Entrenchment Trail; Around the Reno-Benteen Defense Site, second half of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, June 25-26, 1876.
Crow Agency, Montana: Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association in cooperation with the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Custer Battlefield National Monument, c1960. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Wraps. Format is approximately 6 inches by 9 inches. 15, [1] pages plus covers. Ink notation inside the back cover. Ink typographical correction on page 9. Ink notations on pages 10 and 12. Illustrated front cover. Illustrations. Map. Listing of some Members, Honors, and killed in action on back cover. There is reference inside the back cover to MISSION 66, a 10-year program of the National Park Service which proposed to develop and staff the entire National Park System to meed the needs of a much greater number of visitors and at the same time to safeguard fully the wilderness, scenic, scientific, and historic resources entrusted to the National Park Service. In 1955, Park Service Director Conrad Wirth proposed a decade-long program of capital improvement, to be funded as a single program by Congress. MISSION 66 was launched in 1956 and was scheduled for completion in 1966, the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the National Park Service. While Mission 66 is most frequently associated with physical improvements, it also funded a number of continuing programs. The Historic American Buildings Survey, which had been inactive since 1941, was re-funded. The former Historic Sites Survey was reorganized into National Historic Landmarks and National Register of Historic Places programs in 1960, under Mission 66 funding. At approximately 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 25, 1876, the battered remnants of Major Marcus A. Reno's three companies reached the bluffs which became their defense site following their disastrous attack in the valley. The warriors who had pursued Reno's retreating command left the pursuit and went downstream. Reno was soon joined by Captain Frederick W. Benteen's battalion of three companies (125 men) and the pack train with its escort of 130 men. About this time gunfire was reported to the north, in the direction of Custer's probable advance. Elements of Reno's force, in an attempt to open communication with Custer, proceeded to Weir Point, about one mile north. Confronted there by an overwhelming number of Sioux and Cheyenne, the cavalry was forced back to this site. Here Reno and Benteen established a defense perimeter at about 7 p.m. then warriors began firing a hail of bullets into the soldier's position. Major Marcus Reno led Companies A, G, and M back across the river in retreat from where he earlier attacked the upstream end of the Indian encampment. Hundreds of warriors had attacked and flanked Reno's men, forcing them to take a defensive position in the timber. The retreat to the bluffs followed. The defense line at this position was occupied by Capt. Thomas H. French's M Company. McDougall's B Company defended this area on June 26, when French was summoned to support Benteen. Warriors took up positions close to the side of the defense area during the night of June 25 and the early morning of June 26. Caption Frederick W. Benteen asked for more men, so Caption French brought M Company over to reinforce this segment of the line. Warriors with rifles were in positions behind the hills and ridges to the west of this site. The only surviving doctor, Assistant Surgeon Henry R. Porter, collected the wounded and set up an improvised field hospital in the site marked in the depression south of Reno-Benteen Memorial. Many of Reno's men had been wounded in the valley fight and retreat, and warrior firearms were taking their toll as other men were hit along the line. Sioux and Cheyenne warriors occupied vantage points all around the Reno-Benteen position. The warriors were armed with a variety of different weapons. A sharpshooter on the ridge 500 yards made life extremely hazardous for the troopers lying along this portion of the line. On the evening of June 26, the Lakota and Cheyenne broke camp and moved off toward the Bighorn Mountains, seen in the distance to the south. The men on Reno Hill were relieved but hesitant to let their guard down. Unsure of why the Indians had suddenly departed, many soldiers suspected a trick, and spent another night on the bluffs. Early the next morning, the nearly exhausted soldiers spied a large dust cloud in the river valley to the north, and soon learned that General Terry, with Colonel Gibbon's infantry and cavalry column, was marching up the river. Condition: Good.
Keywords: George Armstrong Custer, Marcus Reno, Frederick Benteen, 7th Cavalry, Battle of the Little Bighorn, Rifle Pit, Medal of Honor, Weir Point, Charles Windolph, Sharpshooters
[Book #82052]
Price: $25.00