Col. George A. Custer, the Great Cavalry Commander, Reorganizes the 7th Cavalry As It Arrives in the Dakota Territory Ahead of the Yellowstone Expedition

The famed 7th U.S. Cavalry was formed in 1866, and its first lieutenant-colonel was the picturesque cavalryman, George A. Custer, who had been one of General Philip B. Sheridan’s most trusted division commanders during the Civil War. In the late 1860s, the regiment demonstrated its spirit on over forty occasions in contests with the Sioux, Cheyennes, Kiowas, Comanches, Apaches, and Arapahoes. These began with a skirmish near Fort Lyon, Colorado, on April 13, 1867, and ended with the battle on the Washita in the Indian Territory on the November 27, 1868, where Custer, under the cover of night, succeeded in surrounding the native village. By early 1869 the Indians has been subdued, and the regiment was transferred. For the next two years it was scattered through seven states, acting as armed guard for United States Marshals. This constabulary duty continued for two years, when orders were issued that initially transferred the regiment to Texas. But the restless and threatening attitude of the Sioux in the Department of Dakota made it necessary to send the unit there. So upon the application of General Sheridan the 7th’s destination was changed to the Northern Department, which consisted of North and South Dakota, Montana, and parts of Idaho and Wyoming. Here the 7th Cavalry would make history, and go down into legend.

Ten companies of the 7th Cavalry, under the command of Custer, headed by steamboat up to Cairo, Illinois, and then took the trains to their first stop in their new Department, Yankton, Dakota Territory [now South Dakota]. They arrived April 9, 1873. That night a ball was given in honor of Custer and his officers. Custer selected a campsite for the unit just east of the Rhine Creek along the railroad tracks, and a tent city known as Camp Sturgis sprang up on the flatland beyond the town. Wives of some of the officers traveled with the regiment in those days, and they found rooms in a local hotel. More than three dozen laundresses -some with children – were also part of the entourage, and they were located in what was known as Suds Row accessible to fresh water in the creek. Elizabeth Custer, the commander’s wife, opted to remain near the camp in what she later described as a rented half-finished cabin with no plastering or stove.

On April 13 the mild springtime weather suddenly changed, and for two days intermittent sleet and snow made camp life miserable. On the 15th a spitting rain turned to powdery, windblown snow; and, as the blinding blizzard mounted, the precisely organized military cantonment became a frenzied arena of confusion. As tents were blown down, Custer gave the order for the men to take individual initiative – to try to lead their horses to shelter in Yankton’s warehouses, stables and livery barns. When the storm abated Custer looked around and determined he needed to reorganize his regiment.

Custer and units of the 7th Cavalry were part of the military column commanded by Colonel David S. Stanley accompanying the 1873 Northern Pacific Railway survey party surveying the north side of the Yellowstone River west of the Powder River in eastern Montana. It traveled out of Dakota Territory in June, 1873 with the 1,530 soldiers, 275 mule-drawn wagons, 353 civilians involved in the survey, and 27 Indian and mixed-blood scouts supporting the column.

Custer knew he needed to organize and set about his first major reorganization of the formation of the 7th cavalry in the Dakotas.  He would do so utilizing the U.S. Cavalry’s rule book.

Document signed, Headquarters Detachment 7th Cavalry, Camp Sturgis, April 26, 1873, entitled “Circular No. 24” and addressed to his officers. “The attention of line officers is called to the printed instructions found on page 12, U.S. Cavalry Tactics, 1841, immediately following the words ‘Compliments by Cavalry under review’, for information as to posts of troop officers & when the battlion formation is observed. When a troop forms singly the posts of officers will be in accordance with the rules laid down on page 4 of same volume. At the command of ‘Prepare to dismount’ given by the battalion commander, the Chief of squadrons, or if the formation is by troop, the Captains of troops and the Chiefs of platoons, will come forwards paces, turn their horses to the right about and superintend the execution of the order by their respective commands. In the execution of the commands ‘Prepare to mount’, and ‘Mount’, similar rules will govern; officers will resume their proper front in each case immediately after the execution of the command ‘Form ranks’. The same rule will govern in the squadron and troop acting singly.” It is signed “G.A. Custer, Lt. Col. 7th Cav.”

This is an extremely rare memento of that reorganization of the 7th Cavalry, the first as they entered the Department which its name, and Custer’s, will always be inextricably linked. It is also the only orders to the 7th Cavalry signed by Custer that we have ever seen, nor does a search of public sale records going back 40 years reveal any.

In May 1873 the unit departed Yankton for Fort Abraham Lincoln in what is now Bismarck, North Dakota. On June 20 1873, they moved into the Black Hills of Dakota, and on August 4, 1873, near the Tongue River, Custer and the 7th Cavalry Regiment clashed for the first time with the Lakota Sioux. The unit remained at Fort Abraham Lincoln from 1873-1876. Then came the Little Big Horn, and a rendezvous with history.