The Story Tellers - Footnotes
Chapter 1.
1 Captain Frederick Benteen was originally sent east on the heroes tour recruiting mission by Colonel Sturgis 7th Cavalry commanding. After “enduring” the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia Benteen begged off. “… were my tastes consulted – cities and I would be life long strangers.” He complained in a letter to his wife. Weir was sent in his stead to continue the tour to New York City. (From Harvest of Barren Regrets by Milles pg 286)
2 Libbie Custer had received this in October 1876. (From Elizabeth Bacon Custer and The Making of a Myth by Leckie pg 210)
3 (From Elizabeth Bacon Custer and The Making of a Myth by Leckie pg 210) In reference to this letter Evan S. Connell in his 1984 work Son of the Morning Star remarks “Such passages emanate like ectoplasm from a haunted mind.” (Pg 284)
Chapter 2.
4 Trinity Church still sits on Wall St. at Broadway in lower Manhattan. Built in 1846, it is the third church to sit upon the site. The first was built in 1648. In 1876 its 281 foot spire was the highest point in Manhattan. On Sept. 11, 2001 the debris from the surrounding World Trade Center felled its trees but left the structure untouched.
5 EF Farrington, Chief Engineer on the Brooklyn Bridge, crossed the river seated on a wooden slat suspended 280 feet in the air from a wire cable so thin it could not be seen from the banks of the river where a hundred thousand people stood watching. It was a publicity stunt designed to assure a skeptical populace that the massive bridge they were in the midst of constructing could, indeed, be supported by wire cables. (See Davis McCullough’s THE GREAT BRIDGE pg 362)
6 Initially buried at the Army post on Governors Island, Weir was subsequently moved to Cypress Hills National Cemetery. There he is grave # 29.
Chapter 3.
7 The Schermerhorn Row Block still exists in Manhattan. Built in 1811as a string of six counting houses connected in row house fashion, it was added to the National Register in 1971. It is better known today as the New York State Maritime Museum Block.
8 Somewhere between 20 and 40 men died while constructing the bridge. There was no official tally but the death toll was much lower than expected for a 19th century project of that size. (See Davis McCullough’s THE GREAT BRIDGE pg 506)
9The New York Subway System was begun in 1869 in the basement of Devlins Clothing Store at the corner of Broadway and Murray.
10 New York Life paid the net sum of $4,750.00 on Policy #106.707. Libbie Custer received the check in November 1876. $5,000 is the equivalent of $120,000 in 2018 dollars.
Chapter 4.
11 Shortly after the Little Bighorn fight reports began to surface among the Crow lndians of an unusual specter wandering the battlefield. (See Evan S. Connels' Son of the Morning Star pg 312.)
Chapter 5.
12 The clash between Custer and Jeb Stuart was fought on the farm of Jacob Lott about three miles east of Gettysburg, Pa. just north of the Hanover Road.
Chapter 6.
13 The Fighting Trapper was written by Frank Starrs and published in 1874 by American Novels, New York.
14 When finally found Mrs. White had been beaten and raped to death. Her child was never found. Sides, Hampton, Blood & Thunder, Doubleday 2006
15 Donehogoa also known as Ely Parker was born in Tonawanda, New York in 1828. He was a full blooded Seneca. A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic, he was a both a lawyer and an engineer. While working on canal construction in Galena, Illinois during the Civil War his work caught the attention of General Ulysses S Grant who added him to his engineering staff. Over the next few years Parker rose to become Grants adjutant and accompanied Grant east when President Lincoln promoted Grant to full command of all the Union Armies. Parker is probably best known for producing, by his own hand, the articles of surrender that General Robert E. Lee signed at Appomattox to end the Civil War. Grant selected Parker for this task because Parker had, by far, the best hand writing of any officer on Grants staff. He died in 1895 at Fairfield, Connecticut and is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, NY.
Chapter 7.
16 It has been estimated that some 2 million men became casualties over the four years of the American Civil War. At the time that was 6% of the population of the United States.
17 The messenger was Lt. Charles E. Pease.
18 From Campaigning With Grant, Porter, The Century Co., New York, 1897, p467.
19 Traveler was General Lee’s favorite horse. It is rare to find a portrait or picture of the General where he is not astride that gray horse.
20 Lee’s Secretary was Colonel Charles Marshall.
21 General Seth Williams had been Lee’s Adjutant when the latter had been Commandant of West Point.
22 The awkward meeting of General Lee and Donehogoa is from The Life of General Ely S. Parker, Arthur Parker, Buffalo, New York Historical Society, 1919
23 George Custer road away that day with the table upon which Grant had scribbled his notes in pencil. Wilmer MacLean was paid $20 in gold coin for it. Custer gave the table to his wife, Libbie, as a present. The table is now in the Smithsonian. General Ord paid $40 in gold for Lee’s table. General Sharp paid $10 for the candles on the mantle. $10 gold was also paid out for a doll that had been on the sofa at the beginning but was subsequently passed around by all the officers and referred to by them as “the silent witness.” From Campaigning With Grant.
24 Wilmer Maclean died, and is buried, in Alexandria, VA.
Chapter 8.
25 The McHenry House stood at, what is now, the foot of Chestnut St. in Meadville, Pa.
26 After retiring from public service, Donehogoa (Gen. Ely Parker) served as a consulting architect on many lighthouses along the shores of the Great Lakes.
27 Captain Myles Keogh commanded “I” Company of the 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn. He fought with distinction at Gettysburg under General John Buford. Before the Civil War he had been a soldier of fortune serving with Garibaldi and with the Papal Guard at the Vatican.
28 The bodies of Custer command were found by Lt. James Bradley who was leading a band of Crow Indian scouts at the van of General Terry’s column.
29 From Harvest of Barren Regrets; The Army Career of Frederick William Benteen, Mills. The Arthur H Clark Co.1985. Pg. 154.
30 Captain George Yates commanded “F” Company of the 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn. He had been a close friend of George Custer’s going back to the Civil War.
31 John D. Rockefeller did NOT choose the Atlantic & Great Western railroad. He chose the Erie Railroad instead. As a result, The Atlantic & Great Western would soon become insolvent, fall into receivership and ultimately be purchased at auction by Rockefeller who folded its assets into his Erie Railroad.
Chapter 9.
32 The Southern Hotel was a 6 story luxury hotel occupying the block bordered by Walnut, Elm, 4th and 5th Streets. This area is now occupied by a 6 story parking garage and is directly behind Busch Baseball Stadium.
33 The Cathedral of St. Louis was built at the foot of Walnut St. in 1835. It was the first church in St. Louis and is still there. It stands today directly under the Gateway Arch.
34 Pronounced Show-shony. Age old enemies of the Sioux and Cheyenne.
35 From the New York Life Insurance Co.
Chapter 10.
36 Bloody Knife was a full blooded Sioux, Custer’s close friend and chief Indian scout. He was killed early in the battle in the stand of pines along the river by a .50 caliber bullet that entered the back of his head and blew the top of it off. (From letter written to The New York Herald and published January 22, 1878 by 7th Cavalry guide George Herendeen)
37 Captain Myles Keogh’s salary was $40 … per month.
Chapter 11.
38 On the night of April 11, 1877 The Southern Hotel in St .Louis, Missouri burned to the ground. Of its 300 registered guests 21 lost their lives. It is, however, significant that 12 people were saved from the 6th floor by the actions of St. Louis Fireman Phelim O’Toole who, according to eye-witnesses, employed tied bed sheets to swing from room to room and then lowered them to the fifth floor … the maximum height of the St. Louis Fire Dept. ladders.The cause of the sudden fire was termed suspicious by investigators … but never solved.
Chapter 12.
39 On the night of August 6, 1868 a giant 300 pound wolf scaled the walls of Ft. Larned in Kansas, killed a dog that challenged it, entered the base hospital and mauled several patients including biting the hand off of one man. (From Harvest of Barren Regrets; The Army Career of Frederick Benteen pg 220.) More on how the wolf was stopped in Chapter 13.
Chapter 13.
40 Karpash was ¾ Sioux. He died at the Little Bighorn that day serving with the 7th Cavalry as a guide and interpreter. Although his body was never found. His facial bones were found by a tourist in 1983 on the slopes of Last Stand Hill. He is better known by his French Canadian name Mitch Bouyer.
41 George Herendeen authored two letters published in the New York Herald critical of the sensational reporting being printed about the Battle of the Little Bighorn. (From The Custer Myth, Graham pg 257)
42 From Herendeens letters to The New York Herald. (From The Custer Myth, Graham pgs 259-264)
43 From interview with Pvt. Charles Windoph (Harvest of Barren Regret: The Army Career of Frederick Benteen. Pg 253)
44 From Elizabeth Bacon Custer & The Making of a Myth pg 105
Chapter 14.
45 In 1877 Old Crow whisky was distilled and bottled by W.A. Gaynes & Co. in Frankfort, KY.
46 General Phil Sheridan was the commander of the military district.
47 From The Little Bighorn Battlefield Memorial
Chapter 15.
48 Captain Benteen on fighting Indians: “I never had much heart in warring on Indians for I have always been impressed with the belief that they were more sinned against than sinning.” Harvest of Barren Regrets .Pg 137
49 It is believed by some that this was Joe van Holt Nash a childhood friend of Benteen’s going back to their youth in Petersburg, VA. The Civil War saw the two temporarily part ways. Benteen served with the Union Cavalry as a Colonel while Joe served in the Confederate Cavalry as a Major. After the war Joe served with his best friend Benteen but under an assumed name. Harvest of Barren Regrets .Pg. 155.
Chapter 16.
50 See Harvest of Barren Regrets Pg 335
51 Her name was Fannie. She succumbed to meningitis.
52 Captain Frederick Benteen and his wife, Kate, had a total of five children. Only one, their son Fred, survived childhood.
53 This was the Shaw homestead on the Spelmans Creek Rd. about 18 miles north of present day Ellsworth Kansas. Harvest of Barren Regrets Pg 150
54 One of the most common items uncovered during the Little Bighorn Battlefield archaeological surveys performed in the mid-1980s were open pocket knives discarded by Troopers during the battle. The Springfield carbines were a disaster in the heat of combat. With a soldier loading and firing as fast as he could, the chamber would over heat and the spent shell casing would seize so that the ejector mechanism would foul. The Trooper would have to dig the shell casing out of the chamber with his pocket knife. See: Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn Pg 187
Chapter 17.
55 As example: a 19th century US Army Sergeant of infantry would wear stripes of white upon his blue uniform. His cavalry counterpart would wear stripes of yellow. An artillery Sergeant would wear stripes of red.
56 From “The Ballad of Johnny Shiloh” by Andrew Landers
57 Johnny Clem, known to history as Johnny Shiloh, was born in 1852 in Newark, Ohio. At the age of nine he was orphaned when his mother was killed in a train wreck. He subsequently ran away to join the army as the Civil War had just started. He was adopted by the 22nd Michigan as a mascot/drummer boy. He was decorated for valor at the Battle of Chickamauga and promoted by General Ulysses S. Grant to Sergeant. He holds the distinction of being the youngest Sergeant in the history of the US Army. He was promoted to Lieutenant of Artillery in 1874. He retired from the Army in 1915 with the rank of Major General. He died in 1937 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The City of Newark, Ohio erected a statue of him and named a grade school there after him. In 1963 Walt Disney made a movie about him entitled “Johnny Shiloh” starring Kevin Corcoran.
58 The Gatling gun was the fore-runner of the modern machine gun. Its design featured a number of rifle barrels that rotated past a firing pin. The circle of barrels was turned by crank and, as each barrel passed the pin, it automatically fired, ejected the spent shell casing and reloaded.
Chapter 18.
59 A US Army Cavalry Regiment at full strength comprised a thousand men divided into a dozen Companies or “Troops” of 80 men each.
60 Sgt. Charles White was assigned to M Troop during the Little Bighorn Battle. He fought alongside Herendeen and, according to the scout in later interviews, fought with courage and coolness. He was born Henry Charles Weihe in 1847. He served in the 7th Cavalry until 1886. He died in 1906.
61 Mark Kellogg was a reporter for the Bismarck Tribune representing the New York Herald. He died with Custer.
62 Garryowen was the “official” song of the 7th Cavalry. Introduced to George Custer by Myles Keogh it was a raucous, table thumping, Irish drinking song that fit the Regiment perfectly.
63 The twelve “Troops” of the 7th Cavalry in 1876 were identified alphabetically as follows:
A Troop commanded by Captain Myles Moylan
B Troop … Capt. Tom McDougal
C Troop … Capt. Tom Custer
D Troop … Capt. Tom Weir
E Troop … Lt. A. E. Smith
F Troop … Capt. George Yates
G Troop … Lt. Donald McIntosh
H Troop … Capt. Frederick Benteen
I Troop … Capt. Myles Keogh
K Troop … Lt. Edward Godfrey
L Troop … Lt. James Calhoun
M Troop … Capt. Tom French
64 Captain Keogh’s horse, Comanche, survived the Little Bighorn battle but suffered multiple wounds. So badly was he injured that the Sioux and Cheyenne did not capture him but, rather, left him for dead. Days later Crow Indian scouts found him slowly limping down the Little Bighorn River. It was, for them, the first sign that some disaster had befallen the 7th Cavalry. Comanche was nursed back to health and became the ceremonial mascot of the re-built 7th Cavalry. Upon the animals ultimate death it was stuffed and mounted. Today it is on display in the rotunda of the University of Nebraska.
65 The Arikara Indians were commonly referred to by whites as Rees.
Chapter 19.
66 From Harvest of Barren Regrets p. 155.
67 General Sheridan’s orders to Custer regarding the Cheyenne were to “kill or hang all warriors and bring back the women and children.” Harvest of Barren Regrets p160.
68 From Harvest of Barren regrets p. 169.
69 The Sand Creek Massacre occurred in 1864 when a detachment of soldiers of the Colorado militia under the command of Colonel Chivington, after trying and failing for weeks to catch a band of marauding hostiles, attacked a village of peaceful Cheyenne Indians under Chief Black Kettle. The Chief believed his village to be under government protection. Indeed, a United States flag flew over the village that morning. Despite this unprovoked aggression, Black Kettle signed another treaty with the US Government and moved his people east into Kansas Territory where they encamped on the Washita River. In one of the most grotesque ironies of history it was Black Kettles new village that Custer attacked that morning in 1868. This time Black Kettle and his wife were among those killed.
70 This letter is known today as the DeGress letter. William J. DeGress, an old friend of Captain Benteen’s, lived in St. Louis. Benteen sent the letter to him and DeGress had it published anonymously in the Missouri Democrat newspaper. Harvest of Barren Regrets p. 178.
71 From Harvest of Barren Regrets p 183.
72 The three women captives were Mrs. Anna Morgan, Mrs. Sarah White, Mrs. Sarah Blinn and her son Willie. All were rescued by Custers 7th Cavalry after the Regiment captured a Cheyenne village and threatened to have the Chiefs hung unless the women were turned over. The Chiefs sent messengers out to all the Cheyenne villages and the women and Willie were delivered to Custer. The Chiefs were not hung. Mrs. Morgan and Sarah White were both pregnant by Cheyenne braves. Anna Morgan was in catatonic shock and spent the rest of her life in an asylum. From Touched By Fire pgs 171-177.
Chapter 20.
73 In 1887 the US Army brokered a treaty between the Sioux and the Mandan, Irakara (Ree) and Hidatsa peoples to end a thousand years of tribal warfare. In 1889 the US Government closed Fort Abraham Lincoln and the soldiers left. The Sioux attacked the Mandans one week later.
74 As late as 1947 traces of the trail of the Seventh Cavalry could still be seen in the North Dakota prairie.
Chapter 21.
75 Captain Henry James Nowlan died in 1897 from a heart attack at the age of 61. He is buried in Little Rock National Cemetery in Arkansas.
76 The cannonade was the sound of 200 artillery pieces firing simultaneously and constituted the opening bombardment that preceded Pickets Charge on the third day of the battle of Gettysburg.
Chapter 22.
NONE
Chapter 23.
77 Wassichu is a Sioux word for White Men.
78 The Sioux refer to themselves as “Lakota” which loosely translated means “the people”.
79 Captain Benteen testified later that, in his opinion, it was the largest encampment of Indians ever with as many as 10,000 Sioux and Cheyenne present and as many as 15.000 horses. Arriving on the scene that day in the midst of the melee, he took his trumpeter and guidon carrier to the top of, what is now called, Weir Peak. From there he could survey the entire valley. Below him stretched a panorama choked in dust and gunsmoke.
Testimony under oath:
AG: “Colonel Benteen, with your many years of experience serving among the plains Indians, can you put a number on the Sioux you saw down in the valley that day?”
Benteen: “General, go out and find the biggest ant hill you can find in a days walk. Now take a big stick and jam it into that ant hill and stir it around real good until all the ants are up and running in their fury. Now try to count them. I don’t know, General, how many there were. I do know that there were enough. I had my guidon carrier wave the flag back and forth so that our men in the valley might see it and rally to us. Well, I don’t know if our men saw it but the Sioux saw it and they came at us on the run. That led me to conclude that the Sioux had finished with our people down there.”
80 Moving Robe Woman was also known as Robe Woman or just Robe. Since she had been baptized as a Christian the whites knew her as Mary Crawler.
81 From “The Mary Crawler Statement” interview with Moving Robe Woman, LAKOTA RECOLLECTIONS OF THE CUSTER FIGHT pgs 91-96.
Chapter 24.
NONE
Chapter 25.
82 Description of Trooper Nathan Short’s hat found along the Rosebud from CUSTER IN ’76. The Walter Camp Notes Pgs 224-226
83 Nathan Short was from Lehigh, Pennsylvania. He enlisted at St. Louis on October 9, 1875 at the age of 21. He stood 5’ 7” tall and had brown hair with gray eyes. He listed his occupation as laborer but was recognized in later Regimental records as a carpenter. It is believed that he and his horse somehow escaped the massacre and, although both were wounded, managed to travel the seventy miles to the spot where their bodies were found. A brass plaque marks the spot today about 6.5 miles south of the Rosebud exit of I-94.
Chapter 26.
NONE
Chapter 27.
NONE
Chapter 28.
84 Daniel Knipe (sometimes spelled ‘Kanipe’) was born in North Carolina in 1853. He enlisted on August 7, 1872. He married the widow of First Sgt. Edwin Bobo in 1877. He retired from the Army in August of 1877. He lived to see the dawn of the 20th century. He was buried in Marion, NC on July 18, 1926.
Chapter 29.
85 From interview with Captain Godfrey. The Custer Myth, Graham, pg 135
86 From interview with Captain Godfrey, The Custer Myth, Graham, pg 135
“This talk of his, as we called it, was considered at the time to be something extraordinary for General Custer, for it was not his habit to unbosom himself to his officers. In it he showed concessions; there was an indefinable something that was not Custer. His manner and tone, usually brusque and aggressive, or somewhat curt, was on this occasion conciliating and subdued. As if depressed, he made a deep impression on all present. -- From Century Magazine, January 1892.
Chapter 30.
87 The 28 officers and surgeons present at the last officer’s call of the 7th Cavalry included; Major Marcus Reno, Captains Frederick Benteen, Tom Custer, Myles Keogh, George Yates, Thomas Weir, Myles Moylan, Tom McDougal, Tom French, Lieutenants James Calhoun, J.J. Crittenden, Edward Godfrey, George Wallace, W.W. Cooke, Edward Mathey, Luther Hare, James Porter, Francis Gibson, Donald McIntosh, William Van Wuck Reily, A.E. Smith, James Sturgis, Winfield Edgerly, Benjamin Hodgson, Charles Varnum and Drs. Lord, Dewolfe and Porter.
88 From Captain Benteen’s letter to his wife Kate as reprinted in The Custer Myth, Graham pg 178.
89 Lt. Donald McIntosh was a Mohawk Indian. Born in Quebec in 1838 his mother was a direct descendent of Red Jacket, Chief of the Six Nations, making Donald McIntosh a cousin of Donehogoa. McIntosh’s father was killed by other Indians when Donald was 14. His mother made certain that Donald received a proper education. He enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War and rose to be Chief Clerk for General Daniel Rucker of the Quartermasters Dept. After the Civil War (October 30, 1866) he married Mary Molly Garret of Baltimore, MD then was assigned to the 7th Cavalry as a Second Lieutenant. He was soon promoted to First Lieutenant. He was killed at the Little Bighorn. Molly received his pension of $30/month until her death in 1910. His remains were recovered in 1877 by the “Train of the Dead” recovery expedition. Today both he and Molly are buried together at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 1. In the summer of 1995, along the banks of the Little Bighorn, near the headstone that marks the spot where he fell, a finger bone was discovered with a wedding ring still encircling it. On the inside of the band was inscribed “DM&MG10/30/66”.
90 From interview with Captain Edward Godfrey, CENTURY MAGAZINE, January 1891.
91 The color sergeants were Thomas Cansby and John G. Tritton. Both died near Custer on southwest slope of Last Stand Hill along the Little Bighorn River.
92 From interview with Captain Edward Godfrey, CENTURY MAGAZINE, January 1891. There are numerous sources for this story about the Regimental flag as there were dozens of witnesses who survived the slaughter which was about to come.
Chapter 31.
93 Marita Tsidacrush (Whit Man Runs Him) was born in 1858 near present day Lodge Grass, Montana. He died at Crow Agency, Montana on June 2, 1929 and is buried in the Custer Battlefield National Cemetery. He rode with the Custer column down into the valley of the Little Bighorn but withdrew supposedly on orders from Custer interpreted through Mitch Bouyer. He was widely considered the last man of the Custer column to get out of the valley alive. This made him a minor celebrity. In 1927 he was asked to perform a cameo in the movie Red Raiders.
94 The Little Bighorn Valley today is part of the Crow Nation.
95 The Far West was the name of the paddle wheel steamboat that carried the wounded of the 7th Cavalry down the Yellowstone to the Missouri River. It docked at Fort Abraham Lincoln at 11pm on July 5, 1876 (8 days after the battle with its flag at half- mast and a cargo of 54 wounded men and the first news of the debacle on the Little Bighorn.
Chapter 32.
NONE
Chapter 33.
NONE
Chapter 34.
96 Taken from letter of July 18, 1876 from Captain Benteen to his wife. From Harvest of Barren Regrets p283
97 Custer assigned Nowlan command of the base camp that had been established on the northern bank of the Yellowstone River across from the point where the Rosebud flows into it. Nowlan’s base camp included the Regiments wagons, the band, and a number of men who had reported ill. Their horses were taken along with the main column of the 7th as spares.
Chapter 35.
98 The mechanical typewriter was patented on June 11, 1868.
Chapter 36.
99 From interview with Sergeant Charles White, Camp Notes, Pg 267.
100 At the Battle of the Little Bighorn, June 25th 1876, Lt. Wallace was second in command of G Troop. Sgt White was serving with M Troop. Sgt Knipe was with C Troop.
101 The camp was on the site of the present town of Busby, Montana.
Chapter 37.
102 From the diary of Sergeant Charles White as reprinted in Indian Views of the Custer Fight, by Hardorf. Pg 21 “Custer and General Gibbon were expected to communicate with each other by courier, but Custer, being insane … we did not expect anything better from him than disobedience of orders which he had received from his superior officer.”
103 From Captain Benteens letter to his wife dated July 2, 1876 reproduced in TheCuster Myth by Graham pg 178. “It wasn’t far from twilight … when I interrupted by saying ‘see here, fellows, you want to be collecting all the sleep you can, and be doing it soon, for I have a premonition that we are not going to stay in this camp tonight but we are going to march all night.”
104 From interview with George Herendeen reproduced in The Camp Notes pg 221. “It was my opinion that Custer wanted to fight the Sioux with the 7th Cavalry alone and he was clearly making every effort to do this.”
105 From Walter Camp’s interview with Private George Glenn. Quotation found in INDIAN VIEWS of the CUSTER FIGHT, Richard Hardorff, Pg 193. “General Custer himself, his brothers Tom and Boston, and his nephew, Harry A. Reed, all partook in the desecration in search of souvenirs such as weapons, bridle, beaded moccasins and utensils. Harry Reed took a bow and six arrows and a pair of moccasins from a sepulcher. It was said at the time among the 7th soldiers that the Custers … would be sorry for the looting, which prophecy was borne out by subsequent events.”
106 This high point is called the Crows Nest. It had been a look out point for the Crow Indians for generations as it has a commanding view of the surrounding country for miles. This is the high point where the Crow boys met in Chapter 4.
Chapter 38.
107 From interview with Corporal Windolph, Harvest of Barren Regrets, by Mills pg. 253.
108 Lt. James Calhoun commanded Company L.
109 This is generally referred to today as Reno Creek
Chapter 39.
109 From interview with Oglala Sioux warrior, He Dog. THE CAMP NOTES, pg 205. “The reason did not pursue Crook was that we were a good ways from our villages and afraid that Crows and Shoshones would get at our villages. We saw Crook had a good many Indians.”
110 Bloody Knife was a Santee Sioux whom Custer considered a trusted friend. Bloody
Knife accompanied Custer on all of his expeditions and hunting parties.
111 The dead Sioux was a Sans Arc warrior killed fighting against General Crook and their Shoshone and Crow allies. From interview with Oglala Sioux warrior, He Dog. THE CAMP NOTES, pg 205. “Indian in lone teepee was Sans Arc, a brother of Turning Bear. He was shot through bowels at Crook fight.”
112 From Sioux legend.
113 From interview with Sergeant Knipe. See CAMP NOTES, pg 247.
Chapter 40.
114 The trumpeters name was John Martin. He is widely believed to be the last white man to see General Custer alive and the last man to escape the impending massacre of the five companies. Born Giovanni Martini in Rome Italy in 1851, Martin immigrated to the United States in 1873. Although normally assigned to H Troop, he was serving as orderly trumpeter with the Regimental headquarters staff that day. As the five companies galloped north along the bluffs on the east bank of the Little Bighorn River in pursuit of the Sioux war party, the Regimental Adjutant, Lt. W.W.Cooke, pulled Trumpeter Martin aside and wrote out a hurried message that he handed to Martin with instructions to find Benteen. The message read;
“Benteen
Come on. Big Village.
Bring packs.
W. W. Cooke
P.S. Bring packs.”
This note was successfully delivered and preserved by Captain Benteen. It is stored today in the archives of the US Army Military Academy at West Point.
115 George Finckle, Jeremiah Finley and Edwin Bobo were all Sergeants in C Troop along with Daniel Knipe. Sgt. Knipe would later marry First Sgt. Edwin Bobo’s widow.
116 From interview with Sgt. Daniel Knipe. The Camp Notes pg 227.
117 From numerous sources. The inability to find Lt. Harrington’s body lead to numerous rumors in later years about a man claiming to be a sole survivor of the massacre.
Chapter 41.
118 From interview with Sgt. Daniel Knipe …THE CUSTER MYTH byGraham pg. 249.
119 Death of Sgt. O’Hara as told by Sgt. John Ryan … THE CUSTER MYTH by Graham pg. 242.
Chapter 42.
119 Herendeen rallying the troops in the woods from interviews with scout George Herendeen and Sgt. Charles White THE CUSTER MYTH Graham pgs 258 and 309.
Herendeen statement published in the New York Herald in July, 1876: “… I saw several soldiers who were dismounted, their horses having been killed or having run away. There were also some soldiers mounted who had remained behind. I should think, in all, there were as many as thirteen soldiers, and, seeing no chance to get away, I called on them to stay in the timber and we would stand off the Indians. Three of them were wounded and two of them so badly that they could not use their arms. (One of these was Sgt. White). … I told them that I was an old frontiersman, understood Indians, and if they would do as I said, I would get them out of this scrape, which was no worse than scrapes I had been in before. About half of the men were mounted and they wanted to keep their horses with them but I told them to let the horses go and fight on foot. We stayed in the bush about three hours, and I could hear heavy firing down river, apparently about two miles distant. I did not know who it was, but knew the Indians must be fighting some of our men, and I learned afterwards it was Custer’s command. Nearly all of the Indians in the upper part of the camp drew off down river and the fight with Custer lasted about one hour, when the heavy firing ceased. When the shooting below began to die away I said ‘C’mon, now is the time to get out.’ … Eleven of the thirteen said they would go but two stayed behind. … We finally got over (the river), wounded men and all, and headed for Reno’s command which I could see drawn up on the bluffs along the river about a mile off. … We reached Reno in safety.”
120 Death of scout Charley Reynolds as witnessed by Lt. Derudio. Interview in The Camp Notes Walter Camp pg 85.
121 At the Battle of the Rosebud, fought the week before the Little Bighorn Battle, the graves of the fallen soldiers were found and dug up by the Sioux and Cheyenne, the bodies scalped and uniforms, personal effects, belts and boots stripped away.
Chapter 43.
NONE
Chapter 44.
122 The presence of quicksand at the mouth of Medicine Tail Coulee is mentioned by the Oglala Sioux Chief Horned Horse in an interview with him reprinted in Indian Views of the Custer Fight compiled by Richard Hardoff pg 41.
“… the head of Custers column showed itself coming down a dry watercourse (Medicine Tail Coulee) which formed a narrow ravine toward the river’s edge. They made a dash to get across but were met by such a tremendous fire from the repeating rifles of the Sioux that the head of the command reeled back toward the bluffs after losing several men who tumbled into the water, which was there but 18 inches deep, and were swallowed up in the quicksand.”
123 The other M Troop men lost in the flight from the valley were; Corporal Scollin, Corporal Stringer, Privates Gordon, Klotzbucher, Lorentz, Smith, Summers, Turley and Meyer. Of the ten M Troop men lost in the valley six of them were only wounded and their bodies were found badly mutilated with Private Turley being found having been carved up with his own hunting knife … “which had been driven to the hilt into his right eye socket.” From Indian Views of the Custer Fight compiled by Richard Hardorff pg. 20.
124 “The poor wounded were butchered in sight of the troops but no officer was brave enough to go help them. If Benteen had been in command there would have been a different tale to tell.” From the Sgt. Charles White Diary as reprinted in Indian Views of the Custer Fight pg 21.
125 “After the battle Sgt. John Ryan searched for O’Hara, but could not locate the remains and assumed that the Indians had thrown the body in the river. However, a skull and mandible found among rotted remnants of yellow-striped trouser, discovered on Reno’s skirmish line by Surgeon Robert Schufeldt in 1877, may well have been the mortal remains of Sgt. O’Hara.” This passage to be found in Indian views of the Custer Fight compiled by Richard Hardorff pg 20.
NOTE: In 1958, while preparing ground for a tour road atop the bluffs at Little Bighorn Battlefield, a skull and parts of a 7th Cavalry troopers skeleton were unearthed and relocated to the National Cemetery there. In 1988, using modern forensic reconstruction techniques, the skull and partial skeleton were identified as Sgt. Myles O’Hara. See Billings Gazette, January 28, 1988 edition, pg 1.
Chapter 45.
NONE
Chapter 46.
126 The hilltop is referred to today as Calhoun Hill.
Chapter 47.
127 The arrow through Crittendens glass eye is from INDIAN VIEWS OF THE CUSTER FIGHT, compiled by Hardorff, pg 31. Note #4 “Lt. John J. Crittenden served with the 20th Infantry from 1875 until May 1876 when he requested a combat assignment with the 7th Cavalry, despite the recent loss of his left eye. After the battle, Crittenden’s mutilated body was found on Calhoun Hill bristling with arrows. One of the arrows had been shot in his left eye socket and had fragmented his glass eye. His remains were initially buried on Calhoun Hill, but were exhumed in 1931and reinterred into the National Cemetery west of Last Stand Hill. Grave A601. Crittenden’s watch was recovered in Canada from one of Sitting Bulls warriors and was returned to Crittenden’s father after the ownership was established in England through a Liverpool watchmaker.”
NOTE: The 1931 reinternment of Lt. Crittenden’s body, in disregard to his family’s expressed wishes, was necessitated by the building of a park road that went right over Calhoun Hill.
Chapter 48.
128 “If it weren’t for Benteen we would have all been massacred. He was one of the coolest and bravest men I ever knew.” Interview with Lt. Gibson, H Troop, 7th Cavalry. Harvest of Barren Regrets pg 279.
“I think Captain Benteen saved the fight on the hill. I think in desperate fighting Benteen is one of the bravest men I ever saw in a fight.” Interview with George Herendeen, The Camp Notes. Reprinted in The Custer Myth, Graham pg 259.
129 The skeletons retrieved from Last Stand Hill were Lt. Col. George Custer, Capt. Tom Custer, Boston Custer (younger brother of George and Tom), Autie Reed (nephew of George, Tom and Boston), Lt. W.W. Cooke, Capt. George Yates, Lt. W.W. Reily and Lt. A.E. Smith.
Chapter 49.
NONE
Chapter 50.
130 Skirmish line interval would be about ten or fifteen feet.
Chapter 51.
131 From interview with George Herendeen by Walter Camp. Reprinted in Walter Camps Notes on the Custer Fight: Custer in 76. Page 224.
Camp: “Could you give me the names of the men in the timber?”
Herendeen: “No.”
Camp: “How about the two men who would not leave the timber? Who were they and what became of them?”
Herendeen: “I do not know what became of the two men … but suppose they must have been killed. They were said to have money cached in there somewhere. I was told later that it was a good deal of money and they did not wish to leave it.”
132 The Sioux and Cheyenne followers of the conservative Chief Sitting Bull were often referred to as free-roamers by the army to distinguish them from the followers of the progressive and peaceful Sioux Chief, Red Cloud.
133 The effort to ban Peau D’ Espange was defeated in the British House of Commons.
Chapter 52.
134 From interview with George Herendeen in the Bismark (North Dakota) Herald published July 8, 1876. Reprinted in The Custer Myth by Graham.
“I think some of our men were captured alive and tortured. I know the colored scout, Isaiah, was (Isaiah Dorman) for he had small pistol balls in his legs from the knees down, and I believe they were shot into him while alive. Another man had strips of skin cut out of his body. Many were gashed with knives and some had their noses and other members cut off. The heads of four soldiers were found in the Sioux camp that had been severed from their trunks, but the bodies could not be found on the battlefield or in the village.”
Chapter 53.
135 From interview with George Herendeen by Walter Camp. Reprinted in CUSTER IN 76 Walter Camps notes on the Custer Fight. Pg 227:
“… but for me they would have made a mistake and got other remains than Custer’s.”
136 From Evan S. Connell’s SON OF THE MORNING STAR pg 344:
“After the General’s bones were placed in the box, somebody found the name of a Corporal inside his disintegrating blouse. A nearby skeleton was then substituted for the first … Scout George Herendeen said only a few small bones lay in Custer’s grave – ‘a double handful’. He thought the General’s body had been torn apart by wolves.”
Chapter 54.
NONE
Chapter 55.
137 See History of the Mandans. Wikipedia.
138 From HARVEST OF BARREN REGRETS pg. 264. “We then showed our full force on the hills with guidons flying that Custer might see us … but we could see nothing of him, couldn’t hear much firing, but could see an immense body of Indians coming to attack us from both sides of the river. I was impressed by the size and aggressiveness of the Indian force and decided to retreat to a more defensible position. The reason for this is that there were a great deal too many Indians, who were powerful good shots. We were at their hearths and homes … they had gotten the bulge on Reno, their medicine was working well, and they were fighting for all the good God gives anyone to fight for.” Captain Frederick Benteen.
139 George Herendeen served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
140 The messengers that were sent from Custer to Benteen with these messages were Sgt. Voss and Sgt Major Sharrow. Both men’s bodies were later found on Last Stand Hill.
Chapter 56.
NONE
Chapter 57.
141 From Evans Connell’s Son of the Morning Star (North Point Press, 1984), 312. “Lt. Henry Harrington of Tom Custer’s company may have gotten out. His body never was found … He was one of those with premonitions. He had seen himself tied to a tree surrounded by savages. He is said to have drawn a sketch of this which he mailed to a friend back east. That he would refrain from sending such a picture to his wife is understandable, yet she may have learned about it. She vanished for two years and was discovered in a small Texas town, apparently suffering from amnesia. Harrington’s daughter, subsequently appointed by Herbert Hoover as Post Mistress to West Point Military Academy, said an attack of pneumonia restored her mother’s mind. She knew who she was although she could remember nothing of those years. “Several times,” the daughter said, “we heard from Indians that a lady dressed in black had been seen on the battlefield.
Chapter 58.
NONE
Chapter 59.
142 The Greasy Grass is what the Sioux called the Little Bighorn River.
143 Peoushi is one of many names the Sioux had for Custer. It means “long yellow hair.”
144 That Sitting Bull did not take part in the battle and his vision of many soldiers falling dead and upside down from the sky into his camp is from Sioux legend and from numerous Lakota sources throughout the Camp Notes
145 From interview with Brave Bear, reprinted in Hardorff, Indian Views of the Custer Fight (Oklahoma Press), 83.
146 The two Crow warriors were Half Yellow Face and White Swan.
147 These were a detachment from Custer’s five companies, fighting near the Medicine Tail Coulee ford.
148 “I understand whites don’t like to hear that Custer did not act brave in this battle, but Indians here all think that he acted cowardly.” From interview with Brave Bear reprinted in Hardorff, Indian Views of the Custer Fight (Oklahoma Press), 86.
149 An interesting anecdote about Brave Bear appears in both Son of the Morning Star by Evan S. Connel (pp. 375–377) and in Indian Views of the Custer Fight (Oklahoma Press) by Hardorff (p. 86), that in 1909, many years after the Sioux war had come to an end, an American millionaire named Rodman Wannamaker offered a sizeable reward to any Sioux or Cheyenne who would come forth and admit to being the man who killed Custer. Word of this offer reached the Cheyenne council, and they met to decide if they could take Wannamaker up on his offer. The prevailing mood at the time was that they sure could use the money. Up to this point, none of the Sioux or Cheyenne could lay claim to being the warrior who had killed Custer, as no one who fought at the Little Bighorn knew it was Custer they were facing that day. Custer was known to have long hair, but he had cut it short just before the expedition left Fort Abraham Lincoln, so he was not readily recognizable. Brave Bear volunteered to falsely admit to the killing, even though it was generally feared that Wannamaker’s offer was a trap, and whoever came forward would be shot. Brave Bear agreed to turn the money over to the tribe if he returned alive. Weeks later, he returned both alive and with the money, which the Cheyenne used to buy food for the winter. When asked how he had been treated, he replied that they all just stared at him, a few shook his hand, and they took his picture. 148 From interview with Red Horse, reprinted in Hardorff, Indian Views of the Custer Fight (Oklahoma Press), 75
150 From interview with Red Horse, reprinted in Hardorff, Indian Views of the Custer Fight (Oklahoma Press), 75
151 From interview with Foolish Elk by Roubideaux and Shaw in 1908, as reprinted in Walter Camps Notes on the Custer Fight, pp.197–200. Note: Louis Roubideaux had this to say about Foolish Elk: “He appeared to be the opposite of what his name might imply, as I found him to be a man of more than average intelligence. At one time he was the Chief of Police at the Rosebud Agency. He said that at the time of the Custer fight he rode with Crazy Horse. He is a man of genial disposition and has a general reputation for honesty and truthfulness. Mr. S.B. Weston, at one time chief clerk at Rosebud, said that Foolish Elk’s statements could always be replied upon. He talked without hesitation, seeming to have his recollections well in mind, and, apparently, he had no fear of telling us all he knew. He appeared to be indifferent to any opinion I might have as to his fund of information and said he would tell me only what he saw or knew to be fact, and when he did not know he said so frankly and without hesitating.”
Chapter 60.
NONE
Chapter 61.
152 The Hunkpapa Sioux war chief, Rain in the Face, was arrested in 1874 by an army detail led by Captains Tom Custer and George Yates for the torture and murder of Dr. J. Honsinger and two other men. He escaped and was never rearrested. Rain in the Face died in his bed in 1905
153 Writing about Captain Benteen on the Arlington National Cemetery website, Michael Robert Patterson writes: “One reporter who described him (Benteen) in 1879 remarked that he might have been mistaken for an overgrown drummer boy.”
154 The “Shouldn’t we keep the regiment together?” argument between Custer and Benteen was overheard by Pvt. Charles Windolph and can be found in Harvest of Barren Regrets by Mills, p. 253.
155 The agent who sold the five insurance policies at Fort Abraham Lincoln was Mr. I. F. A. Studdart of St. Paul, Minnesota.
156 Lieutenant John Jordan Crittenden was born on June 5,1854 and died at the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. He had just turned twenty-two.
157 In 1919, General Hugh Scott, retiring US Army Chief of Staff, made these remarks at his retirement dinner regarding meeting his mentor, Captain Frederick Benteen: “It was 1877 and I was a fresh Lieutenant just out of West Point. My first assignment was serving with the 7th Cavalry during the Great Sioux War. I was assigned to Company H and introduced myself to Captain Benteen who was then the hero of all the country, credited with saving the remnants of the 7th Cavalry.” From Touched by Fire, by Barnett, p. 310.
158 Today, this defensive position is part of the Custer Battlefield and is known as the Reno/Benteen Defense Site.
159 “I regard Custer’s massacre as a sacrifice of troops brought on by Custer himself, that was wholly unnecessary … He was not to have made the attack before effecting the junction of Terry and Gibbon.” President Ulysses Grant as quoted in the New York Herald. From Elizabeth Bacon Custer and the Making of a Myth by Leckie, p. 218.
160 Lieutenant Edward Mathey, about whom Benteen said, “He was always doing Custer’s dirty work.” From Harvest of Barren Regrets by Mills.
161 “In Colorado, in 1874, … Aspinwall had been skinned to the tune of $1600 by Custer and his card playing cronies …” From Harvest of Barren Regrets by Mills, p. 212.
162 The body of Jack Aspinwall was found in Montreal in 1881. He had been robbed and drowned in a puddle of water eighteen inches deep. When Benteen heard about it, he assumed Jack had been murdered. From Harvest of Barren Regrets, pp. 212–21.
163 Benteen’s impression of Libbie Custer: “Cold blooded … just about the most penurious of women … about as avaricious and parsimonious a woman as you can find in a day’s walk.” …” From Harvest of Barren Regrets by Mills, p. 217.
164 “Other jolts awaited Elizabeth (Custer). Shortly after Grant voiced his opinion on the Little Bighorn, she received a disturbing letter from Emil Justh. Armstrong’s (George Armstrong Custer) note was due and he wanted payment. ($8,000 plus 7% interest) The amount must have frightened her as she learned the extent of Armstrong’s indebtedness.” From Elizabeth Bacon Custer and the Making of a Myth by Leckie, p. 207.
165 At the time the Seventh Cavalry left Fort Abraham Lincoln for the Little Bighorn, George Custer’s debts totaled $13,291.10, while his assets totaled $2,140. His army income was $75 per month. From Elizabeth Bacon Custer and the Making of a Myth by Leckie, p. 218.
166 Captain Frederick Benteen was promoted to brevet brigadier general for his actions at the Little Bighorn and other frontier actions. He died in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1898 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
167 From interview with George Herendeen in The Walter Camp Notes on the Custer Fight, p. 227 “But for me they would have made a mistake and got other remains than Custer’s.”
168 The casket bearing the name of General George Armstrong Custer was buried at the US Military Academy at West Point. Libbie lies next to that grave. * Captain Myles Keogh is buried at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, New York. * Captain George Yates is buried at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in Kansas. * Lt. James Calhoun is also buried at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in Kansas. * Lt. J. J. Crittenden’s body was left in the shallow grave on the spot where he was killed at the Little Bighorn. The 1877 expedition did not disturb it, as were the wishes of his father, who wanted his son to remain with the men he commanded that day. In 1931, his remains were relocated to the Custer National Cemetery to make room for an access road.
169 George Herendeen died of pneumonia at the age of seventy in 1919 in Harlem, Montana. He is buried there.
170 John and Sarah Fisher returned to Texas, where they bought a cattle ranch near Uvalde. For a while, John was the sheriff of the town. They had four daughters. In 1884, John was ambushed and murdered at a theater in San Antonio and shot thirteen times. Sarah and the girls brought him back to their ranch and buried him there. His body was later moved to the Pioneer Cemetery in Uvalde, where he lies today.
171 Sitting Bull returned from Canada in 1881. He surrendered to the US Army. Handing his rifle to Major Brotherton, he remarked, “I want it known that I was the last member of my tribe to surrender my rifle.” He was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Yates near the Standing Rock Agency for twenty months. He was released in 1883 and lived at Standing Rock. Later that year, he joined a traveling Wild West show called The Sitting Bull Connection. There, he met Annie Oakley, with whom he became great friends and, in 1884, adopted her into his tribe. He was so impressed with her talent with a rifle that he named her Little Sure Shot (she was only five feet tall). In 1885 he joined Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, where he was paid $50/week to ride around the arena. (Remember, Gen. George Custer was paid $75/month!) He traveled with the show across the northern United States, Canada, and Europe. He became a great celebrity. He later retired to Standing Rock Agency, where he received famous visitors and earned a small fortune selling his autograph and posing for pictures. He was killed in 1890 during a fire fight between his followers and Standing Rock Lakota police, as the police were trying to arrest him to keep him from joining the Ghost Dance Movement. He was shot in the chest by Lieutenant Bullhead. He was buried at Fort Yates in an army coffin. In 1953, the Sioux Nation moved his remains to Mobridge, South Dakota, the place of his birth. A monument to his memory marks the grave today.
172 The project engineer on the Eads Bridge construction was William Minor Roberts. He was the father of Annie Yates. The bridge opened in 1874. It is still in use today.
173 Annie Roberts Yates was killed when she was pushed in front of a New York subway train in 1914. The perpetrator was never found.