list of soldiers killed at little bighorn

Another officer and 1318 men were missing. [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. [84], I think, in all probability, that the men turned their horses loose without any orders to do so. Gunpowder of the day is now known as black powder. Behind them, a second company, further up on the heights, would have provided long-range cover fire. Thompson, p. 211. ", Donovan, 2008, p. 175: "Reno had taken one [Gatling gun] along [on his June reconnaissance], and it had been nothing but trouble." And p. 79: "During the Reno scout [reconnoitering], the two guns were actually abandoned (and retrieved later) because soldiers got tired of dragging them over rough spots[I]f Custer did not already have a fully formed negative opinion of the Gatlings on such an expedition, the experience of the Reno [reconnaissance of early June] surely convinced him. We'll finish them up and then go home to our station. by Douglas D. Scott 2/10/2017. [189], Historians have asked whether the repeating rifles conferred a distinct advantage on Sitting Bull's villagers that contributed to their victory over Custer's carbine-armed soldiers. [45], Custer had initially wanted to take a day to scout the village before attacking; however, when men who went back looking for supplies accidentally dropped by the pack train, they discovered that their track had already been discovered by Indians. [17] The area is first noted in the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. Evidence of organized resistance included an apparent skirmish line on Calhoun Hill and apparent breastworks made of dead horses on Custer Hill. Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield, Friends Of The Little Bighorn Battlefield, Muster Rolls of 7th U.S. Cavalry, June 25, 1876, Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association, Kenneth M. Hammer Collection on Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Charles Kuhlman collection on the Battle of the Little Big Horn, MSS 1401, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_the_Little_Bighorn&oldid=1149998396, Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho victory, 55 wounded (6 of whom later died of wounds). George A. Custer [between 1860 and 1865] Picture from the Library of Congress The eye-witness record of the battle indicates that the truth is probably closer . Finally, Curtis visited the country of the Arikara and interviewed the scouts of that tribe who had been with Custer's command. The wounded horse was discovered on the battlefield by General Terry's troops. Two men from the 7th Cavalry, the young Crow scout Ashishishe (known in English as Curley) and the trooper Peter Thompson, claimed to have seen Custer engage the Indians. [48], General Terry and others claimed that Custer made strategic errors from the start of the campaign. Gray. Sklenar, 2000, p. 163: "the village contained possibly 1,200 lodges, plus several hundred wikiups housing individual warriors. The 7th Cavalry suffered 52 percent casualties: 16 officers and 242 troopers killed or died of wounds, 1 officer and 51 troopers wounded. 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. [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". Widely known as an expert on military archaeology, he is the author or co-author of numerous publications, including They Died with Custer: Soldiers' Bones from the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Uncovering History: Archaeological Investigations at the Little Bighorn, and Custer, Cody . [56], The Lone Teepee (or Tipi) was a landmark along the 7th Cavalry's march. Staff James M. DeWolf (with Reno) Acting Assistant Surgeon, Attached . The Indian Wars were seen as a minor sideshow in which troops armed to fight on European battlefields would be more than a match for fighting any number of Indians.". Reburial for 36 Custer troopers killed at Little Big Horn. The men were buried where they fell in shallow graves, marked with wooden tipi poles . Custer was on the verge of abolishing the wings led by Reno and Benteen, and the inclusion of Brisbin would have complicated the arrangement he had in mind. He conjectured that a soldier had escaped Custer's fight and rafted across the river, abandoning his played-out horse. During the Black Hills Expedition two years earlier, a Gatling gun had turned over, rolled down a mountain, and shattered to pieces. [92], After the Custer force was soundly defeated, the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne regrouped to attack Reno and Benteen. [97], The first to hear the news of the Custer defeat were those aboard the steamboat Far West, which had brought supplies for the expedition. First of all, Custer and Brisbin did not get along and Custer thus would not have wanted to place Brisbin in a senior command position. According to Cheyenne and Sioux testimony, the command structure rapidly broke down, although smaller "last stands" were apparently made by several groups. ", Gallear, 2001: "Officers purchased their own carbines or rifles for hunting purposes[however] these guns may have been left with the baggage and is unclear how many officers actually used these weapons in the battle. In the end, the hilltop to which Custer had moved was probably too small to accommodate all of the survivors and wounded. Sheridan (Company L), the brother of Lt. Gen. 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. Reno's force crossed the Little Bighorn at the mouth of what is today Reno Creek around 3:00pm on June 25. The 7th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army cavalry regiment formed in 1866. All told, between one-third and one-half of the gathering warriors had a gun. Pvt Driscoll enlisted into the army on May 19, 1873, in Chicago, Il. Its approach was seen by Indians at that end of the village. [159][160][161], Historians have acknowledged the firepower inherent in the Gatling gun: they were capable of firing 350 .45-70 (11mm) caliber rounds per minute. Gallear, 2001: "There is also evidence that some Indians were short of ammunition and it is unclear how good a shot they were. Photo by Stanley J. Morrow, spring 1877, Looking in the direction of the Indian village and the deep ravine. They certainly did not have the ammunition to practice, except whilst hunting buffalo, and this would suggest that the Indians generally followed the same technique of holding their fire until they were at very close range". He must have counted upon Reno's success, and fully expected the "scatteration" of the non-combatants with the pony herds. At least 28 bodies (the most common number associated with burial witness testimony), including that of scout Mitch Bouyer, were discovered in or near that gulch, their deaths possibly the battle's final actions. Custer had been offered the use of Gatling guns but declined, believing they would slow his rate of march. [25], The battlefield is known as "Greasy Grass" to the Lakota Sioux, Dakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and most other Plains Indians; however, in contemporary accounts by participants, it was referred to as the "Valley of Chieftains".[26]. Yates' E and F Companies at the mouth of Medicine Tail Coulee (Minneconjou Ford) caused hundreds of warriors to disengage from the Reno valley fight and return to deal with the threat to the village. 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. Donovan, 2008, p. 440: footnote, "the carbine extractor problem did exist, though it probably had little impact on the outcome of the battle. [164][165] Researchers have further questioned the effectiveness of the guns under the tactics that Custer was likely to face with the Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. [69] The soldiers identified the 7th Cavalry's dead as well as they could and hastily buried them where they fell. The regimental commander, Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis, returned from his detached duty in St. Louis, Missouri. [206] This testimony of widespread fusing of the casings offered to the Chief of Ordnance at the Reno Court of Inquiry in 1879 conflicts with the archaeological evidence collected at the battlefield. Sturgis led the 7th Cavalry in the campaign against the Nez Perce in 1877. To the right of Custer Hill is Wooden Leg Hill, named for a surviving warrior. Calloway, Colin G.: "The Inter-tribal Balance of Power on the Great Plains, 17601850". A couple of years after the battle, markers were placed where men were believed to have fallen, so the placement of troops has been roughly construed. You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open these files. [180] The regulation Model 1860 saber or "long knives" were not carried by troopers upon Custer's order. 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. These assumptions were based on inaccurate information provided by the Indian Agents that no more than 800 "hostiles" were in the area. Questions regarding interments at the national cemetery call (406) 638-2621. Fatalities in the 7th Cavalry Regiment during Bighorn (or the Battle of the Greasy Grass to use the winners' term for it) totaled 259. [135] In addition, Captain Frederick Whittaker's 1876 book idealizing Custer was hugely successful. Donovan, 2008, p. 191: "a solid weapon with superior range and stopping power". Mielke . On June 28, 1876, three days after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, survivors of the 7 th U.S. Cavalry under the command of Major Marcus A. Reno began the painful task of burying Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's command. 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. Later, looking from a hill .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}2+12 miles (4km) away after parting with Reno's command, Custer could observe only women preparing for the day, and young boys taking thousands of horses out to graze south of the village. After their celebrations, many of the Natives returned to the reservation. 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. [65], Benteen was hit in the heel of his boot by an Indian bullet. One possibility is that after ordering Reno to charge, Custer continued down Reno Creek to within about a half-mile (800m) of the Little Bighorn, but then turned north and climbed up the bluffs, reaching the same spot to which Reno would soon retreat. The regimental commander, Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis, was on detached duty as the Superintendent of Mounted Recruiting Service and commander of the Cavalry Depot in St. Louis, Missouri,[34] which left Lieutenant Colonel Custer in command of the regiment. As of December 2006, a total of ten warrior markers have been added (three at the RenoBenteen Defense Site and seven on the Little Bighorn Battlefield). The fight continued until dark (approximately 9:00pm) and for much of the next day, with the outcome in doubt. Most of these missing men were left behind in the timber, although many eventually rejoined the detachment. This c. 1895-1899 portrait of A-ca-po-re, a Ute musician, by Charles A. Nast has been misidentified as Mitch Bouyer for nearly 100 years. [67] The great majority of the Indian casualties were probably suffered during this closing segment of the battle, as the soldiers and Indians on Calhoun Ridge were more widely separated and traded fire at greater distances for most of their portion of the battle than did the soldiers and Indians on Custer Hill. On August 8, 1876, after Terry was further reinforced with the 5th Infantry, the expedition moved up Rosebud Creek in pursuit of the Lakota. [65] By this time, roughly 5:25pm,[citation needed] Custer's battle may have concluded. The question of what happened and why the 7th Cavalry lost so many soldiers in comparison to the pointedly less Native American casualties is The total number of Indians killed at the Little Bighorn includes 10 to 20 women and children. When the Crows got news from the battlefield, they went into grief. [147][148][149][150] Custer, valuing the mobility of the 7th Cavalry and recognizing Terry's acknowledgment of the regiment as "the primary strike force" preferred to remain unencumbered by the Gatling guns. Graham, Benteen letter to Capt. Thus, wrote Curtis, "Custer made no attack, the whole movement being a retreat". Flaherty, 1993, p. 208: "By 1873, Indians 'used the traditional bow and arrows and war club along with firearms such as the muzzle-loading Leman rifle, issued as part of treaty agreements, and rapid-fire Henry and Winchester rifles, obtained through civilian traders'. [178][188] Virtually every trooper in the 7th Cavalry fought with the single-shot, breech-loading Springfield carbine and the Colt revolver. ", 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 7th Cavalry was accompanied by a number of scouts and interpreters: Three of Custer's scouts accompanying Edward Curtis on his investigative tour of the battlefield, circa 1907. Lawson, 2007, p. 48: "[Three] rapid-fire artillery pieces known as Gatling guns" were part of Terry's firepower included in the Dakota column. The route taken by Custer to his "Last Stand" remains a subject of debate. This force had been returning from a lateral scouting mission when it had been summoned by Custer's messenger, Italian bugler John Martin (Giovanni Martino) with the handwritten message "Benteen. The Army's coordination and planning began to go awry on June 17, 1876, when Crook's column retreated after the Battle of the Rosebud, just 30 miles (48km) to the southeast of the eventual Little Bighorn battlefield. Custer's scouts also spotted the regimental cooking fires that could be seen from 10mi (16km) away, disclosing the regiment's position. I arrived at the conclusion then, as I have now, that it was a rout, a panic, until the last man was killed That there was no line formed on the battlefield. [166], Historian Robert M. Utley, in a section entitled "Would Gatling Guns Have Saved Custer?" [64] Later, Reno reported that three officers and 29 troopers had been killed during the retreat and subsequent fording of the river. The 12th, Company B under Captain Thomas McDougall, had been assigned to escort the slower pack train carrying provisions and additional ammunition. Modern documentaries suggest that there may not have been a "Last Stand", as traditionally portrayed in popular culture. Figuring out the Indian casualties has been complicated by inconsistencies in their accounts and pictorial depictions . The extent of the soldiers' resistance indicated they had few doubts about their prospects for survival. 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'. Two Moons, a Northern Cheyenne leader, interceded to save their lives.[113]. The Sioux refused the money subsequently offered and continue to insist on their right to occupy the land. According to this theory, by the time Custer realized he was badly outnumbered, it was too late to retreat to the south where Reno and Benteen could have provided assistance. Instead, archaeologists suggest that in the end, Custer's troops were not surrounded but rather overwhelmed by a single charge. [127], Custer believed that the 7th Cavalry could handle any Indian force and that the addition of the four companies of the 2nd would not alter the outcome. 192) to the Indian Appropriations Act of 1876 (enacted August 15, 1876), which cut off all rations for the Sioux until they terminated hostilities and ceded the Black Hills to the United States. [77]:48 They were soon joined by a large force of Sioux who (no longer engaging Reno) rushed down the valley. However, there is evidence that Reno's men did make use of long-range hunting rifles. One 7th Cavalry trooper claimed to have found several stone mallets consisting of a round cobble weighing 810 pounds (about 4kg) with a rawhide handle, which he believed had been used by the Indian women to finish off the wounded. [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. "[110], Marker indicating where General Custer fell among soldiers denoted with black-face, in center of photo, The Lakota had formed a "Strongheart Society" of caretakers and providers for the camp, consisting of men who had demonstrated compassion, generosity and bravery. Riding north along the bluffs, Custer could have descended into Medicine Tail Coulee. The Battle of the Little Bighorn was the subject of an 1879 U.S. Army Court of Inquiry in Chicago, held at Reno's request, during which his conduct was scrutinized. At one point, he led a counterattack to push back Indians who had continued to crawl through the grass closer to the soldier's positions. Hatch, 1997, p. 124: "The controversy results from the known failure of the carbine to [eject] the spent .45-55 caliber cartridge [casings]. The committee temporarily lifted the ceiling on the size of the Army by 2,500 on August 15.[122]. Although the marker for Mitch Bouyer was found accurate through archaeological and forensic testing of remains, it is some 65 yards away from Deep Ravine. [note 11] Several other badly wounded horses were found and killed at the scene. Threatened with forced starvation, the Natives ceded Paha Sapa to the United States,[106]:19697 but the Sioux never accepted the legitimacy of the transaction. On the morning of June 25, Custer divided his 12 companies into three battalions in anticipation of the forthcoming engagement. Hearings on the name change were held in Billings on June 10, 1991, and during the following months Congress renamed the site the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

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