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Post by Tricia on Jan 30, 2006 14:22:32 GMT -6
All--
I am not sure where I first read about this, but there has always been some discussion about one of the Seventh's first majors, Wycliffe Cooper, and his death. While on campaign with Custer in the summer of 1867, he was "found" dead, due to a gunshot wound. He had either been drunk at the time, or in withdrawl:
"The officers of the 7th--the entire camp, is wrapped in deep gloom since the suicide of Col. Cooper while in a fit of delirium tremens ... I had just risen from the dinner-table where I had been discussing with Tom Col. Cooper's actions, when Col. Myers came rushing in ..." GAC to LBC, June 8, 1867.
Supposedly there is another theory behind Cooper's death ... that he was murdered by the person (Myers) who "found" the body (apparently there had been some kind of argument). And because of this, Custer got involved in a cover-up regarding the cause of death to bolster the regiment's reputation, even going so far as to keep Libbie unawares ... Also remember that this was the summer he went AWOL, so his thinking cap may not have been securely in place.
I am wondering if Benteen had anything to say about the matter, and if this event, if it was murder, had even more to contribute to the already fractured nature of the unit?
Was it possible? Leyton McLean
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Post by elisabeth on Jan 31, 2006 4:24:40 GMT -6
All Benteen says in the Benteen-Goldin Letters is this, on p. 250: "... on leaving the post of old Fort Hayes, Major Wyckliffe Cooper being some days from post, and out of whiskey, shot himself -- suicide -- because the d---d fool Dr. (Lippincott) acting under orders from Custer, wouln't give him even a drink of whiskey to 'straighten out' on."
Two problems with this, though: (1) he wasn't there at the time, so he's retailing only what he's been told -- which may or may not be the "party line"; and (2) he's even got the wrong doctor, which could make us distrust the rest. (It was Isaac Coates, not Lippincott.)
There's yet another theory, midway between the two extremes, which is that the "murder" story was got up by Mrs. Cooper in later years in her attempts to get a pension. Suicide debarred her from a pension, so she tried to get that verdict overturned. In fact, if I remember correctly, poor Coates, who felt sorry for her, lost his job for helping her to fudge the evidence.
Murky waters, eh?!! Still, according to Utley (Barnitz, p. 270), Myers was a pretty hot-tempered type, and given to drawing his gun on the slightest provocation ... He was sentenced to be cashiered in December 1867, and only got to stay on in the regiment because the judge overturned the ruling on grounds of "undue prejudice". So maybe there's more to all that than meets the eye!
Interesting point, either way. If it was murder, and was covered up, it would fragment the regiment in one way: the "inner circle" who were present and knew the secret, versus those who weren't there and didn't. And if it was suicide, it could still have fragmented it between the teetotallers (few) and those who liked a drink (many). The way Custer tells it, he took the opportunity to give his officers a pompous temperance lecture over the corpse of the poor Major. I can't imagine that made him particularly loved ...
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Post by El Crab on Jan 31, 2006 4:53:24 GMT -6
Benteen would have somehow blamed the Titanic disaster on Custer, if Fred had lived that long.
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Post by Tricia on Jan 31, 2006 17:32:29 GMT -6
Elisabeth--
Great post! Now as I recall, Tom had just joined the campaign at that point following his own battles with rhuematic fever. I wonder what he thought of his brother's stammered "temperance" speech over the uncovered casket of Major Cooper?
But either way, in this circumstance, Custer can't win for losing. I believe Billy Markland has addressed the official regimental roll, and that Cooper's manner of death is vague, at best.
Regards, Leyton McLean
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Post by greenpheon on Feb 1, 2006 12:39:55 GMT -6
Here is a bit of information on this I wrote awhile back:
In May of 1867 Captain Barnitz wrote a letter to his wife complaining of Custer's bad attitude toward the entire command. Later he wrote her.
"Things are becoming very unpleasent here. General Custer is very injudicious in his administration, and spares no effort to render himself generally obnoxious...He is the most complete example of a petty tyrant I have ever seen."
On 1 June Custer left camp with six companies (A,D,E,H,K, and M). On 8 June in camp near Medicine Lake Creek in Nebraska, a shot rang out in the tent of Major Wycliffe Cooper. He was found shot in the head and even though there was no powder burns on his face or head, a figure was seen fleeing from his tent just after the shot, and he had only $20 left after drawing two months pay only a week before, his death was ruled a suicide. Years later it was ruled a death by "person or persons unknown".
This event was not long after the shooting of deserters and the maltreatment of soldiers at Custer's orders, leading to his courtmartial.
Greenpheon
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 1, 2006 12:49:28 GMT -6
Hah! I'd forgotten the pay issue. So -- IF murder -- maybe a deserter's more likely?
Fun stuff!
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Post by Tricia on Feb 1, 2006 13:48:30 GMT -6
Hmm ... no powder marks? The deserter-as-murderer angle is certainly looking more appealing. But wouldn't the surgeon have noted the lack of "suicidal" evidence upon first examining the body? Which makes me wonder why GAC writes Libbie and tells her otherwise. Is he deliberately misleading her about the uneasy esprit des corps in the unit or trying to make her feel safe, that murderers aren't rulling pell mell about the Seventh? Or was it a case of GAC writing about how things should be, rather than as they really were? Maybe Benteen does have a point about My Lie On The Plains ... Knowing his desertion is right around the corner, historically speaking, that does make me think about what was going on in his mind.
Then I also got to thinking about GAC's lecture the next day ... and how in the future, as a practical joke, he'd occasionally dump a drunk guy into a coffin. I can't imagine that would go over well with some of the old timers, further rupturing the tenuous relations within the unit.
Regards, LMC
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