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| This Web Site is Dedicated to 1st Lt. Donald McIntosh, who perished by the hands of the plains Indians on June 25, 1876 in the valley of the Little Big Horn... |
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| 1st Lieutenant Donald McIntosh (Custer’s Forgotten Clansman…) Written By Jason E. Heitland (Rough Draft) |
| Background When “Custerbuffs” discuss General George Armstrong Custer countless topics come to mind. These usually include the Battle of the Little Big Horn, life on the frontier plains, the Native American Indian and usually somewhere along the line, “The Custer Clan” comes up. The Custer Clan was the group of officers and their families whom were considered to be the General’s most close friends and allies. They included, among others, Captain George Yates, Captain Thomas Weir, Captain Tom Custer, Lieutenant William Cook and Captain Myles Keogh. However, one faithful friend of General Custer and his wife is seldom mentioned as a member of this elite group, though their families spent much time together prior to that fateful day upon which they both would lose their lives at the hands of the Plains Indians. That officer was 1st Lieutenant Donald McIntosh. Donald McIntosh was born in Jasper House, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as the son of James (John) and Charlotte Robinson McIntosh on Sept. 4th, 1838. His father was one of the main organizers of the Hudson’s Bay Co. and was from the same Scotch family as Sir James McIntosh. Charlotte was a direct descendent of Red Jacket, a chief of the Six Nations. Ironically, James was killed by Indians when Donald was 14 years old. According to the book ‘Men With Custer,’ during Donald’s youth, the McIntosh’s resided at various posts of the Hudson’s Bay Co., they were in Vancouver from 1846 to 1851, and then at Oregon City from 1851 to 1853, and then located in Portland in 1854. From 1854 to 1860 Donald lived at Forts Dalles and Steilacoom, and in 1861 he was chief clerk for Colonel Daniel Rucker, serving with him during the Civil War. Donald married Mary (Mollie) Garrett on October 13, 1866, in Baltimore, Maryland. In the book, ‘With Custer’s Cavalry,’ written by Donald’s sister-in-law Katherine (Katie Garrett) Gibson Fougera, she tells about her sister’s marriage, “I recalled that stormy scene when Mollie married Donald in deliberate defiance of our high-strung father…who contended violently that the army and the plains were no fit setting for any man’s daughter.” While a resident of Washington, D.C., McIntosh was appointed second lieutenant of M Company, 7th Cavalry, effective August 17, 1867, and joined the regiment at Fort Harker, Kansas, on October 16 that year. This would be the first of many different places that the McIntosh’s would call ‘home.’ Katie Garrett is quoted in her book about her family’s thoughts on this subject “It intrigued us quite a bit, back in Washington, D.C., to learn that my brother-in-law’s troop had changed stations nine times in eleven months, and my mother’s stationary soul suffered acutely at the thought of Mollie’s perpetual home making and breaking.” As a reply to the Bismarck Tribune, who stated that “McIntosh, though a half-breed, was a gentleman of culture and esteemed by all who knew him,” Evan S. Connell wrote in his book ‘Son of the Morning Star’ of his impressions of that sentiment, “That ‘Tosh’ as the soldiers called him, was a gentleman of culture may be accepted on faith. Photographs are deceptive, but this angular male with an invisible smile and a long nose does not look like an oaf or a lout.” |
| Upon meeting her brother-in-law for the first time, Katie Garrett wrote the following of her impressions, “Suddenly, from behind a wooden pillar, stepped the tall, lithe figure of an army officer in uniform, wearing a forage cap which bore the number 7, and a pair of shoulder straps showing the insignia of a first lieutenant…as I looked into his strong, purposeful face and kindly, dark eyes, I suddenly knew that Mollie was a very lucky woman.” Katie goes on to describe the Lieutenant later as follows, “…quiet of voice and manner, had nevertheless a keen sense of humor and was one of the most beloved officers of the regiment. He combined the brilliant mind of a student with a marked flair for military science, and to his friends he was affectionaly known as ‘Tosh’.” In the book, ‘To Hell with Honor,’ Larry Sklenar notes McIntosh as being “Tall, with a kind face, dark eyes, and snow-white teeth.” The Lieutenant must not have been considered overly handsome however as upon meeting 2nd Lieutenant George D. Wallace some years after they were married, Mollie McIntosh exclaimed that she had finally met someone that was worse looking than her husband! |
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| Military Life on the Plains When hostilities with the Indians started in August 1868, McIntosh was on sick leave, while his unit escorted trains and performed garrison duties that summer. He had been on detached service and was returning when he got sick at Fort Harker (Kansas) on June 4th of that year. McIntosh stayed sick through July and August. His company (under the command of 1st Lieutenant Owen Hale) and company “H” were stationed at Fort Harker throughout that entire time. However Captain Frederick Benteen did leave with companies H and M during that time briefly to join the majority of the regiment at Fort Larned. After an extended stay at Camp Sandy Forsyth, the time for the next campaign was at hand. At the Washita Battle on November 27, 1868, Major Joel Elliot was assigned by General Custer to take Lieutenant McIntosh’s M Company and also companies H and G to attack the rear of the village, approaching from the northeast. All in all, this campaign would prove to be a success for Custer, but Elliot would pay the ultimate price, shouting as he headed off towards his fate to McIntosh’s 1st Lieutenant, “…here goes for a brevet or a coffin”. |
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| Lieutenant McIntosh was considered to be a valued member of the Seventh Cavalry and a favorite of Custer's, officers of whom most would later be referred to as the ‘Custer Clan’. He was reported to have had a splendid record as an officer and a gentleman. According to Katie Garrett, “as the Custer’s were quite fond of music and Mollie McIntosh was a natural musician, the two families seemed to get along very well”. The McIntosh’s had first spent the summers of 1869 and 1870 with the Custer’s at Fort Hays and were again with them regularly in 1874 when Katie had visited them there and had gone hunting with the Custer’s. |
| Later than year, Katie would marry Lt. Francis Gibson of the Seventh cavalry, having met him at Fort Abraham Lincoln for the first time while visiting her sister and her husband, Donald. An amusing story is told by Katie in her book when she talks about the day she met her future husband, just arriving from Fort Rice, and the fact that Mollie and Donald had ruined her perfect moment when Donald was suddenly kicked by a horse in the shin and eventually had to spend a few days in the hospital, against his will. As this event happened not long before the regiment’s departure for the Black Hills Expedition, he was also forced to miss the soldier’s buffalo hunt that he had hoped to participate in, due to the fact that his doctor wanted him in the best shape possible prior to the long excursion. This socializing with the General is further explained by Rebecca Richmond (cousin of the Custer’s) who dates a journal entry March 16, 1874 as follows, “This evening the following persons happened in, Colonel and Mrs. Buel, and Captain (Lieutenant) and Mrs. McIntosh and her sister Katie Garrett.” She dates a later entry in the same diary as March 23, “This evening all but Libbie went to Mrs. Captain (Lieutenant) McIntosh where we met…had quite a musical entertainment, Mrs. McIntosh playing the guitar and piano finely…” |
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| The life of an officer was not always casual and laid back. Sergeant John Ryan recalled an instance where Lt. McIntosh had been officer of the day and was alerted to a disturbance among some of his fellow soldiers, “Lieutenant McIntosh, who immediately rode up from the camp and finding the affairs were progressing, immediately ordered Lawton and Burns to be bucked and gagged.” In his book ‘Ten Years with Custer,’ Ryan goes on to explain some of the punishments that the officers had to oversee in order to keep peace on the remote outposts. 2nd Lieutenant McIntosh was officially appointed First Lieutenant effective March 22nd, 1870. He accepted the appointment while in camp near Fort Hays, Kansas, on July 14th that year, and was then in command of Company G. Though he had just been promoted, his services were seemingly not to the satisfaction of his commanding officer, for on August 18th, 1870, Colonel Samuel Sturgis, while at Fort Leavenworth, considered him to be: “Eminently inefficient through…extreme indifference to his official duties, giving him the appearance of desiring to render the smallest possible service compatible with absolute security of his commission. If he were an enlisted man he would pass as a malingerer,” according to the book ‘Men with Custer’. |
| In her book, Katie Garrett describes her new home with her sister and Donald McIntosh at Fort Lincoln upon her arrival in 1874, "It was a detached frame house, accommodating two families, evidently hastily constructed, as the wind blew through unseen crevices and rattled the windows. It was lighted by kerosene lamps and candles, and the walls of the medium-sized living room were hung with old canvas tenting to make the place warmer. A lighted stove in the middle of the room threw out welcome heat." |
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