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N0KFQ > TODAY 30.06.07 16:22l 51 Lines 2429 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Jun 30
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Sent: 070629/1604Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:22637 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:22637_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@ALLUS
1876 : Soldiers are evacuated from the Little Big Horn by steamboat
After a slow two-day march, the wounded soldiers from the Battle
of the Little Big Horn reach the steamboat Far West.
The Far West had been leased by the U.S. Army for the duration of
the 1876 campaign against the hostile Sioux and Cheyenne Indians
of the Northern Plains. Under the command of the skilled civilian
Captain Grant Marsh, the 190-foot vessel was ideal for navigating
the shallow waters of the Upper Missouri River system. The boat
drew only 20 inches of water when fully laden and Marsh managed
to steam up the shallow Big Horn River in southern Montana in
June 1876. There, the boat became a headquarters for the army's
planned attack on a village of Sioux and Cheyenne they believed
were camping on the nearby Little Big Horn River.
On June 28, Captain Grant and several other men were fishing
about a mile from the boat when a young Indian on horseback
approached. "He wore an exceedingly dejected countenance," one
man later wrote. By signing and drawing on the ground, the Indian
managed to convey that there had been a battle but the men did
not understand its outcome. In fact, the Indian was Curley, one
of Lieutenant Colonel George Custer's Crow scouts. Three days
earlier, he had been the last man to see Custer and his 7th
Cavalry battalion before they were wiped out during the Battle of
the Little Big Horn.
The following day, Grant received a dispatch from General Terry,
who had found Custer's destroyed battalion and the surviving
soldiers of the 7th Cavalry. Terry ordered Grant to prepare to
evacuate the wounded soldiers. Slowed by the burden of carrying
the wounded men, Terry's force did not arrive until June 30.
Grant immediately received the 54 wounded soldiers and sped
downstream as quickly as possible. With the Far West draped in
black and flying her flag at half-mast, Grant delivered the
wounded to Fort Abraham Lincoln near Bismarck, North Dakota, at
11:00 p.m. on July 5.
The fast and relatively comfortable transport of the wounded by
steam power undoubtedly saved numerous lives. Yet, Grant was also
the bearer of bad news. From Fort Abraham Lincoln, General
Terry's report of the disaster was telegraphed all over the
country. Soon the entire nation learned that General Custer and
more than 200 men had been killed along the Little Big Horn
River.
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