August 1873 Custer Battlefield for Sale

[Diane Merkel]

Thanks to Lee Noyes for passing along this message from John Doerner:

I just spoke with Tanya Hargrove, owner of the historic August 11, 1873 Custer Battlefield along with her husband Scott (406-342-5411), and due to illness in their family they will be forced to sell their historic ranch located across from the mouth of the Bighorn River at 56 Pease Bottom Road, Hysham, MT and site of the historic August 11, 1873 Custer Battlefield!

As many of you know, this was one of three epic clashes that year between Lt. Col. George A. Custer and eight Troops of his 7th Cavalry and Lakota Sioux in the Yellowstone River Valley of present day Montana during the 1873 Yellowstone Expedition. The 7th provided escort for the Northern Pacific Railroad Engineer's including Custer's former West Point Classmate Tom Rosser; in fact Custer's Kentucky thoroughbred horse King Bernadotte, a fast bay gelding that he had recently acquired that year, was the 11th horse shot and killed from under Custer during his military career here. Barrow, a newspaper correspondent wrote 12 years later:

"In a second [August 11, 1873] sharp battle which we had with the Indians on the Big Horn, his horse was shot under him, the eleventh horse that, during his experience had been stricken under him this way. He seemed to bear a charmed life. Fear was not an element in his nature. He exposed himself freely and recklessly. In our campaign on the Yellowstone, with his bright red shirt, he was the most conspicuous mark on the campaign. I protested against soliciting Indian bullets in this way but found an appeal to his wife more effective; and the next year the red shirt was exchanged for a buckskin suit."

Custer's Orderly John H. Tuttle, Company E, using Autie's .50/70 Springfield Sporting Rifle was killed during a heated long-range exchange of rifle fire at daybreak by warriors positioned on the south side of the Yellowstone River who ultimately crossed over above and below the command in great force estimated at approximately 1,000 at the time. Lt. Charles Braden was also severely wounded during the battle, along with several other troopers. Four horses were killed and eight or ten were wounded while Indian losses were estimated at the time to be forty killed and wounded along with a large number of ponies. Ultimately, Custer rallied the troops and pursued the Lakota over four miles upstream, severely demoralizing them and carried the day.

The Hargrove's would like to see the battlefield preserved and ultimately purchased for it's national significance, otherwise they will be forced to sell it on the open market by early next spring. This may be the one and only opportunity to act and preserve one of the most historic and best preserved Indian War Battlefield's on the Northern Plains; one that nearly sealed the fate of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, three years before Little Bighorn and played an important role in the "Road to Little Bighorn" involving many important leaders and participants of the Lakota Sioux (including Gall and Rain In The Face) who's fate was destined to clash in several important battles along the Yellowstone Valley with Lt. Col. G.A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry who had recently arrived in Dakota Territory from duty stations in the South during Post Civil War Reconstruction.

Ultimately, this important Battlefield could perhaps one day be included within the NPS system, (along with Rosebud Battlefield) and be administered by Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. LIBI already has the significant archeological collection collected from the site donated by Vance Haynes.

John A. Doerner
Chief Historian

[Diane Merkel]

Thanks to John Lubetkin for this:

To All: In reference to the 8/11/1873 Battle, please be aware that it covered from north to south well over 10 miles. This distance includes Stanley's heavy skirmishing to the north, Custer's central position and finally Custer's chase of the fleeing Indians. The central part of the battlefield is itself divided into three sections: Custer's original campsite ( where Tuttle was shot) roughly opposite where the Indians were firing from across the Yellowstone, the hillside where Braden was wounded and where heavy skirmishing occured and finally, the plain where Custer charged Gall. Four full page maps as well as a complete chapter describing the fighting appear in my book, "Jay Cooke's Gamble".

My basic question is this - exactly where on the battlefield is the Hargrove property? Please be aware that there are a number of other parcels of land that are on the battlefield, one of them being a large farm of hundreds of acres that appears to be growing what I think are sugar beets.

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

Excerpted from Armor. v.15 1904/1905 and Armor. v.16 1905/1906 reprints of the Journal OF THE United States Cavalry Association Vol. XV. July, 1904 to April, 1905. and Vol. XVI. July 1, 1905, TO June 30, 1906.




From he articles, 'AN INCIDENT OF THE YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1873' and 'THE YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1873'.


ABOUT 8 o'clock in the morning of August 11th, 1873, on the north bank of the Yellowstone River in Montana, in a spirited fight between eight troops of the Seventh Cavalry under General George A. Custer and Sioux Indians, Lieutenant Charles Braden, of this regiment, was shot through the upper left thigh. The bullet, from a Henry rifle, fired at a range of not over fifty yards, went clear through the leg, badly shattering the bone and splitting it down to the knee. The Lieutenant was dismounted and walking with his right side towards the Indians. The left leg was in the air when struck and as the wounded man fell, his weight coming on the broken bone, caused the ends to pass each other and stick into the flesh, making a very ugly wound. One of the sergeants with his detachment wore a long black silk scarf. This he took off and tied it as tight as he could around the leg above the wound.

Lieutenant Braden's detachment numbered about twenty men of L Troop, and was an advanced guard about a mile ahead of the main command. The detachment met a large number of mounted Indians, but succeeded in holding its position until several troops of the regiment arrived and drove off the Indians, pursuing them some distance up thevalley.

Lieutenant, now Commissary General Weston, rode to where Braden lay, unstrapped an extra blanket from his saddle and left four men and a bugler to take charge of the wounded man, ordering them to put him in the blanket and take him to where Custer had established his headquarters.

The bugler was to lead the horses and carry the carbines of the four soldiers, who carefully put Braden in the blanket, and each carrying at one corner, started for the field hospital. It was necessary to go across several large ravines, and up and down hills. The bugler, who became scared, could not manage his extra horses and carry the four carbines, disappeared. This left the party unarmed. Then one of the contract doctors with the expedition appeared and said the Indians were coming back, and the carrying party had better hurry or they would all be killed. This message greatly accelerated the pace, and the party went as rapidly as possible. Some patches of cactus had to be crossed; the prickers were long,dry and brittle. For a few minutes the men carrying the blanket were able to keep it from touching the ground, but they soon became tired and the injured man frequently hit the cactus. Many of the prickers went through the blanket into the flesh and broke off. It seemed as if every square inch of his anatomy that had come into contact with the cactus had at least a hundred of such broken spears. They afterwards were the cause of much pain and suffering.

After awhile the party reached headquarters. Dr. Ruger, brother of General Ruger, U. S. A.. retired, pulled the pieces of bone out of the flesh and made the patient as comfortable as possible. There were no appliances to dress such a wound, and there was nothing to do but wait for the wagon train to arrive, which it did about sundown. Dr. James P. Kimball, U. S. A., recently deceased, was the chief medical officer of the expedition.


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I went to a high bluff from which could be seen the country for eight or ten miles up and down the river. With the aid of my glasses I was able to notice that numbers of Indians were crossing and approaching our position from both directions. A report of this was at once sent to General Custer and he made his disposition accordingly. To the west were hills, which in possession of the hostiles would render our position in the bottom a very unsafe one. Our squadron commander was directed to occupy this hill with about a third of a troop, dismounted. I was ordered to turn over the guard to the sergeant and go in charge of this detachment. We went as rapidly as possible, and leaving our horses at the foot of the hill scrambled to the top through a narrow ravine. There were about twenty men with me.

As our party reached the top, spread out before us was a plateau probably a mile or more in extent and not a hundred yards away. Riding in our direction was what looked like the whole Sioux Nation to the few of us. There were probably a hundred dressed in their war toggery of paint, feathers; horns, etc. We saw them before they saw us, and hurriedly forming a line opened fire. One volley caused them to stop; several ponies were seen to fall, but I do not know if any of the warriors were hit. At any rate we saw several ponies an instant after scurrying back with two riders each.

Our one volley caused them to turn, some to the right and some to the left, but close behind them was another lot of about the same number. Our men had barely time to slip a fresh cartridge into their carbines when the second line was where the first was checked. The second onslaught turned out as did the first. Our men were lying down on the slope, with only their heads above the summit. The fourth charge of the Indians came closer than any of the others, and to me it seemed as if some of them had gotten between us and the river, and would work to our rear. I arose and started to the left to see if this was the case, and had taken but a few steps, my right side toward the hostiles, when a bullet hit my left leg midway between the hip and the knee, and just missing the femoral artery, went clear through the leg, badly shattering the bone. I fell on my left side and rolled down the hill quite a distance.

This put me out of business, and I told the sergeant (Hall) to take charge of the detachment. Hall was an old soldier and a very capable one. As soon as the firing on us was heard in the valley below, the balance of our squadron, under Captain Yates, hurried to our relief, and upon their appearance the Indians withdrew. They were pursued up the valley a distance, but were not overtaken, as their ponies were in a much better condition than were our horses. Not one of the men with me was hit, but three or four had holes in their hats, and one had his hat rim shot away.

While we were having our little fight there were more things doing in another part of the field. A party of Indians, who had crossed below us, moved forward and were met by Captain French. In the fight that ensued several of the Indians were seen to fall, but were carried off the field by their comrades. Another party of warriors attacked the center of our position. They were driven off by Captain Tom Custer. In this affair Lieutenant Ketcham, Twenty-second Infantry, the assistant adjutant general of the expedition, had his horse shot under him. General Custer's horse was also shot in this affair.

The pursuit continued about eight miles up the valley, where the Indians again crossed the river at the place where they had come over in the morning. When the charge of the main body of our men was about to begin, the band was lined up and the regimental favorite, "Garryowen," struck up as an inspiration to the troopers. The loss of the Indians in this affair is not known, but as they did the attacking, and exposed themselves freely, probably they had quite a number killed and wounded. Our loss, as reported by General Custer, was "one officer badly wounded, four men killed and three wounded; four horses killed and four wounded."

After the fighting on our side of the river was over, the hostiles again concentrated in the woods opposite us. Near sunset General Stanley arrived; with him were two pieces of artillery, three-inch rifles I believe. A few shells thrown across the river caused the Indians to abandon the woods.