Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, July 2, 1874. The Black Hills Expedition Departs

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Thursday, July 2, 1874. The Black Hills Expedition Departs

Today In Wyoming's History: July 2: 1874 7th Cavalry left Ft. Abraham Lincoln to scout the Black Hills.

The 7th Cavalry, with a number of native scouts, left Ft. Abraham Lincoln bound for the Black Hills in what is recalled as the Black Hills Expedition.

The expedition was economic in part, in that it was to look for gold in the Black Hills, and military in part, in that it was to look for suitable fort locations. Its organization was as follows:

The table of organization for the 7th Cavalry for the Black Hills Expedition of 1874 was as follows.[15]

Field and staff officers:

Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, 7th Cavalry.
Lt. Colonel Frederick D. Grant, 4th Cavalry and acting aide
Major George A. Forsyth, 9th Cavalry commander
First Lieutenant James Calhoun, 7th Cavalry adjutant
First Lieutenant Algernon E. Smith, quartermaster
Second Lieutenant George D. Wallace, commander of Indian scouts

Cavalry companies

Company A - Captain Myles Moylan and Second Lieutenant Charles Varnum
Company B - First Lieutenant Benjamin H. Hodgson
Company C - Captain Verling Hart and Second Lieutenant Henry M. Harrington
Company E - First Lieutenant Thomas M. McDougall
Company F - Captain George W. Yates
Company G - First Lieutenant Donald McIntosh
Company H - Captain Frederick W. Benteen and First Lieutenant Francis M. Gibson
Company K - Captain Owen Hale and First Lieutenant Edward S. Godfrey
Company L - First Lieutenant Thomas W. Custer
Company M - Captain Thomas French and First Lieutenant Edward Gustave Mathey

Medical staff

Dr. John W. Williams, chief medical officer
Dr. S. J. Allen, Jr. assistant surgeon
Dr. A. C. Bergen, assistant surgeon

Engineering

Captain William Ludlow, chief engineer
W. H. Wood, civilian assistant

Mining detachment

Horatio Nelson Ross
William McKay

Scientist

George Bird Grinnell
Newton Horace Winchell
A. B. Donaldson
Luther North

Photographer

William H. Illingworth

Correspondents

William E. Curtis, Chicago Inter-Ocean
Samuel J. Barrows, New York Tribune
Sygurd Wiśniowski, New Ulm Herald
Nathan H. Knappen, Bismarck Tribune

Last edition:

Saturday, June 27, 1874. The Second Battle of Adobe Walls

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Buffalo Hunting, Comanche, hunting, Indian Wars, Market hunting, Red River War, Second Battle of Adobe Walls, Texas

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