by Thom Hatch
Chapter Eighteen
What Really Happened?
The conclusions contained in this chapter are based on the training, experiences, and observations of the author as a United States Marine Corps Vietnam veteran, as well as his lifelong study of military tactics and history.
Custer’s quote about the difference between training and actual combat can be found in Carroll’s Custer in the Civil War, 101–2.
Chapter Nineteen
Heroes and Villains
The best source for the establishment of the battlefield as a national monument is History of Custer Battlefield, by Don Rickey, Jr. Rickey, a former historian at the battlefield, provides answers to just about every possible question. See also Rickey’s “Myth to Monument: The Establishment of Custer Battlefield National Monument.” For material about the controversial name change, see “Whose Shrine Is It? The Ideological Struggle for Custer Battlefield,” by Utley. Superintendent Baker’s “Attack at Dawn” was reported by The New York Times on June 23, 1996.
Biographical information about the Custer family can be found on the pages of every Custer biography, as well as throughout these notes.
The best book utilizing information from the archaeological digs, a true classic of the battle—although not for beginners—remains Archaeology, History, and Custer’s Last Battle, by Richard Allan Fox. Dr. Fox combines his extensive knowledge of the battle with his expertise in archaeology to present a fascinating, albeit speculative, glimpse into the unfolding of events on June 25, 1876. See also: Archaeological Insights into the Custer Battle: A Preliminary Assessment, by Fox and Scott; Archaeological Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, by Conner, Fox, Harmon, and Scott; They Died with Custer: Soldiers’ Bones from the Battle of the Little Big Horn, by Conner, Scott, and Wiley; and Scott’s Uncovering History: Archaeological Investigations at the Little Bighorn.
There are plenty of sources for the Reno inquiry. Some of the better ones are: Utley’s Reno Court of Inquiry: The Chicago Times Account; The Reno Court of Inquiry: Abstract of the Official Record of Inquiry, by Graham; and The Reno Court of Inquiry, edited by Nichols. Three other helpful sources are Utley’s Custer and the Great Controversy, The Story of the Little Big Horn, by Graham, and “The Reno Court Martial,” Bismarck Tribune, March 21, 1877.
Reno’s side of the story can be found in his “Custer Massacre,” in Americana Magazine. A literary duel between Reno and Custer’s friend Tom Rosser, as well as plenty of other material, can be found in The Custer Myth, edited by Graham.
DeRudio’s statement is in Hardorff’s On the Little Bighorn with Walter, 241.
The letter from Lieutenant Lee to Libbie, which is in the collection at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, has been reprinted in General Custer’s Libbie, by Frost.
The complete story of Benteen and Theodore Goldin can be found in Carroll’s Benteen-Goldin Letters on Custer and His Last Battle. See also The Court Martial of Frederick W. Benteen, Major, 9th Cavalry, or Did General Crook Railroad Benteen?, edited by Carroll.
The list of the men who were awarded Medals of Honor for their action on the hilltop includes:
Company A: Private Neil Bancroft, Private David W. Harris, and Sergeant Stanislas Roy
Company B: Private Thomas J. Callan, Sergeant Benjamin C. Criswell, Private Charles Cunningham, Sergeant Rufus D. Hutchinson, Sergeant Thomas Murray, and Private James Pym
Company C: Sergeant Richard P. Hanley and Private Peter Thompson
Company D: Private Abram B. Brant, blacksmith Frederick Deetline, Private William M. Harris, Private Henry Holden, Private George D. Scott, Private Thomas W. Stivers, Private Frank Tolan, and Private Charles H. Welch
Company G: Private Theodore W. Goldin
Company H: Sergeant George Geiger, blacksmith Henry W. B. Mechlin, Private Otto Voit, and Private Charles Windolph
For the best stories about these heroic men, see: “Account of Edward Pickard,” Oregon Journal; “Custer Battle Water Party,” by Brininstool; Army and Navy Journal (July 15, 1876); Winners of the West (June 24, 1926); “A Survivor’s Story of the Custer Massacre on the American Frontier,” by Adams; and Indian Fights and Fighters, by Brady.
Bibliography
A listing here does not necessarily mean an endorsement of any kind for the credibility of the work; rather, these are publications cited as sources as well as associated material that have assisted in gathering facts and forming observations and opinions. I apologize if I have omitted any material that a writer or a historian has worked so hard to research and publish—which I am sure I unintentionally have—but the bibliography of George Armstrong Custer and the Little Bighorn is perhaps the most voluminous in American history and can at times seem almost unmanageable.
Newspapers and Journals
Army and Navy Journal
Billings Gazette
Bismarck Tribune
Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily Tribune
Chicago Evening Journal
Chicago Tribune
Cincinnati Commercial
Cincinnati Enquirer
Detroit Free Press
Grand Rapids Daily Eagle
Harper’s Weekly
Helena Herald
Inter-Ocean
Minneapolis Tribune
Monroe Commercial
Monroe Democrat
Monroe [MI] Evening News
National Tribune
New York Herald
New York Sun
New York Times
New-York Tribune
New York World
Placerville [CA] Pony Express Courier
St. Louis Democrat
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Sioux City Journal
Toledo Blade
Walla Walla Bulletin
Washington Post
Washington Star
Winners of the West
Government Reports and Publications
Annual Report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1875.
Campbell, Marius, et al. Guidebook of the Western United States; Part A: The Northern Pacific Route. Bulletin 611. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1916.
Kappler, Charles J., comp. Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904–41.
44th Cong., 1st sess., Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 52.
44th Cong., 1st sess., House Exec. Doc. No. 184.
Records of the U.S. Army, Box 16, Division of the Missouri, Special File, RG 393.
Register of Delinquencies, 1856–61, United States Military Academy Archives, West Point, New York.
Regulations for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. New York: John F. Trow, Printer, 1857.
Report of the Expedition to the Black Hills Under Command of Brevet Major General G. A. Custer, 43rd Cong., 2nd sess., Sen. Exec. Doc. 32.
Report of the Secretary of War Communicating, in Compliance with a Resolution of the Senate of February 4, 1867: Copy of Evidence Taken at Denver and Fort Lyon, Colorado by a Military Commission Ordered to Inquire in the Sand Creek Massacre, November 1864.
Report of the Secretary of War, 1876.
“Report on Management of the War Department, Rep. Heister Clymer, Chairman of Committee.” House Reports no. 79, 44th Cong., 1st sess., serial no. 1715 (1876).
Report on the Mineral Wealth, Climate and Rainfall and Natural Resources of the Black Hills of South Dakota, 44th Cong., 1st sess., Exec. Doc. No. 51.
Report on the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1874.
Special Orders, no. 21, U.S. Military Academy Archives.
War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Records. 130 vols. Washington, D.C., 1880–1901.
Collections
Benteen, Frederick W., Collection. University of Georgia Library.
Bonner, Robert. Papers. New York Public Library.
Brininsto
ol, Earl Alonzo, Collection. Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin.
Camp, Walter M., Papers. Denver Public Library.
Camp, Walter M., Papers. Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.
Camp, Walter M., Papers. Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Campbell, Walter Stanley, Collection. Western History Collection, University of Oklahoma, Norman.
Cartwright, R. G., Collection. Phoebe Apperson Hearst Library, Lead, SD.
Custer, Brice C. W. Private Collection.
Custer File and Scrapbooks. Montana Room, Billings Public Library, Billings, MT.
Custer, Elizabeth, Collection. Detroit Public Library.
Custer, Elizabeth B., Collection. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Crow Agency. MT.
Custer, George Armstrong, Collection. Monroe County Library System, Monroe, MI.
Frost, Lawrence A., Collection. Monroe County Historical Museum, Monroe, MI.
Ghent, William J., Papers. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Godfrey, Edward S., Papers. U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle, PA.
Grinnell, George Bird, Papers. Braun Research Library, Institute for the Study of the American West, Autry National Center, Los Angeles, CA.
Hagner, Francis R., Collection. New York Public Library.
Hein, Louis, Collection. Special Collections Division, Georgetown University Library, Washington, D.C.
Kellogg Collection. North Dakota State Historical Society.
Kuhlman, Charles, Collection. Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.
McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY.
Merington, Marguerite, Papers. New York Public Library.
National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Order of the Indian Wars Papers. U.S. Military History Institute, Carlisle, PA.
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Public Museum.
Ricker, Eli, Collection. Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln.
Smith, Nettie Brown, Collection. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Terry Family Collection. Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Van de Water, Frederic, Papers. New York Public Library.
Wyoming State Archives, Cheyenne.
Periodicals
Adams, Jacob. “A Survivor’s Story of the Custer Massacre on the American Frontier.” Journal of American History 3 (1909).
Aiken, Will. “A New Story of Custer’s Last Stand, by the Messenger Boy Who Survived.” Montana Historical Society Contributions 4 (1923).
Aimore, Alan. “U.S. Military Academy Civil War Sources and Statistics.” Military Collector and Historian 54, no. 3 (Fall 2002).
Alfield, Philip L. “Major Reno and His Family in Illinois.” English Westerners’ Brand Book, July 1971.
Allison, E. H. “Surrender of Sitting Bull.” South Dakota Historical Quarterly 6 (1912).
Ambrose, Stephen E. “Sidesaddle Soldier: Libbie Custer’s Partnership in Glory.” Timeline 7 (August–September 1990).
Anderson, Harry H. “Cheyennes at the Little Bighorn: A Study in Statistics.” North Dakota History 27, no. 3 (Summer 1960).
———. “Indian Peace Talkers and the Conclusion of the Sioux War of 1876.” Nebraska History, December 1963.
Anderson, Ian. “Sitting Bull and the Mounties.” Wild West, February 1998.
Arnold, Steve. “Cooke’s Scrawled Note: Last Word from a Doomed Command.” Greasy Grass 14 (May 1998).
Athearn, Robert G. “War Paint Against Brass.” Montana 6, no. 3 (July 1956).
Bailey, Edward C. “Echoes from Custer’s Last Fight.” Military Affairs 17, no. 4 (1953).
Baird, Andrew T. “Into the Valley Rode the Six Hundred: The 7th Cavalry and the Battle of the Little Bighorn.” Vulcan Historical Review 4 (Spring 2000).
Barnard, Sandy. “Custer’s Burial Revisited: West Point, 1877.” 6th Annual Symposium Custer Battlefield Historical & Museum Association, 1992.
Barnett, Louise. “Powder River.” Greasy Grass 16 (May 2000).
Bates, Colonel Charles Francis. “The Red Men and the Black Hills.” Outlook, July 27, 1927.
Beardsley, J. L. “Could Custer Have Won?” Outdoor Life 71, no. 3 (March 1933).
Beck, Paul. “Military Officers’ Views of Indian Scouts.” Military History of the West 23, no. 1 (Spring 1993).
Benham, D. J. “The Sioux Warrior’s Revenge.” Canadian Magazine 43 (September 1914).
Braatz, Timothy. “Clash of Cultures as Euphemism: Avoiding History at the Little Bighorn.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 28, no. 4 (2004).
Brackett, William S. “Custer’s Last Battle on the Little Big Horn in Montana, June 25, 1876.” Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 4 (1903).
Braden, Charles. “An Incident of the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873.” Journal of the United States Cavalry Association 15, no. 54 (October 1904).
———. “The Yellowstone Expedition of 1873.” Journal of the United States Cavalry Association 16 (October 1905).
Bradley, James H. “Journal of the Sioux Campaign of 1876 Under the Command of General John Gibbon.” Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 4 (1903).
Brady, Cyrus T. “Captain Yates’ Capture of Rain-in-the-Face.” The Teepee Book. Sheridan, WY: June 1916.
Bray, Kingsley M. “Teton Sioux Population History, 1655–1881.” Nebraska History 75, no. 2 (Summer 1994).
Briggs, Harold E. “The Black Hills Gold Rush.” North Dakota Historical Quarterly 5, no. 2 (January 1931).
Brigham, Eric. “Custer’s Last Meeting with Secretary of War Belknap at Fort Abraham Lincoln.” North Dakota History, August 1952.
Brininstool, E. A. “Charley Reynolds, Hunter & Scout.” North Dakota Historical Quarterly, July 1930.
———. “Chief Crazy Horse, His Career and Death.” Nebraska History 12, no. 1 (January–March 1929).
———. “Custer Battle Water Party.” Hunter-Trader-Trapper 65 (August 1932).
———. “Unwritten Seventh Cavalry History.” Middle Border Bulletin (Spring 1945).
———. “Was There a Custer Survivor?” Hunter-Trader-Trapper, April 1922.
———. “With Reno at the Little Big Horn.” Hunter-Trader-Trapper, March, April 1924.
Britt, Albert. “Custer’s Last Fight.” Pacific Historical Review 13, no. 1 (March 1944).
Broome, Jeff. “In Memory of Lt. James Sturgis.” Guidon 3, no. 3 (June 2000).
Brown, Jerold E. “Custer’s Vision.” In Studies in Battle Command. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
Brust, James. “Lt. Oscar Long’s Early Map Details Terrain, Battle Positions.” Greasy Grass 11 (May 1995).
Buecker, Thomas R. “Frederic S. Calhoun: A Little-Known Member of the Custer Clique.” Greasy Grass 10 (May 1994).
Bulkley, John M. “As a Classmate Saw Custer.” New York Evening Post, May 28, 1910.
Burrows, Jack. “From Bull Run to Little Big Horn.” American West 5, no. 2 (March 1968).
Calloway, Colin G. “The Intertribal Balance of Power on the Great Plains, 1760–1850.” Journal of American Studies 16 (1982).
Campsey, William M. “Intuitive Vision Versus Practical Realities: Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.” In Studies in Battle Command. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
Carroll, John M. “The Man Who Killed Crazy Horse.” Old West 27, no. 4 (Summer 1991).
——— and Robert Aldrich. “Some Custer and Little Big Horn Facts to Ponder.” English Westerners’ Society Tally Sheet 40, no. 3 (Summer 1994).
Cecil, Jerry. “Lt. Crittenden: Striving for the Soldier’s Life.” Greasy Grass 11 (May 1995).
Chamberlain, Pierce. “The Army’s Search for a Repeating Rifle.” Military Affairs 32 (1968).
Church, Rober
t. “Did Custer Believe His Scouts?” 5th Annual Symposium, Custer Battlefield Historical & Museum Association, 1991.
Collin, Richard E. “Bloody Knife: Custer’s Favorite Scout.” Greasy Grass 13 (May 1997).
Couglan, Colonel T. M. “The Battle of the Little Big Horn: A Tactical Study.” Cavalry Journal 43, no. 181 (January–February 1934).
Crackel, Theodore J. “Custer’s Kentucky: General George Armstrong Custer and Elizabethtown, Kentucky, 1871–73.” Filson Club Historical Quarterly 48 (April 1974).
Craig, Reginald S. “Custer on the Washita.” Brand Book of the Denver Westerners 10 (1965).
Custer, Elizabeth Bacon. “Custer’s Favorite Photo of Himself.” Tepee Book 1 (July 1916).
———. “General Custer and the Indian Chiefs,” Outlook Magazine, July 1927.
———. “The General Custer Statue.” Michigan Historical Commission Historical Collection 39 (1915).
———. “Home Making in the American Army.” Harper’s Bazaar, September 1900.
———. “An Out-of-the-Way ‘Outing.’” Harper’s Weekly, July 18, 1891.
———. “‘Where the Heart Is’: A Sketch of Women’s Life on the Frontier,” Lippincott’s Magazine, February 1900.
———. and John Manion. “Custer, Cody and the Grand Duke Alexis.” Research Review: The Journal of the Little Bighorn Associates 4 (January 1990).
Custer, George Armstrong. “Battling with the Sioux on the Yellowstone.” Galaxy 22 (July 1876).
“Custer’s Battle from the Indian Viewpoint.” American Indian Journal 1 (1929).
Daubenmier, Judy. “Empty Saddles: Desertion from the Dashing U.S. Cavalry.” Montana 54, no. 3 (Autumn 2004).
Davis, Theodore R. “A Summer on the Plains.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 36 (February 1868).
D’Elia, J. “The Argument over Civilian or Military Indian Control, 1865–1880.” The Historian 24, (February 1962).
Deming, Edwin Willard. “Custer’s Last Stand.” Mentor, July 1926.
DeRudio, Carlo. “My Personal Story.” Frontier and Midland Magazine. Missoula: Montana State University, January 1934.