The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-06-24


our minds what took place on the
Little Big Horn river in Montana on that fate
full day in June 1876
1t may be an item referring to one Of the
'1ast survivors of the Custer battle" who have
bobbed up with such regularity during the last
five decades and who have so easily been proved
to be fakes
AS matter of fact there were many "sur-
yivors" of the Custer battle If the term Cluster
battle" Is interpreted to mean the whole action
which took place on the Little Big Horn
June %, 1876. Those were the officers and men
who in the detachment of the Seventh
cavalry, commanded by Maj. Marcus A. Reno,
Capt Frederick w. Benteen and Capt. Thomas
McDougal, when Custer divided his command
to attack the Indian village. They were the
members Of Troops A, G and M under Reno;
Troops D, 81 and K under Benteen; and Troop
B, guarding the pack train, under McDougal
But Of Troops G, E, ], F and L. which were
under the immediate command of Custer and
which were so quickly surrounded by the In
dams, there was one-and ONLY ONE-sur-
vivor Of Clusters last stand" and that not
a man, but a horse. That authentic sole sur
vivor" was Comanche, the caybank sorrel which
was ridden into the battle by Capt. Myles w.
Keogh of Troop l. Two days after the battle
he was found wandering about the battlefield
pierced by seven bullets and weak and
emaciated that at first it was decided that the
only humane thing to do was to kill him. But
Lieut.. FL. l. Nowlan, field quartermaster
General Terrys staff and an intimate friend Of
Captain Keogh, prevailed upon the soldiers to
spare Comanche's life. His wounds were dressed
and he was well cared for on the steamer
Far West, which carried the other wounded Of
Clusters command back to Fort Abraham Lin
coin, that he pulled through and lived to the
age of twenty-eght years. When he died in
mn
Kan, and Professor Dyche, a naturalist
nected with the University of Kansas, mounted
the skin and today there stands in the Dyche
museum at the University of Kansas the life
like form of the only authentic survivor Of
Clusters last stand"
Or it may be an item about some one who
fought with Custer and who escaped the
massacre because he was detached from the
regiment at the time" In nine cases out Of
ten such individuals weren't within several hum
dred miles Of the Little Big Horn on that day
and have no more right to claim that they
fought with Custer" than have several hum
dred other men who were in the armies in the
field against the hostile Indians during the cam
paign Of 1876 Then again it may be item
referring to some one who asserts that he was
Custer scout" although the name of every
man who has legitimate claim to that title is
well-known and all Of them, with the possible
exception or some or the Arlkara InQlan scouts
who accompanied Custer his last expedition,
are now dead. u
Considering the amount of publicity that has
been given from time to time to all these last
survivors," Custer fighters and Custer scouts"
it seems all the more remarkable that so little
attention was paid recently to the passing Of
one important and genuine actor in the Custer
tragedy. For when Brig. Gen. Edward S. God
frey, U. S. A., retired, died at his home in Cooks
town, N. j., last April, it marked the end of the
last Of Clusters troop commanders On the day
that Custer persisted General Godfrey was Lieu
tenant Godfrey commander of Troop K of the
Seventh cavalry, and Troop X was part Of
the battalion commanded by Capt. Frederick w.
Benteen, the senior captain in the Seventh, when
Custer divided the regiment to make his attack
the Indian village strung along the banks Of
the Little Big Horn.
Not only did General Godfrey play an impor-
tant part In the fighting which took place after
Benteen's command joined forces with the de-
tachment commanded by Maj. Marcus A. Reno,
but In later years he became known as the lead