Post by herosrest on Jan 10, 2013 22:10:44 GMT -6
From a vague memory which l cannot properly recall or hunt up, would it have been Eugene Wessinger who dug into the hillside to run over flow from the water tank at the monument, and discovered a burial trench during that excavation?
Odd one I know.....
Walter Camp field notes, folders 43 and 46, BYU Library.
Interview with Charles F. Roe,
When buried remains around monument, did ridge rise to peak, and was wide level place formed at monument? No, the ridge was level originally. Had any grading been done when remains buried in 1878? No.
To settle the report about 20 men getting away from the battlefield and being killed over toward the Rosebud, Roe took a troop of cavalry and deployed them at a suitable interval and marched them all the way to the mountain and found nothing.
Gen. Roe states very positively that none of the remains of the enlisted men were gathered up and buried on the ridge in the trenches around the monument until after the monument was erected in 1881. He then gathered remains from all around the country. Many or most of the bones were out of the graves and scattered about. There was no reasonable certain way of counting them. (In fact it is known that he did not get them all, because Grover took up some of them on Reno's battlefield on hill years later.) Some hay cutters up from Ft. Custer had disturbed some of the remains a good deal, putting skulls on stakes, etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Walter Camp Collection, folder 6, box 4, BYU Library
The following is an excerpt from an attachment to a letter from C. C. Walcutt, War Department, Office of the Quartermaster General, Washington, May 29, 1909, to Walter Camp:
On June 28, 1876, the remains of the killed were buried temporarily where they lay. In what year were these remains disinterred and buried permanently in the trench surrounding the four sides of the plat where the monument now stands? These remains were reinterred in the trenches in 1878.
In what year were the remains of the officers removed from the battlefield? In 1877. In what year or years were the marble markers placed to locate points where the dead were found after the battle? In 1886.
In what year was the monument erected? In 1884.
A photograph taken in 1886 shows the monument mutilated by several large pieces of stone broken from the corners. I am told unofficially that these mutilations were removed by sending stone cutters who dressed down each of the four sides of the monument about three inches in depth and then recut the names and inscriptions on the monument. The monument now appears without any of these mutilations. Is the statement concerning the work of recutting correct, and when was it done? The statement of mutilation is correct. The monument was recut in 1888.
The monument now stands on a level piece of ground on top of the ridge, said level plat being about 150 feet wide. Veterans who assisted in burying the dead there on June 28, 1876, say that the top of the ridge at that time was much narrower, and that only a small level place then existed. An old-time photograph also shows such to have been the case. Apparently the top or peak of the ridge has been graded down at some time, and the grading operations must have been rather extensive. Do the records of your office show such to have been the case? and when was the work carried out? Are there any data as to the extent of grading at this point? The records afford no information regarding this grading, but it is probable that it was done at the time the monument was erected or when the trenches were dug around the plot on which the monument stands.
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Fort Custer, M.T. April 7, 1879 Post Adjutant
Sir: I have the honor to report that in obedience to instructions I went to Custer Battlefield to carry out orders in regard to the graves at that point. I found it impossible to obtain rock within a distance of five miles. I accordingly built a mound out of cord wood filled in the center with all the horse bones I could find on the field. In the center of the mound I dug a grave and interred all the human bones that could be found, in all parts of four or five different bodies. This grave was then built up with wood for four feet above the ground, well covered, and the mound built over and around it. The mound is ten feet square and about eleven feet high; is built on the highest point immediately in rear of where Gen'l Custer's body was found.
Instead of disturbing any remains, I carefully remounded all graves that could be found. At each grave a stake was driven, where those that had previously placed had fallen. Newspaper reports to the effect that bodies still lay exposed are sensational. From a careful searching of the entire ground the remains now buried beneath the mound were all that could be found. I believe the large number of horse bones lying over the field have given rise to some of such statements, and to prevent any such statements being made in the future, I had all the horse bones gathered together and placed in the mound where they can not be readily disturbed by curiosity seekers.
The ground to the north and east of the field was well searched for six miles in each direction, but no trace of any remains were found, nor anything to indicate that any persons were killed in that direction. The whole field now presents a perfectly clean appearance, each grave being remounded and all animal bones removed. ...it should be done as soon as practicable.
Your Obedient (Signed)
G.K. Sanderson Capt.
11 U.S. Infantry.
Stone Cut ~ cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/68822
Odd one I know.....
Walter Camp field notes, folders 43 and 46, BYU Library.
Interview with Charles F. Roe,
When buried remains around monument, did ridge rise to peak, and was wide level place formed at monument? No, the ridge was level originally. Had any grading been done when remains buried in 1878? No.
To settle the report about 20 men getting away from the battlefield and being killed over toward the Rosebud, Roe took a troop of cavalry and deployed them at a suitable interval and marched them all the way to the mountain and found nothing.
Gen. Roe states very positively that none of the remains of the enlisted men were gathered up and buried on the ridge in the trenches around the monument until after the monument was erected in 1881. He then gathered remains from all around the country. Many or most of the bones were out of the graves and scattered about. There was no reasonable certain way of counting them. (In fact it is known that he did not get them all, because Grover took up some of them on Reno's battlefield on hill years later.) Some hay cutters up from Ft. Custer had disturbed some of the remains a good deal, putting skulls on stakes, etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Walter Camp Collection, folder 6, box 4, BYU Library
The following is an excerpt from an attachment to a letter from C. C. Walcutt, War Department, Office of the Quartermaster General, Washington, May 29, 1909, to Walter Camp:
On June 28, 1876, the remains of the killed were buried temporarily where they lay. In what year were these remains disinterred and buried permanently in the trench surrounding the four sides of the plat where the monument now stands? These remains were reinterred in the trenches in 1878.
In what year were the remains of the officers removed from the battlefield? In 1877. In what year or years were the marble markers placed to locate points where the dead were found after the battle? In 1886.
In what year was the monument erected? In 1884.
A photograph taken in 1886 shows the monument mutilated by several large pieces of stone broken from the corners. I am told unofficially that these mutilations were removed by sending stone cutters who dressed down each of the four sides of the monument about three inches in depth and then recut the names and inscriptions on the monument. The monument now appears without any of these mutilations. Is the statement concerning the work of recutting correct, and when was it done? The statement of mutilation is correct. The monument was recut in 1888.
The monument now stands on a level piece of ground on top of the ridge, said level plat being about 150 feet wide. Veterans who assisted in burying the dead there on June 28, 1876, say that the top of the ridge at that time was much narrower, and that only a small level place then existed. An old-time photograph also shows such to have been the case. Apparently the top or peak of the ridge has been graded down at some time, and the grading operations must have been rather extensive. Do the records of your office show such to have been the case? and when was the work carried out? Are there any data as to the extent of grading at this point? The records afford no information regarding this grading, but it is probable that it was done at the time the monument was erected or when the trenches were dug around the plot on which the monument stands.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fort Custer, M.T. April 7, 1879 Post Adjutant
Sir: I have the honor to report that in obedience to instructions I went to Custer Battlefield to carry out orders in regard to the graves at that point. I found it impossible to obtain rock within a distance of five miles. I accordingly built a mound out of cord wood filled in the center with all the horse bones I could find on the field. In the center of the mound I dug a grave and interred all the human bones that could be found, in all parts of four or five different bodies. This grave was then built up with wood for four feet above the ground, well covered, and the mound built over and around it. The mound is ten feet square and about eleven feet high; is built on the highest point immediately in rear of where Gen'l Custer's body was found.
Instead of disturbing any remains, I carefully remounded all graves that could be found. At each grave a stake was driven, where those that had previously placed had fallen. Newspaper reports to the effect that bodies still lay exposed are sensational. From a careful searching of the entire ground the remains now buried beneath the mound were all that could be found. I believe the large number of horse bones lying over the field have given rise to some of such statements, and to prevent any such statements being made in the future, I had all the horse bones gathered together and placed in the mound where they can not be readily disturbed by curiosity seekers.
The ground to the north and east of the field was well searched for six miles in each direction, but no trace of any remains were found, nor anything to indicate that any persons were killed in that direction. The whole field now presents a perfectly clean appearance, each grave being remounded and all animal bones removed. ...it should be done as soon as practicable.
Your Obedient (Signed)
G.K. Sanderson Capt.
11 U.S. Infantry.
Stone Cut ~ cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/68822