| 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…) Continued: |
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| 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 |
| 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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| 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. |
| On June 10th Companies B, A, C, F, E and L left camp under command of Major Marcus Reno, which was located along and between the Powder, Tongue and Rosebud Rivers. The remaining 6 companies, including McIntosh and Company G, marched June 11th to the junction of the Powder and Yellowstone Rivers, where a permanent camp was established. On the 15th of June, they proceeded along the Yellowstone River in order to join up with Reno’s command on June 18th at the mouth of the Tongue River. The Regiment then marched to the mouth of the Rosebud River where it arrived on the 20th of June. On the 22nd of June the Regimental Return records the regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel (General) George Armstrong Custer, leaving camp and marching up the Rosebud River for 120 miles. Here they crossed the divide between the Rosebud and the Little Big Horn River on the 25th of June, finding the main village of the ‘hostile’ Sioux situated there. According to Larry Sklenar in the book ‘To Hell with Honor,’ with Captain John Tourtellotte on detached service, Lt. McIntosh commanded the troop. 2nd Lieutenant George Wallace was serving as engineering officer for the regiment, and the 1st Sergeant was on furlough, leaving Sergeant Edward Botzer as acting 1st Sergeant (the Company G ledger he kept being found in Dull Knife’s village years later). This meant that McIntosh was virtually alone in providing senior leadership, particularly since 2 of the 5 sergeants were also missing. The company had 14 fresh recruits assigned to the unit, but 11 of them had been left at the Yellowstone depot and 1 was with the pack train. 5 other soldiers were at the depot, including 4 veterans, 2 of whom were tending to the company and ordnance wagons. 6 men were on detached service, 1 attending to company property at Fort Abraham Lincoln and 1, a trumpeter, remaining in Louisiana. Mr. Sklenar states that of the 66 soldiers assigned to Company G, only about 38 were with the unit on the campaign. According to Lieutenant McIntosh’s diary, the following information as to Company G’s strength was recorded on June 12th, 1876. McIntosh notes that, both present and absent, the number of men was equal to 66 and horses were 50. Those on furlough and on detached service were 7 men. 17 men and 4 horses had been left at the Powder River. Thus, 42 was the number he has jotted as being present at that time as to the fighting strength of Company G. He had also listed that they then had 47 horses, instead of 46 (50-4). Below this entry there is also mention of the addition of Private Reed and another couple entries that are illegible. Though the majority of those Company G members that were with the unit when headed toward the Little Big Horn were namely veterans, on the night of June 24th, 1876, 1st Lt. Edward Mathey (in charge of the pack-train) reported as ordered to General Custer that both Lieutenant McIntosh’s troop’s and Captain Frederick Benteen’s troop’s packs had been the ones that had given the regiment the most trouble. Benteen’s reaction was that of anger, while McIntosh was recorded to have let the incident slide off his back. This laid back attitude, which was very characteristic of the Lieutenant, could very well have played a part in the officer’s demise the following day… The Little Big Horn Detail At approximately 2:55pm, on June 25th, 1876, Company G (on mixed colored horses), commanded by 1st Lieutenant Donald McIntosh, crossed the ford of the Little Big Horn River as part of Major Reno’s battalion of companies A, G, and M. The orders from General Custer were to “Go forward as fast as you think proper, and charge them wherever you find them, and I will support you.” Attacking the south end of the village, at 3:05, Reno began a charge with Captain Thomas French's Company M on the right and Lieutenant McIntosh's company on the left, with Captain Myles Moylan's Company A in the rear. Ten minutes later he then put all three companies into line as they neared the camp and prepared to attack, thus beginning the Battle of the Little Big Horn. G was now on the right of the line, and the horses concealed in the timber. A report soon came to Reno that the right flank was being turned by the Indians in the woods, and that he needed to protect the horses. Reno at once withdrew G to the woods, going with Lieutenant McIntosh and his troop in person. This meant that Moylan’s troop A was forced to extend to cover the gap, thus making the line very thin. Companies M and A remained on the line perhaps fifteen minutes longer, when they also were forced to withdraw because of pressure on their left flank and rear. Lieutenant Wallace, relieved of his engineering duties and now reinstated as second-in-command of Company G, was still on the line after G departed. He was either acting as an independent agent or some part of his assigned troop did not go into the timber with McIntosh. The bulk of the available information tends to support the notion that Reno took McIntosh and a platoon-plus of G into the woods to investigate reports that the Indians were either turning his right flank, were endangering the horses, or were crossing the river and getting into the rear of his command. According to Private Theodore Goldin, the second squirmish line had his G Troop on the left now. McIntosh and Company G had been on the right until the line wheeled to the cover of the edge of the timber, French and Moylan about faced, making French then on the right and McIntosh on the left. |
| Disaster It was soon apparent to Major Reno that the battalion was going to be forced to ‘retreat’ back across the river due to the overwhelming onslaught being provided by the Indians. In the confusion of the attack while in the woods, Reno's order to mount and cross back to the other side of the Little Big Horn River was not heard by all the members of Company G. Seventeen men would be left behind in the woods (the vast majority being Company G) as the rest tried to gain the other side of the river, being the last to leave the timber. As Captain Charles King later wrote, “in vain several of the best officers of the column (Donald McIntosh and Benny Hodgson) tried to rally and protect the rear of the column. The Indians were not in overpowering numbers at that point, and many believed that a bold stand could have saved the day. But with the Major on the run, the Lieutenants could do nothing but die bravely.” |
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| Goldin goes on to say that when they were mounting for the retreat, Private Samuel McCormick surrendered his horse for his dismounted Lieutenant, telling him they were all dead men anyway and that he might as well be killed on foot as on horseback. Ironically, giving up his mount to the Lieutenant might have saved his life as he later was able to join the battalion on foot. Private Thomas O’Neill (McIntosh’s cook) later talked about the fact that he passed McIntosh going out on Private McCormick’s horse. McIntosh had asked him where Reno’s command was. He then passed John Rapp who was leading McIntosh’s horse and asked about where McIntosh was. O’Neill says Rapp was soon killed thereafter by the Indians, and not before. Scout George Herendeen said, "I saw Lieutenant McIntosh soon after he fell. He had his horse shot under him early in the action, and at the time he was killed he was riding a soldier’s horse. He was shot on the river bank while riding back to the ford.” Irregardless of what happened to his original mount (or when John Rapp met his demise), McIntosh somewhere along the line obtained another horse from Private McCormick, who then remained with the dismounted bunch that later came out with Herendeen to join the seiged troopers on Reno Hill. Demise Despite Herendeen’s report of McIntosh being shot out of the saddle, most of the reports from the field stated that Lieutenant McIntosh’s last moments on this earth involved his being surrounded by 50 or more Indians and knocked or pulled from his horse, where he was then butchered. Goldin mentioned later that he saw McIntosh as he went down and only noticed that he did not regain his feet. He claims that he was perhaps fifty yards to the left and a bit to the rear when he saw his horse go down and noticed his lariat was dragging on the ground, once in a while catching in the tall grass or sage brush and then breaking loose and the picket pin bounding into the air. Private Roman Rutten backed up this claim and said that he also saw McIntosh’s new mount having trouble with the dragging lariat. McIntosh was then surrounded as mentioned before and killed. Private William Morris also saw this scene and stated that McIntosh, seeing his imminent departure from this world, was “sitting as calm as a deacon at service” on his horse. Benteen later was quoted to have said, “I am inclined to think that had McIntosh divested himself of that slow poking way which was his peculiar characteristic, he might have been still in the land of the living.” The Bismarck Tribune reported the events of the McIntosh’s death as if they had had a reporter witnessing the event, “He was pulled from his horse, tortured and finally murdered at the pleasure of the red devils.” They went on to inaccurately describe McIntosh as using his saber even though the vast majority of the soldiers did not have them at the Little Big Horn. There are Indian accounts however of “one of the littler chiefs” getting his foot stuck in his stirrup and being dragged (which many assume must have been McIntosh), which collaborates a different demise for the Lieutenant than that mentioned in the Tribune. |
| At this point, some accounts say that when Lieutenant McIntosh got to the river his horse, ‘Puff’, was killed by an arrow to its head. However, Private Goldin (detailed prior to the battle by McIntosh to report to General Custer as an orderly) reported that all of those killed in G troop were killed at the crossing expect McIntosh and his striker (orderly) Private John Rapp, who was one of the horse-holders, and was killed with the horses. When Rapp died, he released the Lieutenant’s horse, thus leaving him horseless when the retreat was ordered. |
| At this point, some accounts say that when Lieutenant McIntosh got to the river his horse, ‘Puff’, was killed by an arrow to its head. However, Private Goldin (detailed prior to the battle by McIntosh to report to General Custer as an orderly) reported that all of those killed in G troop were killed at the crossing expect McIntosh and his striker (orderly) Private John Rapp, who was one of the horse-holders, and was killed with the horses. When Rapp died, he released the Lieutenant’s horse, thus leaving him horseless when the retreat was ordered. Goldin goes on to say that when they were mounting for the retreat, Private Samuel McCormick surrendered his horse for his dismounted Lieutenant, telling him they were all dead men anyway and that he might as well be killed on foot as on horseback. Ironically, giving up his mount to the Lieutenant might have saved his life as he later was able to join the battalion on foot. Private Thomas O’Neill (McIntosh’s cook) later talked about the fact that he passed McIntosh going out on Private McCormick’s horse. McIntosh had asked him where Reno’s command was. He then passed John Rapp who was leading McIntosh’s horse and asked about where McIntosh was. O’Neill says Rapp was soon killed thereafter by the Indians, and not before. Scout George Herendeen said, "I saw Lieutenant McIntosh soon after he fell. He had his horse shot under him early in the action, and at the time he was killed he was riding a soldier’s horse. He was shot on the river bank while riding back to the ford.” Irregardless of what happened to his original mount (or when John Rapp met his demise), McIntosh somewhere along the line obtained another horse from Private McCormick, who then remained with the dismounted bunch that later came out with Herendeen to join the seiged troopers on Reno Hill. |