GREASY GRASS - Chapter Five

 

I believe that around 4:30 pm, Saturday, 25 June, 1876, after pausing briefly at the bottom of the Medicine Trail Coulee, head scout Mitch Bouyer, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and German born "C" company bugler Henry Dose, all began crossing the Minniconjou Ford (above) of the Little Big Horn river, together.  About midstream, Private Dose was shot and killed by a musket fired by the Cheyenne warrior Bobtail Horse.

Next to him the Sioux warrior White Bull aimed at the second soldier, who was “...riding a fine looking horse, a sorrel with...four white stockings."  White Bull pulled the trigger and that soldier fell into the river. “They all reined up their horses and gathered around where he had fallen....By this time the air was getting thick with gun smoke and it was hard to see...When it cleared a little I saw...Some of them got off their horses...and seemed to be dragging something out of the water, while others soldiers still on horseback kept shooting at us.”

Before the black powder smoke obscured the scene another witness saw soldiers fall while crossing the river. He was the young Crow scout Curley (above), who was watching from the bluffs above. Telling his story years before and miles apart from White Bull, Curley said one of the men who was shot crossing the river was ridding a sorrel horse with white stockings. 

And that day the only officer, scout or trooper who was riding a sorrel horse with four white leggings (above)  was George Armstrong Custer.

According to several witnesses who helped recover his body two days after the battle, Custer had received a gunshot wound in his left chest "near the heart".  Assuming the bullet missed that vital organ, it would have caused a massive spontaneous pneumothorax (above) - damaging his rib cage before puncturing the upper lobe of his left lung and leaving behind a sucking chest wound.  

Air and blood filled the chest space outside his now deflated lung causing intense pain, rapid and continuing blood loss and the inability to draw a deep breath. Custer was probably conscious, but would be unable to communicate coherently.

Lieutenant William Winer Cooke (above) was probably the first officer to reach Custer's side, and with the help of enlisted men they would have lifted Custer and thrown him across the back of his horse.

They lead the animal away from the river and up the first escape route which presented itself - not the Medicine Trail Coulee, which angled southward, back the way the regiment had come, but to the right, northward (above, left), away from the rest of the regiment, up what is now called the Long Coulee.

Captain Myles Walter Keogh (above), leading the 3 companies directly behind Custer, threw "C" and "I" companies into skirmish line to hold off the warriors with their carbines, while  "L" company followed Custer's body up the Long Coulee.  But this skirmish line, like Reno's earlier, did not and could not hold for long.

"Suddenly we heard war cries behind us", continued White Bull.  "I looked back and saw hundreds of Lakotas and (Cheyenne)  warriors charging toward us....The soldiers must have seen them too, for they fell back to the far bank of the river, and those still on horseback got off to fight on foot. As warriors rode up to join us...a big cry went up.  Hoka hey!" the Lakotas were shouting. "They are going!" I saw this was true. The soldiers were running back up the coulee and swarming out over the higher ground to the north."

As the skirmish line fell apart, Lieutenant James Calhoun (above), along with his second in command, 

...20 year old 2nd Lieutenant John Jordan Crittenden (above), lead the 34 men of "L" company back up Medicine Trail Coulee, chased closely by warriors all the way.  At the top of drainage, and finding that his men were isolated,  Crittenden tried  to form a defense, dismounting on a height later named Calhoun Ridge. Crittenden was naturally hindered by his glass eye, the result of a shot gun injury years earlier. Warriors were able to stamped the troop's horses, leaving the men on foot in the very center of the now sprawling battlefield.

Among the warriors who swarmed up Medicine Trail Coulee in pursuit was the 28 year old Cheyenne warrior Two Moon (above). He recalled, “The shooting was quick, quick. Pop—pop—pop very fast. Some of the soldiers were down on their knees, some standing. Officers all in front. The smoke was like a great cloud, and everywhere the Sioux went the dust rose like smoke....”

A 22 year old Southern Cheyenne girl, Antelope Woman, later named Kate Big Head, was singing war songs in the Cheyenne camp, in support of her brother, White Bull. Then she learned that her nephew, Noisy Walking,  had been wounded in the fight across the river. Grabbing a horse she galloped up the right drainage, Medicine Trail Coulee.  At the top she found “The soldiers had lined themselves out on a long ridge.” 

She later told an interviewer, while the Indians, “...hid themselves crawling forward...gradually creeping closer...by following the gullies or dodging from knoll to knoll...within a few minutes there were many hundreds of warriors wriggling along the gullies all around the soldiers...their saddled horses standing near them showing all of the warriors where the white men were.”

Moving around, searching for her nephew, Antelope Woman saw, "The soldier horses got scared and all of them broke loose and ran toward the river." Abandoned of their means of escape she saw the soldiers begin to use their last pistol shots to end their own lives. "Right away," she said, "all of them began shooting themselves or shooting each other....For a short time the Indians just stayed where they were and watched. Then they rushed forward. But not many of them got to strike coup blows on living enemies."

Not seeing her nephew, Antelope Woman turned north, crossing what was later called Keogh Ridge. But the fight there was already over,  all the soldiers dead. So she pushed on until she reached "Last Stand Hill". There she observed, "The Indians were crowded on the (northern) side of the ridge along it's two sides.  I followed, but keeping myself back so I would not be hit by a bullet. I stopped and looked over a little hill and watched a band of soldiers on the ground at the norther slope of the ridge"

The same destruction which had been brought to Lieutenant  Crittenden and Captain Keogh's commands now befell the last group of soldiers who had followed Custer to the river ford. The loss of their leader had dissolved the unit cohesion. Isolated, and bewildered, the last of the men under Custer were surrounded, picked off and killed. They had stripped his chest, looking to tend his chest wound, but it had done no good. He might have been already dead when someone, probably Lieutenant Cooke, whose body was found beside Custer, put a bullet in Yellow Hair's brain, to save him the agony if the Sioux or Cheyenne had reached him first.    

"At the time there must have been hundreds of warriors for every white man," remembered Antelope .Woman.  "The shots kept coming from the place where the soldiers were lying behind their dead horses. All the Indians jumped up and ran forward...But there were seven of the White men who sprang to their feet and went running toward the river (Deep Ravine),...There was such a rush and mix up that it seemed the whole world had gone wild."

Two Moon saw the last of them. "One man all alone ran far down toward the river...I thought he was going to escape, but a Sioux fired and hit him in the head. He was the last man. He wore a braid on his arms."  It meant that he was an noncommissioned officer.

As did many other warriors, White Bull went among the dead soldiers, looking for ammunition. On the top of the ridge he found a naked white man's body. He turned the corpse over and recognized him as the soldier on the sorrel horse he had shot at the river.  "I remembered how close some of his bullets had come, so I thought I would take the medicine of his trigger finger to make me an even better shot. Taking out my knife. I began to cut off that finger." But a woman's voice stopped him. She said, "He is our relative."

It was the attractive young Cheyenne woman  Mona Setah (above) , whom White Bull had been courting.  She had brought her 7 year old son to this butcher ground. His name was Yellow Hair, for the blond highlights in his rich black mane. Seven years earlier Mona Setah had been taken captive at the battle of the Washita, and during the slow march north she had been raped by George Armstrong Custer.  That fall she had given birth to her boy.  It was Custer's body which lay naked before them at that moment.  While White Bull watched Mona Setah's  mother shoved a sewing awl deep into each of Custer's ears, "So Long Hair will hear better in the spirit land."  And, said White Bull, "That was the first I knew that Long Hair was the soldier chief...I shot at the ford."

It was now approaching 5:30pm.  In less than an hour of fighting 210 soldiers under the direct command of George Armstrong Custer had been killed.  At most one, or perhaps two white men escaped.  As heartbreaking as the loss of so many soldiers' lives was, no white families would starve during the coming winter.  According to the Cheyenne count, seven of their sons had been killed driving the white soldiers from their village. The Sioux had lost 19 men and boys who would no longer  feed their families. Between 10 and 20 native women and children were also killed. Remembered Two Moon,  "We had no dance that night. We were sorrowful." 

Antelope Woman eventually found her nephew in a deep gulch. "He had been shot through the body and had been stabbed several times. I stayed with him while a young man friend went to the camps to tell his mother." She brought a travois to carry her son back to the family lodge, where the young man died that night."

The day had changed the lives of every Sioux and Cheyenne who had camped along the Little Big Horn River on 25 June, 1876. The Hunkpapa warrior Gall, who had seen his family members murdered by white soldier's bullets, and who in a rage had used his war club to bludgeon many white men to death that day, would never fight again against anyone, white man or Indian. 

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GREASY GRASS - Chapter Four

 

I suspect it was the most normal thing to happen on that Sunday, 25 June, 1876.  A young Sioux brave was trolling the Cheyenne village, hoping to "accidently" run into a particular young woman. He was an  alpha male in his prime - 26 years old -  and his name was White Bull (above, ten years older).  

Both his father and grandfather were leaders of the Minneconjou band of Northern Sioux. His mother was sister to the Hunkpapa Sioux medicine man Sitting Bull (above). White Crow had survived 19 fights, 10 against white soldiers. He had counted 7 coups, taken 2 scalps, killed 3 enemies, wounded another, rescued 6 wounded Sioux and under fire recovered a dead fellow Sioux warrior.  

White Bull had captured 45 horses, 10 on a single raid, and twice willingly endured the tortures of the Sun Dance (above). He had been invited to join three warrior societies, choosing to become a Fox Warrior.  

Just a week earlier, at the Battle of the Rosebud (above) - 17 June, 1876 - he had fought man to man against a Shoshone , scouting for the white soldiers.  After dismounting his opponent  White Bull had "ridden him down" and counted coup again, leaving the man alive but crippled with a sliced tendon in his right leg. 

But today, White Bull was looking to convince the reluctant young southern Cheyenne woman named Mona Setah, to walk with him under the marriage blanket. So far she would only speak with White Bull in private through the buffalo hide of her family's lodge. Finally, " I...saw her carrying firewood up from the river....(Her son) was with her, so I just smiled and said nothing. I rode on to visit with my Cheyenne friend Roan Bear....We settled down to telling each other some of our brave deeds in the past."

The stories were interrupted when a man rode into the Cheyenne circle shouting an alarm. Soldiers were attacking the Sioux circle a mile to the south. White Bull jumped on his horse and rode to the camp of his uncle Sitting Bull. Seeing that his own family were all safely mounted on his pony herd, and that Sitting Bull had entered his lodge to make magic, White Bull rode off to defend the Sioux pony herd from the White Man's Indian scouts. 

High up on the bluffs, near the head of Medicine Trail Coulee, the French man Mitch Boyer solemnly ordered the scouts White Man Runs Him, Hairy Moccasin,  Curley and Goes Ahead, "You need go no further. You have guided Custer here, and your work is finished. So you had better go back to the pack train and let the soldiers do the fighting." Boyer then rode away over the ridge to join Custer, heading down Medicine Trail Coulee.  But Curley stayed to watch what happened down below, at the river crossing. 

White Bull (above) helped drive off the Crow scouts who tried to capture the pony herd, and then chased the soldiers into the river. But just as he reached the water, "I heard someone behind me yelling that soldiers were coming...to attack the north end of the camp...We all raced downstream together."

Arriving back in the Cheyenne camp White Bull's saw the soldiers coming down the Medicine Tail Coulee, He dismounted and, with a handful of other warriors, took cover behind the berm along the river's edge, ready to defend the Cheyenne women and children to his death.

Then, according to White Bull, "...the soldiers had stopped at the edge of the river...One white man was wearing a big hat and a buckskin jacket...On one side of him was a soldier carrying a flag and riding a grey horse, and on the other was a small man on a dark horse. This small man didn't look much like a white man to me, so I gave the man in the buckskin jacket my attention." 

"The man in the buckskin jacket seemed to be the leader of these soldiers, for he shouted something and they all came charging at us across the ford. "Bobtail Horse fired first, and I saw a soldier on a gray horse fall out of his saddle into the water. The other soldiers were shooting at us now. The man who seemed to be the soldier chief was firing his heavy rifle fast. I aimed my repeater at him and fired. I saw him fall out of his saddle and hit the water."

Up on the bluffs above, Crow scout Curley saw two men leading Custer's command fall into the river. And suddenly the attack stopped.

And everything about to happen, explaining many of the mysteries of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, also known as Custer's Last Stand would be explained if the white man who was shot and fell into the river was George Armstrong Custer - shot in the chest, and badly wounded. That quickly the head of the royal family had been cut off. All that was left was for the body to twitch and fall. 

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Greasy Grass - Chapter Three

 

I invite you to stand atop the bluffs directly overlooking the Little Big Horn River, while  36 year old Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer watches Reno's troops form a skirmish line  across the valley floor. He is sharing his binoculars is his brother, 31 year old Captain Thomas Ward Custer, commander of "C" company.  

Tom Custer had served in the Union infantry during most of the Civil War, transferring to the cavalry in 1865. There, under his brother's proud eyes, Tom earned two Medals of Honor for bravery.

In fact, George Armstrong had kept his family so close they became known as "The Royal Family". Twenty-seven year old Boston Custer (above) had been too young to serve in the civil war, and George was unable to get him a spot in the shrunken post war army. So he hired Boston as a contractor, supposedly tending the pack animals which followed the seventh cavalry.

Henry Armstrong "Autie" Reed was George's nephew. At 18 years of age he never sought employment in the army, but was allowed to follow his famous uncle as a volunteer.  

Handsome 30 year old Lieutenant James Calhoun, "The Adonis of the Seventh" had married George's sister Margaret, and was now in command of company "C" of the 7th.

And finally there was James Calhoun's brother-in-law, 38 year old warrior Myles Moylan (above). He had fought in every major engagement of the civil war from Wilson's Creek to Gettysburg as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry. Then he was dismissed for being absent without leave while in Washington, D.C. 

Myles (above) promptly enlisted as private under an assumed name in the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry, being mustered out in 1865 with the rank of Major. The following January he re-enlisted under his own name as a private in the newly formed 7th Cavalry, and was quickly promoted to second lieutenant, and given command of Company "A", this day assigned to Major Reno's battalion. 

More distant members of the "Royal Family" were Lieutenant Edward Settle Godfrey (above), a Custer loyalist because he had been assigned to the 7th Cavalry since graduating West Point, and...

...Captain Thomas Benton Weir (above), once a family member in good standing. He had recently been distanced because of his addiction to alcohol and his over familiarity with Custer's wife, Libbie.    

Also with Custer this day was his 24 year old bugler and orderly,  John Martin (above), "a salty little Italian who had been a drummer boy with Garibaldi"  - born Giovanni Martino, an orphan in Sala Consilina, Italy.  

Following closely were three Crow scouts, Curley, Goes Ahead and Hairy Moccasin. 

Custer waved his hat to the men in the valley, and then turned away.  Mitch Boyar, the Frenchman and  Santee Sioux who was leader of the scouts,  asked Custer if he meant to help the soldiers below, but Custer dismisses the question. He said, "It is early yet and plenty of time. Let them fight. Our time will come.”  It would and soon.

After graduating as a second Lieutenant at the bottom of his 1860 West Point class, within three years George Armstrong Custer was promoted to Major General.  At 25 he was the youngest general in the Union Army.  He achieved this not by his intellectual ability, or intuitive tactical genius, or even inspired leadership of his subordinates,  but simply by being aggressive to the point of fool-hardy-ness  

In the shrunken post war army, Custer was reduced in rank and appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the newly formed Seventh Cavalry at Fort Levenworth in Kansas. In the winter of 1867 he was arrested for abandoning his post to visit his wife Libbie (above), and given a two year suspension of rank. However he was called back early for a punitive winter campaign against the southern Cheyenne.

In the resulting " battle" or "massacre" on the Washita, perhaps 70 southern Cheyenne warriors were killed, as were even more women and children. The elderly leader Black Kettle and his wife were driven into the icy river and shot in the back.  Six hundred and seventy-five Indian ponies were also killed to discourage any further Cheyenne raids, and some 53 women and children captives were used as human shields to protect Custer on his rapid retreat back to Kansas.         

During the engagement 20 troopers under 27 year old Major Joel Haworth Elliot (above), a good friend of Captain Fredrick Benteen's, were attacked by warriors from nearby villages, rushing to Black Kettle's defense.  Although it was later learned that Elliot and his entire command had been wiped out, Custer retreated without learning their fate.  Benteen, with a life long skill at hating,  blamed Custer for Elliot's death for the rest of his life.  

Ridding to the next high point in the ridge line,  bugler Martin saw "hundreds" of lodges in the valley floor, with "...squaws and children playing and a few dogs and ponies. The General seemed both surprised and glad, and said the Indians must be in their tents, asleep." Custer now waved his hat to his own command,  a few hundred yards further up the slope, shouting,  "Hurrah, boys, we've got them! We'll finish them up and then go home to our station."

After cantering another mile or so Custer pulled the command to a halt, at the head a big ravine or coulee leading down to the river. Custer called to Martin and told him  "Orderly, I want you to take a message to Colonel Benteen. Ride as fast as you can and tell him to hurry. Tell him it's a big village and I want him to be quick, and to bring the ammunition packs." 

Then before the private could pull away, Lieutenant Cooke told Martin, "Wait. I'll give you a message." He quickly scribbled in his small order book, ripped out the page, and handed it to Martin, telling him, "Now, orderly, ride as fast as you can to Colonel Benteen. Take the same trail we came down. If you have time and there is no danger come back. But otherwise stay with your company."  

Martin would later write, " My horse was pretty tired, but I started back as fast as I could go. The last I saw of the command they were going down into the ravine...Just before I got to the hill (where Custer had waved his hat)  I met Boston Custer. He was riding at a run...(he) shouted, "Where's the General?" and I answered pointing back of me, "Right behind that next ridge you'll find him." And he dashed on." 

"When I got up on the hill, I looked down...the last I saw of Reno's men they were fighting in the valley and the line was falling back..." Eventually, Martin reached the stream where Custer had turned to his left, toward the north. Here. at last, he spotted Captain Benteen. 

"As soon as I saw them coming I waved my hat to them and spurred my horse, but he couldn't go any faster....I saluted and handed the message to Colonel Benteen and then I told him what the General said, that it was a big village and to hurry. He said, "Where's the General now?" and I answered that the Indians we saw were running and I supposed that by this time he had charged through the village...."

"They gave me another horse and I joined my troop and rode on with them. The pack train was not very far behind them."  When Captain McDougal read the note from Custer he was angry. How did Custer expect him to "be quick" while leading 70 mules carrying heavy loads? As it was, Martin said, "..the mules were coming along, some of them walking, some trotting, and others running. We moved on faster than the packs could go, and soon they were out of sight, except that we could see their dust."

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