by Thom Hatch
Sully, Alfred
Summit Springs. See Battle of Summit Springs
Sun Dance, Rosebud River Valley
surrender table, Civil War
survivors
Enlisted Men’s Petition scheme
lone
Tall Bull (chief)
Tappan, Samuel F.
Tatanka Yotanka. See also Sitting Bull
taxidermy, Custer, G. A., interest in
Taylor, H. M. (“Muggins”)
Tenting on the Plains or, General Custer in Kansas and Texas (Custer, E.)
Terry, Alfred Howe
background
–Cooke strategy
on Custer, G. A., “disobedience”
–Custer Dakota Column
–Gibbons Column
identifying bodies on Little Bighorn battlefield
June 1876 orders to Custer, G. A.
They-Are-Afraid-of-Her
Thompson, William
Tilford, Joseph G.
total war
Trevilian Station battle
Troop E, mystery of
Trooper Mike
Turf, Field and Farm
Two Kettle
Two Moon
fatal blow to Custer, G. A.
Union Pacific Railroad
Varnum, Charles A.
at Crow’s Nest promontory
Voit, Otto
Wagon Box Fight
Wakova. See Wilson, Jack
Wallace, George (“Nick”)
Washita. See Battle of the Washita
Watts, George
Waynesboro battle
weaponry, Battle of the Little Bighorn
cannon versus Gatling guns
Model 1873 Springfield carbines
Weir, Thomas B.
Weir Point
West, Robert W.
westward expansion
White, Sarah
Whittaker, Frederick
Wichasha Wakan (medicine man)
Wild West Show, Buffalo Bill’s
Wilkinson, E. S.
Wilson, Jack (“Wakova”)
Winchell, Newton
Windolph, Charles
Winter Campaign (1868–69)
women and children
captured
Indian, as POWs
Indian, mourning their dead
Sand Creek massacre of
Wounded Knee massacre of
Wood, W. W.
Wooden Leg
Wounded Knee Massacre
Wright, J. M.
Wynkoop, Edward W.
Yates, George W.
body of
Yellow Bird
Yellow Hair
Yellowstone Expedition (1872–1873)
Young, Pierce M. B.
Cadet George Armstrong Custer, West Point, 1861. (Author’s Collection)
Brevet Maj. Gen. Armstrong Custer, 1865. (Author’s Collection)
Generals Sheridan, Merritt, Custer, Forsyth, and Deven, circa 1864. (Author’s Collection)
Elizabeth “Libbie” Bacon Custer, 1874. (Author’s Collection)
Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 negotiations. Commissioner Gen. Alfred Terry, 2nd from right. Gen. William T. Sherman, 6th from right. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
George Armstrong Custer during the winter campaign of 1868. (Author’s Collection)
George Armstrong Custer and Grand Duke Alexis, 1872. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Custer with the first grizzly he killed, August 1874. From left: Scout Bloody Knife; Custer; Pvt. Noonan; Capt. William Ludlow. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Outing at the Heart River, 1875. From left: 1st Lt. James Calhoun; Mr. Leonard Swett; Capt. Stephen Baker; Boston Custuer; 2nd Lt. Winfield S. Edgerly; Miss Emily Watson; Capt. Myles W. Keogh; Mrs. Margaret Custer Calhoun; Mrs. Elizabeth “Libbie” Custer; Dr. Holmes O. Paulding; Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer; Mrs. Nettie Smith; Dr. George E. Lord; Capt. Thomas B. Weir; 1st Lt. William W. Cooke; 2nd Lt. Richard E. Thompson; Miss Nellie Wadsworth; Miss Emma Wadsworth; 1st Lt. Thomas W. Custer; 1st Lt. Algernon E. Smith. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Lt. Col. George Custer, Circa 1875. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
George and Elizabeth Custer in study at Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory, 1874. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Capt. Myles W. Keogh, wearing his Army dress uniform in 1875, was an Irish soldier of fortune who fought in three wars on three continents and distinguished himself in our Civil War. He first acquired his appreciation for horses and horsemanship when exposed to the flashy Arabians in Northern Africa during the Algerian Conquest of 1859. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Boston Custer (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Capt. Tom Custer, wearing his two Medals of Honor, 1870. (Author’s Collection)
Sioux Sitting Bull, 1881. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Cheyenne Two Moon(s). (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Maj. Marcus A. Reno, 1875. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Sioux chief Gall. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
From left: Sioux Chief American Horse, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, Sioux leader Red Cloud. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Sioux Warrior Rain-in-the-Face. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
1st. Lt. William W. Cooke, 1875. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Capt. Frederick W. Benteen, 1885. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Scout “Lonesome Charley” Reynolds, 1874. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Harry “Autie” Reed (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Capt. Tom Custer (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
1st Lt. James Calhoun (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Painting Custer’s Last Fight by Cassilly Adams, 1885. This painting was later recreated by Otto Becker for a famous advertisement by Anheuser-Busch that adorned saloon walls in the late nineteenth century. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Painting Battle of the Little Big Horn by Cheyenne White Bird. (Courtesy Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument)
Also by Thom Hatch
Glorious War: The Civil War Adventures of George Armstrong Custer
The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Osceola and the Great Seminole War: A Struggle for Justice and Freedom
Encyclopedia of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution
Black Kettle: The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but Found War
The Blue, the Gray, & the Red: Indian Campaigns of the Civil War
The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life of George Armstrong Custer and the Plains Indian Wars
Clashes of Cavalry: The Civil War Careers of George Armstrong Custer and Jeb Stuart
Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn: An Encyclopedia of the People, Places, Events, Indian Culture and Customs, Information Sources, Art and Films
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
THOM HATCH is the author of nine books, including The Last American Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life of George Armstrong Custer and the Plains Indians Wars. A Marine Corps Vietnam veteran and a historian who specializes in the American West, the Civil War, and Native American conflicts, Hatch has received the prestigious Spur Award from the Western Writers of America for his previous work. He lives in Colorado with his wife and daughter.
Visit him online at www.ThomHatch.com.
THE LAST DAYS OF GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER. Copyright © 2015 by Thom Ha
tch. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio
Cover illustrations: Custer © Peter Newark American Pictures/Bridgeman Images; Battle of the Little BigHorn © Bridgeman Images
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Hatch, Thom, 1946–
The last days of George Armstrong Custer: the true story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn / by Thom Hatch.—First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-250-05102-8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-5197-9 (e-book)
1. Little Bighorn, Battle of the, Mont., 1876. 2. Custer, George A. (George Armstrong,) 1839–1876. I. Title.
E83.876.H3713 2015
973.8'2—dc23
2014033624
e-ISBN 9781466851979
First Edition: February 2015