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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... |
Lt. McIntosh's Dedication Continued... According to Katie’s first impression, they only had a few pieces of furniture (mostly campstools and a couple fur rugs), but enjoyed a piano, a Martin guitar, a banjo and a violin for their entertainment. The most enlightening initial aspect of the lifestyle that the McIntosh’s were accustomed to, according to Katie, was the cooking of ‘Iwilla,’ the couple’s cook. According to Donald, no one, especially Lieutenant Benjamin Hodgson could resist her food, and subsequently had to be ‘thrown’ out of their house on many different occasions when dinnertime was approaching! The Good Lieutenant’s “Diary” Like almost all officers, Lt. McIntosh kept a diary (or memorandum book) of different events. These included his purchases and costs, and personal items, with the first entry taking place on August 15th, 1872, while stationed in Spartanburg, South Carolina. In 1871, the regiment had been transferred away from the plains to occupy southern states for reconstruction duty and to suppress the movement of the Klu-Klux-Klan. Though spending most of their time in Spartenburg, according to Record Group 156 from the Chief of Ordnance in early 1871, the Company was also located for a time at Ft. Lyon, C.T. (Colorado Territory). and also Post Sumpter, S.C. (South Carolina), enroute to their destination. Of note is the Chief’s December, 1872 record where he lists the company as being in the “Post of Laurensville, South Carolina”. This is of some interest as the book ‘Men with Custer’ notes that 2nd Lieutenant George Wallace joined the regiment during this time at Laurens Court House, being assigned to Company G, thus being directly under McIntosh in command. McIntosh’s diary also mentions Laurens as well as many monetary issues involving Sgt. Vickory, Sgt. Botzer, etc., and much of the day to day expenses made by the Lieutenant for the company. These diary expenditures are carried on to May 5th, 1873 when an entry is made from Yankton, D.T. (Dakota Territory). Here numerous potatoes, onions, baking powder, buckles, etc. were purchased for the troop. In an issue dated March 7th, 1873, the Columbia (South Carolina) Daily Union wrote the following, “Company G arrived under the command of Lieutenant Wallace and McIntosh in town yesterday and the members paid off…the list of arrivals at the Wheeler House (Columbia’s newest hotel) included ‘D. McIntosh, 7th Cavalry’”. After spending some of March and April in Memphis (Tennessee) enroute to Yankton, finally on May 7th Company G and 9 others departed for Fort Rice, D.T., first via rail and then horseback up the Missouri River 300 miles, arriving on June 10th. |
| Official Regimental Returns for this period list the company’s movements as follows: March 5, 1873, Troop “G” left Newberry, South Carolina and arrived at Memphis, Tennessee on March 16th, moving by rail. After a layover, the unit left on April 3rd and arrived at Yankton, Dakota Territory on April 11. On May 7th through the 31st, Company G traveled to Little Cheyenne, Dakota Territory, a distance of 290 miles. Not resting, they proceeded with Lieutenant McIntosh the next day to Fort Rice, where they arrived on June 10th. Ten Days later they left Fort Rice and arrived at Camp No. 8, Yellowstone Expedition, a distance of 198 miles. The final entry in the returns for this period lists Company G, from July 1st -31st marching from Camp #8 and encamping on the Yellowstone River near the mouth of Powder River (Camp # 30). During this time, many of the previous items in McIntosh’s ledger were later purchased once again, including others, on an entry dated June 30th, ’73 (1873) from the Yellowstone Expedition. Of interest around this period are also some of the personal relations mentioned of paying and receiving monies for various items from Lieutenants Charles Larned and George Wallace. Lieutenant Larned wrote of this time in his own diary, mentioning how well he got along with Wallace, Captain Yates and McIntosh. |
| The original diary that McIntosh’s side of this confrontation was recorded in was recovered from the battlefield with a bullet hole through it and by Lieutenant Luther Rector Hare, supposedly from a squaw who had claimed it as her own. According to Katie Garrett, as recorded in ‘With Custer’s Cavalry,’ “He used to carry it inside his flannel shirt. It had a bullet hole right over his heart, showing that he had been killed instantly, thank God.” The book had been displayed at the battlefield until poor security led to its theft. Later recovered, it has been locked away ever since and not available for the general public to view, however copies of the manuscript do exist and are in general circulation. Date with Destiny The 7th Cavalry (with McIntosh’s Company G in tow) departed from Fort Abraham Lincoln on May 17th, 1876 to participate in the Sioux Campaign and to meet their date with destiny. According to the Regimental Return records for the period, on the 31st of May, 1876, the regiment which formed part of the forces commanded by Brigadier General Alfred Terry, operating against hostile Sioux, was encamped 10 ¾ miles from the Little Missouri River, where it remained in camp during the 1st and 2nd of June on account of a severe snow storm. On the 3rd of June the march was again resumed towards the Powder River, which was reached on the 7th of June. |
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| This routine of purchasing items for the unit continues once again in an entry title dated ‘1874’, Black Hills EX (Expedition). After spending the winter at Fort Abraham Lincoln, McIntosh writes that on June 15th he purchased a lock, salt box, pepper box, lock (pad), butter and a few other items. Later in the month, strawberries, stoves and more potatoes would be purchased as well. In addition to this, Katie Garrett writes in her book, that prior to the expedition Donald’s campaign outfit was laid out, consisting of “troop boots, uniform trousers, a blue flannel shirt, a wide-brimmed, black felt hat, cartridge belt, and revolver.” During the expedition, there is an excellent day to day report as far as the precise locations that Lieutenant McIntosh and the regiment were camped at, recorded from the expedition itself. In summary, they left Camp #1 near Ft. A. Lincoln, Dakota Territory July 2nd, 1874 and arrived in Camp #26 near Harney’s Peak, Dakota Territory July 30th, 1874. The total distance marched by Company G and the rest of the expedition was 446 miles. The 10 companies with the Black Hills Expedition left Camp #26 near Harney’s Peak on August 1st and arrived at Fort Abraham Lincoln August 30th, 1874, having traveled 533 miles, according to regimental returns. Upon the regiment’s return to Fort Lincoln from the Black Hills, Katie Garrett wrote, “Frank and Donald, looking more like Indians than white men, swung from their saddles and came bounding up the steps…their faces were burned to dull reds and browns, and their campaign hats and flannel shirts were utterly ruined with alkali dust.” She goes on to mention McIntosh’s fondness of his wife, “Mollie and Donald greeted each other as though the separation had covered two years instead of two months.” Starting in April 18, 1876, the Lieutenant’s diary shows us how company and personal funds were needed to be transferred between banks on a regular basis as the company was located in different areas quite often. After the Black Hills Expedition, Special Order #215 from Headquarters, Department of the South, ordered Company G to relocate to Louisiana. Lieutenant McIntosh along with 6 companies of the 7th Cavalry left Fort Abraham Lincoln September 29th, 1874. There is a lot of mention in the ledger of the Shreveport (Louisiana) and St. Paul (Minnesota) banks, and the various deposits made to them (Company G going through New Orleans and then being stationed in Shreveport for Reconstruction duty during this time). Also towards the end of the diary, we are able to get a first hand idea as to the geological locations that the Lieutenant and his company were located. For instance, of special note is the location to location traveling that dictated the unit’s arrival to Fort Abraham Lincoln to participate in the upcoming campaign. McIntosh notes that he/they left Shreveport (Louisiana) on April 19th at 11:30 AM, arrived in St. Louis (Missouri) on April 21st at 8:30 PM and then arrived at Ottumwa (Iowa) on April 24th. The journey continued by arriving at Austin (Minnesota) April 25th at 11 PM and then St. Paul (Minnesota) on April 26th. Later there is another entry stating that they had traveled from St. Paul to Bismarck (North Dakota), thus arriving at their destination of Fort Abraham Lincoln. During this time, the diary also provides a glimpse as to McIntosh’s personal relationship (or lack there of) with fellow officer, 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin Hodgson. Just prior to the Little Big Horn, both officers had been stationed in the South, and did not get along well while stationed there. This was surprising, for both were very popular with their fellow officers and the enlisted men as well, and had gotten along beautifully with each other before heading down south. McIntosh had written in his diary that he was thinking of bringing up Hodgson on court-martial charges. As Companies B and G were returning to the Dakota Territory in 1876, Lt. McIntosh placed Lieutenant Hodgson under arrest and removed him from command of Company B. McIntosh is quoted as follows, “This is not the first instance of this kind since leaving the Dept. of the South. While preventing him from committing an act of violence against an enlisted man of his company, at St. Louis (shooting him) he rudely pushed me aside accompanying the act with very improper language.” Hodgson appealed to General Alfred H. Terry describing the action “…Lt. McIntosh had no provocation, cause, reasons or excuse for his preceding, which I regard as an arbitrary, unjust, and tyrannical attempt to humiliate me.” To which McIntosh simply noted that the Lieutenant’s conduct had not changed since he had been arrested. As both men were killed in the Reno Valley Fight at the battle soon after however, nothing ever came of this. |
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