List of Last Stand Survivors

[sordidbusiness]

While attending Kansas U, I had access to newspaper archives and microfiche that I didn't realize was even possible. I had become an LBH addict the year before going to school and Graham's five letters of impostors and Nunnally's booklet grabbed my interest. I started combing the Google Newspaper Archive (no longer being developed, but still accessible) and other resources to identify more claimants. Some of those stories struck me as nothing more than Stolen Valor, with one person being invited to the White House and one granted his own parade. Unbelievable stories. Two guys who knew each other *both* claimed to be the only survivor. Ludicrous.

I've been able to identify over 150 distinct claims. It's my addiction. I've given some lengthy analyses to many of them and finally figured out the identity of the guy who claimed he was "Curly the Scout." It's been interesting and has been a great hobby for someone in my condition.

Because of the size of the list, I"m hesitant to slap it into a single post here. Please let me know if you'd like a list of names for the survivors I've collected. I put a few Youtube videos up focusing on Calamity Jane and a few others. It's been amazing to see how many folks enjoyed some of the stories. I'm stuck in the middle of a new video now and need to add more graphics to compliment the audio.

Anyway, I'm not trying to be self-promoting and am very willing to share my research collection with those who might wish to develop the content into a larger body of work or series of posts here. It's overwhelming. I did try to make a book years ago. MacFarland Publishing even offered to print it. I talked to folks who were so knowledgeable on the battle, that it made me feel like an ignorant wannabe. None of those folks treated me poorly, but it was painfully obvious that my knowledge base made absolutely unqualified to thoroughly analyze the individual survivors in the context of the battle. I'm particularly singling out DJ Dickey and Douglas Ellison here. They have a knack of digesting so much detail with the capacity to weave together any number of facets of the battle. Truly impressive.

I'll stop dumping on myself now.

Let me know if you're an author or researcher with an interest in collecting tons of material. I think about 90% of it is digital. I also have some of the books written by a few of those "survivors."

EEH

[noggy]

Hi (again)

Who was the guy given a parade? That is fantastic, never heard of it.

What you've done here seems to be of real historical value, and if you have bios of some sort on many of them, would it not be an option to publish it? LBH enthusiasts love stuff like this, so if a book about one singel "survivor can sell, a book like this would surely be a home-run (I'm Norwegian, iI don't now if it's homerun, home run or home-run).

I would love to see the list and/or titles of the books the self-proclaimed survivors wrote. Feel free to PM me or whatever you prefer. Much appreciated.

All the best,
Noggy

[sordidbusiness]

I'll post it for everyone. I don't mind. But it does take a little background to understand some errors in my earlier research.

I'll send a copy of an early version of the book. It'll give you a feel for what I'm creating. This one entitled "Custer Survivors 101" was a spin off on the number of claims I'd found and the idea of a first year college class nomenclature (101). My current working copy is called "They Survived Custer's Last Stand." I call the list "The Impostor Roster." I played with other names like "Fraud Squad" and "Revision Division." Trying to mock them for violating the concept of Stolen Valor. Some of these guys told their stories to get reduced criminal charges, pity from the public, or other kinds of preferential treatment. Disclosure: The version of Custer Survivors 101 in the link below does include some sloppy scholarship where I accidentally merged Nunally's comments with my working copy. It took a long time to remove the plagiarism. I was devastated when I figured it out thinking, "This is going to take forever to de-cluster." In my lingo, it was a grand Charlie Foxtrot.

mega.nz/file/ps9CzS4b#uKLTAwyVDUqUbgcr-O8gKJuC7MUDv2T9-Eox1KYIcJg

Please remember that I was more of a novice with research and finer battle details. The current version is much better and larger.

A few books I pulled off the shelf by known impostors:

1. "Me and the Black Hills" by the Old Mountain Man Ed Ryan. 1951.
2. Two different books about the life of Frank Tarbeaux:
a. The Autobiography of Frank Tarbeaux as told to Donald Henderson Clarke. 1930.
b. Tarboe: The Story of My Life by Gilbert Parker

I know I have more around here somewhere.

I was pleasantly surprised that I was quoted at lbha.proboards.com/post/122479/thread

But it was also a shock because I don't remember giving access to too many people to the paperback or digital file.

And I'm still open to someone else helping me with the rest of the work. Finding more biographical material. Identifying holes in the claims, if there are any. One exciting development was to finally figure out the identity of a man who ran around saying he was "Curly the Scout." He gave the real Curly a bad name. [Edit: Oops...this isn't the impostor I was thinking of. Ben McIntosh is the name of the person masquerading as "Curly the Scout."]

Without giving too much detail, my difficulty with finishing the book had to do with an editor and my ex in 2015. I only recently was able to get back into the work and am still overcoming the disappointing situation.

EDIT: Some of the content of the Impostor Roster has been put up on Youtube. One has almost 17,000 views. I had no idea people would be that receptive!

EDIT 2: Grr. To answer your parade question: John Martin was identified by Nunnally as receiving a parade in his honor. This Martin was not with the 7th Cav. Another is Ben McIntosh, who received a parade and a special banquet. The third one I've confirmed as receiving a parade is John Walsh. The parade wasn't in his honor, but he did ride at the front of the march in a place of honor.

[backwater]

Wasn't John Martin the guy that gave Benteen the "last order". Martini was his real name but anglicized it to Martin later.

[sordidbusiness]

backwater, my understanding is that Nunnally identified an impostor "John Martin," not the trumpeter Martini/Martin, the actual veteran. There were numerous men who masqueraded as an acknowledged veteran. Targeted Stolen Valor, if you will.

[herosrest]

^Ducemus

From memory, there was a John Martin (Trumpeter) serving with 5th Cavalry and this brought confusion later in his life and after his burial.

Martin was involved inother recent topic about his later service at Ft. Schuyler - link

[backwater]

here's a link to "Custer's Bugler" some good pic's and info. custersbugler.blogspot.com/

[Jenny]

This kind of research could never be viewed as anything but interesting and if it's as accurate as you say, of great historical value. Please keep at it, Sordidbusiness!

Jenny