On This Day: Gen. Custer and 17 officers killed, together with 315 soldiers

[MightyGiants]

On This Day: Gen. Custer and 17 officers killed, together with 315 soldiers - June 25, 1876


Custer's "Last Stand" made headlines in 1876
News of 'massacre' published on Repository's front page
Gary Brown
Repository editor at-large








LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

n Gen. George Armstrong Custer was a young Civil War officer who stayed in the military to fight the Indians in the West.
"INDIAN MASSACRE"

The headline brought readers of The Canton Repository news of the "Last Stand" of Gen. George Armstrong Custer in 1876.

"General Custer Attacks Their Camp," a second headline reported. "Himself and Seventeen Officers Killed, Together with Three Hundred and Fifteen Soldiers.

"Every Man of the Five Attacking Companies."

Those words -- headlines stacked for a quarter of the length of a column of type -- were published at the top of the front page on July 7, 1876. A weekly paper in those days, in an era when news still traveled slowly and readers were patient in learning of it, the Repository published the account of Custer's historic final battle nearly two weeks after the event took place at the Little Big Horn River. Custer met his fate June 25.

"The Whole Custer Family Die at the Head of the Column."

Earliest source

The first report in The Canton Repository was written by a "special correspondent" for the Helena Herald in Montana. His story was dated July 2, 1876, and it was based on the first-hand knowledge of Muggins Taylor, a scout for Gen. Gibbon. Taylor had arrived in Still Water, Montana, and had talked to the correspondent the night before the article was published in the Herald. It details the military operation of Custer and documents its failure.

"General Custer found the Indian camp of about two thousand lodges on Little Horn, and immediately attacked the camp," the story reported. "Nothing is known of the operations of the detachment, only as they trace it by the dead. Major Rene commanded the other seven companies and attacked the lower portion of the camp. The Indians poured in a murderous fire from all directions, besides, a greater portion fought on horseback.

"Custer, his two brothers, nephews and brother-in-law, were all killed. Not one of the detachment escaped. Two hundred and seven men were buried in one place, and the killed are estimated at three hundred, with only thirty-one wounded."

Another report of Custer's demise was published July 3 in the Boseman Times of Montana, and then was republished in the July 7 Repository. It, too, was based on the scout's knowledge of the incident.

"The battle ground looked like a slaughter-pen, as it really was, being in a narrow ravine," the article said. "The dead bodies were much mutilated.

"The situation now looks serious. Gen. Terry arrived at Gibbon's camp on a steamboat and crossed the command over and accompanied it to join Custer, who knew it was coming before the fight occurred. Lieut. Crittendon, son of Gen. Crittendon, who was among the killed."

Another account

The next week, on Friday July 14, 1876, The Canton Repository republished additional details that had been printed in an account that first appeared in a Bismark paper in the Dakota Territory. It relied on "information from the Sioux expedition, dated Mouth of the Big Horn, July 1." It said that Custer had led his companies to follow "a large band of hostile Sioux."

"The Indians were making for the eastern branch of the Little Big Horn," the account said. "General Terry, with Gibbon's command of five companies of infantry and four of cavalry, started to ascend the Big Horn to attack the enemy in the rear.

"On the morning of the 25th, two Crow scouts brought intelligence of the battle of the previous day. Upon receipt of the news the command commenced its march in a southerly direction, where smoke could be seen, which indicated that Custer had fired the Indian village."

The next morning, the soldiers journeyed on to that village, a three-mile-long Indian community on the banks of the Little Big Horn.

"The ground was strewn with slaughtered horses, cavalry equipment, and the dead bodies of nine Indian chiefs. The clothing of Lieutenants Sturgis and Porter were also found, pierced with bullets. Further on was the body of Lieutenant McIntosh.

Not far away, the soldiers found entrenched comrades, who had been fighting the Indians since June 25. Custer's command had been separated from that force, and had attempted to make an attack three miles down the river, the report explained. It is there that Custer and his men had met their end.

"Custer had apparently made an attack on the Indians and was compelled to retreat, but was cut off from the main body," explained the article republished in the Repository. "He was forced into a narrow recess, where horses and men lay slaughtered promiscuously. Here were found the bodies of Custer, his two brothers and nephew, Mr. Read, Colonels Yates and Cook, and Captain Smith, all lying in a circle of a few yards.

"And here, one after another, all of Custer's brave command fell. Not a man escaped to tell the tale."]]

https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/canton/2016/06/26/custer-s-last-stand-made/27559245007/

[Ed Vette]

It's a tragedy what was done to the native Americans to steal their land. Custer was no hero.

[Philosophers]

Custer was no hero.  The slaughter of Native Americans, particularly on that day is a black mark on this country.