Ted Yeatman: Tennessee Wild West: 7th Cavalry at Nashville Prelude to Little Big H

8/4/2019 Ted Yeatman: Tennessee Wild West: 7th Cavalry at Nashville Prelude to Little Big H

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"The 7th Cavalry at Nashville: Prelude to Little Big Horn""I have seen a little Indian fighting and I tellthe worst business that a man can engage in." you that it isColone l R oberE. A. Croftoninterview inNew York TimeJuly 7, 1876."Why should this battle, now more than a half century past, retaisuch a grip on the interest of Americans? Doubtless we are a rpeople, and in that day war and romance went together."---John P.'Everett, "The Battle of the Big 'Horn.", TheSunshine Ma~zine, September, 1930. -

There was no fanfare. No bands playing, no children waving flags as thetrain rolled into the Louisville & Nashville Railroad terminal (near toThird Avenue North!Jo Johnston intersection). Thus arrived the men of HTroop, 7th United States Cavalry, under command of Captain FrederickBenteen.

The date was June 1, 1871. A month and a half earlier they had beescouting the plains of Western Kansas for Cheyenne war parties. Now thwere in Nashville, Tennessee, to assist Federal Marshals and tax officer. .... and help supre~s any K.K.K. acthunt down ~llegal d~st~ller~es ~ nearby count~esA,a d~stant cry from don the Great Plains, which they had left nine days before. For the nextyear and nine months Ash Barracks g in North Nashville (present site ofBuena Vista School, 10th Avenue North and Garfield), would be their home

If it hadn't been for Captain Benteen .H Troop might well have beensent to South Carolina. While in Louisville the Captain had been approacby Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer seeking a change of statioCuster urged Benteen to take a post in South Carolina', suggesting thatNashville tour would be a short one.

Benteen was leery. For many years the flamboyant Custer had repeate


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clashed with his more austere senior captain. Why would Custer want tohim a favor? Benteen said he would consult the regimental commander,Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis ~Who nominally commanded the regiment, 1869-1886, though Custer and others exerted field commandq:-Q-~

"The lying whelpl", Sturgis exploded (as Benteen recalled later),"There isn't a word of truth in it. Custer is trying to keep French's Trin which his brother Tom is First Lieutenant, from going to south CaroliThat ended that: H Troop would continue as planned to Nashville. For Cusstationed at Elizabethton, Kentucky, letters to and from his brotherwould have to suffice.

The officers of H Troop presented a study in contrasts. CaptainFrederick William Benteen was born in Peteresburg, Virginia in 1834,spending his early years in Missouri. At the outset of the Civil War hesided with the Union, joining the Federal Army as a First Lieutenant inthe 10th Missouri Cavalry. By 1865 he was a Lieutenant Colonel, commandia brigade of cavalry under Major General James H. Wilson during his famoraid through Alabama and Georgia. His exemplary record won him appointmeto the newly formed 7th Cavalry in 1866. Unlike some cavalrymen of theperiod, Benteen was more practical than ostentatios. His approach tosoldiering was businesslike, learned in backwater campaigns and battlesthat rarely received the media attentibh:andlater.aura of those in Vir-ginia,where Custer served.

Second Lieutenant Charles Camilus'~DeRudiQ' s past was as flamboyantexotic as Benteen's was staid. Born in Belluno, Italy in 1832, his fcathItalian Count, De Rudio joined the "Young Italy" movement of Mazzini,which aimed to unify Italy. As a result he went to prison more than onceliterally almost losing his head.

In 1 8 5 7 DeRudio fell in with a group of radicals headed by FeliceOrsini, who were hatching a plot to assassinate Emperor Napoleon III ofFrance. This was supposed to ignite a series of revolutions across Europ


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On January 15, 1858, a quartet including Orsini and DeRudio hurled specmade bombs at their intended victim. But they only wounded the Emperor,received a cut in the nose, while killing eight and wounding one hundrefif~y-six people outside a Paris opera house. The assassin-bunglers wercaught and tried, three sentenced to the guillotine and a fourth receivi

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life imprisonment. DeRudio was about to mount the scaffold when word cathat his sentence had been commuted to life --- at the French penal colof Devil's Island.

From this prison, DeRudio either escaped (as he later claimed) orsecretly pardoned in exchange for information on radical compatriots (anew evidence suggests). DeRudio came to America, serving briefly as a pin the 79th N.Y. Infantry and in October 1864 was made an officer in aunit and served with this group outside Petersburg, Virginia. He reportedafter the war,was dismissed from the armYAwhen his role with the Orsini plot was discNapoleonHowever, official opinion aboutAcooled as a result of his Mexican interin violation of the Monroe Doctorine. De Rudio somehow found his way bainto official favor after this episode and managed to wangle a commissioas Second Lieutenant in H Troop of the 7th U.S. Cavalry in 1869.

The First Lieutenant of HTroop, Francis Marion Gibson, was on.de t.aservice at the time the 7th reached Nashville and did not rejoin the ununtil May 1872. He was considered the practical joker of the unit andalthough he admired his commander, Benteen, the feeling was~not recipro

On June 17, shortly after arrival in Nashville, DeRudio led a detacment of soldiers to Oxford, Mississippi, anticipating trouble during afamous trial of alleged Ku Klux Clansmen. Throughout the summer and fallof 1871 details of between eleven and fifteen men were sent out to helpFederal authorities run down moonshiners in the outlying counties, notquite as romatic as hunting Cheyenne or Kiowa war parties, but considera


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two officers and seventy-eight enlisted men whenH Troop numberedit arrived at Ash Barracks, a nine-acre military post then garrisonedtwo companies of the 16th Infantry. Ash Barracks, built in 1 8 6 6 , was aregimental headquarters of the 16th Infantry and the Department of theSouth (encompassing Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, 'South Caroliand North Carolina). The Department's commander was Brigadier GeneralAlfred H. Terry. It was here that Terry, who would later command theDepartment of Dakota, first became closely acquainted with the 7th Cavthrough Benteen and the men of H Troop. As history would later show, iwas a significant and fateful acquaintance.

Life at Ash Barracks was typically dull usually no more than hthe troop on detached service, the rest marking time on the post.

Reveille at 6AM - roll call - mess at 6:30 -then fatigue details,drill sessions, and daily mounting of the guard. At 4:30 PM was stablecall (horse grooming and care); and near sunset, a full dress retreatceremony. Final roll at 9:00 PM, lights out at (:30.

For diversion, there was the post library with around 590 volumes(novels, histories and biographies); and then tnere was the game callebaseball that the 7th learned in Nashville. Joseph McCurry, who joinedthe 7th early in 1872, was an extraordinary pitcher, and an otherwiseexcellent non-commissioned officer (promoted to First Sergeant withina two year period). On March 1, 1873 the officers and fifty-four enlismen formed the newly christened "Benteen Baseball Club", with Sgt. PatConnelly as president and McCurry as captain of the elite "Benteen NineMcCurry also helped set up a glee club at the post.

Otherwise, army life routine could be excruciatingly boring --


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1 ;f ever clashed with local authorities. Nashville Police recordrare y, ... ,show only two arrests for gambling, which had been legal at Hays City,Kansas, near Fort Hays, the unit's previous station.

Throughout their stay in Tennessee there was a steady stream of enlistees into the ranks of the 7th, replacing deserters and men honorablymustered out, many of whom settled in the Nashville area. Most replacemesuch as Joseph McCurry, came from recruit depots in the northeast andmidwest, but others enlisted locally. Among the latter one man stood ouand a strange set of circumstances led him to Nashville and the 7th Cav

Charles Windolph, by birth and background,was perhaps an unlikelycandidate for service against the Sioux on the rolling Montana plains.That is, if we acaept the stock TV and film portrayals of who won the We(usually white Anglo-Saxon types, with urban American accent for maximumratings or box office). But Windolph was far more interesting than a dinovelist would invent or "Central Casting" would enlist. Born in Bergen,Germany in 1851, the son of a shoemaker, Windolph came to America to domilitary service in the Franco-- Prussian War. Windolph arrived in theNew World speaking only a few words of English and with only $2.50 tohis name. But he had learned the craft of shoemaking from his father andeventually found work in a New York shoe shop. However. American manufacturing techniques were perplexingly new and different to him.

Then an old man encouraged Windolph to visit a recruiting station;and so he enlisted in Company A of the 2nd Infantry with the primary motvation of learning English. Soon he deserted - but on July 23, 1872 hejoined H Troop under the alias of Charles Wrangle (perhaps he had wantedcavalry all along). Captain Benteen swore the new private in; and thoughWindolph couldn't understand what Benteen was saying he later recalled tthe captain was one of the finest soldiers he had ever seen.

During the first few weeks Private "Wrangle" (his alias) quickly lethe manual of arms (probably due to prior German military training). Mem


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of H Troop nick-mamed him variously, "Dutchy", "Heinie" and even "Sauekraut". Soon they began calling him Charlie and he became company shoe

Vlindolph recalled Nashville garrison life as dull and that the melonged for Western Plains duty again. Older soldiers would recount bloIndian War stories, full of slow torture and "save the last bullet foryourself" advice that no doubt echoed in their memories later.

By now the men of H Troop had been re-mounted with throughbred homany of these were grazed in the fields surrounding Belle Meade Mansionin the summer of 1872. Some of the horses whose bones later littered tLittle Big Horn valley were undoubtedly purchased in Tennessee.

On October 16, 1872, H Troop left Nashville in force to guard theat Livingston, Alabama, during the presidential election. Night ridersstill terrorized the area.

H Troop camped "at the 'Kirkland Place', south of town", reportedOctober 2.5 Livingston Journal. "Captain Benteen's command is an orderand well - behaved body entitled to the respect of our citizens",commented the Journal. "However distasteful their presence may be to usunder the circumstances, we should remember that they ha~e no descretio

,as to where they shall go or when."On November 17 the troops left for Nashville; to .the Journal's

relief: "Their deportment was unexceptionable; but no tears were shedat their departure." Benteen's command left Nashville for Western servion March 10, 1873, as quietly as it had entered and the very presencethe 7th Cavalry at Nashville was largely forgotten for more than a centtheir tragic immortality gained at Little Big Horn not withstanding.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Interlude: Nashville readers were startled by the headline "Western Savon the front page of the Nashville Republican Banner of May 20, 187.5.

The story was r-eminisc en-t of a scene from a John )Ford Western and


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something one would expect to occur in Middle Tennessee. It seemed thatseventy-four captive Plains Indians were were crossing the state. Anassortment of Cheyennes, Kiowas, Comanches, Arapahoes and one Caddo, haall been taken prisoner in ~as and Oklahoma during the recently termin"Red River War", including the famous Kiowa chiefs Lone Wolf and Bird Mcine. They had been shipped from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to Florida foincarceration in the old Castillo San Marcos, then called Fort Niarion The Indians, shadded at their ankles, were transported in two cars, guaby twenty soldiers of Co. K, 5th Infantry.

No problem had been encountered on the trip until the train fromLouisville reached the present day area of Hendersonville on the morningof May 19. Corporal Eugene Allen, one of the guards, was bending over abox to distribute some meat to the prisoners when a Cheyenne chief, Ouajumped to his feet, pulled a hidden knife and stabbed the corporal twicin the back. Another guard, private Hennessey, rushed Ouachita, who turon him, slashing Hennessey's bl~e across the left breast, the knife stone of his ribbs. 1m the ensuing scuffle Oauchita was stabbed in the necthree times. Other guards joined the fray and,seeing he would be overpowOuachita stabbed himself in the left breast.

The fight created a good bit of commotion in the other cars. As thRepublican Banner reported, "During the scuffle a gun was shot off, whicraised every Indian to his feets all giving utterance to a whoop, and atfirst blush it was thought a general fight was imminent, though the redme were shackled." The train halted at Madison Station (now Madison)and the situation was investigated. One passenger, afraid of losing hisscalp, left thetrain when ..it.stopped and started to make tracks for thenearby hills when he was informed that all was under control and he coulreturn in safety. ~enerally," The Indi ans rtf in token of the fact that they did not approve of theaction of the belligerent Indian, and of their peaceful intentions,


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proffered their lmives to the Lieutenant in command." According to thenewspaper, "The Indians said the Cheyenne was crazy and had all the nighprevious Deen threatening suic ide. "

V/hen the 8: 30 train reached the Louisville & Nashville depot, wherethe 7th Cavalry had arrived four years earlier, the two wounded soldiersand the Indian were taken off the train for treatment at the post hospitat Ash Barracks. With plenty of fight left in him, the manacled Ouachitabegan rushing around and it too four or five men to subdue him.

The Indians attracted quite a crowd at the depot and presented a mopeculiar picture to onlookers. "One would take a few whiffs at a pipe anhand it to his next neighbor, who would take his turn and pass it aroundIt looked like a scene on the plains, except that chains were tied to thankles and they were dressed in all manner of fashions. Some had on clotusually worn by the Indians, others old soldier clothes and pantaloons.They were all wrapped in government blankets~, reported the Republican B

Back at the Ash Barracks hospital Ouachita managed, though sign language, to communicate with some soldiers who had seen service on the plaHe made signs for the soldiers to shoot him or cut his throat. Imprisonmto some Plains Indian warriors was a fate worse than death.

The train carrying the Indians arrived at Chattanooga around 4 - PM.A reporter for the Chattanooga. Daily Times had difficulty in getting infmation about the prisoners due to increased security. "They were taciturand sullen', he reported, "and paid no attention to the gaping crowd."

"The troops in charge of the prisoners are a fine soldierly body ofmen who look as if they had s een hard service". the reporter commented.

The cars bearing the Indians were switched to a Wesern & Atlantictrain and were soon headed south to Georgia.

***************


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When Brigadier General Alfred Terry was made commander of theDepartment of Dakota in 1873, he had requested that the 7th Cavalry(which he knew from his days in Nashville) be assigned to him. And itwas under Terry that the 7th would have its rendesvous with history anlegend.

The discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 set the stage fothe carnage that was to follow, as miners poured into the area recognizby treaty as Sioux hunting grounds. At first the army attempted to barthe interlopers, but they were like a tidal wave. Mining camps soondotted the area, many of these growing into small towns such as DeadwooSouth Dakota.

Discouraged by what they saw as the bad faith of the white man,large numbers of Indians began leaving the Dakota reservations, fanningout across the Northern Plains and attacking miners in the Black Hills.

When the Indian Bureau claimed it was powerless to control thedepredations, the army was called in. Indian agents were instructed tonotify all that those Indians who had not returned to the reservationJanuary 31st, 1876, would "be deemed hostile and treated as such."

Plans were drawn up for a three - pronged campaign against theSioux and Northern Cheyenne. A column under Brigadier General George Cwould advance north from south-central Wyoming, While a force from westMontana, under Brevet Major General John Gibbon, would move east. Anothforce under Brigadier General Terry, including Custer's 7th Cavalry, womove west from the Dakota Territory. Somewhere in between these threeconverging columns would be the Indians.

Bad weather forced the suspension of Terry's part of the campaignuntil spring. On May 17th Terry's command left Fort Abraham Lincoln torendesvous with Gibbon somewhere on the Yellowstone River. The forces oGibbon and Terry met on June 21st and Custer's 7th was sent ahead to chout reports of a large concentration of Sioux and Cheyenne.


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-n the morning of June 25th, Custer, learning that he was in proximof the Indian encampment, divided his command into three battalions. Cuswould have five troops, Major Marcus Reno three and Captain Frederick Beforty-eightfour, including H Troop. Of the~officers and enlisted men present, nehalf had served at Nashville and five, almost 10%, were recruited there.

Benteen's men were the left prong of the 7th, probing to the southwReno moved his men west, parallel to a creek later to bear his name, whiCuster moved to the northwest. Benteen had been wary of splitting the rement when he heard one of the scouts report "the biggest bunch of Indianhe ever saw" and advised against it. Custer's reply was terse, "You haveyour orders. Sound 'to horse'."

Splitting with Custer and Reno, Benteen's force marched roughly sevmiles, but failed to find any sign of Indians. Benteen then turned northand by the middle of the afternoon had picked up Custer's trail, where tnere met by Sgt. Kanipe, who Custer had sent back to hurry up the ammunitrain to the rear. Sometime later they began to hear gunfire and were meby Trumpeter John Martin with a message signed by Custer's Adjutant, Lieant W.W. Cooke, "Benteen: Come on. Big Village. Be quick. Bring packs."

Benteen hurried his men north and arrived atop a bluff east of theLittle Big Horn to see Reno's battered command in headlong retreat to thwest, headed for the bluffs on the eastern bank~ Behind them were hundremounted warriors. A small group of Reno's men took refuge on a hill overing the eastern bank and were soon joined by others. Many of the pursuingtribesmen turned to the north where a great deal of firing could be hearBenteen led his men to the hill and waited for the mules bearing the spaammo. In the meantime Captain Weir, after an argument with-Reno, struckwith one troop to look for Custer. They were followed later by the othermen under Reno and Benteen, who found Weir in a hot fight, retreating batoward the hill.

"Thousands of Indians were coming from the north and from the river


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our united command was only a handful by comparison", recalled trooperWindolph. In 1873, during a general,aITJI?~sty or deserters, Windolph hadconfessed and was now using his real name. "VIe had no time to throw upintrenchments, but a line was thrown around the rim of the hill and thigave us a little advantage on the north, west and south. The east sidewas more exposed."

H Troop was ordered to hold the southeast portion of the hill,using packing boxes and saddles for cover. "The Indians were pressing uhard", Windolph remembered, " and in a few minutes had us surroundedevery side. It seemed as if they had no end of ammunition."

H Troop formed what amounted to a skirmish line, with one man postevery twenty feet. Curiously, no full fledged charge was made. The Indiinstead crept up the hill, hiding behind whatever cover availed itself,firing on the men of the 7th. Some tried to draw the soldiers' fire byexposing blankets or war bonnets, or sometimes jumping out in the openand falling flat before the troopers could take aim.

After dark the shooting tapered off and the men of H Troop begandigging shallow breastworks with lmives, spoons and tin plates. While oguard that night, Private Windolph spotted a figure coming up the hillfrom the southwest. "It's De1lli.dio",omeone yelled. Cut off on the otheside of the river while serving with Reno's command, Lieutenant DeRudiohad used up another of his nine lives eluding Indians all day with SergThomas O'Neill, until darkness allowed them to escape to Reno'S positioon the hill.

The situation was grave and everyone knew it. During the eveningCaptain Benteen made the rounds of his lines. Coming up to Private Windthe former German draft dodger, he said, "Windolph, get up I want to tato you." Windolph came to attention. "WindoJph", he continued, "if we eget out of this alive, which I seriously doubt, you can write your folkin Germany and tell them how many Indians we were fighting today."


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Benteen then smiled and passed on down the line, disappearing into thedarkness.

Windolph settled down to his former position in the line besidePrivate Julien P. Jones, who had enlisted at Nashville on August 7, 187almost a year bef'ore Widolph. Windolph and Jones had scrap'ed a shallowrifle pit with their mess kits, knives and bare hands. Across the riverup the valley, great fires were seen and a steady chanting and poundingof drums heard, a.victory dance. A short sprinkle began and the two tropulled on their overcoats to ward off the night chill.

Dawn came and with it more fighting. It started with a few randomand then became more intense. "Let's get off our coats", Windolph suggeJones started to rollover on his side to crawl out of his overcoat whea shot was fired. Windolph heard a cry and turned to find Jones' lifelebody shot clean through the heart.

Bullets began to kick up the dirt around the makeshift trench. WL~dolph spotted a figure on a hilltop some distance off, aiming his gun obuffalo skull. His Trapdoor Springfield carbine wouldn't shoot that farand Windolph was pinned dovm, one shot fracturing his carbine butt.

Benteen was worried. The Indians appeared to be massing in front ohis position for a charge. Benteen rushed to the north side of the hilland after much urging succeeded in getting M Troop from Major Reno asreenforcements.

The plan was to charge the Indians before they charged the line."All ready now, men", Benteen yelled as the troops formed to attack,"N ow's your time! Give 'em hell! Hi! Hip! Here we go!" There was a maddash down the hill, Captain Benteen in the lead, revolver in hand. Up tthis point the Indians had been taunting the soldiers to fight, throwindirt clods at them and arrows with their hands. The Indians were caughtoff guard and following a brief melee fled down the hill, "having no orin getting down those ravines", as Captain benteen recalled, "but quick


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getting." The troops having cleared out their front returned to their oposition.

At the time of the charge one man stayed behind, Private Thomas fl:who had served at Nashville and heard all the blood and thunder storiesof Indian warfare. According to one account Meador was "crying like a cas the men headed down the hill. When they returned Meador was found inthe rifle pit shot through the head. Whether killed by an Indian bulletor his own was never made clear.

By around 11 AM the firing had slackened and it was decided to fora detail to get water for the thirty to forty wounded men on the hill.Some nineteen men volunteered for this hazardous duty, running a gauntledown a ravine to the river and back again with anything that would carrywater. Four of these men, Sergeant George H. Geiger, Blacksmith HenryMecklin, Saddler Otto Voit and Private Charles Windolph, all of H Troop,were assigned to serve as sharp~hooters~ giving cover fire to the watercarriers. Ordered to a position outside the lines and overlooking the ravine, they kept up a heavy fire for more than twenty minutes till the decompleted its task. "We were exposed all the time and bullets were fallaround us pretty thick", Windolph recalled, "but we managed to keep thetimber on the other side of the river so full of lead that the watercarriers were able to make the trip several times.

For their heroic action the sharpshooters and the men of the waterdetail were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. In addition, PrivaCharles Windolph received a field promotion to sergeant.

One of the men in the makeshift hospital, set up in a depression atthe center of the hill, was Corporal George Lell of H Troop. "Lift me upboys", uttered the mortally wounded Lell, " I want to see the boys beforI go." The corporal was held in a sitting position where he could observthe fight as it progressed. Lell smiled and the men lowered him back tothe ground where he soon expired.


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The firing tapered off around noon and by J PM had ceased altogetheAround 2 PM the warriors across the Little Big Horn set fire to the gracreating a heavy cloud of smoke. Once, when the smoke lifted briefly,thousands of Indians could be seen moving off in the direction of theBig Horn Mountains to the south. By the time the smoke had,died the Indwere gone.

The surviving members of the 7th Cavalry buried eighteen dead in trifle pits and moved their surviving horses down to the river for water.H Troop suffered three men killed and twenty'wounded, almost half the mpresent.

On the morning of June 27 a cloud of dust was seen to the north. Oof this cloud rode two or three men; bugles signaled to them. One of thoutriders was Lieutenant James H. Bradley of General Gibbon's command.Bradley reported more than two hundred bodies to the north. Custer'sbattalion had been wiped out to a man.

In the afternoon Captain Benteen with Captain Weir, Lieutenants Vaand Edgerly and fourteen men of H Troop, including Charles Windolph, werordered to inspect the field. "It was a terrible sight". recounted Windo"There the bodies lay, mostly naked, and scatteredover a field maybe halmile square." While many corpses were badly mutilated Custer's had remaiuntouched.

The man who had tried to bluff Benteen out of his station at Nashvinearly five years earlier lay dead with bullet holes in the left templeand left breast.

His brother Tom lay a few feet away, badly mutilated.As Windolph held his horse, Benteen wrote Custer's name on a piece

of paper and stuffed it inside a cartridge case, sealed with a piece ofwood. Benteen pushed the case into the ground next to Custer's head forthe burial detail to identify the body.


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Word of the battle was slow to reach the east, then about to cele-brate America's hundredth birthday. The Nashville Daily Americ8n's firstreport was on July 6, followed up for well over a week as news trickledin.

On July 11th the Daily American published a letter from a formemember of the 7th who was then living in the Nashville area. He had probaserved under Benteen at Ash Barracks.

The massacre of Ge. Custer and his men is before the country, and inearly all_ t he papers the blunder committed by the late LieutenantColonel of the 7th Cavalry is covered by the cry "The man is dead,let us speak only good of him". Is this right or proper? Would itnot be an example to living commanders of troops (and of future servto them too) in finding where and in what the blunder lay?Every man who has served under the late Gen. G.A. Custer is awaof the fact that he was a brave, a very brave man, brave to rashnessand this rashness, coupled with unbounded ambition, led him into manmistakes which a cooler headed commander would have avoided.His career in Kansas, during the ",\Alashia" campaign, his conduc1873 while under Gen. Stanley on the Yellowstone expedition, and agaon the Black Hills expedition in 1874, all prove that his great aim"raising of self". His every action and aim seemed to tend only to tone end. Gen. Terry in his dispatches states that "had Custer waitedfor the arrival of Gen. Gibbon's forces, the mishap would not haveoccurred". The blunder (for such it undoubtedly was) consisted inCuster's rashness in not waiting. The men who know him and his disposition will tell you that he, being aware that Gen. Gibbons was hissuperior, and that this officer would also assume command of Custerand his force, in addition to his own, and so receive all blame orpraise for defeat or victory, and leave Custer to fill the place ofan inferior, and that Custer wishing to get the praise of first finding and whipping the Indians,(for he thought that by hard fighting hwould be~able to whip them), he get the credit of out generaling botCrook and Gibbon, and in accordance with this idea he went to theattack, indifferent to the responsibility of the 900 or 700 livesintrusted to his care, indifferent as to how much pain and sorrowhe spread broadcast over the land, indifferent to anything save hisown interest. In the name of the many homes this day suffering andsorrowing through him and his ambition let the blame fall where itbelongs, and not add praise to the memory of one who so little deserit through his last crowning act of an ambitious life. Let us respecthe manly bravery, but condemn his great fault which sacrificed thelives of 250 of our soldiers.

FORMERLY OF THE SEVENTHIt was a fitting epilogue to a debacle whith ranks with the Charge

of the Light Brigade in folly, and with another Tennessee-linked massacrethe Alamo, in tragedy ---- the Battle of Little Big Horn.


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The men who chafed under Nashville barracks tedium to the point offrequent desertion were given more than enough V i estern excitement to ex-ceed their most vainglorious yen for action. Thankfully they had acommander as disciplined if reserved, as another commander was reckless

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and cavalier. Benteen and H Troop survived ---Custer and his men of courperished.

Ted Yeatman: Tennessee Wild West: 7th Cavalry at Nashville Prelude to Little Big H

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