Positive IDs

[El Crab]

Ok, here's a challenge. List off accounts with "positive" identifications on Custer's field. And if you guys would be so kind, post the source and page number(s). Even the ones that seem wrong, such as Bouyer's multiple sightings when he could only be found one place. To get the ball kind of rolling, I'll post a list of every fatality I can remember, off the top of my head, that were mentioned in an account identifying their body. Later, if you people can't find the accounts, I'll fill in the blanks.

George Custer
William Cooke
Tom Custer
Boston Custer
Harry Reed
Mark Kellogg
George Yates
A.E. Smith
Myles Keogh
James Calhoun
John Crittenden
August Finkle
Jeremiah Finley
"Boss" Tweed
Frederick Hohmeyer
Richard Farrell
Albert Meyer
William Huber
William Rees
Mitch Bouyer
George Lord
John Vickory
Robert Hughes
Henry Voss
James Butler
William Reily
Nathan Short
Edwin Bobo
John Foley
John Wild
John Patton
Weston Harrington?
Francis Hughes?

So there's a start. If anything, it'll be good practice for including sources in replies.

[elisabeth]

Crab, that same source I've just quoted on the Voss question -- Dennis Lynch, Camp interviews in October 1908 and February 8th 1909, Hammer, 'Custer in 76', pp 136-140 -- gives a couple more names. Camp reports that he says "One of men in deep gully was Timothy Donovan of F Troop". And that "Lynch identified Briody by sailor's mark on his arm". That would be Corporal John Briody, also of F.

Do I get top marks for page numbers?!!

[Lawtonka]

I do remember that Kanipe identified Bobo, Finley, and Finkle. He had requested to go with Benteen to the field for the purpose of trying to identfy members of his company.

[Scout]

In 'TROOPERS WITHCUSTER' Pvt. William Slaper told researcher Brininstool the following men's bodies were found;

''Capt. Henry Scollen of M Troop was found badly mutilated, with his right leg severed from his body.''
''Jim Turley's body was found with his hunting knife driven to the hilt in one eye.''
''..Gordon, Myers and Summers were in an awful state of mutilation.''
'' I did see the body of our chief of scouts, Charley Reynolds.''

[Scout]

I have read there was some question about the ID of Dr. Lord. Are there any accounts that give postive ID to his body? I think he was found on LSH, or should have been, but some accounts say he wasn't recognized.

[elisabeth]

Scout,

In 'They Died with Custer', Scott/Willey/Connor, p. 319, the doubt's mentioned but then appears to be resolved. "Dr. Lord's body, at least according to one source, was identified by the distinctive buttons surgeons wore (Burkhardt in Hardorff 1989:105), although others said he was not identified. There were no distinctove medical staff buttons at that time; medical officers wore he army's staff officer button, as did other officers and some enlisted personnel. Lord was known to Captain O. E. Michaelis and Lieutenant R. E. Thompson, who identified Lord's body on Last Stand Hill and wrote to his brother telling him wher the body had been found (Michaelis to T. W. Lord, September 29, 1876, and abstract of letter from Thompson to T. Lord, August 17, 1876, both in RG 94, National Archives, 5467 ACP 1876)."

Who was Captain Henry Scollen, by the way? Did Pvt. Slaper invent him?

[El Crab]

I think that was in error. Corporal Henry Scollin/Scollen was actually Henry Cody, or vice versa. He was one of the soldiers who revealed his real name just before the fight, and I believe he asked Slaper to send his prayerbook and/or diary to his sister if he died. And he did die in the valley fight on the retreat.

[Steve Wilk]

scout2 said:

I have read there was some question about the ID of Dr. Lord. Are there any accounts that give postive ID to his body? I think he was found on LSH, or should have been, but some accounts say he wasn't recognized.

Wasn't there a surgeon's tunic button found on LSH? Seems I recall reading that somewhere. This likely places Dr. Lord there.

[elisabeth]

Thanks, Crab. Cody's the name listed in the muster roll.

[El Crab]

elisabeth said:

Thanks, Crab. Cody's the name listed in the muster roll.

You're welcome. He was Scollin/Scollen, but revealed his actual last name to be Cody just before the battle.

[Timothy Ratliff]

According to a map I saw in "The Custer Battle Casualties", Sergeant Major William Sharrow was identified as being found west of Last Stand Hill. There are two markers there-another soldier was mentioned in "Men With Custer: Biographies of the 7th Cavalry" as being found there, but I'd have to look all the way through it at the Custer casualties to see which one he was.
As for Lord, he's mentioned in "The Custer Battle Casualties: Part II" as being identified on Last Stand Hill by a distinctive blue shirt he wore, though I can't remember whether or not the shirt was on his body or near it and they just assumed the adjacent body was his.

[Realbird]

Although his face was reduced to a gelatinous mess, Lt. MacIntosh was positively identified by, I believe, a relative on the scene Lt. Francis Gibson of "H" troop identified a "gutta-percha button" on the uniform of the corpse. Gibbons recalled that his sister gave some of these buttons to her husband, Tom McIntosh. Son of the Morning Star (p20-21)

Secondly, Isiah Dorman being the only black man involved in this battle was easily, I'm sure, identified.

[El Crab]

McIntosh was also probably identified due to skin color, and due to location. Soldiers saw where he was killed, and he was of mixed blood, so its likely that he was darker than the average paleface.