The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer

by Thom Hatch

  Chapter Five

  Battling Sioux in Yellowstone Country

  The incident between Tom Custer and Wild Bill is related by O’Conner in his Wild Bill Hickok and also in an article titled “Tom Custer: In the Shadow of His Brother,” by Reedstrom.

  Bird’s biography, In His Brother’s Shadow: The Life of Thomas Ward Custer, provides an evenhanded depiction of Tom’s event-filled life.

  Henry Capehart’s quote about Tom’s bravery can be found in my Glorious War, 297.

  A detailed account of Custer’s investment venture and his New York socializing can be found in General Custer’s Libbie, by Frost. Correspondence about the subject between and by Custer and Libbie has been reprinted in The Custer Story, by Merington. Another notable source is Utley’s Cavalier in Buckskin, which suggests that some of Custer’s practices in promoting the mine, although common for the time, were less than honorable.

  Between 1867 and 1875, Custer—under the pseudonym Nomad—wrote fifteen letters describing his adventures with horses, hounds, and hunting, which were published in Turf, Field and Farm. Five of these stories relate to his experiences in Kentucky. The entire collection has been published with informative anecdotes by editor Brian W. Dippie in a book titled Nomad. A chapter in Frost’s General Custer’s Libbie has been dedicated to the Custers’ rather uneventful stay in Kentucky. Other notable sources include: General Custer’s Thoroughbreds: Racing, Riding, Hunting, and Fighting, by Frost; “The Two-Year Residence of General George A. Custer in Kentucky,” by McMurtry; and “Custer’s Kentucky: General George Armstrong Custer and Elizabethtown, Kentucky, 1871–73,” by Crackel.

  John Burkman’s biography, Old Neutriment, by Wagner was based for the most part on Burkman’s reminiscences. His memories provide an excellent, if not emotional, insight into the personal life of the Custers and associated events from the viewpoint of an enlisted man who happened to be a hero worshiper of Custer. Libbie Custer also pays tribute to Burkman in her Boots and Saddles.

  The best account of the Grand Duke’s entire U.S. visit, which was compiled from newspaper stories, can be found in The Grand Duke Alexis in the United States, by Tucker and Dykes. An excerpt from Libbie Custer’s diary can be found in The Custer Story, by Merington. Two versions by participants are Cody’s The Life of Hon. William F. Cody, Known as Buffalo Bill, and “A Royal Buffalo Hunt” by Hadley, a scout who also had been an officer in the Nineteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry during the Winter Campaign of 1868–69. “Custer, Cody and the Grand Duke Alexis” by Elizabeth Bacon Custer and John Manion, is also entertaining.

  The text of the letter written to Custer by Jimmy Calhoun can be found in Merington’s Custer Story, 236–37.

  The politics of the Union Pacific Railroad are vividly portrayed in Kuberkin’s Jay Cooke’s Gamble: The Northern Pacific Railroad, the Sioux, and the Panic of 1873. Excellent sources about the railroad at that time for the casual reader are Penny-an-Acre Empire in the West, by Stewart, and Guidebook of the Western United States; Part A: The Northern Pacific Route, by Campbell, et al. Information and documents pertaining to the Northern Pacific are also contained in the collection of the Minnesota Historical Society.

  Stanley covers the scope of his military career in his Personal Memoirs of Major-General D. S. Stanley, U.S.A. The appendix of this book includes extracts from Stanley’s letters to his wife during the Yellowstone Expedition, which conveys his low opinion of Custer, as well as his official report: Report on the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873. Custer’s vacillating opinion of Stanley can be found in his correspondence with Libbie in Merington’s Custer Story. More about the Stanley–Hazen feud can be found in Great Plains Command, by Kroeker and Phil Sheridan and His Army, by Hutton.

  Informative references about George Yates are “Colonel George W. Yates,” by Annie Roberts Yates; “George Yates: Captain of the Band Box Troop,” by Pohanka; and A Summer on the Plains, by Pohanka.

  The best biography of Tom Rosser is Fightin’ Tom Rosser, C.S.A., by Bushong and McKain. My Glorious War contains detailed accounts of those times Custer and Rosser met on the Civil War battlefield. Rosser and Custer on the Yellowstone Expedition, in addition to biographical material on Rosser, are covered in Custer’s 7th Cav and the Campaign of 1873, by Frost.

  Custer’s article “Battling with the Sioux on the Yellowstone,” which includes the quote about Rosser, can be found in the July 1876 issue of Galaxy reprinted in The Custer Reader, edited by Hutton.

  There has been some question regarding the identity of the Lakota Sioux Indians who attacked Custer’s cavalry in the engagements of August 4 and 11, 1873. There are those, including author Stephen Ambrose in Crazy Horse and Custer supported by Mari Sandoz in her Crazy Horse, who have written that famed warrior Crazy Horse and medicine man Sitting Bull probably participated in at least the first, if not both skirmishes. The tactics employed in that initial skirmish on August 4 certainly resembled those that Crazy Horse had first displayed to the white man during Red Cloud’s War. One piece of evidence that may point to Sitting Bull having a hand in the attacks was the presence of Frank Grouard with the Sioux. This future army scout whose treachery indirectly contributed to the death of Crazy Horse at that time was known to have been a member of Sitting Bull’s family by adoption.

  Custer noted in his report that was reprinted in his wife’s book Boots and Saddles: “The Indians were made up of different bands of Sioux, principally Uncpapas [sic], the whole under command of ‘Sitting Bull,’ who participated in the fight, and who for once has been taught a lesson he will not soon forget.”

  Custer, however, does not repeat that assertion in his article “Battling with the Sioux on the Yellowstone.” It would seem odd that Custer did not mention Sitting Bull or Crazy Horse, if indeed these by then famous warriors had participated.

  Also, another article reprinted in Hutton’s Custer Reader, “Expedition to the Yellowstone River in 1873: Letters of a Young Cavalry Officer” by Larned, a Seventh Cavalry officer who was a member of the expedition, failed to name any of the Indians who attacked the cavalry.

  Custer scholar Frost in his Custer’s 7th Cav and the Campaign of 1873 related the Indian fights without identifying any of the Sioux participants. In his notes, however, Frost quotes Colonel David Stanley as stating that upon the colonel’s arrival at Fort Sully he spoke to a man named Antoine Clement who had learned from a Sioux chief named Little White Swan that the leaders in the attacks were Red Ears’ son, a Brulé, and Bull Without Hair, a Miniconju.

  In the absence of definitive sources, perhaps the romantic view that the eyes of Custer and Crazy Horse had briefly danced together in prelude to their meeting at the Little Bighorn—as Ambrose suggests—adds to the drama and creates a more stirring picture of those two battles on the Yellowstone.

  The best account of Bloody Knife’s life is Bloody Knife: Custer’s Favorite Scout, by Innis. Other notable works include: “Bloody Knife,” by Collin, and “Bloody Knife, Ree Scout for Custer,” by Gray, and for Bloody Knife’s controversy with Chief Gall see “Bloody Knife and Gall” by Taylor.

  The best accounts of the life and death and usefulness of the American bison can be found in The Buffalo: The Story of American Bison and Their Hunters from Prehistoric Times to the Present, by Haines; “Bison Ecology and Bison Diplomacy: The Southern Plains from 1800 to 1850,” by Flores; The Buffalo Hunters, by Mari Sandoz; The Buffalo Book, by Dary; and “Indians as Buffalo Hunters,” by Rister.

  The best source in the rather lean bibliography of the Yellowstone Expedition is Custer’s 7th Cav and the Campaign of 1873, by Frost. Another interesting source, which provides excerpts from fifteen of Custer’s letters to his wife, is The Custer Story, by Merington. For Libbie’s personal account and a reprint of Custer’s official report see her Boots and Saddles. One other source of note is “The Yellowstone Expedition of 1873.” For the role of steamboats on this expedition, see “Steamboats on the Yellowstone” by Lass.

  Chapter Six


  Black Hills, Red Spirits

  The best account of the Custers’ life at Fort Abraham Lincoln can be found in Libbie’s Boots and Saddles or, Life in Dakota with General Custer. Another interesting source is chapter 24 in General Custer’s Libbie, by Frost. Also see Custer’s Seventh Cavalry Comes to Dakota, by Darling.

  Excellent sources for the arrival and domination of the Lakota Sioux in the Black Hills area can be found in Red Cloud’s Folk, by Hyde; Spotted Tail’s Folk, by Hyde; The Sioux: Life and Customs of a Warrior Society, by Hassrick; and “The Intertribal Balance of Power on the Great Plains, 1760–1850,” by Calloway.

  The best source for the complete history of the fight over the Black Hills by the Lakota Sioux is Black Hills/White Justice, by Lazarus.

  Text of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 (from U.S. Statutes at Large, vol. 15, 635–40) can be found in Custer’s Gold, by Jackson, and in volume 2 of Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, compiled by Kappler.

  An excellent account of the treaty and its aftermath based on Indian and white sources is Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem, by Olson. Also see Fort Laramie in 1876: Chronicle of a Frontier Post at War, by Hedren; Phil Sheridan and His Army, by Hutton; and Frontier Regulars, by Utley.

  The best sources for Red Cloud’s War include: Red Cloud’s Folk, by Hyde; Fort Phil Kearny: An American Saga, by Brown; The Bozeman Trail: Historical Accounts of the Blazing of the Overland Route into the Northwest and the Fights with Red Cloud’s Warriors, by Brininstool and Hebard; The Fetterman Massacre, by Brown; Indian Fights and Fighters, by Brady; Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem, by Olson; Indian Fights, by Vaughn; and My Army Life and the Fort Phil Kearny Massacre, by Carrington.

  Sherman’s defense of entry into the Black Hills is in Jackson’s Custer’s Gold, 24; Barrows’ quote is in the same volume, 76; McKay’s quote can be found in my Custer Companion, 146.

  Custer’s fame as a dead-eyed marksman in large part can be attributed to his own considerable promotion. His articles in Galaxy and the sportsman’s journal Turf, Field and Farm record many memorable hunts and days spent with thoroughbred horses in Kentucky. The Galaxy articles were compiled into Custer’s book, My Life on the Plains, which brought his exploits to the general public. The Turf, Field and Farm articles have been reprinted in Nomad, edited by Dippie.

  For other interesting portrayals of Custer’s sporting life, see: General Custer’s Thoroughbreds: Racing, Riding, Hunting, and Fighting, by Frost; “Buffalo Hunting with Custer,” by Talmadge; and “Big Game Hunting with the Custers,” by Millbrook. Many of Custer’s hunts and observations are noted by his wife in her three books: Boots and Saddles, Tenting on the Plains, and Following the Guidon. John Burkman’s recollections about tending Custer’s hounds can be found in Old Neutriment, by Wagner.

  Custer’s quote about hunting can be found in Merington’s Custer Story, 274–75. His dispatch to Sheridan about finding gold is in Jackson’s Custer’s Gold, 87–88.

  Biographical material about Boston Custer comes from the various biographies of his famous brother. His obituary appeared in the January 11, 1878, edition of The Monroe Commercial. Boston’s letter to his mother has been reprinted in Graham’s Custer Myth.

  George Bird Grinnell’s descriptive books and articles about the Cheyenne, Pawnee, and Blackfoot remain excellent sources of information. Most notable are The Cheyenne Indians and The Fighting Cheyennes.

  Notable books and articles about Charley Reynolds include: the definitive biography Charley Reynolds: Soldier, Hunter, Scout and Guide, by John E. and George J. Remsburg; “Charley Reynolds, Hunter & Scout,” by Brininstool; “On the Trail of Lonesome Charley Reynolds,” by Gray; and Gray’s “Last Rites for Lonesome Charley Reynolds.” George Bird Grinnell’s account of Reynolds and the pronghorn antelope can be found in Grinnell’s “The Return of a War Party: Reminiscences of Charley Reynolds.”

  Reynolds’ diary, with entries from May 17 to June 22, 1876, is in the archives of the Minnesota State Historical Society, St. Paul. The text of the diary can be found in Koury’s Diaries of the Little Big Horn.

  The best account of the Black Hills Expedition, which provides an excellent overview with interesting anecdotes, is Custer’s Gold: The United States Cavalry Expedition of 1874, by Jackson. Newspaper coverage, Custer’s reports, and journals maintained by Forsyth and Grant can be found in Prelude to Glory, by Krause and Olson. For Custer’s official report see 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.

  Diaries of two military participants—one officer and one enlisted—are: With Custer in ’74: James Calhoun’s Diary of the Black Hills Expedition, edited by Frost, and Private Theodore Ewert’s Diary of the Black Hills Expedition of 1874, edited by Carroll and Frost.

  The journal of Theodore Ewert, who was serving as Custer’s orderly trumpeter, is especially notable. His record of events provides interesting and relevant information not available in official reports or articles submitted by correspondents. His descriptions of the daily routine include amusing observations and complaints that have been expressed by enlisted men throughout military history. He also had the freedom to state opinions that may have been contrary to those of his superiors, the public, and the mainstream press. Ewert was discharged from the army on April 10, 1876, and therefore did not march with the Seventh Cavalry to the Little Bighorn. Many excerpts from Ewert’s journal can be found in Custer’s Gold, by Jackson.

  Another participant’s view is in The Passing of the Great West: Selected Papers of George Bird Grinnell, edited by Reiger.

  For a modern-day photographic reconstruction of Custer’s route, see Following Custer, by Progulske and Shideler.

  Also valuable are: Gold in the Black Hills, by Parker; “The Red Man and the Black Hills,” by Bates; and “The Black Hills Expedition of 1874,” by Gerber.

  Chapter Seven

  Prelude to War

  Plenty of sources where Custer’s writing skills can be viewed have been documented in previous chapters. Other works by Custer—personal letters, orders, et cetera—can be found in collections at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument; University of Michigan; Monroe, Michigan County Library System; Monroe County Historical and Museum Association; New York Public Library; Rochester, New York Public Library; U.S. Army Military History Institute; U.S. Military Academy at West Point; and Yale University.

  The Custer-Hazen feud is covered in Penny-an-Acre Empire in the West, edited by Stewart; Great Plains Command: William B. Hazen in the Frontier West, by Kroeker; “Deceit About the Garden: Hazen, Custer, and the Arid Lands Controversy,” by Kroeker; and “A Short Evaluation of the Custer-Hazen Debates” in 4 On Custer by Carroll. Excerpts of letters written by Hazen and Custer—as well as others involved—are contained in Custer’s 7th Cav and the Campaign of 1873, by Frost. Rosser’s letter of February 16, 1874, which requests that Custer respond to Hazen, is in the Elizabeth B. Custer Collection, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

  Custer’s close relationship with the railroads can be found in “Fort Desolation: The Military Establishment, the Railroad, and the Settlement on the Northern Plains,” by Hutton.

  Hazen’s “Some Corrections of ‘Life on the Plains’” and Custer’s opinion of Hazen can be found in My Life on the Plains. An attack on Hazen’s position, Major General Hazen on His Post of Duty in the Great American Desert, was written by former U.S. Surveyor General John O. Sargeant.

  The most complete account of Rain-in-the-Face’s arrest and escape can be found in Custer’s 7th Cav and the Campaign of 1873, by Frost. Various versions of the event attributed to Rain-in-the-Face are in “Rain-in-the-Face: The Story of a Sioux Warrior,” by Eastman; “The Personal Story of Rain-in-the-Face,” by Brady; “Custer and Rain in the Face,” by Huggins, and “Captain Yates’ Capture of Rain-in-the-Face,” by Brady.

  Thomas “Tucker” French is the subject of “A Captain of Chivalric Courage,” by Joh
nson and articles in two newspapers: “The Man in Buckskin” in The Bismarck Tribune, April 11, 1877, and “Tracking a Custer Indian Fighter” in The Washington Post, March 27, 1980. A letter he wrote to the wife of Dr. A. H. Cooke has been reprinted in The Custer Myth, edited by Graham.

  Every book about the Apache Wars in Arizona contains biographical material about George Crook. An entertaining autobiography is General George Crook: His Autobiography. His Civil War career is chronicled in Magid’s George Crook: From the Redwoods to Appomattox. A well-balanced account of his Western adventures can be found in Robinson’s General Crook and the Western Frontier. Stories from an unabashed admirer who served as Crook’s aide for sixteen years yet offers a fair account of the general’s service in Arizona, Wyoming, and Montana are in On the Border with Crook, by John G. Bourke.

  Walter P. Jenny’s Report on the Mineral Wealth, Climate and Rainfall and Natural Resources of the Black Hills of South Dakota, which covers his 1875 expedition, can be found in 44th Cong., 1st sess., Exec. Doc. 51.

  The best sources for the Allison Commission’s attempt to purchase the Black Hills and ensuing events leading to hostilities include: Allison’s report: Annual Report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1875; Red Cloud’s Folk and Spotted Tail’s Folk, by Hyde; A History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians, by Robinson; and “The Majors and the Miners: The Role of the U.S. Army in the Black Hills Gold Rush,” by Parker.

  President Grant’s edict of December 6, 1875, to the Lakota Sioux in the unceded territory is contained in Report of the Secretary of War, 1876. Instructions to the various Indian agents have been printed in 44th Cong., 1st sess., Sen. Exec. Doc. No. 52, pp. 5–6, and 44th Cong., 1st sess., House Exec. Doc. No. 184.

  The complex political intrigue and struggle over the direction of the country’s reaction to the “Indian Problem” has a number of valuable sources, including: “The Celebrated Peace Policy of General Grant,” by Utley; “Indian Fighters and Indian Reformers: Grant’s Indian Peace Policy and the Conservative Consensus,” by Levine; “The Argument over Civilian or Military Indian Control, 1865–1880,” by D’Elia; Military and United States Indian Policy, 1865–1903, by Wooster; and Prucha’s Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians and his American Indian Policy in Crisis: Christian Reformers and the Indian, 1865–1900.