Bates, Charles Francis, 1862-

Charles F. Bates (1862-1943), who was born in Monroe, Michigan and lived in Bronxville, New York, pursued first a military career and then set up a legal practice. He spent most of his life researching George Armstrong Custer.

Charles Francis Bates, born December 25, 1862, in Monroe, Michigan, received a law degree from Columbia University in 1892. He pursued a military career, serving in the Spanish-American War and commanding Camp MacArthur in Waco, Texas during World War I.

Retiring with the rank of colonel after twenty-four years of service, Bates practiced law in Bronxville, New York. An avid student of the life and career of George Armstrong Custer, he collected research materials and published 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. Both encouraged Bates's research, corresponding with him and lending or donating primary and secondary material related to the topic. Bates also acquired some of Godfrey's professional and personal papers.

Bates died in 1943, survived by his second wife, Mary George White Bates of Baltimore, their daughter Frances Bates, and Roger Wolcott Bates, Yale class of 1929, the son of Bates and his first wife, Charlotte Augustus Wolcott Bates (d. 1911).