Abstract of the Official Record of Proceedings of the Reno Court of Inquiry; Convened at Chicago, Illinois, 13 January 1879 By the President of the United States Upon the request of Major Marcus A. Reno, 7th Cavalry TO Investigate his conduct at The Battle of the Little Big Horn 25-26 June, 1876
Harrisburg, PA: The Stackpole Company, 1954. Presumed First Edition, First printing Thus. Hardcover. 24 cm. xxx, 303, [3] pages. Slight DJ wear. Illustrated end papers. Frontis illustration. illus. maps (one fold-out) Index. Benteen's Battle Map at end. Preface by Colonel W. A. Graham. This is commonly known as the Reno report. A Court of Inquiry, unlike of Court Martial, which tries only criminal charges formally preferred, is a purely investigator body whose one and only function is to inquire into and report upon aspersions or other derogatory matter respecting a person in the military service, with a view to establishing facts; and if so directed, it recommends the action, if any, that should be taken in the premises. The Curt of Inquiry authorized by the President on the 25th day of November 1878 , convened at Chicago, Illinois, 13 January 1879, and adjourned 11 February 1879, after an extended hearing, with daily sessions excluding Sundays only. The testimony of 23 witnesses was taken, all of whom were subjected to cross examination under oath, and eleven documentary exhibits ere received in evidence. The inquiry quickly developed into a broad investigation of the manner in which the battle was fought, and competent historian and students consider the record of its proceedings to be the chief and most important repository of authentic detailed information on the subject. The original official record, some 1300 pages in length, was held in the confidential files of the Judge Advocate General's Office until 1941, when it went to the National Archives. In 1951 a verbatim edition of the official record, limited to 125 copies, complete and unexpurgated was published by Graham. This volume is an abstract. The Abstract was made by Col. Graham in 1921, and, with some revisional additions,is the identical abstract of which copies were furnished to former Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, General E. S. Godfrey, General Nelson A. Miles, General H. L. Scott, E. A. Brininstool, W. M. Camp, and later to Frederic Van de Water. The abstract contains the meat or gist of the evidence, summarized the testimony of each witness with especial emphasis upon its bearing on the progress of the battle, its first object being to present to readers a word picture of the combat, as told by the only persons, aside from the Indians, who possessed first hand knowledge of the facts. Col. Graham was born at Chicago, Illinois, January 23, 1875. LLB, University of Iowa, 1897. Admitted to the Iowa Bar, 1897 and was in general practice of law, Cedar Falls, Iowa, 1897-1902; and in Des Moines, 1902-16. He served as Captain, Infantry, Iowa, National Guard, 1912-17 and on the Mexican Border, 1916-17; as Major, Judge Advocate's Department, United States Army, 1920. He was promoted to Colonel in 1931 and retired from the Army in 1939. He was decorated with the Mexican Border Service Medal, Victory Medal with Meuse-Argonne and Defensive Sector bars. He was the author of "The Story of the Little Big Horn," 1926; "The Custer Myth," 1953; "Abstract of the Reno Court of Inquiry," 1954. Marcus Albert Reno (November 15, 1834 – March 30, 1889) was a United States career military officer who served in the American Civil War where he was a combatant in a number of major battles, and later under George Armstrong Custer in the Great Sioux War against the Lakota (Sioux) and Northern Cheyenne. Reno is most noted for his prominent role in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where he failed to support Custer's position on the battlefield, remaining instead in a defensive formation with his troops about four miles away. This event has since been a longstanding subject of controversy regarding his command decisions in the course of one of the most infamous defeats in the history of the United States military. After 26 days of testimony, Judge Advocate General W. M. Dunn submitted his opinion and recommendations to the Secretary of War George W. McCrary on February 21, 1879. He concluded, "I concur with the court in its exoneration of Major Reno from the charges of cowardice which have been brought against him." He added, "The suspicion or accusation that Gen. Custer owed his death and the destruction of his command to the failure of Major Reno, through incompetencey or cowardice, to go to his relief, is considered as set to rest...." The court of inquiry did little to change public opinion. Enlisted men later stated they had been coerced into giving a positive report to both Reno and Benteen. Lieutenant Charles DeRudio told Walter Mason Camp "that there was a private understanding between a number of officers that they would do all they could to save Reno." In 1904, a story in the Northwestern Christian Advocate claimed that Reno had admitted to its former editor that "his strange actions" during and after the Battle of Little Bighorn were "due to drink" Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: 7th Cavalry, Court of Inquiry, Frederick Benteen, George Custer, Herendeen, John Gibbon, Little Bighorn, Seventh Cavalry, Reno Report, Marcus Reno, Herendeen, Moylan, Edgerly, Kanipe, Reno Hill
[Book #82278]
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