Kellogg's Mules

[Scout]

Yo! Some attention has been given in recent years to the condition of the 7th's horses, but I wondering if anyone rode a mule....I think Kellogg was riding one and a number of scouts, like California Joe, preferred them, but does anyone know of anyone that rode them at the LBH other than Kellogg?

They were very hardy animals and could take a lot of hardship...although, once in awhile they could become quite obstinate....don't think they would be good on the charge though! Now I realize that there were mules used to carry the packs but still wonder if there is any mention of anyone other than Kellogg riding one.

The great Union cavalry leader and lndian fighter Colonel Benjamin Grierson, preferred them over horses. I do know that they were somewhat more expensive than horses....if they had been cheaper than horses, those last stand paintings would look totally different!

Scout

[George Armstrong Custer]

Hello there Scout,
Can't find any references to anyone else in Custer's immediate command riding a mule. However, the Mounties dealing with Sitting Bull's band after it crossed into Canada noted 7th Cavalry branded mules:

'Some cavalry horses were identified later at Slim Buttes; some were seen with Sitting Bull's band in Canada. Because of the government brand that each carried it is obvious that the new owners made every effort to prevent them from being seen by whites [.......] Apparently they were unconcerned after reaching their haven in Canada, for Sub-Inspector E. D. Clark, while in a conference with Sitting Bull, "saw many horses and mules bearing the brand of Custer's regiment, and many carbines and ammunition pouches taken in the battle of the Little Bighorn." '

[source: Lawrence A. Frost, General Custer's Thoroughbreds, p. 216, quoting from John Peter Turner, The North-West Mounted Police, vol. 1, p. 329]

Although interesting this is not, of course, conclusive proof that any of these mules seen in Canada by Clark had been with the Custer battalions; they may equally well have been from the Reno or Benteen commands.

Regards,
George

[Scout]

Yo! In agreement with you on the horses...Miles said he took several from American Horse's camp....and Northwest Mountie Walsh reported confiscating one gray horse from Sitting Bull's band that had fled into Canada....have never read about the mules though. Inspector Clark says ''many horses and mules''...I need to read more on this.

[Tony]

I believe Boston Custer may have been riding a mule when he when to meet his brother in MTC.