Custer essentially had soldiers close to fort position at bank (9)
I believe the answer is:
statement
'position at bank' is the definition.
'statement' can be an answer for 'position' (thesaurus). I am unsure of the 'at bank' bit.
'custer essentially had soldiers close to fort' is the wordplay.
'essentially' indicates the central letters.
'had' becomes 'ate' (e.g. I had an ice cream).
'soldiers' becomes 'men' (men can mean a group of soldiers).
'close to' says to take the final letters (the close of something is the end).
The middle of 'custer' is 'st'.
The last letter of 'fort' is 't'.
'st'+'ate'+'men'+'t'='STATEMENT'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for statement that I've seen before include "revelation" , "Formal account, deposition" , "Record of bank balance" , "Declaration of facts" , "Assertion" .)