After the Little Bighorn: Surviving Officers of the 7th Cavalry Regiment

 

The Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25-26, 1876, resulted in the complete annihilation of five companies (C, E, F, I, and L) under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, including all officers in those units. However, the remaining seven companies (A, B, D, G, H, K, and M) under Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen survived the engagement, though with significant casualties (around 53 killed and 84 wounded across the regiment's survivors). These units retreated to a defensive position on what is now known as Reno Hill, where they held off attacks until relieved by forces under Generals Alfred Terry and John Gibbon on June 27. The surviving officers continued their military careers, with some facing scrutiny over the battle's tactics. A U.S. Army Court of Inquiry in 1879, requested by Reno, examined the conduct during the retreat and defense but cleared the officers involved of wrongdoing. Many participated in subsequent campaigns against Native American tribes, and the 7th Cavalry was reconstituted with new recruits by late 1876. Below is a summary of key surviving officers, their roles in the battle, and their post-battle fates, based on historical records.

Marcus Reno

Major; commanded the initial valley attack (Companies A, G, M) and led the retreat to Reno Hill for defense. Cleared by the 1879 Court of Inquiry but faced ongoing criticism for not supporting Custer more aggressively. Continued in the Army but was court-martialed twice for unrelated conduct issues (drunkenness and improper advances); dismissed from service in 1880. Worked as a civilian clerk and died of cancer in 1889 at age 54. His remains were reinterred at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in 1967.

Frederick Benteen

Captain; commanded Companies D, H, K; reinforced Reno on the hill and led counterattacks. Testified at the 1879 inquiry, criticizing Custer's decisions and defending the defensive stand. Promoted to major in 1882; retired in 1888 due to health issues from rheumatism and alcoholism. Died in 1898 at age 63.

Edward S. Godfrey

First Lieutenant; Company K under Benteen; helped establish skirmish lines on Reno Hill. Promoted through the ranks, reaching brigadier general by 1907. Participated in the Nez Perce War (1877) and Wounded Knee Massacre (1890). Retired in 1907 and died in 1932 at age 88.

Thomas Weir

Captain; Company D under Benteen; led an advance toward Custer's position but retreated to the hill. Suffered from post-battle depression and heavy drinking; died suddenly in New York City on December 9, 1876, at age 38, possibly from complications related to alcoholism or suicide.

Thomas McDougall

Captain; commanded Company B and the pack train escort. Joined the defense on Reno Hill. Continued service in the 7th Cavalry; promoted to major in 1895. Retired in 1896 and died in 1909 at age 64.

Thomas French

Captain; Company M under Reno; fought in the valley retreat. Testified at the 1879 inquiry. Court-martialed in 1880 for drunkenness and dismissed from service. Died in 1882 at age 34 from complications of alcoholism.

Henry Rinaldo Porter

Acting Assistant Surgeon; provided medical care on Reno Hill (sole surviving surgeon). Treated over 30 wounded during the siege. Mustered out in September 1876; returned to private medical practice in Bismarck, Dakota Territory. Later practiced in various locations; died in 1903 at age 55.

Charles Varnum

Second Lieutenant; chief of scouts (detached from Company A); wounded in the defense. Awarded the Medal of Honor for actions at White Clay Creek (1890) during the Ghost Dance War. Rose to colonel; retired in 1907 and died in 1936 at age 86.

Luther Hare

Second Lieutenant; second-in-command of scouts (detached from Company K). Continued service; participated in the Spanish-American War. Retired as lieutenant colonel in 1905; died in 1929 at age 77.

Winfield Edgerly

First Lieutenant; Company D under Weir. Promoted to captain; served in the Spanish-American War and Philippine-American War. Retired as brigadier general in 1913; died in 1927 at age 81.

Francis Gibson

First Lieutenant; Company H under Benteen. Continued in the Army; retired as major in 1895. Died in 1919 at age 71.

Other junior officers and lieutenants (e.g., Edward Gustave Mathey with the pack train) also survived but had less prominent roles. Many survivors dealt with physical wounds, psychological trauma, and public controversy over the battle's outcome, with alcoholism affecting several careers. The 7th Cavalry went on to fight in other conflicts, including the Nez Perce War (1877) and Wounded Knee (1890), where some of these officers were involved.

Custer's Last Stand: Portraits in Time

Custer's Last Stand Re-Examined

Civil War: Notable Hispanics

 

Luis F. Emilio

Augusto Rodríguez

Son of a Spanish immigrant, Luis F. Emilio lied about his age to enlist young and became a captain (later acting commander) in the famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry, one of the first African American regiments. He fought in the brutal assault on Fort Wagner and later chronicled the regiment’s history.

A Puerto Rican immigrant and Union lieutenant in the 15th Connecticut Regiment, Augusto Rodríguez helped defend Washington, D.C., and fought at Fredericksburg. A West Point attendee or graduate in some accounts, he exemplified immigrant service and continued public service as a firefighter after the war.

There were two notable Latino Medal of Honor recipients in the Union Navy: John Ortega (Spanish-born) served on the USS Saratoga enforcing the blockade, while Philip Bazaar (Chilean) distinguished himself in the assault on Fort Fisher.

Treasure Legends of the Civil War

The Civil War Wedding

Civil War: Mastermind of the Petersburg Crater

 

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to an American father and Spanish mother, Henry Clay Pleasants was a mining engineer who rose to brevet brigadier general in the Union Army. He masterminded the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg by designing a massive mine tunnel under Confederate lines (though the follow-up assault failed). His engineering innovation highlighted Latino contributions to tactical ingenuity.

Treasure Legends of the Civil War

The Civil War Wedding

Civil War: Hispanic American Medal of Honor Recipient

 

Latinos played significant but often overlooked roles in the American Civil War. Estimates suggest around 10,000–20,000 served.

A Union soldier of Hispanic descent serving with the 19th Massachusetts Infantry, Joseph H. De Castro became the first Hispanic American to receive the Medal of Honor. At Gettysburg during Pickett’s Charge, he seized a Confederate flag in hand-to-hand combat, helping defend Cemetery Ridge.

Treasure Legends of the Civil War

The Civil War Wedding

Highest-Ranking Mexican-American in the Confederate Army

 

Latinos played significant but often overlooked roles in the American Civil War. Estimates suggest around 10,000–20,000 served.

The highest-ranking Mexican-American in the Confederate Army, Colonel Santos Benavides commanded the 33rd Texas Cavalry. From Laredo, Texas, he and his brothers defended the Rio Grande border, repelled Union forces at Brownsville, and protected Confederate cotton trade. He is widely regarded as a hero in Texas Confederate history.

Treasure Legends of the Civil War

The Civil War Wedding

Civil War Hispanics: David Farragut

 

Hispanics played significant but often overlooked roles in the American Civil War. Estimates suggest around 10,000–20,000 served.

The most prominent Hispanic figure in the war, David  Farragut was a Union Navy admiral of Spanish descent (son of a Spanish-born captain). He led the capture of New Orleans in 1862 and achieved a stunning victory at the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864, famously ordering, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” He became the first full admiral in U.S. Navy history and remains one of the most celebrated naval commanders in American history.

Treasure Legends of the Civil War

The Civil War Wedding

Eccentric Founding Fathers: Thomas Jefferson

 

The Founding Fathers are often portrayed as stoic, wig-wearing statesmen, but many were deeply unconventional characters whose quirks, obsessions, and larger-than-life personalities added color to the Revolutionary era.

Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant but peculiar inventor and tinkerer. At Monticello, he installed innovations like a wine dumbwaiter, automatic double doors, a calendar clock with weights dropping into the cellar, and a revolving serving door (lazy Susan). He bathed his feet in cold water daily, kept a pet mockingbird that perched on his shoulder and ate from his lips, and shocked contemporaries by eating tomatoes (then viewed with suspicion).

A shabby dresser who preferred riding horseback over carriages, Jefferson had a reported fear of public speaking and an obsessive love of cataloging and order. His multifaceted genius came with many eccentric edges.

Murder in Colonial Virginia

Virginia in the American Revolution

Eccentric Founding Fathers: Ben Franklin

 

The Founding Fathers are often portrayed as stoic, wig-wearing statesmen, but many were deeply unconventional characters whose quirks, obsessions, and larger-than-life personalities added color to the Revolutionary era.

Benjamin Franklin stands out as perhaps the most delightfully eccentric. He famously took daily “air baths,” sitting naked at an open window for 30–60 minutes to promote health through fresh air circulation. He conducted wild electrical experiments, including nearly electrocuting himself while trying to cook a turkey with a shock and using electricity for party tricks like electrified wine glasses.

A prolific inventor (swim fins, bifocals, the glass harmonica), he also wrote satirical pieces like “Fart Proudly” and used multiple pseudonyms. Franklin’s restless curiosity and disregard for convention made him a beloved oddball who retired early from business to pursue science and diplomacy.

Secrets of Early America 1607-1816

                                                             Murder in Colonial Virginia

General “Fighting Joe” Wheeler: From Gray to Blue

 

Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler served with distinction in both the Confederate and United States armies, bridging the divide of the Civil War through his later service.

Born in Augusta, Georgia, to New England parents, Wheeler graduated from West Point near the bottom of his class in 1859. He served briefly in the U.S. Army's Mounted Rifles in the New Mexico Territory, where he earned his nickname "Fighting Joe" in skirmishes against Native American forces.

When the Civil War came, Wheeler resigned his U.S. commission and joined the Confederacy. By late 1862, he became chief of cavalry for the Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg.

Wheeler participated in nearly every major campaign in the Western Theater.  Known for aggressive raids, screening advances, and covering retreats, he was promoted to major general at age 26 and later lieutenant general.

After the war, Wheeler settled in Alabama, studied law, became a planter, and served multiple terms as a Democratic U.S. Congressman from 1881 to 1900.

In 1898, at age 61, President William McKinley appointed him a major general of U.S. Volunteers to help reunite the nation. Wheeler commanded a cavalry division in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Famously, at the Battle of San Juan Hill, the Wheeler excitedly shouted, “We’ve got the Yankees on the run!”—momentarily forgetting he was now fighting for the United States.

He later served in the Philippine-American War before retiring as a brigadier general in the Regular Army in 1900.

Wheeler died in 1906 and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. His unique career symbolized both the scars of the Civil War and the reconciliation of a reunited nation.

Treasure Legends of the Civil War

Civil War Graves of Northern Virginia

Things George Armstrong Custer Said

 

On Ambition “When I was merging upon manhood, my every thought was ambitious—not to be wealthy, not to be learned, but to be great.”

On Education “I would rather have a good education and no money, than to have a fortune and be ignorant.”

On Perseverance “It's not how many times you get knocked down that counts, it's how many times you get back up.”

On the Value of Battle Experience “You ask me if I will not be glad when the last battle is fought... but if I answer for myself alone, I must say that I shall regret to see the war end and I would be willing, yes glad, to see a battle every day during my life.”

On Leadership and Duty “I appeal to you as a soldier to spare me the humiliation of seeing my regiment march to meet the enemy and I not share its dangers.”

On the Nature of War “War isn't just killing, you know. It's a contest. It's a man against a man.”

On Preference for Freedom “If I were an Indian... I would greatly prefer to cast my lot among those of my people who adhere to the free open plains, rather than submit to the confined limits of a reservation.”

Custer's Last Stand: Portraits in Time

Custer's Last Stand Re-Examined

World War 2: American Army Oddest Things

 

Inflatable Tank

Here are some of the oddest aspects of the U.S. Army in World War II.

The Ghost Army: Masters of Deception

The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops ("Ghost Army") was a secret unit of about 1,100 artists, designers, engineers, and soldiers. They used inflatable rubber tanks, fake radio traffic, sound trucks playing battle noises, and phony headquarters to simulate entire divisions (up to 30,000 men). They conducted over 20 deceptions in Europe, saving thousands of lives by misleading Germans.

Bat Bombs (Project X-Ray)

A dentist proposed attaching tiny incendiary bombs to Mexican free-tailed bats. The plan: drop thousands in canisters over Japan; bats would roost in buildings and start fires. Tested successfully (even accidentally burning a U.S. base), it cost $2 million but was canceled before being used against Japan.

Ice Cream Obsession as "Fighting Food"

Ice cream was deemed essential for morale. The U.S. shipped millions of pounds of dehydrated mix; the Navy built a $1 million concrete floating ice cream barge producing 500+ gallons daily in the Pacific. Army units set up mini-factories near front lines.

Rapid Expansion from Tiny Force

In 1939, the U.S. Army ranked 17th globally (behind Romania) with ~190,000 men and outdated gear. By 1945, it grew to 8.3 million.

A Rifleman in Normandy

Nuclear War 1962 (Alternate History)

World War 2: British Army Oddest Things

 

Here are some of the oddest aspects of the British Army in World War II.

Hobart's Funnies: The Weirdest Tank Fleet

Major-General Percy Hobart developed a bizarre collection of modified tanks known as "Hobart's Funnies" for the 79th Armoured Division. These included: Crab (flail tanks with spinning chains to clear mines),Crocodile (flamethrower tanks towing fuel trailers),Duplex Drive (DD) swimming tanks with canvas skirts, ARKs (bridging tanks) and others for laying roadways or clearing obstacles.

Exploding Rats

The Special Operations Executive created "rat bombs"—dead rats stuffed with explosives, meant to be hidden in German coal supplies and explode in furnaces.

Elaborate Deceptions

Deception ops like Operation Mincemeat (using a corpse with fake documents) and Operation Cornflakes (fake mail drops) showed the British love for clever psychological warfare.

If Germany Won World War II

Nuclear War 1962 (Alternate History)

Civil War Eccentrics: General Dan Sickles

 

Many  Civil War generals were deeply eccentric, had wild personal lives, or engaged in bizarre behaviors that would seem unthinkable for modern military leaders.

Union Major General Daniel Sickles stands out as perhaps the most outrageous. Before the war, as a Congressman, he murdered his wife's lover (Philip Barton Key, son of the Star-Spangled Banner writer) in broad daylight in 1859. He was acquitted using the first successful "temporary insanity" defense in U.S. history.

At Gettysburg (1863), he famously disobeyed orders by advancing his corps to the Peach Orchard, which some blame for nearly collapsing the Union line — yet he lost his right leg in the fighting and later received the Medal of Honor. He had the amputated leg bones preserved in a small coffin-shaped box and donated them to the Army Medical Museum (now National Museum of Health and Medicine). He reportedly visited "his leg" on the anniversary of the amputation for years.

Sickles was a notorious womanizer who once brought a brothel madam as his date to meet Queen Victoria.

Alexandria, 1861-1865

The Great Northern Rebellion of 1860

Civil War Eccentrics: “Stonewall” Jackson

 

Many  Civil War generals were deeply eccentric, had wild personal lives, or engaged in bizarre behaviors that would seem unthinkable for modern military leaders.

Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was a brilliant tactician but famously eccentric. He believed one side of his body was heavier than the other, so he frequently rode or walked with one arm raised high to "balance the blood flow." He was a hypochondriac who sucked on lemons (or peaches, depending on the account), stood for long periods to keep his organs in place, and had intense religious habits.

Alexandria, 1861-1865

Civil War Graves of Northern Virginia

Civil War Eccentrics: “Fighting Joe” Hooker

 

Many  Civil War generals were deeply eccentric, had wild personal lives, or engaged in bizarre behaviors that would seem unthinkable for modern military leaders.

UnionMaj. Gen. Joseph Hooker earned a reputation for hard-drinking and loose living. His headquarters during the winter of 1862–63 was described by a cavalry officer as "a combination of a bar-room and a brothel." This led to rumors (partly exaggerated) that prostitutes following his army became known as "hookers."

Civil War Graves of Northern Virginia

The Great Northern Rebellion of 1860 (alternate history)

Civil War Eccentrics: General Richard Ewell

 

Many  Civil War generals were deeply eccentric, had wild personal lives, or engaged in bizarre behaviors that would seem unthinkable for modern military leaders.

Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard Ewell was often called the "oddest, most eccentric genius in the Confederate Army." He had a bald head, a long nose, and bright eyes, and he frequently tilted his head sideways like a bird when listening or giving orders. His mannerisms were so peculiar that subordinates found him almost comical.

Ewell was a hypochondriac who carried around a variety of medicines and was known for explosive verbal orders that no one could fully understand when he was excited.

Civil War Graves of Northern Virginia

War and Reconstruction in Mississippi 1861-1875: A Portrait

Civil War Eccentrics: “Beast Butler”

 

Many  Civil War generals were deeply eccentric, had wild personal lives, or engaged in bizarre behaviors that would seem unthinkable for modern military leaders.

Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Butler was one of the most controversial and detested figures of the war. Nicknamed the "Beast of New Orleans" for his harsh occupation of the city in 1862, he issued the infamous "Woman Order": any woman who insulted Union soldiers would be treated as a "woman of the town" (i.e., a prostitute). This outraged the South, and Jefferson Davis declared him an outlaw.

He was also called "Spoons Butler" for allegedly stealing silverware and other valuables from Southern homes. Southerners made chamber pots with his face on the bottom. Physically, he was described as ugly with a walleye, and his military competence was widely questioned but he was a shrewd politician.

Civil War Graves of Northern Virginia

CIVIL WAR CIVILIAN LIFE: MANASSAS, VIRGINIA (Battle of Bull Run)