Custer's Dead Officers: Captain Tom Custer

 

On June 25, 1876, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, five companies of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry, under the direct command of George Armstrong Custer were wiped out.  Among the dead was:

 Captain Tom Custer, 31, rode with the five companies led personally by George Custer.  Tom Custer had distinguished himself during the Civil War, receiving the Medal of Honor twice for bravery, becoming the first of only 16 individuals in American history to achieve this distinction.  

After the Civil War, Tom Custer was appointed a first lieutenant in the 7^th cavalry.  He was wounded at the Battle of the Washita and took part in the Black Hills expedition of 1874.  During the 1876 campaign he served as aide-de-camp to his older brother Lt. Colonel George A. Custer and died with his brother on Last Stand Hill.

 In an interview given in 1900, Dr, Henry Porter recounted: “As soon as we could, several of the officers and myself went over to where Custer had fought…. We found Custer's body stark naked, as white and clean as a baby's. He was shot in the head and breast. The body of Captain Tom Custer, General Custer's brother, was horribly mutilated. He was disemboweled, and his head had been crushed in by a blow from a stone hammer used by the Indians. The only arrow wound I found was in his head. He had the Sioux mark of death, which was a cut from the hip to the knee, reaching to the bone. His heart was not cut out, as has been reported…”

 In fact, Tom Custer’s body had been so badly mutilated that his remains were identified only by a recognizable tattoo of his initials on his arm.

 The bodies of George and Tom Custer were wrapped in canvas and blankets, then buried on the field in a shallow grave.  When soldiers returned a year later, the brothers' grave had been scavenged by animals and the bones scattered.  According to a witness, "Not more than a double handful of small bones were picked up."  George Custer was reinterred with full military honors at West Point Cemetery on October 10, 1877.   The remains of Tom Custer, were reinterred at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

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Custer's Dead Officers: Captain Myles Keogh

 

On June 25, 1876, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, five companies of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry, under the direct command of George Armstrong Custer were wiped out.  Among the dead was:

Captain Myles Keogh an Irish immigrant and seasoned soldier, joined the Seventh Cavalry in 1866 after distinguished service in the Union Army during the Civil War.

During the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Keogh commanded a detachment on Battle Ridge. He and his men attempted to hold the southern end of the ridge but were overrun by Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. His body was found surrounded by several of his men, and his horse, Comanche, survived the battle—later becoming a symbol of the fallen regiment

The medals of Captain Miles Keogh tell an interesting story.  The senior captain among the five companies wiped out with Custer, Keogh's body was found at the center of a group of troopers that included his two sergeants, company trumpeter and guidon bearer.

 Keogh was stripped but not mutilated, perhaps because of the "medicine" the Indians saw in two Papal medals he wore on a chain around his neck.  Vatican records confirm these two medals were given to Keogh during The Papal War of 1860.

 Captain Benteen secured the medals which were sent to Keogh’s sister in Ireland.  They remained in the family until 1988 when they passed into the hands of a well-known collector.  The medals were recently auctioned off for $35,000.

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