Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors (80 page)

CHAPTER 9

1. On Lieutenant Collins, see Agnes Wright Spring,
   Caspar Collins: The Life and Exploits of an Indian Fighter of the Sixties
   (New York, 1927), and Sandoz,
   Crazy Horse,
   136–37.
   

2. Spring,
   Caspar Collins,
   171.
   

3. Ibid., 172–73.
   

4. Ibid., 165–67.
   

5. Ibid., 165.
   

6. Hyde,
   Red Cloud’s Folk,
   103.
   

7. Ibid., 104.
   

8. Garnett interview, Ricker tablets, Nebraska State Historical Society.
   

9. Robinson.
   A History of the Dakota,
   351.
   

10. Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    154.
    

11. Ibid., 143.
    

12. The best account of the Sand Creek massacre is Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    149–80; see also Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    108–11.
    

13. Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    110; Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    181–203.
    

14. Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    191; Hyde,
    Spotted Tail’s Folk,
    96.
    

15. Eugene F. Ware,
    The Indian War of 1864
    (Lincoln, Neb., 1960, reprint), 372.
    

16. Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    193; Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    111.
    

17. Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    112.
    

18. Ibid., 112; Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    194–203.
    

19. Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    113.
    

20. Ibid., 116.
    

21. Ibid., 118.
    

22. Hyde,
    Spotted Tail’s Folk,
    100.
    

23. Interview with Frank Salaway, Ricker tablets, Nebraska State Historical Society; Sandoz,
    Crazy Horse,
    158–59.
    

24. Sandoz,
    Crazy Horse,
    161; Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    121; Hyde,
    Spotted Tail’s Folk,
    103.
    

25. Hyde,
    Spotted Tail’s Folk,
    106.
    

26. Ibid., 106; Sandoz,
    Crazy Horse,
    162–63.
    

27. Ricker tablets, Nebraska State Historical Society; this information comes from Ricker’s own short biography of Crazy Horse, prepared from various Indian and white sources.
    

28. Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    123–24.
    

29. Sandoz,
    Crazy Horse,
    164–65; Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    124–25.
    

30. Most of these details come from Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    221–23; Grinnell got most of his information directly from the Cheyennes, shortly after the turn of the century. See also Sandoz,
    Crazy Horse,
    164–65.
    

31. Sandoz,
    Crazy Horse,
    166–67; Hyde,
    Spotted Tail’s Folk,
    125.
    

32. Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    125–26.
    

33. Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    125; Sandoz,
    Crazy Horse,
    173–74.
    

CHAPTER 10

1. Custer to parents, March 17, 1862, Custer Mss.; Merington,
   The Custer Story,
   27–28.
   

2. Bruce Catton,
   Mr. Lincoln’s Army
   (Garden City, N.Y., 1955), 155–59, is the best discussion.
   

3. James Harrison Wilson,
   Under the Old Flag
   (New York, 1912), I, 126; Whittaker,
   Custer,
   133; Catton,
   Mr. Lincoln’s Army,
   336–37.
   

4. George B. McClellan,
   Report on the Organization and Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac …
   (New York, 1864), 238–39; for a good discussion, see Warren W. Hassler, Jr.,
   General George B. McClellan
   (Baton Rouge, 1957), 320–25.
   

5. Monaghan,
   Custer
   , 113–14.
   

6. Custer to Lydia Reed, May 5, 1862, Custer Mss.; Merington,
   The Custer Story,
   29–30.
   

7. Monaghan,
   Custer,
   245.
   

8. Custer to Lydia Reed, September 21, 1862, Custer Mss.; Whittaker,
   Custer,
   125–29; Monaghan,
   Custer,
   90–92.
   

9. Whittaker,
   Custer,
   51–52; Custer, “War Memoirs”; Monaghan,
   Custer,
   45–46.
   

10. Wilson,
    Under the Old Flag,
    I, 101–2; see also Monaghan,
    Custer,
    77–80, for two somewhat different versions of the incident.
    

11. Monaghan,
    Custer,
    81–83; George B. McClellan,
    McClellan’s Own Story
    (New York, 1887), 364–65.
    

12. Quoted in Catton,
    Mr. Lincoln’s Army,
    117.
    

13. Bell I. Wiley,
    The Life of Billy Yank
    (New York, 1951), 124.
    

14. Ibid., 92.
    

15. Custer, “War Memoirs”; Whittaker,
    Custer,
    65–69.
    

16. Wiley,
    Billy Yank,
    72.
    

17. Bell I. Wiley,
    The Life of Johnny Reb
    (New York, 1943), 72.
    

18. Custer to Lydia Reed, August 8, 1862, Custer Mss.; Whittaker,
    Custer,
    122–24.
    

19. Custer to Lydia Reed, April 20, 1862, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    29.
    

20. Custer to Lydia Reed, May 2, 1863, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    53; Monaghan,
    Custer,
    116.
    

21. Wiley,
    Billy Yank,
    199.
    

22. Ibid., 115.
    

23. Ibid., 247–48.
    

24. Custer to Isaac Christiancy, May 31, 1863, and to Lydia Reed, same date, both in Custer Mss.; see also Monaghan,
    Custer,
    123.
    

25. Monaghan,
    Custer,
    108.
    

26. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    46–47.
    

27. Ibid., 47.
    

28. Even when she was sixty years old, Libbie’s eyes belied the sweet gentle lady she always tried to be. In a photograph taken about 1900, when she had put on some weight, was dressed in black, and wore one of those horrendous turn-of-the-century hats, her eyes still sparkle, still tell the observer that here is an extraordinary woman. As indeed she was. The best series of Libbie Bacon photographs is in Lawrence A. Frost,
    The Custer Album
    (Seattle, 1964).
    

29. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    38–40.
    

30. Ibid., 44.
    

31. Whittaker,
    Custer,
    91.
    

32. Monaghan,
    Custer,
    158.
    

33. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    50–51.
    

34. Ibid., 58.
    

35. Custer to Lydia Reed, June 8, 1863, Custer Mss.; Monaghan,
    Custer,
    124–25.
    

36. Custer to Lydia Reed, June 19, 1863, Custer Mss.; Whittaker,
    Custer,
    159.
    

37. Whittaker,
    Custer,
    161–62; Monaghan,
    Custer,
    132–33.
    

38. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    69.
    

39. Wiley,
    Billy Yank,
    303.
    

40. Monaghan,
    Custer,
    134–35.
    

41. Ibid., 162.
    

42. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    67; the originals of all these letters are in the Custer Mss.
    

43. Ibid., 65.
    

44. Ibid., 71.
    

45. Ibid., 74.
    

46. Ibid., 75.
    

47. Ibid., 79.
    

48. Ibid., 75.
    

49. Ibid., 77.
    

50. Ibid., 80.
    

51. Ibid., 81.
    

52. Monaghan,
    Custer,
    179.
    

53. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    81.
    

54. Ibid., 84–85.
    

CHAPTER 11

1. War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
   (Washington, D.C., 1880–1901), XXVII, Pt. 1, 991– 98, 919. Hereinafter cited as O.R.
   

2. O.R., XXXVI, Pt. 1, 110, 128, 163, 177.
   

3. For an excellent discussion, see Russell F. Weigley,
   The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy
   (New York, 1973), especially Chap. 7, “A Strategy of Annihilation: U. S. Grant and the Union.”
   

4. O.R., XLVI, Pt. 1, 475, 1111. The details of Custer’s campaigns are admirably recounted in Monaghan’s
   Custer.
   

5. Custer to Libbie, June 21, 1864, Custer Mss.; Merington,
   The Custer Story,
   104.
   

6. Custer to Nettie Humphrey, October 12, 1863, Custer Mss.; Merington,
   The Custer Story,
   65–66.
   

7. Custer to Nettie Humphrey, October 9, 1863, Custer Mss.; Merington,
   The Custer Story,
   65.
   

8. See Custer to Daniel Bacon, November 12, 1864, Custer Mss., for a full description of his staff; see also Merington,
   The Custer Story,
   133, and Monaghan,
   Custer,
   159.
   

9. Monaghan,
   Custer,
   220.
   

10. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    151; Monaghan,
    Custer,
    238.
    

11. Libbie Custer to Richmond, November 15, 1864, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    133.
    

12. Elizabeth Custer,
    “Boots and Saddles”: or, Life in Dakota with General Custer
    (New York, 1904), 223.
    

13. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    60.
    

14. Monaghan,
    Custer
    , 136.
    

15. Ibid., 236.
    

16. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    153.
    

17. Custer to Libbie, March 30, 1865, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    146.
    

18. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    160.
    

19. Monaghan,
    Custer,
    141.
    

20. O.R., XXVII, Pt. 1, 998; Monaghan,
    Custer,
    148–49.
    

21. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    66.
    

22. Monaghan,
    Custer,
    166–67.
    

23. Ibid., 194–95; O.R., XXXVI, Pt. 1, 813–17.
    

24. Monaghan,
    Custer,
    211–12; Custer to Libbie, October 10,1864, Custer Mss.
    

25. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    125, 137; Monaghan,
    Custer,
    217.
    

26. New York
    Times,
    March 20, 1865.
    

27. Libbie Custer to parents, October 25, 1864, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    125–26.
    

28. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    127; Monaghan,
    Custer,
    219.
    

29. Custer to Libbie, October 5, 1864, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    119.
    

30. Custer to Libbie, August 21, 1864, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    115.
    

31. Monaghan,
    Custer,
    223.
    

32. O.R., XXXIII, 161.
    

33. S. L. A. Marshall,
    Men Against Fire
    (New York, 1947), 57, and Chap. 5 generally.
    

34. Wiley,
    Billy Yank,
    205.
    

35. Ibid., 209.
    

36. Ibid., 205–6.
    

37. Libbie Custer to parents, December 4, 1864, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    134.
    

38. Wiley,
    Billy Yank,
    201–2.
    

39. Libbie Custer to parents, March 28, 1864, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    87.
    

40. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    91.
    

41. Ibid., 145.
    

42. Ibid., 91, 101, 112.
    

43. Ibid., 103.
    

44. Ibid., 121.
    

45. Ibid., 99–100.
    

46. Ibid., 120.
    

47. See Monaghan,
    Custer,
    158–59, for details.
    

48. Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    68–69.
    

49. Ibid., 69.
    

50. Custer to Nettie Humphrey, November 1, 1863, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    71.
    

51. Monaghan,
    Custer,
    188.
    

52. Custer to Libbie, May 16, 1864, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    97.
    

53. Custer to Libbie, July 1, 1864, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    110–11.
    

54. Monaghan,
    Custer,
    196.
    

55. Wilson,
    Under the Old Flag,
    I, 424.
    

56. O
    .R.,
    XLIII, Pt. 1, 33, 453, 526.
    

57. Libbie Custer to parents, March 28, 1864, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    87.
    

58. Monaghan,
    Custer
    , 189.
    

59. Libbie Custer to Noble, August 18, 1864, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    113–14.
    

60. Libbie Custer to Custer, March 8, 1865, Custer Mss.; Merington,
    The Custer Story,
    136.
    

61. Quoted in Monaghan,
    Custer,
    246.
    

62. Ibid., 247.
    

63. Quoted, ibid., 250–51.
    

CHAPTER 13

1. Robert M. Utley,
   Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian
   (New York, 1973), 2–3. This outstanding work became the standard source on the frontier Army immediately upon its publication.
   

2. Quoted, ibid., 94.
   

3. Robinson,
   A History of the Dakota,
   362–63.
   

4. Hyde,
   Spotted Tail’s Folk,
   113; Olson,
   Red Cloud,
   10.
   

5. Quoted in Utley,
   Frontier Regulars,
   93.
   

6. Olson,
   Red Cloud,
   33.
   

7. Frances C. Carrington,
   Army Life on the Plains
   (Philadelphia, 1910), 46–47; Hyde,
   Red Cloud’s Folk,
   138–39.
   

8. James D. Richardson, comp.,
   Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789–1897
   (Washington, D.C., 1897), VI, 454.
   

9. Cyrus T. Brady,
   Indian Fights and Fighters
   (Lincoln, Neb., 1971), 10.
   

10. Ibid., 23.
    

11. Olson,
    Red Cloud,
    43; Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    145; Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    236; Dee Brown,
    Fort Phil Kearny: An American Saga
    (New York, 1962), 149.
    

12. Brady,
    Indian Fights,
    19; Robinson,
    A History of the Dakota,
    355.
    

13. Carrington,
    Army life on the Plains,
    121.
    

14. Robinson,
    A History of the Dakota,
    358–59. The information on Crazy Horse’s role at the siege of Fort Phil Kearny is based on the statements of White Bear, an associate of Red Cloud, to Doane Robinson, secretary of the South Dakota Department of History, in 1904. See Robinson,
    A History of the Dakota,
    361.
    

15. Ibid, 361.
    

16. Brown,
    Fort Phil Kearny,
    149; Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    145.
    

17. Brady,
    Indian Fights,
    19–23; Brown,
    Fort Phil Kearny,
    162–67; Sandoz,
    Crazy Horse,
    195–96.
    

18. Sandoz,
    Crazy Horse,
    195–96.
    

19. Brown,
    Fort Phil Kearny,
    166.
    

20. Ibid., 170–71.
    

21. Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    237–38.
    

22. Brown,
    Fort Phil Kearny,
    174–75.
    

23. Ibid., 159–203, is the most complete account from the white man’s point of view, while Hyde,
    Red Cloud’s Folk,
    146–49, Sandoz,
    Crazy Horse,
    198–203, Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    238–43, give the Indian side. See also Brady,
    Indian Fights,
    24–32, and J. Cecil Alter,
    James Bridger
    (Columbus, Ohio, 1951), 458–59.
    

24. Grinnell,
    The Fighting Cheyennes,
    233–34, and Sandoz,
    Crazy Horse,
    202–3.
    

25. Quoted in Brown,
    Fort Phil Kearny,
    188.
    

26. Frank Grouard, “An Indian Scout’s Recollections of Crazy Horse,”
    Nebraska History Magazine,
    XII (January-March, 1929), 72.
    

27. Quoted in Brown,
    Fort Phil Kearny,
    191–92.