The Mystery Of E Troop

For the first time, the Indian participants of the Battle of the Little Bighorn tell their own story of that hot day in June 1876--rather than having it told for them. It allows readers to follow the warriors onto the battlefield and see the fight throug

Historical and contemporary photographs accompany a narrative reflection on Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's "Last Stand" at the Battle of Little Bighorn, which includes personal accounts of battle veterans.

Lakota Winds narrates the battle of the Little Big Horn as seen through the eyes of the Sioux. It is a fast-paced story bringing to life that fateful encounter between Custer’s 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne. Never again would Native Americans assemble in such numbers as they did on that day in 1876, and never again would they inflict such a punishing defeat upon the United States military. Lakota Winds recaptures these precious hours of Sioux heritage. Matowla, Tankala Pay-ta, Unci, Osota, and Ishna were all witnesses to this final episode of the era of the Plains Indian. These characters represent the thousands of Lakota and Cheyenne who were camped along the Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn River) that summer morning when Custer’s troops attacked. Matowla, Pay-ta, Unci, and Ishna have been entrusted to act as vocal embassies for their historical counterparts. It will be their obligation to speak for a people whose voices have all but been stilled by the passage of time.

The battle that unfolded at the Little Big Horn River on June 25, 1876, marked a watershed in the history of the Plains Indians. While a stunning victory for the Sioux and Cheyenne peoples, it initiated a new and vigorous effort by the U.S. government to rid the west of marauding tribes and to realize the ideal of “Manifest Destiny.” While thousands of books and articles have covered different aspects of the battle, few if any have analyzed the tactics and chronology to arrive at a satisfactory explanation of what befell George Armstrong Custer and the 209 men who died alongside him. This volume seeks to explain the circumstances culminating in the near-destruction of the 7th Cavalry Regiment by a close examination of timing, setting every event to a specific moment based on accounts of the battle’s participants.

Of the three physicians at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Doctor George Edwin Lord (1846–76) was the lone commissioned medical officer, an assistant surgeon with the United States Army’s 7th Cavalry—one more soldier caught up in the U.S. government’s efforts to fulfill what many people believed was the young country’s “Manifest Destiny.” A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn tells Lord’s story for the first time. Notable for its unique angle on Custer’s last stand and for its depiction of frontier-era medicine, the book is above all a compelling portrait of the making of an army medical professional in mid-nineteenth-century America. Drawing on newly discovered documents, Todd E. Harburn describes Lord’s education and training at Bowdoin College in Maine and the Chicago Medical College, detailing what the study of medicine entailed at the time for “a young man of promise . . . held in universal esteem.” Lord’s time as a contract physician with the army took him in 1874 to the U.S. Northern Boundary Survey. From there Harburn recounts how, after a failed romance and the rigors of the U.S. Army Medical Board examination, the young doctor proceeded to his first—and only—appointment as a post surgeon, at Fort Buford in Dakota Territory. What followed, of course, was Lord’s service, and his death, in the Little Big Horn campaign, which this book shows us for the first time from the unique perspective of the surgeon. A portrait of a singular figure in the milieu of the American military’s nineteenth-century medical elite, A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn offers a close look at a familiar chapter in U.S. history, and a reminder of the humanity lost in a battle that resonates to this day.

In spring 1876 a physician named James Madison DeWolf accepted the assignment of contract surgeon for the Seventh Cavalry, becoming one of three surgeons who accompanied Custer’s battalion at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Killed in the early stages of the battle, he might easily have become a mere footnote in the many chronicles of this epic campaign—but he left behind an eyewitness account in his diary and correspondence. A Surgeon with Custer at the Little Big Horn is the first annotated edition of these rare accounts since 1958, and the most complete treatment to date. While researchers have known of DeWolf’s diary for many years, few details have surfaced about the man himself. In A Surgeon with Custer at the Little Big Horn, Todd E. Harburn bridges this gap, providing a detailed biography of DeWolf as well as extensive editorial insight into his writings. As one of the most highly educated men who traveled with Custer, the surgeon was well equipped to compose articulate descriptions of the 1876 campaign against the Indians, a fateful journey that began for him at Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory, and ended on the battlefield in eastern Montana Territory. In letters to his beloved wife, Fannie, and in diary entries—reproduced in this volume exactly as he wrote them—DeWolf describes the terrain, weather conditions, and medical needs that he and his companions encountered along the way. After DeWolf’s death, his colleague Dr. Henry Porter, who survived the conflict, retrieved his diary and sent it to DeWolf’s widow. Later, the DeWolf family donated it to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Now available in this accessible and fully annotated format, the diary, along with the DeWolf’s personal correspondence, serves as a unique primary resource for information about the Little Big Horn campaign and medical practices on the western frontier.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn remains one of history’s most famous and most controversial events. Lieutenant Colonel George Custer, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, the Seventh Cavalry, the Sioux, and the Cheyenne were all there on June 25th, 1876. This battle, which was a shocking disaster for the U.S. army and a triumph for Native Americans, continues to fascinate us more than 125 years later. Often when people are shocked by an unexpected event, they want to understand exactly why and how it happened. In the case of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, these questions have yet to be answered completely satisfactorily, due to the lack of totally definitive evidence regarding some of the details. As a result, some controversy still surrounds the battle. A Day to Remember introduces the reader to the many aspects of this battle. The author makes use of eyewitness testimony, battle analyses, Custer’s personality traits, and a comparison with other disasters, in order to give the reader a basic understanding of the battle and to provide a basis for further exploration of this fascinating historic event.

Reviews of the first edition: "An essential resource."--Library Journal "Admirable...an extremely useful reference tool for researchers interested in U.S. military history."--ARBA "A must. Wagner has compiled probably the most complete data of the people who took part in what is arguably the West's most famous battle...excellent."--RoundUp Magazine "Impressed...adds a truly personal dimension to one of the most controversial events in Western history...will appeal to academic, as well as public libraries and will often find a home in circulating collections."--Against the Grain. The Battle of the Little Big Horn was the decisive engagement of the Great Sioux War of 1876-1877. In its second edition this biographical dictionary of all known participants--the 7th Cavalry, civilians and Indians--provides a brief description of the battle, as well as information on the various tribes, their customs and methods of fighting. Seven appendices cover the units soldiers were assigned to, uniforms and equipment of the cavalry, controversial listings of scouts and the number of Indians in the encampments, the location of camps on the way to the Big Horn and more. Updated biographies are provided for many European soldiers, along with an additional 5,060 names of Indians who were or could have been in the battle.