Captain Marsh - Conclusion

By Dan R. Conway

(First published in the Hysham Echo on April 21, 1927)

When informed of this pleasant attention, they were much pleased and accepted it gratefully. Before they took their seats, Mrs. Custer sent to Captain Marsh an invitation to preside at the table, which he, being very busy, had not intended doing. But he heeded her urgent request and, hastily making himself as presentable as possible, joined them at the board. Mrs. Custer and Mrs. Algernon E. Smith, wife of a lieutenant in the 7th, with whom Captain Marsh was acquainted, seated themselves beside him and were at particular pains to treat him cordially. When the agreeable meal was concluded and the captain was about to withdraw, Mrs. Custer and Mrs. Smith took him aside and asked him if they might accompany the boat to the Yellowstone, Mrs. Custer stating that her husband had authorized her to go if Captain Marsh was willing.

The captain was much taken aback at this request, as under the circumstances he believed that such a trip would be both dangerous and uncomfortable for them. He pointed this out, showing them how limited were the accommodations of the “Far West,” and what inconveniences they would have to put up with. As they still remained undiscouraged, he at last fell back upon a feeble subterfuge and mendaciously expressed regret that he had not brought his own comfortable boat, the “Josephine,” declaring that if he had, he would gladly take them along. Finally seeing that it would be impossible to gain his consent, the ladies reluctantly gave up their plan, though with evident disappointment. It was well that the captain stood firm, for had he yielded to their wishes through a mistaken sense of courtesy and allowed them to go, all the heart-breaking suspense and horror of those days so soon to follow might well have bereft them of reason.

During the afternoon the supplies waiting at the fort for the cavalry were taken on board, consisting of forage such as oats and bran, commissary goods, medical supplies, tents, tarpaulins and other quartermasters stores, and small arms ammunition. The total weight of the new cargo was about 200 tons, as much as it was safe to carry into the Yellowstone, since it brought the boat to a draught of 30 inches or more. The next morning the “Far West” started up the river. At Fort Buford the escort came on board, consisting of company B of the 6th infantry; Captain Stephen Baker, commanding, and John A. Carlin, first lieutenant. The company numbered about 60 men, and they made their quarters as usual on the main deck the officers taking cabins above. The other three companies of the battalion, under Major Moore, had already marched up the east bank of the Yellowstone for Stanley’s Stockade. The “Far West” at once followed, and in a few days reached the rendezvous to find Major Moore and his command already encamped there.

Dispatches from Gibbon

The major had received dispatches from General Gibbon, who was coming down the left bank of the river, and on the arrival of the “Far West” he forwarded them, as well as one from himself, to General Terry. His courier traveled eastward along the old Stanley trail and encountered Terry just west of the Little Missouri, still several days’ march from the Yellowstone. Learning from the dispatches the location of Gibbon and also that the supply steamer had arrived. Terry diverted the march of his troops up the valley of Beaver creek toward the mouth of the Powder, where the junction with Gibbon could be sooner accomplished, and sent back instructions to Major Moore to have the “Far West” meet him there. Captain Marsh proceeded thither, and tied to the bank on the 7th of June.

Toward evening of that day, several skiffs were seen floating down the river. Upon sighting the steamer they pulled in and were found to contain Major Brisbin, Captain Clifford carrying dispatches for General Terry. They had floated 30 or 40 miles, meeting no Indians on their journey. Next morning while the crew were engaged in cutting wood, a body of horsemen was discerned rapidly approaching through the valley of the Powder. When they drew up on the bank they proved to be General Terry and his staff escorted by two troops of cavalry, who had ridden down in advance of the main column, leaving the latter in camp about 20 miles up the Powder. The general immediately came on board to make this headquarters, and he gave Captain Marsh a cordial welcome, congratulating him on his prompt arrival. After reading Captain Clifford’s dispatches, Terry sent couriers to Gibbon with orders to leave his command and himself come down to meet the boat, which would steam up until he was encountered.

The following morning the “Far West” got under way and went up until she reached a point about 15 miles below the mouth of Tongue river where a trooper hailed her from the shore. She came in and General Gibbon was found, accompanied by cavalry and the company of 25 mounted Crow Indians, who, under Lieutenant J. H. Bradley, had served him efficiently as scouts during his march from Fort Ellis. The two generals who had so long been planning for the junction now successfully accomplished, greeted each other at the bow of the “Far West” and then repaired to the cabin to discuss future movements. Finding that Gibbon’s main body was resting but a short distance above, General Terry instructed Captain Marsh to steam up to their camping place. This was reached about noon and Terry invited all the officers on board, where a reunion affording opportunity for pleasant exchange of experiences occurred between them and the members of Terry’s staff. After lying at the camp for some two hours, Gibbon and his officers took their leave and the boat returned to the Powder, where Terry also left for Custer’s camp, after instructing Captain Marsh to return to Stanley’s Stockade and bring all the supplies there up to the Powder where a new depot was to be established. He also sent orders to Major Moore to bring his troops to the same point. By the 15th of June, Captain Marsh had accomplished these transfers and held his boat at the Powder, ready for further work.
On the morning of June 15, 1876, the “Far West” was at the camp at the mouth of the Powder river, when General Custer, with his six troops and one Gatling gun, marched for the Tongue river. A few days later Captain Marsh took the Far West to the mouth of the Tongue river, and then on to the Rosebud, which he reached June 21. The boat landed at General Gibbon’s camp and took that officer on board for a conference between Gibbon, Terry and Custer as soon as the latter officer arrived. At noon, after the arrival of Custer, there ensued in the cabin of the Far West that memorable council of war at which were determined the details of the offensive against the hostiles. The conference lasted till late in the evening and at its conclusion Terry and Gibbon walked out with Custer to his tent. Custer then had sounded his officer’s call and gave his subordinates their final instructions for the march to be started on the morrow. General Custer seemed worried and somewhat irritable, which was unusual to him.

Custer’s Last March

The next morning, hours before sunrise, Captain Marsh was directing the unloading of the cargo, which contained the provisions for Custer’s men. At dawn the 15 days’ supplies were ready for issue to the troopers on the bank. Breakfast over, the camp quieted for few hours while the men arranged their belongings and wrote letters home. A feeling of depression pervaded the camp, and not a few of the letters voiced the feeling. Custer was affected by it, and so were many of his officers.

After Custer’s column had departed on its march up the Rosebud, Captain Marsh was dispatched with the Far West to follow up the Big Horn river, and at dawn of June 27th he tied up at the mouth of the Little Big Horn. Along the shore of this stream were thick willows. A little after 10 o’clock Captain Marsh, Engineer Foulk and Pilot Campbell, together with Captain Baker and Lieutenant Carlin, were sitting on the bank together, talking. They believed that Terry and Custer had met the hostiles and had disposed of them, and were speculating on what had happened in the way of fighting when a mounted Indian warrior of magnificent physique and stark naked, excepting for a breech-cloth, burst through the brush and jerked up his pony at the brink of the river. Before the little group on the bank could run back the Indian held up his rifle in sign of peace. Then they paused, and scrutinizing him more closely, recognized Curley, one of the Crow scouts who had gone with Custer. They had expected to hear from Terry and Gibbon, but not from Custer. They motioned for Curley to come to the boat, whither they hurried.

As soon as the Indian was on board he gave way to the most violent demonstration of grief. None could understand the Crow language and the Indian could not speak a word of English. It took him hours to make them understand the completeness of the disaster that had overtaken Custer’s command.

By the morning of the 30th of June the wounded from Reno’s command had been brought to the river, and General Terry and his staff and Major Brisbin, travel-stained, weary and utterly depressed by the events of the past few days, arrived and made their headquarters on the “Far West.” That day the boat started on her mission to tell the world of the disaster to Custer and his troopers. After a race with death - for many of the wounded needed surgical aid to keep them alive - the “Far West” reached Bismarck just 54 hours out from the mouth of the Big Horn river. She had covered 710 miles at the average rate of 13 and one-seventh miles per hour - a record unequaled by any other craft that ever floated on the turbulent water of the Missouri from Fort Benton to St. Louis. Print this post