list of soldiers killed at little bighorn

(The gun would eventually upset and injure three men.)" [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. Frederick Benteen. Corrections? Gen. Alfred H. Terry headed west from Fort Abraham Lincoln in charge of the Dakota Column, the bulk of which constituted Custers 7th Cavalry. [65] The detachments were later reinforced by McDougall's Company B and the pack train. In a subsequent official 1879 Army investigation requested by Major Reno, the Reno Board of Inquiry (RCOI), Benteen and Reno's men testified that they heard distinct rifle volleys as late as 4:30pm during the battle. ", Lawson, 2007, pp. Map of Battle of Little Bighorn, Part VII. They blamed the defeat on the Indians' alleged possession of numerous repeating rifles and the overwhelming numerical superiority of the warriors. Frederick W. Benteen to the south to cut off the flight of any Indians in that direction, and took five companies under his personal command to attack the village from the north. 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". 40, 113114. Indian testimony reported that some soldiers threw down their long guns and fought with their short guns. Twenty-three men were called to testify at the inquiry, which met in session daily except Sundays. [105], Oglala Sioux Black Elk recounted the exodus this way: "We fled all night, following the Greasy Grass. [130] By the time the battle began, Custer had already divided his forces into three battalions of differing sizes, of which he kept the largest. After the battle, Thomas Rosser, James O'Kelly, and others continued to question the conduct of Reno due to his hastily ordered retreat. [64] The retreat was immediately disrupted by Cheyenne attacks at close quarters. That horse, Comanche, managed to survive, and for many years it would appear in 7th Cavalry parades, saddled but riderless. The total population of men, woman and children probably reached 6,000 to 7,000 at its peak, with 2,000 of these being able-bodied warriors". And p. 114: Custer told his officer staff days before the battle that he "opted against the Gatling gunsso as not to 'hamper our movements'", Sklenar, 2000, p. 92: Custer "on the evening of 22 June[informed his officer staff]why he had not accepted the offersof Gatling guns (he thought they might hamper his movements at a critical moment). They reviewed Terry's plan calling for Custer's regiment to proceed south along the Rosebud while Terry and Gibbon's united forces would move in a westerly direction toward the Bighorn and Little Bighorn rivers. The troops evidently died in several groups, including on Custer Hill, around Captain Myles Keogh, and strung out towards the Little Bighorn River. WebUnder skies darkened by smoke, gunfire and flying arrows, 210 men of the U.S. Armys 7th Cavalry Unit led by Lt. [119], Cavalrymen and two Indian Government scouts[?]. However, there is evidence that Reno's men did make use of long-range hunting rifles. Taken November 2011. ", Hatch, 1997, p. 124: "How often did this defect [ejector failure] occur and cause the [Springfield carbines] to malfunction on June 25, 1876? Where was the Battle of the Little Bighorn fought? This would be inconsistent with his known right-handedness, but that does not rule out assisted suicide (other native accounts note several soldiers committing suicide near the end of the battle). Hatch, 1997, p. 124: "The controversy results from the known failure of the carbine to [eject] the spent .45-55 caliber cartridge [casings]. [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. The precise details of Custer's fight and his movements before and during the battle are largely conjectural since none of the men who went forward with Custer's battalion (the five companies under his immediate command) survived the battle. "[28] At the same time US military officials were conducting a summer campaign to force the Lakota and the Cheyenne back to their reservations, using infantry and cavalry in a so-called "three-pronged approach". [citation needed]. 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. Connell, 1984, p. 101: "How many Gatling guns lurched across the prairie is uncertain. [note 8], The widowed Elizabeth Bacon Custer, who never remarried, wrote three popular books in which she fiercely protected her husband's reputation. Gen. George Crook's column of ten companies (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I, L, and M) of the 3rd Cavalry, five companies (A, B, D, E, and I) of the 2nd Cavalry, two companies (D and F) of the 4th Infantry, and three companies (C, G, and H) of the 9th Infantry moved north from Fort Fetterman in the Wyoming Territory on May 29, marching toward the Powder River area. Reno and Benteen's wounded troops were given what treatment was available at that time; five later died of their wounds. [67]:240 Other native accounts contradict this understanding, however, and the time element remains a subject of debate. Mitch Boyer, scout and interpreter, who was killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Their use was probably a significant cause of the confusion and panic among the soldiers so widely reported by Native American eyewitnesses. THE DESOLATE RIDGES AND WINDING GULLIES ABOVE THE LITTLE BIGHORN RIVER in south-central Montana provide The 7th Cavalry suffered 52 percent casualties: 16 officers and 242 troopers killed or died of wounds, 1 officer and 51 troopers wounded. In 1908, Edward Curtis, the famed ethnologist and photographer of the Native American Indians, made a detailed personal study of the battle, interviewing many of those who had fought or taken part in it. While investigating the battlefield, Lieutenant General Nelson A. This left about 50-60 men, mostly from F Company and the staff, on Last Stand Hill. 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. Indian accounts describe warriors (including women) running up from the village to wave blankets in order to scare off the soldiers' horses. [65] Behind them he saw through the dust and smoke hills that were oddly red in color; he later learned that this was a massive assemblage of Indian ponies. [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. 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 12th, Company B under Captain Thomas McDougall, had been assigned to escort the slower pack train carrying provisions and additional ammunition. [note 10], Over 120 men and women would come forward over the course of the next 70 years claiming they were "the lone survivor" of Custer's Last Stand. Could this indicate a malfunctioning [carbine] that was discarded and therefore could not have left its marked [pry scratched] casings on the field? For instance, he refused to use a battery of Gatling guns and turned down General Terry's offer of an additional battalion of the 2nd Cavalry. If Gatling guns had made it to the battlefield, they might have allowed Custer enough firepower to allow Custer's companies to survive on Last Stand Hill. In fragmenting his regiment, Custer had left its three main components unable to provide each other support. 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. Jamming caused by black powder residue could lower that rate,[162][163] raising questions as to their reliability under combat conditions. The open circle of the structure is symbolic, as for many tribes, the circle is sacred. Reno graduated 20th in a class of 38 in June 1857. 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. General Nelson A. ", Gallear, 2001: "A study of .45-55 cases found at the battle concludes that extractor failure amounted to less than 0.35% of some 1,751 cases tested the carbine was in fact more reliable than anything that had preceded it in U.S. Army service. To the right of Custer Hill is Wooden Leg Hill, named for a surviving warrior. [116], Indians leaving the Battlefield Plate XLVIII, Six unnamed Native American women and four unnamed children are known to have been killed at the beginning of the battle during Reno's charge. [67]:282. [137], General Alfred Terry's Dakota column included a single battery of artillery, comprising two 3-inch Ordnance rifles and two Gatling guns. While some of the indigenous people eventually agreed to relocate to ever-shrinking reservations, a number of them resisted, sometimes fiercely.[19]. The ratio of troops detached for other duty (approximately 22%) was not unusual for an expedition of this size,[35] and part of the officer shortage was chronic, due to the Army's rigid seniority system: three of the regiment's 12 captains were permanently detached, and two had never served a day with the 7th since their appointment in July 1866. [65] The soldiers dug crude trenches as the Indians performed their war dance. [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. ", Donovan, 2008, p. 175: "Custer refused Terry's offer of the Gatling gun battery. WebGeneral Custer, who was shot through the head and body, seemed to have been among the last to fall and around and near him lay the bodies of Col. Tom and Boston, his brothers, Custer's Last Stand. WebAll soldiers in the five 7th Cavalry Regiment companies personally led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer were killed, and the seven surviving companies suffered [138][139] (According to historian Evan S. Connell, the precise number of Gatlings has not been established: either two or three. Each trooper had 24 rounds for his Colt handgun. 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. 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. [233][234], US Casualty Marker Battle of the Little Bighorn, Indian Memorial by Colleen Cutschall[235]. Sun Bear, "A Cheyenne Old Man", in Marquis, This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 01:53. Custer refused the assistance, and Terry abided by that. It is a time for prayer and personal sacrifice for the community, as well as for making personal vows and resolutions. Custer believed that the Gatling guns would impede his march up the Rosebud and hamper his mobility. Reconstructions of their actions have been formulated using both the accounts of Native American eyewitnesses and sophisticated analysis of archaeological evidence (cartridge cases, bullets, arrowheads, gun fragments, buttons, human bones, etc. The only approach to a line was where 5 or 6 [dead] horses found at equal distances, like skirmishers [part of Lt. Calhoun's Company L]. 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. It was the beginning of the end of the "Indian Wars" and has even been referred to as "the Indians' last stand"[104] in the area. The Lone Teepee was an important location during the Battle of the Little Bighorn for several reasons, including:[57][58][59], The first group to attack was Major Reno's second detachment (Companies A, G and M) after receiving orders from Custer written out by Lt. William W. Cooke, as Custer's Crow scouts reported Sioux tribe members were alerting the village. [210], Soldiers under Custer's direct command were annihilated on the first day of the battle, except for three Crow scouts and several troopers (including John Martin (Giovanni Martino)) who had left that column before the battle; one Crow scout, Curly, was the only survivor to leave after the battle had begun. Ownership of the Black Hills, which had been a focal point of the 1876 conflict, was determined by an ultimatum issued by the Manypenny Commission, according to which the Sioux were required to cede the land to the United States if they wanted the government to continue supplying rations to the reservations. Crook and Terry finally took the field against the Native forces in August. Such weapons were little different from the shock and hand-to-hand weapons, used by the cavalry of the European armies, such as the sabre and lance [in addition] the Indians were clearly armed with a number of sophisticated firearms". ", Gallear, 2001: "The bow's effective range was about 30 yards and was unlikely to kill a man instantly or even knock him off his horse. [46] Fearing that the village would break up into small bands that he would have to chase, Custer began to prepare for an immediate attack. Gallear's analysis dismisses the allegation that rapid depletion of ammunition in lever-action models influenced the decision in favor of the single-shot Springfield. As an evidence of this I recall the three charred and burned heads we picked up in the village near the scene of the big war dance, when we visited the village with Capt. Indian accounts spoke of soldiers' panic-driven flight and suicide by those unwilling to fall captive to the Indians. 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. Plenty Coups Edward Curtis Portrait (c1908). On Custer's decision to advance up the bluffs and descend on the village from the east, Lt. Edward Godfrey of Company K surmised: [Custer] expected to find the squaws and children fleeing to the bluffs on the north, for in no other way do I account for his wide detour. [2], Most battles in the Great Sioux War, including the Battle of the Little Bighorn (14 on the map to the right), "were on lands those Indians had taken from other tribes since 1851". ", Lawson, 2008, p. 53: "Many of the officers and most of the civilians brought along their own weapons. Comanche alone survived. Lawson, 2007, p. 48: "[Three] rapid-fire artillery pieces known as Gatling guns" were part of Terry's firepower included in the Dakota column. Criticism of Custer was not universal. 18761881. With Reno's men anchored on their right by the protection of the tree line and bend in the river, the Indians rode against the center and exposed left end of Reno's line. Either wound would have been fatal, though he appeared to have bled from only the chest wound; some scholars believe his head wound may have been delivered postmortem. "[196][197][198], Gallear points out that lever-action rifles, after a burst of rapid discharge, still required a reloading interlude that lowered their overall rate of fire; Springfield breechloaders "in the long run, had a higher rate of fire, which was sustainable throughout a battle. [29], While the Terry-Gibbon column was marching toward the mouth of the Little Bighorn, on the evening of June 24, Custer's Indian scouts arrived at an overlook known as the Crow's Nest, 14 miles (23km) east of the Little Bighorn River. Nearly 100 years later, ideas about the meaning of the battle have become more inclusive. [207][208][209], Historian Thom Hatch observes that the Model 1873 Springfield, despite the known ejector flaw, remained the standard issue shoulder arm for US troops until the early 1890s. 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