Reinurnment of Ft. Phil Kearny soldier

[bubbabod]

Hope this comes out. This is the reburial, actually, of the remains of a Ft. Phil Kearny soldier whose bones were found during the building of the parking lot near LSH monument.

[Diane Merkel]

I love "reinurnment." ;D

I'm confused. If he was a Fort Kearny soldier, why were his bones found near Last Stand Hill?

[elisabeth]

Diane,

They moved all the Fetterman burials to LSH in 1888. Not sure if that's when it became a national cemetery, or if the Fetterman reburials were what started the process; someone will know, I'm sure!

[Diane Merkel]

To the hill -- not to where the cemetery is now?

[elisabeth]

I was being lazy and not looking it up -- slap wrist -- but "Where Custer Fell" (p. 160) has the answer:

"In 1888, the bodies of the men killed in the Fetterman fight of December 21, 1866, along with other burials from Fort Phil Kearney, Wyoming, were moved to the Custer Battlefield. The present cemetery area had not yet been plotted, and they were reburied on the battlefield just south of the monument on Custer Hill. For a number of years thereafter, more than one hundred marble markers arranged in three rows stood on the site.

Photos of this marker group have an unfamiiar look to the modern viewer because all of these stones were later relocated to the cemetery and no longer stand on Custer Hill."

[crzhrs]

Now I wonder just how much confusion the remains of Fetterman's men, plus other burials, added to who and where Custer's men's remains were found. And just how much digging and re-digging was done near the monument to reinter Fettermen's men?

Were Fetterman's men buried in boxes?

[bubbabod]

Crazyhorse, there is a picture in existence showing the crosses, I think it was, of the Ft. Phil burials. I think it is in the Friends of the Lbh web site. Bob R. can point us in the right direction. And I'm assuming they were individual graves. Elizabeth's posting gives the history behind it. I think it wasn't just Fetterman's group buried there but all those who were originally buried at Ft. Phil up on the hill just below Pilot Knob. As I recall, the remains found recently consisted only of very few bones, as evidenced by the urn the young woman is holding. I also have pictures of the ceremony held that day, the honor guard, speeches made by the great-, great whatever of Carrington, whose name is Carrington. The remains were buried just a grave or two south of Fetterman and Brown's graves.

[George Armstrong Custer]

Crzhrs,
Further to Elisabeth and Bubba's information, the Fetterman fight dead were certain;y placed in boxes at the time of their initial burial at Fort Phil Kearny in 1866. Carpenters at the fort were ordered to construct pine coffins for the dead. Dee Brown's The Fetterman Massacre quotes Francis Grummond, wife of Lt. George Grummond who fell with Fetterman: "I knew that my husband's coffin was being made, and the sound of hammers and the grating of saws was torture to my sensitive nerves.''

Twenty-two years later, in 1888, the fallen of the Fetterman fight, together with the other dead interred at Fort P. Kearny, were removed to LBH, and burried on Custer Hill, just to the south of the monument. An iron railing, identical to the one put around the monument (as seen in the famous photo of Benteen, Godfrey, etc., on the 10th anniversary of LBH), was erected around the Fetterman/Kearny graves - marked by over a hundred white marble headstones. Over 40 years later, in the 1930's, the Fetterman/Kearney dead were moved again, from Custer Hill to the main cemetery at LBH. Years after (2002) the Fetterman graves were moved from Custer Hill to the main cemetery at LBH, work on the parking area on the south of Custer Hill uncovered human bone fragments, 19thC. square nails, wooden coffin fragments. and clay brick of the type used to place government headstones. NPS officials concluded that these remains were left behind when the Fetterman burials were removed to the main cemetery in the 1930's - thus confirming that the Fetterman remains were also in boxes/caskets when reinterred on Custer Hill in 1888.

Ciao,
GAC

Sources: Brown, Dee The Fetterman Massacre
Brust, Pohanka, Barnard Here Fell Custer

[Diane Merkel]

Elisabeth and GAC,

Thank you. I've got the book in front of me now. (I really should read it because I'll be attending at least three presentations by Barnard and Brust this summer.) I can't imagine why the graves were put there! (I know, read the book!)

The parking lot shown in the 1995 photo isn't like that now. They only have two handicapped spaces and a two lane road which is very narrow. I'm geographically challenged, so I guess I'll have to take the book to the battlefield to figure it all out. I'm confused . . . . If I'm standing where the marker in front of the monument is, basically facing towards the visitor center, where were the Fetterman gravestones?

P.S. Thank you, too, Bubbabod!

[George Armstrong Custer]

Hi Diane! If you stand at the corner of the monument nearest to the visitor center and you face the visitor center, then the area where the Fetterman graves were is directly behind you on the corner of the monument directly opposite the one you're looking at the visitor center from. Any help?

Regards,
GAC

[Lawtonka]

Great picture Bubba. Keep them coming.

[Diane Merkel]

Yes, GAC, I think so. I'll have to follow your directions when I get there!

[bhist]

admin said:

Yes, GAC, I think so. I'll have to follow your directions when I get there!

Diane et al:

This is a fascinating subject and I think I’ll be able to help you out. For a complete background of how the remains were found and photos of the area plus the archeological excavation of the remains please see Friends Little Bighorn Battlefield’s website and article written by John Doerner at -- www.friendslittlebighorn.com/Fetterman%20Soldier%20Last%20Stand%20Hill.htm -- there you will see a rare photo provided courtesy of Jim Brust of the burial area. And, below that is a comparison photo so you can easily see where the burials were in relation to the monument today. It will blow you away. There are also photos of coffin remains and human remains.

Also, there is another photo of the burial area in another section of the Friends’ website --
www.friendslittlebighorn.com/little-bighorn-changing-faces.htm -- scroll down, the photo is captioned, “ca 1891 -– 7th Cavalry Monument and the Fetterman soldiers.”

Just to clarify. The soldiers were buried in wood coffins, but the remains were not just of Fetterman soldiers (as GAC as written above) but did include everyone buried at the post. So, the remains that the Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield reinterred in 2004, in the Custer National Cemetery, were one or the other.

[Diane Merkel]

Very good, Bob. Now I get it, AND I'm bringing the book with me!

Thanks,
Diane