list of soldiers killed at little bighorn list of soldiers killed at little bighorn

but 'the men' seems to have been an exaggeration. That was the condition all over the field and in the [gorge]. On January 2, General Sheridan had quoted Lee's report of agent malfeasance in a supplement to his annual report, which continued the General's running battle with the, Libbie Custer "spent almost sixty years commemorating her marriageand her memories of it quite literally kept her alive.she was quintessentially the professional widow, forcing it to become a very touchy matter for any military writer or officer to criticize Custer for having insanely launched an attack without taking the most elementary precautions or making even an attempt at reconnaissance. In the spring of 1876 the troops of the regiment in the South were recalled, and the entire regiment, Custer commanding, concentrated at Fort A. Lincoln for duty with Terry's column in the general movement about to . ", Gallear, 2001: "The established wisdom is that the U.S. Army did not adopt lever-action multiple shot weapons during the Civil War because of the problems they would create regarding the supply of ammunition. Indians. By dividing his forces, Custer could have caused the defeat of the entire column, had it not been for Benteen's and Reno's linking up to make a desperate yet successful stand on the bluff above the southern end of the camp.[129]. At sunrise on June 25, Custer's scouts reported they could see a massive pony herd and signs of the Native American village[note 2] roughly 15 miles (24km) in the distance. [48]:255259 E Company rushed off Custer Hill toward the Little Bighorn River but failed to reach it, which resulted in the destruction of that company. Reno credited Benteen's luck with repulsing a severe attack on the portion of the perimeter held by Companies H and M.[note 5] On June 27, the column under General Terry approached from the north, and the natives drew off in the opposite direction. Neither Custer nor Reno had much idea of the length, depth and size of the encampment they were attacking, as the village was hidden by the trees. 8081: "The Gatlings had major drawbacks, such as frequent jamming due to residue from black powder", Philbrick, 2010, p. 73: "Military traditionalists like to claim the gun was unreliable, but in actuality the Gatling functioned surprisingly well. [131][132] Wanting to prevent any escape by the combined tribes to the south, where they could disperse into different groups,[47] Custer believed that an immediate attack on the south end of the camp was the best course of action. [77]:48 They were soon joined by a large force of Sioux who (no longer engaging Reno) rushed down the valley. [6] Widows of soldiers killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn, 25 June 1876, who are known to have remarried While great care has been taken to ensure that the information in all six lists below is correct the author is fully aware that factual, typographical and other errors can slip through even the most stringent vetting process. Hatch, 1997, p. 124: "On a final note: the Springfield carbine remained the official cavalry firearm until the early 1890s". Crow chief Plenty Coups recalled with amazement how his tribe now finally could sleep without fear for Lakota attacks: "this was the first time I had ever known such a condition. Hatch, 1997, p. 124: "This defect was noted by the board of officers (which included Major Reno) that selected the weapon in 1872, but was not considered particularly serious at the time. Several days after the battle, Curley, Custer's Crow scout who had left Custer near Medicine Tail Coulee (a drainage which led to the river), recounted the battle, reporting that Custer had attacked the village after attempting to cross the river. [151][152][153][154] Custer insisted that the artillery was superfluous to his success, in that the 7th Cavalry alone was sufficient to cope with any force they should encounter, informing Terry: "The 7th can handle anything it meets". by Douglas D. Scott 2/10/2017. Under . According to Cheyenne and Sioux testimony, the command structure rapidly broke down, although smaller "last stands" were apparently made by several groups. For the 1936 film serial, see, Looking in the direction of the Indian village and the deep ravine. George Custer, in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Custer's Last Stand). Capt. Indian accounts spoke of soldiers' panic-driven flight and suicide by those unwilling to fall captive to the Indians. Jackson and Gerard got away while De Rudio and O'Neill were unable to. The 12th, Company B under Captain Thomas McDougall, had been assigned to escort the slower pack train carrying provisions and additional ammunition. Connell, 1984, p. 101: "How many Gatling guns lurched across the prairie is uncertain. The agents did not consider the many thousands of these "reservation Indians" who had unofficially left the reservation to join their "unco-operative non-reservation cousins led by Sitting Bull". Custer's scouts warned him about the size of the village, with Mitch Bouyer reportedly saying, "General, I have been with these Indians for 30 years, and this is the largest village I have ever heard of. Donovan, 2008, p. 440: footnote, "the carbine extractor problem did exist, though it probably had little impact on the outcome of the battle. The Seventh Cavalry lost 16 officers, 242 troopers, and 10 scouts. While investigating the battlefield, Lieutenant General Nelson A. Historical Register of the Centennial Exposition 1876", "Indian Casualties of the Little Big Horn Battle", "Medal of Honor Recipients: Indian Wars Period", United States Army Center of Military History, "Cheyenne Primacy: The Tribes' Perspective As Opposed To That Of The United States Army; A Possible Alternative To "The Great Sioux War Of 1876", "He Dog's Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn #2", "The Battle of the Greasy Grass 140 Years Later: The Complete Story in 18 Drawings", "A Complete scanned transcript of the Reno Court of Inquiry (RCOI)", "Buffalo Bill's Skirmish At Warbonnet Creek", https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2881&context=facpub, "A Pretended Custer Survivor: Another Attempt to Pose As a Survivor Punctured by the Regiment's Clerk", "Comanche: The Horse that Survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Part 2", "The Indian Memorial Peace Through Unity Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)", "Kansas Historical Quarterly The Pictorial Record of the Old West, 4", "Custer's Last Stand Artist E.S. The question of what happened and why the 7th Cavalry lost so many soldiers in comparison to the pointedly less Native American casualties is Major Reno and . Wood, Raymond W. and Thomas D. Thiessen (1987): White, Richard: The Winning of the West: The Expansion of the Western Sioux in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. He must have counted upon Reno's success, and fully expected the "scatteration" of the non-combatants with the pony herds. [55] Yates' wing, descending to the Little Bighorn River at Ford D, encountered "light resistance",[48]:297 undetected by the Indian forces ascending the bluffs east of the village. On Memorial Day 1999, in consultation with tribal representatives, the U.S. added two red granite markers to the battlefield to note where Native American warriors fell. [135] In addition, Captain Frederick Whittaker's 1876 book idealizing Custer was hugely successful. [174], Sitting Bull's forces had no assured means to supply themselves with firearms and ammunition. The rifle was a .45/55-caliber Springfield carbine and the pistol was a .45-caliber Colt revolver both weapons were models [introduced in] 1873 [though] they did not represent the latest in firearm technology. They lobbied Congress to create a forum to decide their claim and subsequently litigated for 40 years; the United States Supreme Court in the 1980 decision United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians acknowledged[note 6] that the United States had taken the Black Hills without just compensation. Although other cavalry mounts survived, they had been taken by the Indians. All told, between one-third and one-half of the gathering warriors had a gun. But the soldiers weren't ready to die. [77]:44 Then, he went over the battlefield once more with the three Crow scouts, but also accompanied by General Charles Woodruff "as I particularly desired that the testimony of these men might be considered by an experienced army officer". Col. John Gibbon's column of six companies (A, B, E, H, I, and K) of the 7th Infantry and four companies (F, G, H, and L) of the 2nd Cavalry marched east from Fort Ellis in western Montana on March 30 to patrol the Yellowstone River. R.E. Though the Army planned its campaign against the Lakotas and Cheyennes very carefully, the generals did not expect to meet such a large fighting force. [229] Writer Evan S. Connell noted in Son of the Morning Star:[230]. Donovan, 2008, p. 188 (fragment of quote), Donovan, 2008, p. 118: Reynolds "best white scout in Dakota Territory had earned Custer's respect for his excellent work report[ed] to Custer that Lakotas under Sitting Bull were 'gathering in force'. That was the only approach to a line on the field. Later accounts from surviving Indians are useful but are sometimes conflicting and unclear. June 25 th (afternoon/evening): Battle of the Little Bighorn. When offered the 2nd Cavalry, he reportedly replied that the 7th "could handle anything. The trees also obscured Reno's view of the Native American village until his force had passed that bend on his right front and was suddenly within arrow-shot of the village. The Crow scout White Man Runs Him was the first to tell General Terry's officers that Custer's force had "been wiped out." Donovan, 2008, p. 175: "Each of these heavy, hand-cranked weapons could fire up to 350 rounds a minute, an impressive rate, but they were known to jam frequently. [81] Other native accounts said the fighting lasted only "as long as it takes a hungry man to eat a meal." Custer Ordered Horses Killed to Build a Defensive Wall. ", Philbrick, 2010, p. 73: "Since its invention during the Civil War, the Gatling gun had been used sparingly in actual battle, but there was no denying, potentially at least, an awesome weapon. Custer's body was found with two gunshot wounds, one to his left chest and the other to his left temple. This resulted in a series of conflicts known as the Sioux Wars, which took place from 1854 to 1890. Miles took command of the effort in October 1876. ", Donovan, 2008, pp. As the purpose of the tribes' gathering was to take counsel, they did not constitute an army or warrior class. Benteen and Lieut. Sun Bear, "A Cheyenne Old Man", in Marquis, This page was last edited on 15 April 2023, at 18:41. Included among the dead were Custer, all of the personnel in the five-company battalion under his immediate command, and 18 men who fought in the southern part of the battlefield . [166], Historian Robert M. Utley, in a section entitled "Would Gatling Guns Have Saved Custer?" He had died a couple of days after the Rosebud battle, and it was the custom of the Indians to move camp when a warrior died and leave the body with its possessions. While on a hunting trip they came close to the village by the river and were captured and almost killed by the Lakota who believed the hunters were scouts for the U.S. Army. White Cow Bull claimed to have shot a leader wearing a buckskin jacket off his horse in the river. Additionally, Custer was more concerned with preventing the escape of the Lakota and Cheyenne than with fighting them. And p. 195: Custer, in comments to his officer staff before the Battle of the Little Bighorn, said that "if hostiles could whip the Seventh [Cavalry]they could defeat a much larger force. [92], After the Custer force was soundly defeated, the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne regrouped to attack Reno and Benteen. [67]:1020 The precise location of the north end of the village remains in dispute, however. [37], Custer contemplated a surprise attack against the encampment the following morning of June 26, but he then received a report informing him several hostiles had discovered the trail left by his troops. National Park Service website for the Little Bighorn Battlefield. It was where the Indian encampment had been a week earlier, during the Battle of the Rosebud on June 17, 1876. Atop the bluffs, known today as Reno Hill, Reno's depleted and shaken troops were joined about a half-hour later by Captain Benteen's column[65] (Companies D, H and K), arriving from the south. From this point on the other side of the river, he could see Reno charging the village. We stood there a long time. Effective up to 30 yards (27 meters), the arrows could readily maim or disable an opponent. [31], By the time of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, half of the 7th Cavalry's companies had just returned from 18 months of constabulary duty in the Deep South, having been recalled to Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory to reassemble the regiment for the campaign. From a distance, Weir witnessed many Indians on horseback and on foot shooting at items on the ground-perhaps killing wounded soldiers and firing at dead bodies on the "Last Stand Hill" at the northern end of the Custer battlefield. The geography of the battlefield is very complex, consisting of dissected uplands, rugged bluffs, the Little Bighorn River, and adjacent plains, all areas close to one another. HomeJoinFriendsPointClickGiveGuestbook. Twenty-three men were called to testify at the inquiry, which met in session daily except Sundays. [123][124] The Agreement of 1877 (19Stat. Army doctrine would have called for one man in four to be a horseholder behind the skirmish lines and, in extreme cases, one man in eight. Dunlay, Thomas W.: Wolves for the Blue Soldiers. The 7th Cavalry suffered 52 percent casualties: 16 officers and 242 troopers killed or died of wounds, 1 officer and 51 troopers wounded. [30], The 7th Cavalry had been created just after the American Civil War. Pack Train commander: 1st Lt. Edward Gustave Mathey (detached from M Company), Goose: Arikara scout (wounded in the hand by a 7th Cavalry trooper), Peter Jackson: half-Pikuni and half Blackfoot brother of William, scout, William Jackson: half-Pikuni and half Blackfoot scout. [211] The phenomenon became so widespread that one historian remarked, "Had Custer had all of those who claimed to be 'the lone survivor' of his two battalions he would have had at least a brigade behind him when he crossed the Wolf Mountains and rode to the attack."[212]. Badly wounded, the horse had been overlooked or left behind by the victors, who had taken the other surviving horses. (The gun would eventually upset and injure three men.)" )[140], Custer's decision to reject Terry's offer of the rapid-fire Gatlings has raised questions among historians as to why he refused them and what advantage their availability might have conferred on his forces at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. An additional 50 carbine rounds per man were reserved on the pack train that accompanied the regiment to the battlefield. [190], Historian Michael L. Lawson offers a scenario based on archaeological collections at the "Henryville" site, which yielded plentiful Henry rifle cartridge casings from approximately 20 individual guns. Indian testimony reported that some soldiers threw down their long guns and fought with their short guns. [67]:240 Other native accounts contradict this understanding, however, and the time element remains a subject of debate. Lawson speculates that though less powerful than the Springfield carbines, the Henry repeaters provided a barrage of fire at a critical point, driving Lieutenant James Calhoun's L Company from Calhoun Hill and Finley Ridge, forcing it to flee in disarray back to Captain Myles Keogh's I Company and leading to the disintegration of that wing of Custer's Battalion. Traveling night and day, with a full head of steam, Marsh brought the steamer downriver to Bismarck, Dakota Territory, making the 710mi (1,140km) run in the record time of 54 hours and bringing the first news of the military defeat which came to be popularly known as the "Custer Massacre". Some historians believe Custer divided his detachment into two (and possibly three) battalions, retaining personal command of one while presumably delegating Captain George W. Yates to command the second. The 7th Cavalry returned to Fort Abraham Lincoln to reconstitute. [65] Though both men inferred that Custer was engaged in battle, Reno refused to move until the packs arrived so his men could resupply. While such stories were gathered by Thomas Bailey Marquis in a book in the 1930s, it was not published until 1976 because of the unpopularity of such assertions. Gallear, 2001: "the .44 rim-fire round fired from the Henry rifle is the most numerous Indian gun fired with almost as many individual guns identified as the Cavalry Springfield Model 1873 carbine. [215] W. A. Graham claimed that even Libby Custer received dozens of letters from men, in shocking detail, about their sole survivor experience. [107] Both Crook and Terry remained immobile for seven weeks after the battle, awaiting reinforcements and unwilling to venture out against the Sioux and Cheyenne until they had at least 2,000 men. [231], The Indian Memorial, themed "Peace Through Unity" l is an open circular structure that stands 75 yards (69 metres) from the 7th Cavalry obelisk. In 1967, Major Marcus Reno was re-interred in the cemetery with honors, including an eleven-gun salute. Private Daniel Newall mentioned the problem". [72]:136 In this account, Custer was allegedly killed by a Lakota called Big-nose. Rifle volleys were a standard way of telling supporting units to come to another unit's aid. Col. George A. Custer and Northern Plains Indians (Lakota [Teton or Western Sioux] and Northern Cheyenne) led by Sitting Bull. Beginning in July, the 7th Cavalry was assigned new officers[121][note 7] and recruiting efforts began to fill the depleted ranks. The U.S. Congress authorized appropriations to expand the Army by 2,500 men to meet the emergency after the defeat of the 7th Cavalry. "[citation needed] Abandoning the wounded (dooming them to their deaths), he led a disorderly rout for a mile next to the river. We'll finish them up and then go home to our station. The battle, and Custer's actions in particular, have been studied extensively by historians. Getty Images. The Indian Wars are portrayed by Gallear as a minor theatre of conflict whose contingencies were unlikely to govern the selection of standard weaponry for an emerging industrialized nation. Finally, Custer may have assumed when he encountered the Native Americans that his subordinate Benteen, who was with the pack train, would provide support. They blamed the defeat on the Indians' alleged possession of numerous repeating rifles and the overwhelming numerical superiority of the warriors. That they might have come southwest, from the center of Nye-Cartwright Ridge, seems to be supported by Northern Cheyenne accounts of seeing the approach of the distinctly white-colored horses of Company E, known as the Grey Horse Company. ", Lawson, 2007, p. 50: "[Custer] turned down General Terry's offer to bring the three Gatling guns, because they would slow down his movement. [64] He made no attempt to engage the Indians to prevent them from picking off men in the rear. Reburial for 36 Custer troopers killed at Little Big Horn. Box 636, Crow Agency, MT 59022, | Home | It is also where some Indians who had been following the command were seen and Custer assumed he had been discovered. There were about 50 known deaths among Sitting Bulls followers. ", Gallear, 2001: "Trade guns were made up until the 1880s by such gunsmiths as Henry Leman, J.P. Lower and J. Henry & Son. [citation needed] When Reno came into the open in front of the south end of the village, he sent his Arikara/Ree and Crow Indian scouts forward on his exposed left flank. 7th Cavalry Muster Rolls. Maj. Gen'l. G. A. Custer Captains M. W. Keogh G.W. [citation needed] The destruction of Keogh's battalion may have begun with the collapse of L, I and C Company (half of it) following the combined assaults led by Crazy Horse, White Bull, Hump, Chief Gall and others. [14]:82 Historian Douglas Scott theorized that the "Deep Gulch" or "Deep Ravine" might have included not only the steep-sided portion of the coulee, but the entire drainage including its tributaries, in which case the bodies of Bouyer and others were found where eyewitnesses had said they were seen. In the last 140 years, historians have been able to identify multiple Indian names pertaining to the same individual, which has greatly reduced previously inflated numbers. This is where you will learn where soldiers and officers who fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn are currently buried. Custer planned "to live and travel like Indians; in this manner the command will be able to go wherever the Indians can", he wrote in his Herald dispatch. Graham, Benteen letter to Capt. [127], By contrast, each Gatling gun had to be hauled by four horses, and soldiers often had to drag the heavy guns by hand over obstacles. [84], I think, in all probability, that the men turned their horses loose without any orders to do so. Comanche eventually was returned to the fort and became the regimental mascot. Donovan, 2008, p. 191: "Army appropriations were at an all-time low, and a key factor in the Springfield's favor was its low production cost.". The historian Earl Alonzo Brininstool suggested he had collected at least 70 "lone survivor" stories. 7879: "Apparently, Terry offered [Major James] Brisbin's battalion and Gatling gun battery to accompany the Seventh, but Custer refused these additions for several reasons. Evidence from the 1920s supports the theory that at least one of the companies made a feint attack southwest from Nye-Cartwright Ridge straight down the center of the "V" formed by the intersection at the crossing of Medicine Tail Coulee on the right and Calhoun Coulee on the left. As Reno's men fired into the village and killed, by some accounts, several wives and children of the Sioux leader, Chief Gall (in Lakota, Phiz), the mounted warriors began streaming out to meet the attack. Had the U.S. troops come straight down Medicine Tail Coulee, their approach to the Minneconjou Crossing and the northern area of the village would have been masked by the high ridges running on the northwest side of the Little Bighorn River. Stands in Timber, a grandson of Lame White Man, who was killed at the Little Bighorn, was educated at the Haskell Institute, a school for Indians in Lawrence, Kansas, and part of his dedication to the history of his people is the result of hearing white men's versions of events that contradicted what the Indians knew. The total U.S. casualty count included 268 dead and 55 severely wounded (six died later from their wounds),[14]:244 including four Crow Indian scouts and at least two Arikara Indian scouts. The number of cartridges indicated that about 20 warriors at this position were using Henry repeating rifles. [citation needed] Custer's Crow scouts told him it was the largest native village they had ever seen. [64] Indians both fired on the soldiers from a distance, and within close quarters, pulled them off their horses and clubbed their heads. Other historians claim that Custer never approached the river, but rather continued north across the coulee and up the other side, where he gradually came under attack. The Case of the Men Who Died With Custer. Criticism of Custer was not universal. ", Donovan, 2008, p. 191: "each enlisted man carried the regulation single-action breech-loading, M1873 Springfield carbine the standard issue sidearm was the reliable [single-action] M1873 Colt .45 cal. The men on Weir Ridge were attacked by natives,[65] increasingly coming from the apparently concluded Custer engagement, forcing all seven companies to return to the bluff before the pack train had moved even a quarter mile (400m). [citation needed]. On the way he noted that the Crow hunted buffalo on the "Small Horn River". For the army, far more was at stake than individual reputations, as the future of the service could be affected. Links to information like maps, public transportation, pets, permits for special uses, contact information, etc., are available on the basic information page. Curley, one of Custer's scouts, rode up to the steamboat and tearfully conveyed the information to Grant Marsh, the boat's captain, and army officers. Gallear, 2001: "The Army saw breech-loading rifles and carbines as the way forward. Custer's Last Stand. The day before, he noted that Native Americans had killed a buffalo and "had a pow-wow over it . ", Sklenar, 2000, p. 79: After the 7th Cavalry's departure up Rosebud Creek, "even Brisbin would acknowledge that everyone in Gibbon's command understood [that]the Seventh was the primary strike force. and p. 175: "Reno had taken [a Gatling gun] on his [June reconnaissance mission], and it had been nothing but trouble. On the Indian side, Horn Chips said Crazy Horse told him that five of the Seventh Cavalry's Ree scouts were killed by the Sioux and Cheyenne at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Pvt Driscoll enlisted into the army on May 19, 1873, in Chicago, Il. [note 1] Three second lieutenant vacancies (in E, H, and L Companies) were also unfilled. It became apparent that the warriors in the village were either aware or would soon be aware of his approach. The committee temporarily lifted the ceiling on the size of the Army by 2,500 on August 15.[122]. Of those sixty figures, only thirty-some are portrayed with a conventional Plains Indian method of indicating death. [191], After exhaustive testingincluding comparisons to domestic and foreign single-shot and repeating riflesthe Army Ordnance Board (whose members included officers Marcus Reno and Alfred Terry) authorized the Springfield as the official firearm for the United States Army. [38] Assuming his presence had been exposed, Custer decided to attack the village without further delay. Archaeological evidence suggests that many of these troopers were malnourished and in poor physical condition, despite being the best-equipped and supplied regiment in the Army.[32][33]. He was driven back, retreating toward the hill where his body was found. The cartridge cases were made of copper, which expands when hot. The Battle Of The Little Big Horn George Herenden was a civilian hired to scout for the Seventh Cavalry, under Major Reno. Reno's force crossed the Little Bighorn at the mouth of what is today Reno Creek around 3:00pm on June 25. The site of the battle was first preserved as a United States national cemetery in 1879 to protect the graves of the 7th Cavalry troopers. A significant portion of the regiment had previously served 4 years at Fort Riley, Kansas, during which time it fought one major engagement and numerous skirmishes, experiencing casualties of 36 killed and 27 wounded. Writers of both pro- and anti-Custer material over the years have incorporated the theory into their works". their downloads. Hatch, 1997, pp. open, view, and print these as they were written -- no matter what kind of Modern archaeology and historical Indian accounts indicate that Custer's force may have been divided into three groups, with the Indians attempting to prevent them from effectively reuniting. Come on, Big Village, Be quick, Bring packs. After the battle, Thomas Rosser, James O'Kelly, and others continued to question the conduct of Reno due to his hastily ordered retreat. "[48]:312[51]. Weir could see that the Indian camps comprised some 1,800 lodges. Gallear, 2001: "The Allin System had been developed at the Government Armories to reduce the cost, but the U.S. Treasury had already been forced to pay $124,000 to inventors whose patents it infringed. [168] The typical firearms carried by the Lakota and Cheyenne combatants were muzzleloaders, more often a cap-lock smoothbore, the so-called Indian trade musket or Leman guns[169][170] distributed to Indians by the US government at treaty conventions. presents two judgments from Custer's contemporaries: General Henry J. 254, enacted February 28, 1877) officially took away Sioux land and permanently established Indian reservations. However, there is evidence that Reno's men did make use of long-range hunting rifles. Brig. Trooper Billy Jackson reported that by then, the Indians had begun massing in the open area shielded by a small hill to the left of Reno's line and to the right of the Indian village. Washington 1874, p. 124. [93], Under threat of attack, the first U.S. soldiers on the battlefield three days later hurriedly buried the troopers in shallow graves, more or less where they had fallen. DeRudio testified that 'the men had to take their knives to extract cartridges after firing 6 to 10 rounds.' [53]:380, Cheyenne oral tradition credits Buffalo Calf Road Woman with striking the blow that knocked Custer off his horse before he died.[73].