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Fort Riley, Kansas

The conclusion of the Civil War in 1865 emphasized the importance of Fort Riley, Kansas in providing protection to the railroad lines being built across Kansas. Evidence of this occurred in the summer and fall of 1866 when the Union Pacific Railroad reached Fort Riley and the 7th Cavalry Regiment was organized at the fort, commanded by Colonel Andrew J. Smith. The regiment's ranks were filled with a hard bitten crew of trappers, veterans from the Civil War and frontiersmen. Subsequently, Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer arrived in December and was appointed to the vacant Lt. Colonel position to take charge of the new regiment.

Generals Custer and Hampton
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
July 3, 1863

In 1861, Custer had graduated from West Point just in time to participate in the First Battle of Manassas. He later served on the staffs of Generals McClellan and Pleasanton. He had a distinguished military career in the Civil War. On 26 June 1863, he was appointed the "Brevet" rank of Brigadier General of Volunteers and placed in command of the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division at Gettysburg and Yellow Tavern. He commanded the 3rd Cavalry Division in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, Fisher's Hill and Five Forks. In April 1865, he was promoted to Major General of Volunteers. At the end of the War, the need for command officers was no longer there and many, to stay in service, accepted demotions to a lower rank and paid the wages of rank now held, but was always given the respect and the title of the higher rank previously held. After the War, Custer was required to revert to his previous permanent rank of Captain. He then entered the painstakingly slow promotion process that was customary in the small regular army. That's why Custer was always referred to as "General Custer".

In 1867, one of Custer's first official acts with the Seventh Cavalry was to organize a regimental band. The reason that "GarryOwen" was adopted as the regimental song, as the story goes - one of the Irish "melting pot" troopers of the 7th Cavalry, under the influence of "spirits", was singing the song. By chance Custer heard the melody, liked the cadence, and soon began to hum the tune himself. The tune has a lively beat, that accentuates the cadence of marching horses. Soon the tune was played so often that the 7th Cavalry became known as the GarryOwen Regiment. GarryOwen" eventually became the official song of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas in 1981.

In March 1867, when Indian attacks became more and more violent in the high plains of western Kansas and eastern Colorado, the 7th Cavalry was given its first opportunity to see what fighting Indians was all about. Under the command of General Hancock, they marched from Fort Riley to Fort Larned where they were joined by 6 infantry companies and a battery of artillery, creating a task force consisting of over 1,400 men.

In April 1867, a meeting was held between the Army and a few chiefs of the Plains Indians. Due to a misunderstanding, when the Army moved their troops closer to the Indian encampment, the Indians feared an attack and they fled under the cover of night. Custer and the 7th Cavalry, given the task of tracking the Indians down, spent the entire summer in the attempt to find them. The only contact they made with the Indians were with small war parties which constantly harassed the troops.

During this campaign, Custer later left his command in the field and traveled back to Fort Riley to visit his wife. Upon arrival there, Custer was placed under arrest for being Absent With Out Leave. On 15 September 1867, Custer was court-martialed and found guilty. He was sentenced to one year suspension from rank and pay. He went home to Monroe, Michigan where he waited out his suspension.

On 24 September 1868, Custer's court martial was remitted and he rerejoined his troops on Bluff Creek (near present day Ashland, Kansas.). Almost immediately upon his arrival, the Indians attacked the camp. Custer and his troopers gave chase and followed the Indians' trail back to Medicine Lodge Creek, but found no Indians. Custer returned to his camp on Bluff Creek where, he and General Sheridan planned a Winter Campaign. Then heavy snows of winter would slow down the warriors, and their ponies would be weak and could not travel far. If the Indian villages were hard hit and their supplies destroyed, the Indians would have to return to the reservation or starve. They knew that during the winter months, the Indians would stay at one location which had good water and a source of firewood for heat; all they had to do was - to find it!

A Confederate prisoner poses with Captain George A. Custer in 1862

Sheridan's plan involved three columns: Colonel Andrew W. Evans with six troops of the 3rd Cavalry and two companies of the 37th Infantry were to travel down the South Canadian River. The second column consisted of seven troops of the 5th Cavalry under the command of Major Eugene A. Carr. They marched southeast from Fort Lyon, Colorado, and connected with Captain William H. Penrose and his column of five troops of cavalry. Then they scouted at Antelope Hills, along the North Fork of the Canadian River. The third column was to march from Fort Dodge under the command of General Sully and George A. Custer.

Washita River, Oklahoma

General Sheridan selected the 7th Cavalry, commanded by George Armstrong Custer, to take the lead. They were to move southward, and engage the Indians. This column was made up of eleven troops of the 7th Cavalry and five companies of the 3rd Infantry. Setting out in a snowstorm, Custer followed the tracks of a small Indian raiding party to a Cheyenne village on the Washita River. At dawn he ordered an attack. It was Chief Black Kettle's village, well within the boundaries of the Cheyenne reservation. Nevertheless, on 27 November 1868, nearly four years after the battle of Sand Creek, Custer's troops charged, and this time Black Kettle could not escape. In a subsequent battle of the Winter Campaign, the 3rd Cavalry under the command of Colonel Andrew W. Evans, struck another Comanche village at Soldiers Spring on Christmas Day. The Winter Campaign had been waged successfully against the Cheyenne in the Oklahoma Territory. The scattered remnants of the Cheyenne were decisively defeated.

Afterwards, most of the Cheyenes, Comanches and other tribes still on the plains returned to the agencies. In March 1869, the Comanche-Kiowa agency was relocated to Fort Sill, a new fort constructed in the Indian Plains Territory, and the Cheyenne-Arapaho agency was relocated to Darlington. Only the Kwahada were still on the Staked Plains. The Kiowa and other Comanches were on the reservation, but by the fall of 1869 small war parties were occasionally leaving to raid in Texas.

In September 1871, the 7th Cavalry was distributed by squadrons and company over seven Southern States to enforce federal taxes on distilleries and suppress the activities of the Ku Klux Klan. Custer was assigned to Elizabethtown, Kentucky where his chief duty was to inspect and purchase horses for the Army.

General Custer sitting with some of his scouts

In February 1873, Custer got the good news that the 7th Cavalry was being reunited and being sent north to Fort Rice in the Dakota Territory. His mission was to protect settlers in the region and the engineers of the Northern Pacific Railroad who were surveying a rail route across the Yellowstone River from the Sioux Indians.

In the last week of March 1873, the 7th Cavalry assembled at Memphis, Tennessee where they boarded steamboats for Cairo, Illinois. At Cairo, the regiment changed to overland rail headed northwest into the winter weather of Yankton, Dakota Territory. The journey to Fort Rice was completed in a 300 mile march, arriving on 10 June 1873.

Custer's Black Hills Expedition

The completion of the overland railroad link provided an easy means of transportation for gold seekers and farmers to come to the area. As the migration continued, trouble with the Sioux increased. On 20 June 1873 an expedition was ordered to move into the Black Hills of Dakota to provide protection for railroad construction parties. The expedition consisted of 1,451 troopers, 79 officers, and 275 wagons. As a focal point of scouting activities, a permanent encampment was established at Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Yellowstone Territories. From 1873 to 1876, Custer commanded the Seventh Cavalry at Fort Abraham Lincoln south of Mandan. In 1874, he led his troops south into the Black Hills, which six years earlier had been set aside as part of the Great Sioux Reservation. When Custer reported finding gold, the government offered to buy the land from the Sioux, but they refused to sell. The Army then allowed gold prospectors to come into the Reservation's hills by the thousands. The Army's action prompted many Sioux to leave their North Dakota reservations and join with other Sioux in Montana led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, who were resisting white government control.

George Armstrong Custer (left center in light clothing) leads a military expedition into the Black Hills of Dakota Territory in 1874

In 1875, the regiment escorted a railroad survey party into the Yellowstone Valley. This expedition brought the regiment into regular contact with the Indian raiding parties, however no serious battles or encounters occurred until the fateful expedition of 17 May 1876. General Alferd H. Terry was in overall command of an Army campaign to relocate the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians from the open plains to reservations. The 7th Regiment rode out of Fort Lincoln on 17 May 1876, with Custer along with the Arikara and Osage scouts leading the way, followed by 1,200 men and 1,700 horses and mules. The 7th Cavalry Band played "The Girl I Left Behind Me".

The intent of Genaral Terry was to trap the Indians between Custer and Major General John Gibbon in the Little Big Horn Valley. Custer had been ordered to move a band of Indians toward the large cavalry force. Custer was to pass all the way down the Rosebud Creek and cross over to the Little Big Horn Valley and move north, in a blocking maneuver to prevent the Indians from escaping south. Custer marched with approximately 700 soldiers, moving south for several days, identifying Indian camp signs all along the way. After making visual contact with the Indians on 23 June, Custer ordered the column to turn west toward the Little Big Horn Valley. On 24 June, the Arikara and Osage scouts identified a party of Sioux following them. The Sioux fled when approached and Custer did not want any of the Sioux encampment to escape. On the night of 24 June, Custer outlined the plan for the next day. When the his regiment reached the Sioux encampment on 25 June 1876, Custer made a decision to attack and fight the Indians.

One of the most chronicled events in the history of the American West was the famous Battle of the Little Big Horn, otherwise known as Custer's Last Stand. Traveling up Rosebud Creek, at 12:07 Custer split his command into three battalions. Major Reno, in command of companies "A", "G", and "M", was directed to attack the southern most end of the village in the valley. Captain Benteen, in command of companies "D", "H", and "K", was directed to explore the area in a southwesterly direction and to "pitch into anything that he might find." Captain McDougall was assigned with "B" Company to guard the pack train. Custer took the five companies of "C", "E", "F", "I", and "L" to make a frontal attack on the encampment.

Comanche - Sole Survivor

Within a short period of time, Custer and his troops were annihilated by the full might of an estimated 5,000 Sioux Indians who were led by Chief Sitting Bull and Chief Crazy Horse. Four days later, the other two battalions of the regiment were rescued by supporting cavalry troops under the command of Generals Terry and Gibbon. In the search for survivors of Custer's forces, not one of the 264 troopers under Custer's command was found alive. Five members of the Custer family were killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn; the General, his brother Captain Tom Custer, brother-in-law Captain James Calhoun, younger brother Boston, and nephew Autie Reed. Both Boston and Autie were civilians.

Comanche, "the only living thing found on Custer Battlefield." This photograph was taken at Fort Lincoln, 1877, about 1 year after the battle. Blacksmith Korn is holding the bridle and Capt. H. J. Nowlan, Seventh Cavalry, is in the background.

Only one horse, with seven arrows in his body, was found in a thicket. The horse, named Comanche, was a gelding ridden by Captain Keogh, one of Custer's officers. In the subsequent campaigns of 1876, troopers of the 5th Regiment rode after the Sioux to avenge the death of their comrades. While Sitting Bull was pursued into Canada, Crazy Horse and the Cheyennes traveled about, comparatively undisturbed. In July 1877, he was finally prevailed upon to come to Fort Robinson, Nebraska on the distinct understanding that the government would hear and adjust their grievances, many of which are still unresolved today.

Additional Sources:

www.garryowen.com
www.americaslibrary.gov
littlebighorn.8k.com
www.pbs.org
www.ndsu.edu
www.affv.nu
gcuster0.tripod.com
www.popularposters.com
www.lilliputmodel.com
www.indianwars.org
www.framery.com

On this Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on January 10:
1502 Hendrik Niclaes German/Dutch merchant/cult leader ('Family of Love')
1628 Jan Theunisz Blanckerhoff [Jan Maet], seascape painter)
1738 Ethan Allen Revolutionary War fighter (led the Green Mountain Boys)
1747 Abraham L Breguet French clock maker
1768 James Varicick 1st AME Zion Bishop
1769 Michel Ney French marshal (Waterloo)
1780 M Heinrich C Lichtenstein German zoologist
1815 Alexander Brydie Dyer Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1874
1815 Thomas Williams Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1825 Alexander Travis Hawthorn Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1899
1834 John Acton English historian/MP
1864 George Washington Carver agricultural scientist (estimate date - actual birthdate unknown)
1876 Johannes W "Jan" Eisenloeffel Dutch goldsmith
1877 Frederick Gardner Cottrell inventor (electrostatic precipitator)
1880 Manuel Azaña y Díaz PM/President of 2nd Spanish republic (1936-39)
1883 Francis X Bushman Norfolk VA, silent film actor (Ben Hur, Spy's Defeat)
1892 Dumas Malone Mississippi, historian (Jefferson & His Time)
1898 Sergei M Eisenstein Russian director (Alexandr Nevski)
1904 Ray Bolger Dorchester MA, actor/dancer (Wizard of Oz)
1908 Bernard Lee London England, actor (M in James Bond movies)
1917 Jerry Wexler music producer (Aretha Franklin/Bob Dylan)
1927 Gisele MacKenzie Winnipeg Manitoba, singer/actress (Your Hit Parade)
1930 Roy E Disney CEO (Disney)
1935 Ronnie (the Hawk) Hawkins Ark, rocker (Who Do You Love?)
1939 Sal Mineo New York City NY, actor (Exodus, Rebel Without a Cause)
1942 Walter Hill director (48 Hours, Extreme Prejudice)
1943 Jim Croce Philadelphia PA, singer/songwriter (Time in a Bottle, Bad Bad Leroy Brown)
1945 Rod Stewart London England, singer (Maggie Mae, Da Ya Think I'm Sexy)
1948 Donald Fagen Passaic NJ, rock vocalist/keyboardist (Steely Dan-Peg)
1949 Teresa Graves Houston TX, actress (Laugh-in, Get Christie Love)
1949 George Foreman Marshall TX, world heavyweight boxing champ (1973-74, 95)
1953 Bobby Rahal Indy-car racer (over 15 wins)
1968 Lyle Menendez NY, accused of killing his parents (Menendez Brothers)

Deaths which occurred on January 10:
0681 Agatho Sicilian pope (678-81), dies
0976 John I Tzimisces co-emperor of Byzantium (969-76), dies at 51
1276 Gregorius X [Tedaldo Visconti], pope, dies
1542 Gerardus Noviomagus [Gerrit Geldenhauer], Dutch theologist, die at 59
1645 William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury, beheaded for treason at 71
1778 Carolus Linnæus "Carl von Linné" Swedish botanist/explorer/"Father of Taxonomy", dies at 70
1824 Victor Emanuel I king of Sardinia (1802-21), dies at 64
1862 Samuel Colt inventor (6 shot revolver), dies at 47
1917 Buffalo Bill Cody army scout & Indian fighter, dies
1934 Marinus van der Lubbe Dutch communist, beheaded in Berlin at 24
1941 Joseph Schmidlin German church historian, murdered at 67
1961 Dashiell Hammett author (Maltese Falcon, Thin Man), dies from throat cancer at 66
1971 Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel French fashion designer, dies at 87
1976 Chester Arthur Burnett(Howlin' Wolf) US blues singer/guitarist, dies at 65
1978 John D Rockefeller III US billionaire/philanthropist, dies at 71
1978 Zeb Turner country-rock performer (Chew Tobacco Rag), dies at 62
1980 George Meany labor leader, dies at 85
1981 Richard Boone actor (Paladin-Have Gun Will Travel), dies at 63
1982 Paul Lynde comedian/actor (Uncle Arthur-Bewitched, Bye Bye Birdie, Bewitched), dies at 55
1996 Alexander Robertus organic chemist, dies at 88
1996 Arthur Sydney Martin spycatcher, dies at 81

Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1967 GAULEY JAMES P.---RINGWOOD OK.
1967 STOVES MERRITT III---BIRMINGHAM AL.
1968 HOPPER EARL P. JR.---GLENDALE AZ.
[EJECTION PROBLEMS CRASH]
1968 HALL KEITH N.---GRAND FORKS ND
[03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1969 SPROTT ARTHUR R. JR.---DELRAY BEACH FL.
1970 ALLEN WAYNE C.---TEWKSBURY MA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 09/90 ID'D 04/91]
1970 CROSBY HERBERT C.---GA
1970 HOWES GEORGE A.---KNOX IN.
1973 CLARK ROBERT A.---NORTH HOLLYWOOD CA.*
1973 MC CORMICK MICHAEL T.---HONOLULU HI.
*Remains ID'd
Servicemen Missing from Vietnam War Identified
United States Department of Defense January 9, 2004 DoD
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1054904/posts?page=2#2

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0049 BC Julius Cesar crosses the Rubicon, invades Italy
0236 St Fabian begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0681 St Agatho ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1072 Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo
1356 German emperor Charles I delegates Golden Degree
1429 Order of the Golden Fleece established in Austria-Hungary & Spain
1430 Duke Philip the Good marries Isabella of Portugal
1514 Complutensian New Testament in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek & Latin finished
1550 1st sitting of "Vurige Chamber" in Paris
1642 King Charles I & family flee London for Oxford
1663 King Charles II affirms charter of Royal African Company
1806 Dutch in Cape Town, South African surrender to the British
1810 French church annuls marriage of Napoleon I & Joséphine
1811 Louisiana slaves rebel in 2 parishes
1839 Tea from India 1st arrives in UK
1840 Penny Post mail system started
1845 Poets Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning begin corresponding
1861 US forts & property seized by Mississippi
1861 Florida becomes 3rd state to secede from US
1861 Fort Jackson & Fort Philip are taken over by Los Angeles state troops
1862 Battle of Big Sandy River KY (Middle Creek)
1862 Battle of Romney WV
1863 1st underground railway opens in London
1863 General McClernand's Union troops surround Fort Hindman AR
1863 January-uprising begins in Poland
1870 Georgia legislature reconvenes
1870 John D Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil
1878 US Senate proposes female suffrage
1889 Ivory Coast declared a protectorate of France
1890 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Sapientiae Christianae
1901 Oil discovered at Spindletop claim near Beaumont, Texas
1911 1st photo in US taken from an airplane, San Diego
1912 World's 1st flying boat's maiden flight, (Glenn Curtiss in NY)
1916 Russian offensive in Kaukasus
1920 League of Nations' 1st meeting, Treaty of Versailles in effect
1923 Last US troops leave Rhineland (Germany)
1923 Lithuania seizes & annexes country of Memel
1925 Miriam (Ma) Ferguson sworn in as Texas Governor, nation's 2nd woman governor
1927 Fritz Lang's Metropolis premieres
1928 Soviet Union orders exile of Leon Trotsky
1935 Actress Mary Pickford marries actor Douglas Fairbanks
1941 Joseph Kesselring's "Arsenic & Old Lace" premieres in New York City NY
1941 Seyss-Inquart begins registration of Jews
1942 Japan invades North-Celebes, Dutch East Indies
1943 1st US President to visit a foreign country in wartime-FDR leaves for Casablanca, Morocco
1943 Russian offensive against German 6th/4th Armies near Stalingrad
1944 1st mobile electric power plant delivered, Philadelphia
1944 British troops conquer Maungdaw, Burma
1945 Los Angeles Railway (with 5 streetcar lines) forced to close
1946 UN General Assembly convenes for 1st time (London)
1946 US Army establishes 1st radar contact with Moon, Belmar NJ
1947 British stop ships Independence & In-Gathering from landing in Israel
1949 RCA introduces 45 RPM record
1951 1st jet passenger trip made
1951 UN headquarters opens in Manhattan NY
1956 Elvis records "Heartbreak Hotel"
1957 Anthony Eden resigns & Harold Macmillan becomes PM Britain
1958 Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" reaches #1 on the country and r&b charts, #2 on the pop chart
1964 US version of "That Was The Week That Was" premieres
1964 Battles between moslems & hindus in Calcutta
1964 Panamá severs diplomatic relations with US
1966 Julian Bond denied seat in Georgia legislature for opposing Vietnam War
1966 India & Pakistan sign peace accord
1967 Edward Brooke, takes (Senator-R-MA) seat as 1st popular elected black
1967 PBS (National Educational TV) begins as a 70 station network
1967 Lester Maddox inaugurated as Governor of Georgia
1968 US Surveyor 7 lands near lunar crater Tycho
1969 USSR's Venera 6 launched for parachute landing on Venus
1969 Sweden (1st Western country) recognizes North Vietnam
1972 Triple album set "Concert for Bangladesh" released in UK
1972 Sheik Mujib ur-Rahman arrives in Dacca, East-Pakistan
1979 1st brother Billy Carter makes allegedly anti-Semitic remarks
1980 Last broadcast of "Rockford Files" on NBC
1981 John Severin sets 100-mile unicycle speed record, 9 h 21 m
1981 El Salvador guerrilla group FMLN opens "general offensive"
1983 New York Supreme Court issues a preliminary injunction barring New York Yankees from playing season-opening series against Tigers in Denver
1984 Argentine ex-president/General Bignone arrested
1984 Clara Peller 1st asks, "Where's the Beef?"
1984 Luis Aparicio, Harmon Killebrew, & D Drysdale elected to Hall of Fame
1984 US establishes full diplomatic relations with Vatican after 117 years
1985 Daniel Ortega Saavedra inaugurated as President of Nicaragua
1990 China lifts martial law (imposed after Tiananmen Square massacre)
1991 US Congress begins debate on Persian Gulf crisis
1991 Japan ends routine fingerprinting of all adult ethnic Koreans
1994 Trial of Lorena Bobbitt who cut off her husband's penis, begins
1994 Ukraine says it will give up world's 3rd largest nuclear arsenal
1994 Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan agrees to abolish trade tariffs
1995 "Late Late Show" with Tom Snyder premieres on CBS at 12 30 AM
1996 Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
1996 Jimmy Johnson announced as new coach of Miami Dolphins
1997 Dow Corning provides $2.95 billion to settle breast implant suits
1997 Italy's new 1,000 lire coin shows divided Germany on map
2000 America Online announced it had agreed to buy Time Warner for $165 billion, in what would be the biggest merger in history.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

US : National Clean Off Your Desk Day
Blood Donor Month

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Gonzalvo
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Agatho, Roman Catholic pope (678-81)
Roman Catholic : Feast of St Gregory X, Roman Catholic pope (1271-76)
Anglican : Commemoration of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury

Religious History
1514 The first section of the Complutensian Polyglot (the world's first multi-language Bible) was printed at Alcala, Spain. (The complete translation was published in 6 volumes in 1517.)
1538 Regarding the doctrine of purgatory, German Reformer Martin Luther reported in a "Table Talk": 'God has placed two ways before us in His Word: salvation by faith, damnation by unbelief (Mark 16:16). He does not mention purgatory at all. Nor is purgatory to be admitted, for it obscures the benefits and grace of Christ.'
1772 Pioneer American Methodist bishop and circuit rider Francis Asbury penned this prayer in his journal: 'Let me sooner choose to die than sin against thee, in thought, word, or deed.'
1858 English poet Frances Ridley Havergal, 21, while on a visit in Germany, penned the verses which later became her first popular hymn: "I Gave My Life for Thee."
1947 U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed: 'May we resolve, God helping us, to be part of the answer, and not part of the problem.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"The reluctance to put away childish things may be a requirement of genius."