Post by Diane Merkel on Apr 23, 2011 12:43:56 GMT -6
I stubbled upon this:
There isn't much more to the article (which features a short video) but it may be of interest to those who want to know more about life on the trail.
Source: www.beartoothnbc.com/features/big-sky-chronicles/5609-big-sky-chronicles-tobacco-use-at-little-bighorn.html
The jumping off point was two small pieces of metal found at the Little Bighorn archaeological site.
They were identified as tobacco tags and eight of ten human remains showed signs of tobacco use. Then Shannon Vihlene of the Montana Historical Society went to work.
"It was a long process of check marking; did this guy take his tobacco ration? Yes or no?” says Vihlene.
Vihlene went through 16 years of muster rolls to find out how many of the soldiers really used tobacco. She found the eight of ten ratio held up. 86% of seventh cavalry soldiers took their rations.
There isn't much more to the article (which features a short video) but it may be of interest to those who want to know more about life on the trail.
Source: www.beartoothnbc.com/features/big-sky-chronicles/5609-big-sky-chronicles-tobacco-use-at-little-bighorn.html