Abram B. Brant

[Diane Merkel]

Please help one of our members if you can. This is what I have been told over the course of several weeks:

Abram B. Brant was awarded the Medal of Honor for LBH one day after his death on October 4, 1878, at Camp J.D. Sturgis, Dakota Territory. He supposedly was buried at Fort Meade National Cemetery, but no record or gravestone can be found. A 1947 newspaper article was found that said some of the burials in the older part of the cemetery were reinterred at Fort Snelling. A phone call to the Fort Snelling cemetery resulted in a computer search of its records (including variations of his name: Abram/Abraham and Brant/Brandt) but turned up nothing. Fort Snelling would not verify the 1947 reburial without a specific name. (? -- I'm only reporting what I've been told.)

Do we have readers from the Minneapolis area who would be willing to investigate the reburials from Fort Meade? Does anyone have any other information or ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Diane

[Diane Merkel]

Jack McCulloh has been trying for years to get a gravestone for Abram Brandt. Below is the latest about his efforts. Thanks, Jack!

BRANDT APPLICATION FILED

Pvt Abram Brandt is the only soldier of 24 awarded the Medal of Honor for valor at the Battle of the Little Big Horn (1876 ) that has never had a grave site head stone – could this year have a headstone marking his grave site ?

A group of researchers have filed with Sara Elton, Superintendent of the Black Hills National Cemetery an application asking a headstone for Brandt be placed in the Old Post Cemetery, Ft Meade, SD.

The application documents Brandt death on October 4, 1878 by attaching a medical card of the 7th cavalry Ft Sturgis, Dakota Territory which in part states “accidentally shot by himself at 3;30 am – Death at 6 am – Age 29 years – grave #2 – Camp Ruhlin, DT.

The application states “it should be the responsibility of government agencies/Black Hills National Cemetery to do the research investigation and not continue to insist this be left up to interested private parties.

The headstone is requested on behalf of John Saul, living descendent of Abram Brant, and all those interested parties.

[markland]

Diane, you will likely find Abram Brant/Brandt (the enlistment record spells it Brant) at the Ft. Meade National Cemetery. Per Robert Lee's book, Fort Meade and the Black Hills, Brant died at temporary Camp Sturgis on 10/01 after having accidentally shot himself in the stomach. The enlistment record and 7th Cav. regimental returns state that he died "nr. Bear Butte." Per Lee's book, the temporary Camp Sturgis was indeed in Bear Butte Valley and was located about two miles from Camp Ruhlen which had a cemetery. Lee mentions others who died at Camp Ruhlen and I went to the National Gravesite Locator site and found Henry Weiss, Charles Hess and Albert Neihoven buried at Ft. Meade. They had all died at Camp Ruhlen in 1878.

My suggestion would be to contact the Ft. Meade National Cemetery staff and have them dig (pun unintended) into the records showing which interments were due to the transfer of bodies from Camp Ruhlen. Likely, amongst them will be some unknown U.S. Soldiers of which Brant will be included.

The link to the National Gravesite Locator service is:

gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1

To find the pertinent chapter to Lee's book, go to www.books.google.com and use the search criteria under advanced. Or conversely, you can just enter "Camp+Sturgis" as a Google search and it is the fifth result.

Billy

[Diane Merkel]

Jack & Company have been trying the Fort Meade route for years with little success, but I'm not sure if they've looked for Camp Ruhlen records. Thanks for the tip!

[mcculloh]

Tuesday, September 23, 2008



BRANDT APPLICATION
FILED






Pvt Abram B. Brandt is the only one of 24 awarded the Medal of Honor at the Battle of the Little Big Horn(1876 )that has never had a medal of Honor head stone – could have this year marking his grave site ?
A group of researchers have filed with Sara Elton, Superintendent of the Black Hills National Cemetery, Sturgis, S.D. an application asking a headstone for Brandt be placed in the Old Post Cemetery, Ft Meade, SD. The application makes it clear the “In Memoriam” marker is unacceptable to the applicants.
The application documents Brandt death on October 4, 1878 by including a medical card of the 7th cavalry Ft Sturgis, Dakota Territory which in part states “accidentally shot by himself at 3;30 am – Death at 6 am – Age 29 years – grave #2 – Camp Ruhlin, DT.” Camp Ruhlin was the 7th Calvary construction camp for Ft Sturgis.
The application says “it should be the responsibility of government agencies/Black Hills National Cemetery to do the … investigation and not … insist this be left up to … private parties.”
In January 2005 the National Cemetery Administration conducted a … search for any records that indicate a burial of Abram Brandt...No records in the National Archives were found.


The state of South Dakota contacted Black Hills National Cemetery and suggested a remote sensing to detect subsurface anomalies at the Fort Meade National Cemetery. If some anomaly registered on the sensing equipment it would not be known what the anomaly was. Excavation would be required.
The muster roll for Company D, 7th U.S. Cavalry, records that Pvt. Brandt’s “died from wounds received from accidental shot by his own hand at a Camp near Bear Butte, D.T.” The location of where it took place was as Camp J.G. Sturgis. D.T. Camp Sturgis was later renamed Ft Meade.
The Fort Meade Cemetery, several miles from and administered by the Black Hills National Cemetery as a closed cemetery, does not have any burial records for the veteran.
In 2005 the Veterans Administration offered to place a “In Memoriam” headstone for Private Brandt at the cite of an “anomaly”. The VA is willing to renew this offer to place a stone if Mr. Saul, a direct descendent request such a marker.
The application says the headstone is requested on behalf of John Saul, living descendent of Abram Brant, and all interested parties.
-30-

[markland]

Jack, has anyone been snooping at the site of old Camp Ruhlen? I strongly suspect that grave number 2 is at that camp's cemetery. Of course, for all I know, that cemetery may have been the start of the Ft. Meade National Cemetery.

Good luck,

Billy

[Diane Merkel]

The Director of the Black Hills, Fort Meade & Hot Springs National Cemeteries says the headstone for Abram Brant has been ordered.

[Diane Merkel]

I've just reviewed some of the information that was sent to me earlier regarding the marker for Abram Brant. I'll share some of the documents in hopes they are of interest to others. First, though, it needs to be said that a lot of people devoted a lot of time to this effort, and they all deserve our praise. Some of the names I recognize:

• Eileen French, researcher extraordinaire, who was also instrumental in the Chinatown digs in Deadwood in recent years;
  
• John Saul, Abram Brant's great grandnephew, who is a well-known author of suspense and horror books (see www.johnsaul.com);
  
• Dr. Doug Scott, archaeologist;
  
• Dr. Kenneth Hammer (if I have to explain who he is, you're on the wrong board!);
  
• Jerome Greene, author;
  
• Michael Donahue, author;
  
• Our very own Treasuredude; and
  
• Rocky Boyd, historian.
  

I should note that Rocky is not pleased that Brant will be given an "In Memoriam" stone. I share his view because, from what I have read, it still might be possible to locate the actual burial location with no disturbance to other occupants of the cemetery. Instead, they are going to place the memorial stone far away from the other 7th Cav burials of the Indian Wars period. Rocky is planning to protest that, and I hope he succeeds.

Here are some of the documents pertaining to Abram Brant's death and Medal of Honor. He died one day before his Medal of Honor was issued.

[mcculloh]

What would be the most accurate spelling for Abram's last name for his cemetery headstone?

[markland]

Oct 13, 2008 13:30:04 GMT -6 mcculloh said:

What would be the most accurate spelling for Abram's last name for his cemetery headstone?

I would go with Brant as in the enlistment record and the documentation images Diane posted above. The Brandt spelling variation could have been a SNAFU by the Adjutant or company officer/clerk doing the returns.

Billy

[Diane Merkel]

Jack McCulloh forwarded an email to me from the Director of the Black Hills, Fort Meade & Hot Springs National Cemeteries, dated October 17:

[W]e have received the “In Memory Of” headstone for Mr. Brant. It was set this morning in Section 2, Row 4, Site 187.

As a reminder, Fort Meade National Cemetery is open for visitation from dawn to dusk.

[Diane Merkel]

Jack also sent this link to photos of the new marker. I don't know who "wildbill" is, but I thank him for posting his photos.

picasaweb.google.com/wildbill1876/AbramBrant#

It appears Brant's marker is facing 180 degrees from the others. Is that because it's a memorial and not an actual burial???

[Treasuredude]

It's facing the same direction as the others. It only appears reversed because the lettering on the other headstones isn't that dark gold color. I believe that might be reserved for the MOH recipients. The other headstones are a raised lettering but still white on white.

[Diane Merkel]

Thanks, T-Dude. Rocky Boyd sent the beautiful photo below, which does show the others are engraved on the same side.

[Diane Merkel]

Eileen French sent the following regarding Brant's Medal of Honor:

I was a partner in research with Rocky Boyd years ago when we managed to get the Abram Brant headstone placed in Fort Meade Cemetery. (I assume you are aware that Rocky died May 1, 2010.)

Rocky and I often wondered what had happened to Abram's medal. This past year I found documents which indicate the medal was sent by express from Bismarck, ND on May 18, 1879 to John Brant, Abram's brother, in New York City. Ed. Godfrey wrote a letter from Fort Yates the next day to John Brant letting him know about the shipment.

In 1954 Gage Inslee, son of Joseph Inslee and Sophie Earle (Abram's sister), wrote a letter stating the medal had come to him, he had it for a number of years and then lost it. A request for a replacement medal had been denied.

These documents are in the Don Rickey collection at the Denver Public Library.

I thought you and all those Custer researchers out there may be interested.

Many thanks to Eileen for sharing this information!

Diane