The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer (16 page)

Custer also quite often served as a host, inviting guests to his large hospital tent, perhaps with the regimental band supplying entertainment. His brothers Tom and Boston were always present, along with favorites Fred Grant, the president's son who was Sheridan's personal observer, and Major “Sandy” Forsyth of Beecher Island fame, who maintained a log that was later published in the
Chicago Tribune,
as well as scout Charles (Charley) Reynolds.

One of the more interesting members of the expedition who dined with Custer was George Bird Grinnell, a young naturalist and paleontologist, who would be assisted by scout Luther North. Grinnell would later become an environmental activist and a prolific author who would write about the customs and history of the Cheyenne and other Western tribes.

Grinnell was presently serving on the staff of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale and his expenses were paid by that school. Although hurried across the plains by Custer's steady itinerary, Grinnell began collecting numerous specimens and compiled lists of indigenous birds and mammals, including jackrabbits, prairie dogs, mule deer, elk, mountain lion, grizzly bears, bighorn sheep, and 110 species of birds. He saw no live buffalo but did find the skull of an old bull.

Grinnell was amazed to observe a pronghorn antelope with two broken legs outdistance Charley Reynolds on horseback for more than two miles. The leg bone of an animal that Grinnell speculated to be a dinosaur was found at Castle Butte, about six miles north of Prospect Valley. Most of the fossils, however, consisted of marine specimens, mainly shells.

Although Custer, the noted teetotaler, assured his wife in a letter that there were no incidences of intoxication on the march, just the opposite was true. The sutler's wagon carried an ample supply of liquor, which was freely consumed by those who so desired. It has been reported that Fred Grant “was drunk nearly all the time,” which sounds like an exaggeration—except that Custer did at one point place Grant under arrest for drunkenness to send a message to the rest of the officers and men.

Another incident that points to frequent alcohol abuse by those in authority concerns the entire medical staff. An ill trooper, Private John Cunningham, apparently died when the three doctors who had accompanied the column were all too drunk to adequately care for the man and prescribe proper medicine. Cunningham had been feeling poorly for a week and complained of diarrhea, but the medical staff had returned him to duty. Finally, he fell off his horse and was transported in the ambulance. The medical staff was in a state of intoxication and neglected the trooper. Custer eventually intervened, but by that time it was too late. Cunningham died of unknown causes near midnight on July 21.

In spite of these moments of indiscretion, there can be no doubt that the march through the Black Hills was as pleasant as any ever experienced by the participants—especially for the officers, if not enlisted, who were often assigned undesirable duty. Lieutenant Jimmy Calhoun perhaps summed up the sentiments of his peers when he wrote: “The air is serene and the sun is shining in all its glory. The birds are singing sweetly, warbling their sweet notes as they soar aloft. Nature seems to smile on our movement. Everything seems to encourage us onward.”

This was the first trip west for Boston Custer, and he quickly became the victim of his older brothers' good-natured teasing and practical jokes. Tom Custer had presented Bos with a rock that he claimed was a “sponge-rock” and if placed underwater would transform into a sponge. Bos soaked the rock for a few nights, much to the delight of his brothers, until realizing that he had been taken in by his brother. Another more alarming prank had been played on Bos when he paused on the march to pick a rock from one of his horse's shoes. Armstrong and Tom galloped ahead and hid and then fired shots over Bos' head when he appeared, which sent the young man racing to spread the word of an Indian attack.

The Sioux had thus far chosen not to interfere with this—to them—insulting invasion of troops but indicated with smoke signals that they were aware that there had been an intrusion upon their land. The tribe had not been prepared for a response to this sudden appearance by the soldiers. The various bands had been scattered across the plains and were likely taken by surprise. No doubt certain warriors, such as Crazy Horse or Gall, would have commenced gathering warriors. If they were able to mount an offensive against the troopers, the Black Hills would become a battlefield that favored the Indians.

On July 28, the column happened upon a small hunting party of five lodges and twenty-seven occupants under Oglala chief One Stab (or Stabber) in Castle Creek Valley. According to one account, the wife of One Stab was the daughter of Red Cloud. These particular Indians from the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies apparently had not noticed the smoke signals and were quite surprised to encounter the soldiers. Custer, under a flag of truce, smoked the peace pipe with One Stab and graciously invited the chief and several of his people to visit the army camp for coffee, sugar, and bacon, a courtesy that was gratefully accepted.

The Indian scouts who had remained with the column were not as gracious as their commander and wanted to kill their traditional enemy. Due to the threat of hostilities, Custer assigned a detail of fifteen troopers to escort his Sioux guests back to their lodges and protect them through the night. In spite of that precaution, the wary Sioux abruptly galloped away with the soldiers and scouts in hot pursuit. During the chase—although Custer had ordered no violence—one of the Sioux was shot by one of the Santee scouts. The troops arrived at the Indian camp to find that it had been abandoned.

Custer, however, had detained Chief One Stab, as either a hostage or a guest. Custer wrote, perhaps with tongue in cheek: “I have effected arrangements by which the Chief One Stab remains with us as a guide.” Whatever the circumstances, the chief, who was understandably greatly distressed by his captivity, guided the expedition for several days into the southern hills. During this time, rumors had spread throughout the reservations that One Stab had been killed. His eventual safe release prevented any possible retaliation by the Sioux.

On July 30, about one hundred miles into their reconnaissance, the column camped in a glade that Custer modestly named Custer Park, which was near the site of present-day Custer City, South Dakota. While the troops passed the time playing cards, writing letters, catching up on their sleep, or exploring their new surroundings, miners Horatio Ross and William McKay discovered some “color” along the upper part of French Creek.

Which one of the miners actually was the first to recognize gold has been a matter of speculation. Ross generally receives credit for the discovery. McKay, however, noted in an undated journal entry: “In the evening I took a pan, pick and shovel, and went out prospecting. The first panful was taken from the gravel and sand obtained in the bed of the creek; and on washing was found to contain from one and a half to two cents, which was the first gold found in the Black Hills.”

Regardless of who struck color first, the two miners wrapped the few specks of gold in a piece of paper and together presented their findings to Custer that night. Ross and McKay were skeptical about the prospects of a big strike but vowed to continue panning in the morning.

At dawn, the miners returned to French Creek, while Custer and an escort commanded by Lieutenant Charles Varnum rode to seventy-two-hundred-foot Harney's Peak, the highest point in the Black Hills. Custer, along with Forsyth, Ludlow, Donaldson, geologist Newton Winchell, and topographer W. W. Wood, climbed the summit and pointed out two other distinctive peaks that he named for General Terry and himself. The climbing party wrote their names and the date on a piece of paper that was rolled up, inserted into a copper cartridge casing, and slipped into a crevice. The casing was found sixty years later, but the message was missing.

On August 1, Custer moved the camp three miles away to a better grazing area and named the site Agnes Park after Agnes Bates, a friend of his wife. The miners tested the loose soil around the creek and were impressed with the results. They speculated that under the right conditions a miner could expect to reap perhaps as much as $150 a day. French Creek was soon lined with ambitious soldiers who sought their fortunes digging with shovels, picks, knives, pothooks, plates, cups, and any other implement that could penetrate dirt. Twenty troopers later staked a claim under the name Custer Park Mining Company.

On August 2, George Armstrong Custer was sufficiently assured that the deposits held prospects of gold in payable quantities. At that time, he wrote a dispatch to Phil Sheridan about the find that would forever change history in the Black Hills region. “Gold has been found in several places,” Custer wrote, “and it is the belief of those who are giving their attention to this subject that it will be found in paying quantities.”

He turned to his trusted scout Charley Reynolds, who by prearrangement had been engaged to carry this important message to the outside world.

“Lonesome Charley” Reynolds was likely born on a farm near Stephensburg, Hardin County, Kentucky, on March 20, 1842, although some accounts question that date and note the place of his birth as Warren County, Illinois. His father, a farmer and physician, moved the family at some point to Abington, Illinois—where Reynolds attended Abington College—and in 1859 to Pardee, Atchison County, Kansas.

In 1860, Reynolds heeded the call “Pike's Peak or Bust” and headed west on a wagon train to the Colorado gold fields. The emigrant train, however, was attacked and looted by a Cheyenne war party. The survivors fled to Fort Kearny, where Reynolds joined a mountain man to run a trap line along the Platte.

In July 1861, Reynolds returned home and enlisted in Company E, Tenth Kansas Infantry. He served primarily on border duty in Missouri and Kansas, participating in the Battle of Prairie Grove, then on escort duty along the Santa Fe Trail to Fort Union, Mexico. One account states that Reynolds scouted against Confederate general Sterling Price on what became known as Price's Missouri Raid in the fall of 1864. If so, Reynolds would have been a civilian—he was mustered out of the service in August 1864 at Fort Leavenworth, prior to Price's October raid.

In 1865, Reynolds decided to establish a trading venture in New Mexico, but the enterprise ended when his partner was killed by Cheyenne on Rabbit Ears Creek in southwestern Kansas. Reynolds wintered in Santa Fe—reportedly having a failed romance with a Mexican girl—and then embarked on several years as a buffalo hunter on the Republican River furnishing game for military posts. During the winter of 1866–67 he shot and wounded a drunk and abusive army officer from Fort McPherson at Jack Morrow's ranch on the Platte.

Reynolds then traveled to Dakota Territory on the upper Missouri to hunt and trap and became known to the local Indians around Fort Rice as “White Hunter Who Never Goes Out for Nothing.” His initial work as a scout for the army came when he hired on for Colonel David Stanley's Yellowstone Expedition of 1872.

By this time, Reynolds not only was familiar with the territory but also understood the Sioux tongue and Indian sign language. Personally, he was said to be quite reticent of speech and by nature reserved, hence the nickname Lonesome Charley. He was never heard to brag about his exploits, although his skill as a hunter—his courage, endurance, and resourcefulness—was highly regarded by both Indians and whites. He preferred spending his free time hunting alone or in a small party rather than frequenting bars or playing cards. These traits and extraordinary talents elevated him to a position on the highest level of Western scouts.

Reynolds first became acquainted with George Armstrong Custer when he was engaged as a scout for Stanley's Yellowstone Expedition of 1873. The well-educated Reynolds shared a lot in common with Custer, including interest in geology, zoology, and reading—not to mention hunting and wildlife—and neither man drank or smoked.

Libbie Custer would write: “My husband had such genuine admiration for him that I soon learned to listen to everything pertaining to his life with marked interest. He was so shy that he hardly raised his eyes when I extended my hand at the General's introduction. He did not assume the picturesque dress, long hair, belt full of weapons that are characteristic of the scout. His manner was perfectly simple and straightforward, and he would not be induced to talk of himself. He had large, dark blue eyes, and a frank face.”

Reynolds would now travel alone about ninety miles through hostile country to reach Fort Laramie. Custer provided Reynolds with a canvas mailbag that had been inscribed: “Black Hills Express. Charley Reynolds, Manager. Connecting with All points East, West, North, South. Cheap rates; Quick Transit; Safe Passage. We are protected by the Seventh Cavalry.” Reynolds galloped away from the column with the awareness that his route would intersect several Indian trails and there was a distinct possibility that he would be discovered by hostiles.

The most stirring account of this daring ride was provided by Libbie Custer in her
Boots and Saddles or, Life in Dakota with General Custer.
Although embellishing somewhat, Libbie wrote in part: “During the day he hid as well as he could in the underbrush, and lay down in the long grass. In spite of these precautions he was sometimes so exposed that he could hear voices of Indians passing near. The last nights of his march he was compelled to walk, as his horse was exhausted and he found no water for hours. His lips became so parched and his throat so swollen that he could not close his mouth. In this condition he reached Fort Laramie and delivered his dispatches.”

Charley Reynolds fulfilled his mission by reaching Fort Laramie in four days of hard riding and then moved on to Sioux City, where his swollen throat apparently healed. While in that fair city he gave an interview to the editor of the
Sioux City Journal,
which was published on August 19. Although Reynolds said that he personally had not found any gold, he admitted to having seen specks of the mineral washed from surface dirt that would likely yield two or three cents a pan. He then set out for Bismarck and Fort Lincoln, leaving behind the spark that helped ignite a gold rush in the Black Hills.