Charles A [or Henry] Campbell

[Diane Merkel]

I'm hoping you can help me sort out the stats for Charles A. Campbell.

In the table below, Nichols is Men with Custer (2000 edition), Wagner is Fred's Participants in the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and Williams is Military Register of Custer's Last Command. Those are the three references I use when updating the listings on my LittleBighorn.info website. The obituary shown below is attributed to the Bismarck Daily Tribune, Friday, November 26, 1920, Page 5, and can be viewed on Campbell's listing here: www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=85819362&PIpi=56261478. The listing has him as Charles Henry Campbell (no explanation for the middle name) and has him buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, most likely in an unmarked grave. I don't recall Jack Manion talking about him when we visited that cemetery, but that was many moons and a few Bloody Marys ago. Williams seems to accept the obituary's info except for putting him in Company M. Whenever I see big discrepancies, I start wondering about false claims and/or assumed identities. . . .

Thanks in advance for your help. ~ Diane

	Nichols	Wagner	Williams	Obituary
Birth	1844, Boone Co. IL	1844, Boone Co. IL	3 Feb 1850, Boone Co., IL	3 Feb 1850, IL
Company	B	B	B	M
Death	Unknown	2 Aug 1906, Bismarck, ND	25 Nov 1920, Bismarck, ND	25 Nov 1920, Bismarck, ND

Boyle died that September. See www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Boyle&GSfn=James&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1921&GSdyrel=before&GSst=30&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=9526766&df=all&

[Kentishman]

See post below.

[Kentishman]

Re Charles Campbell, Company B

The explanation for Nichols [Men With Custer] stating 1844 as the year of birth can almost certainly be directly traced to him [or A. N. Other] confusing Charles' age given on enlistment. i.e. 21 years on 22 January 1872, with that of Jeremiah Campbell, Company K, who was also enlisted by Lt. Myles Moylan [six days earlier] and whose details appear on the line immediately above Charles' in the Register of Enlistments - Jeremiah's age is shown as 27 years. As the enlistments took place in January it has been assumed that each recruit would pass a birthday later in the year, hence 1872 - 28 = 1844. [Presumably?] Fred placed a little too much faith in the reliability of the info in Nichols 2000 edition. Fred's source for quoting 2 August 1906 as Campbell's date of death is not given. The information contained in the 'New Expanded Edition' of Men With Custer, 2010, gives the same information as Williams [Military Register, 2009], who Nichols may well have used as his source but this doesn't automatically mean that either the date or place of birth is correct!

The 1900 Federal Census for Bismarck, ND, lists a Charles Campbell, a prison guard, but says he was born in New York in November 1851, which is both a different age and place of birth. However, the 1910 Federal Census for Bismarck, lists a Charles Campbell, age 60, born Illinois, still married to the same Sarah, from Virginia. The 1920 Federal Census for Bismarck lists a Charles H. Campbell, age 69, a teamster, a widower, also born New York. In the short time I've had this evening to look into this matter I didn't find a birth record for a Charles Campbell in either Boone County, Illinois, or New York State [but could easily have missed it], so in spite of the information shown in the obituary in the newspaper his place and date of birth must remain uncertain. Obituaries are notoriously unreliable; the case of Henry Jackson being a prime example. Hope this helps.

Kentishman

[fred]

Diane and Peter,


I did not use Nichols' work: I found too many inconsistencies and errors. Much of my DOB and death data came from Ken Hammer with Vern Smalley's help, and vetted against Roger Williams' work. That type of data were not the main object of the book and as long as I had a primary source reference verified, i. e., enlistment records, I was OK with that. If I were to ever have a "second edition" published, all my English, Scot, and Irish entries would include references to Peter Russell's and Geoff Topliss' work. Any discrepancies between enlistment and parish records would be noted.

Also, I just noticed a typo in the date-of-death: it should be November 25, 1920. It appears-- after checking my notes-- the printer used the same date-of-death for both Charles Campbells.

Best wishes,
Fred.