The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-07-26
BONES OF THE BRAVE.

The Mission of Col. M. Y. Sheridan to the
Historical Custer Battle Field Condition
in Which the Party Found the Remains
of Custer and His Silent Co,nmand-4p-
pedrance of the Bloody Fietd-Light
IHroac, the ButcIery by Col. She1i-
DAMS Explorations.
[From the Chicago Timesl
Col. M. V. Sheridan has returned
from his expedition to the Yellowstone
country, utter an absence from Chicago
of just ffty-four days. The mission
with which Col Sheridan was charged
is one of interest to the general public.
He was delegated by the Government
authorities to recover and remove the
remains of the officers who were slaugh-
tered in what is known as the Custer
massacre. The expedition left Chicago
on the 21st of May, and reached the
Custer battlefield on the I'd of July.
Col. Sheridan describes the spot as a
high strip of table land, broken at short
distances by ravines, depressions and
slight elevations, with the river and it's
marvelously beautiful valley on the one
hand. and the low, receding bluffs on
the other. The soil is as soft and light
as ashes, and is scantily covered with
buffalo grass, which is just high enough
to be perceptibly swayed by the breezes.
There is not stone of any size On the
battlefield. AS the command halted on
the edge of the battlefield large deer,
with huge antlers, sprung up and loped
brisBly over the bluffs, and was out of
sight before anybody could make up his
mind to break the almost sacred solitude
of the place by the crack of a rifle. A
moment later herd of forty elk came
up out of the ravine and made off at
grotesque gait. Meanwhile the soldiers
stood looking, and not man dared fire
a shot.
The company having gone into camp,
fifty picked men were deployed into a
skirmish line, to look up the trenches
or graves of the victims of the massacre
Each man carried handful of willow
withes, which had been gathered in the
valley near by. Whenever the skirmish-
ers came to a grave or trench the place
was marked by willow stem. In this
way the ground was closely scrutinized
for miles around. All the graves of both
men and officers were discovered without
difficulty. The remains were found to
be scattered over an area of several hun
dred acres.
All that evening, in camp, the soldiers
were converting cedar boughs into stakes,
Or head-boards, with which to mark the
graves. Each stake was cut just three
feet long, and was iutentted to, 11o driver,
into the ground thirds of it's length.
On the morning of the Sd fatigue party
was ordered out to exhume and RENTER
the remains of the soldiers who fell
around Custer. There were large and
small trenches. Some contained but few
remains. Others contained long rows of
separate sets of bones, indicating that as
many as Il dozen had been buried to-
gether. Where a little band had fought
together, and had fallen side by side OF
in heap, they had received burial in
about the same order in which they fell.
Only the naked bones remained in the
trenches. There were no traces of flesh
or corruption, and no odor, except that
which was waited from the shoals of wild
flowers blooming in the valley below.
In few hours the thin layer of dirt had
been removed from the bones of over
200 soldiers, and the remains reinterred
in the same trenches, but rather more
decently than before. Three feet of
earth, tastefully heaped and packed with
spades and mallets, was put upon each
set of remains, and the head marked by
cedar stake.
The same day the bones of the officers
were exhumed. The remains of the fol-
lowing officers were Enthusiastically identi-
fed: Gen. Custer, his brother, Col.
Tom Custer, Col. Keogh, Col. Cook,
Capt. Yates, and Lieuts. Smith, Cal
houn, Crittenden, and Reilly. They
had been buried just as they had fallen,
with the single exception of Col. Custer,
who had received interment alongside
his brother.
The grave of the Clusters was near the
summit of a little knoll, right where the
gallant soldier had taken his last stand.
The ground for 200 feet around was
filled with remains. Over sixty men
| had been killed on that little elevation.
| The surface of the knoll was strewn with
dry bones of horses, which were
bleached to the whiteness of ivory
From the position of these bones it was
evident to the observer that the horses
had been shot for the purpose of form
ing breastwork. It looked as if
the animals had been led into a position
describing haIf-circle and shot in their
tracks.
In one or two instances shreds of
clothing were found adhering to the re-
mains of the eight officers, and in one or
two graves the slightest trace of hair was
discovered In most eases the bones
had separated, though there were one OF
two exceptions in which the anatomy adj
hered together perfectly.
The remains of Lieut.. Crittenden were
given permanent burial on the spot
where he fell. This was in obedience tc
the wishes of his father, who objected te
the removal of his sons bones. A neat
pine box, containing his disintegrate6
anatomy, was sunk three feet in the
ground, and cedar stake, bearing his
name and the number of his regiment
was driven down at the head of the