and retired Brigadier General Edward S. Godfrey, a participant in the Little Big Horn Battle. These relationships resulted in a wealth of correspondence relating to Custer's life; Mrs. Custer and Brigadier General Godfrey even loaned and donated primary materials to Bates to assist in his work. Bates died in 1943, survived by his second wife, Mary George White Bates of Baltimore, their daughter Frances Bates, and Roger Wolcott Bates, the son of Bates and his first wife, Charlotte Augustus Wolcott Bates, who died in 1911.