Charles DeRudio Charles Camillo DeRudio , originally Carlo Camillo Di Rudio , ( August 26 , 1832 – November 1 , 1910 ) was an Italian aristocrat , would - be assassin of Napoleon III , and later a career U . S . Army officer who fought in the 7th U . S . Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn . Early life . Carlo di Rudio was born in Belluno , Italy . He was the son of Count and Countess Aquila di Rudio . ( Shortly before his death , he was interviewed by Walter Mason Camp , and showed him family records going back to 1680 . ) As a teenager , he attended an Austrian military academy in Milan , today known as Military School " Teulié " . At the age of 15 , di Rudio left to join the Italian patriots during the uprising in 1848 , and participated in the defense of Rome and , later , of Venice against the Austrians . He was shipwrecked off Spain in an aborted attempt to sail to America . By 1855 , he was living in east London ( England ) and had married Eliza , the 15 - year - old daughter of a confection ist . They eventually had three daughters and two sons . Louis Napoleon . On January 14 , 1858 , during a visit to the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opera , three bombs were thrown at the royal precession of Emperor Louis Napoleon ( Napoleon III ) . Eight people and a horse were killed and one hundred and fifty injured . Four men were arrested : Felice Orsini , the leader of the plot , Giuseppi Pieri , Antonio Gomez , and a Portuguese beer salesman named " Da Selva , " which turned out to be di Rudio . ( See Orsini affair for details ) . Orsini and Pieri were guillotined on March 14 and Gomez was sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil ' s Island . di Rudio was initially condemned with Orsini and Pieri , but someone pled clemency for him and the sentence was commuted to life on Devil ' s Island . Several months later , he was with twelve others who escaped from the prison and made their way to British Guiana . From there , di Rudio made his way back to London and his wife and went on the lecture circuit . His name was anglicized as ' Charles DeRudio ' . American Civil War . DeRudio immigrated to New York City in 1860 . He became a private in the 79th New York Volunteers ( " Highlanders " ) , serving about two months with them at the Siege of Petersburg , Virginia , between August 25 and October 17 , 1864 . On November 11 , 1864 , he was commissioned second lieutenant , 2nd U . S . Colored Infantry . DeRudio served with the 2nd U . S . C . T . in Florida until honorably mustered out of service on January 5 , 1866 . Regular Army service . After his Civil War service , DeRudio requested appointment to the Regular Army and received his commission as 2nd lieutenant in the 2nd Infantry on August 3 , 1867 . Three weeks later , he failed a physical and his appointment was canceled . ( Also , the U . S . War Department discovered his previous ' political activity ' . ) But about a month later , he was back in uniform , where he remained until he became unassigned on April 17 , 1869 , as a result reduction of the size of the Army from 45 to 25 infantry regiments . 7th Cavalry . DeRudio received appointment to the 7th Cavalry on July 14 , 1869 , as a 37 - year - old 2nd lieutenant . Initially , he was assigned to Company H , commanded by Captain Frederick Benteen . Benteen nicknamed DeRudio " Count No Account " because of his boastful story - telling and haughty manner . DeRudio ' s reputation among the more senior officers of the 7th , particularly those in the circle of Lt . Col . George A . Custer , however , was constantly disparaged . Still , DeRudio apparently was a good officer , as historian Charles K . Mills wrote : " He was not a chronic drinker or gambler . He did not absent himself from his duty station for trivial reasons . He did not shirk duty assignments and , above all else , he patently knew what he was doing at the head of the column of enlisted men . " DeRudio , now 43 years old , was promoted by seniority to first lieutenant on December 15 , 1875 , when promotions in other companies created an opening in Company E . Since DeRudio was in actuality commanding Company E ( its nominal commander , Capt . Charles S . Ilsley , was permanent aide - de - camp to General John Pope at Fort Leavenworth ) , he should have retained command when it took the field . However , Custer gave command of E company to a favorite of his , 1st Lt . Algernon Smith of Company A , and placed DeRudio there as his replacement . Company A ' s commander , Captain Myles Moylan , apparently did not get along with DeRudio , who acted as Benteen ' s adjutant during the campaign . The changes doomed Smith to an early death and spared DeRudio ' s life . Battle of the Little Bighorn . On June 25 , 1876 , however , DeRudio was with Company A and crossed the Little Bighorn River as part of Major Marcus Reno ' s battalion . His company dismounted and fought in skirmish line against the Hunkpapa and Oglala warriors who rushed to defend their village from Reno ' s attack . Under pressure from growing numbers of warriors , Reno ordered a retreat back across the river , where DeRudio lost his horse and was left behind in the timber on the western bank . For thirty - six hours , DeRudio and Private Thomas O ' Neill remained hidden , alternating hope and despair while witnessing the mutilation of dead soldiers by enraged Lakota women . Although the two soldiers had a couple of dangerous confrontations with the Indians , they were able to conceal themselves again and in the early hours of June 27 were finally able to cross the river , joining the Reno and Benteen command on Reno Hill . DeRudio ' s story was first published in the " New York Herald " on July 30 , 1876 , and reprinted in the " Chicago Times " on August 2 , 1876 , with the headline , " A Thrilling Tale - Romance of the Battle of the Little Big Horn ; DeRudio ' s Perilous Adventures - Graphic Details from the Pen of the Lieutenant - Alone in the Burning Woods . " DeRudio later claimed he had not written the story , but had given information to Major James ( ' Grasshopper Jim ' ) Brisbin of the 2nd Cavalry , who had elaborated his story and published it without DeRudio ' s consent . Years later , in an interview with Walter Mason Camp , DeRudio claimed that he had had the only saber at the Little Bighorn . ( Perhaps unknown to him , 1st Lieutenant Edward Gustave Mathey with the pack train had kept his also , using it to kill snakes . And at least two Indians had sabers , having obtained them at the Battle of the Rosebud . ) He showed Camp a golden saber that had been a gift given to him by Company G in 1870 . He had been scolded by Custer for accepting the present , and , perhaps as a matter of spite , had not surrendered his issued saber when the others had been packed up at the Powder River Depot . Later service . DeRudio commanded a re - constituted Company E during the Nez Perce War of 1877 , assigned to reinforce Lt . Gustavus Doane ' s detachment of the 2nd Cavalry patrolling the mountains after the Battle of Big Hole . On January 29 – 31 , 1879 , he testified before the Reno Court of Inquiry . DeRudio continued service with the 7th Cavalry , was promoted to captain on December 17 , 1882 , while stationed at Fort Meade , Dakota Territory . He later served at Fort Sam Houston , Texas , and at Fort Bayard , New Mexico . He retired on August 26 , 1896 , with the grade of major , at San Diego , California . Charles DeRudio died in 1910 in Pasadena , California , of bronchial catarrh and acute enteritis . His remains were cremated and interred in San Francisco National Cemetery . See also . Pictures and good background information on DeRudio in " Alien Horseman : an Italian Shavetail with Custer "