Witness Interviews

[Diane Merkel]

This board is for sharing your research and opinions about various LBH witnesses so that there is a central place for such discussions rather than having them scattered throughout various boards.

Please make a new thread for each witness so that we can stay on topic!

Thanks to Billy Markland for suggesting this board. As usual, he had a great idea that will be helpful to all. If there are other threads that you would like to have moved to this board, please drop me a line.

Diane

[Realbird]

I have read with great interest of the possibility that two (or three) "heads" of Calvary troopers were discovered in the village in the aftermath of the battle. Allegedly, the heads of the men were in a "camp Kettle"according to August Seifert who was a private in company "K". He describes the heads as:"One of them had black hair, and the other red hair and was in a camp kettle."

The identity of these sad mis-fortunates have haunted me , Lo these many years. To have under gone what must have been unspeakable torture prior to the eventual and blessed relief of death is beyond mere mortal comprehension.

Recently, I perused an article by Frank Sniffin that shook me to the core. Private Sniffin was a private in Company "M". He stated, "Sgt. O'Hara was killed on our line in the bottom and was dead or supposed to be when we left the firing line." Needless to say, the phase,"or suppose to be" is very unsettling. His body was never recovered nor identified.

Sgt. Miles O'Hara has been described as as having gray eyes, light hair and a ruddy complexion. Could the earlier description of "red hair" been a personal perspective of "light hair?" If so, the identity of one of the "heads" may have been resolved.

[mwkeogh]

Here's an excellent link to witnesses of the LBH battle. www.astonisher.com/archives/museum/index.html

[steveuk]

I have 2 names for supposed heads found in the village.

One is Private John McGinnis [Company G] and Lt James Porter.

[Melani]

I was just reading something about the Unknown Soldier at Garryowen--apparently there was no head on the skeleton that was discovered and buried there. I guess there might be a possibility that it's Miles O'Hara.

[Treasuredude]

Camp, Custer, and the Little Bighorn by Hardorff contains an interview with John Hammon...

"John E. Hammon said one of the heads found in the village was that of J.J. McGinnis killed with Reno. John E. Armstrong, A Company, killed with Reno, was also beheaded and his head stuck on a pole."

[harpskiddie]

It seems to me that a skull was found embedded in the riverbank when the "dump" on REno/Benteen was being excavated, whenever that was - sometime after the main "digs" on the Custer battlefield - late 80s, I would guess. I have the archaeological reports somewhere, and it al;so seems to me that this find was the genesis of that TV program "Custer's Last Trooper" where they tried to identify the dead man, and reconstruct his features.

I also think that there are different accounts of whose head was found where. Some speak of a red or sandy-haired man, others say the heads were so blacked by fire that they could not be identified. Some say there were three heads, others two. Some have them stuck on poles, others under a camp kettle. Somebody said one of them was young Jack Sturgis.

Reno supposedly lost his head in the valley, but it is not included in anyone's tally.

Gordie
MC

[walkingstar]

Apr 27, 2007 21:13:53 GMT -6 @mwkeogh said:

Here's an excellent link to witnesses of the LBH battle. www.astonisher.com/archives/museum/index.html

Very interesting thread. Thanks for sharing!

[desertlobster]

Herendeen said 4 heads were found in the village and no bodies.

Note, his report was made only 10 days after the battle.

[markland]

Jan 27, 2009 14:59:32 GMT -6 desertlobster said:

Herendeen said 4 heads were found in the village and no bodies.

Note, his report was made only 10 days after the battle.

Herendeen was supposedly quoted in a newspaper article, not a formal report. I say supposedly as newspaper reporters in that era were sometimes known to embellish stories to improve "readability."

Billy

P.S. Formal reports are not the Ten Commandments either. Doesn't Reno's report mention men being tortured in the village?

[tubman13]

Burry the dead thread.

[herosrest]

Ducemus

There is a recorded beheading amongst Custer's men by a Cheyenne woman, the red headed skull was given to a corporal of Reno's command, Lt. Van de Reilly's orderly was roped in defending the body and dragged away behind a pony - possibly until detachment. Quite long ago now, in a Cheyenne related record not immediately apparent for LBH was record of dismemberment of an NCO in the village, Two Moons gave that bodies were burnt.

Digging out the relevant reference will be a chore - as I return to them, I will post. Whilst these atrocities horrify today, the Cheyennes suffered Chivington and also Washita.

[alquedahunter]

Newcomer here but it is known that in Cutthroat Gap in Oklahoma the Osages attacked a Kiowa village while the warriors were away.The Osages killed every old man, child or woman they could find and did indeed put their heads in the camp kettles.I live near this historic place. So, kettles and heads may be indeed something that the NA warrior may hold as a , maybe 'sign' or something. Maybe there were some at the LBH?

[Jenny]

Any updates here? It's my understand that there were 4 heads found in the village, which were deduced to be Sturgis, Armstrong, possibly Porter and ??

Jenny

[Yan Taylor]

Jenny, The forth may have been Private G. E. Smith (M Company), this is from Freds Book;

PVT Smith, George E. – b. Kennebunk, ME, 1850. Gray eyes, brown hair, fair
complexion; 5’ 6½” tall. Enlisted 6Sep75 in Boston. Killed in flats. Connell says his horse bolted and he was carried or dragged into Indian village where he was butchered, his head put on a stake.

Another Soldier named Pvt Farley could have also have ended up in the village, but this is unclear, Fred again!!!

PVT Farley, Henry James (also listed as Turley and Tenley)—b. Troy, NY, Mar51.
Brown eyes, black hair, dark complexion; 5’ 4 1/8” tall. Enlisted 29Oct72. Killed at foot of bluffs. Body found with his hunting knife driven through his eye. Ken Hammer, in The Battlefield Dispatch, Winter 2005, however, says he was killed in the timber. Willert claimed the bluffs [LBH Diary, p. 319] In an article written for the Hardin, Montana Tribune, June 22, 1923, 1SG Ryan wrote that as the command reached the timber after riding down the valley, Turley’s horse bolted and Ryan last saw him heading toward the Indian village

Hope this is of help

Ian