Two case examples epitomize the skeletal story of the men who died at the Little Bighorn.One set of nearly complete remains indicated the soldier was between 30 and 35 years of age at the time of his death. The teeth of most soldiers studied showed extensive use of tobacco and coffee (which caused staining),and oral health care appears to have been largely ignored, as evidenced by numerous decayed and abscessed teeth. Degenerative changes were seen as well, including in the jaw, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand,hip, knee and foot, and evidence of osteoarthritis was present in the back and joints. The observed changes in bone structure and development resulting from trauma-induced injuries included compressed vertebrae,shoulder separations, and healed fractures in the skull, collarbone, lower arm, ribs, hand and foot. They also reflected the debilitating effects of the harsh conditions and strenuous lifestyle Frontier Army cavalrymen endured. Their bones told the story of congenital diseases and developmental defects that some of the men had when they enlisted in U.S. The soldiers suffered from a variety of ailments and injuries beyond the traumas inflicted upon them at the time of death. The osteological (scientific study of bones) examinations have revealed a good deal about the men who rode with – and ultimately died with – Custer. The latter effort has been only partly successful. This was done in part to learn more about the lifestyle and manner of death of those who died, but also with the intent to identify the individuals represented by the bones. Since then there has been a concerted effort to find and analyze human remains associated with the Little Bighorn battle.
#Custer battlefield professional
Many partial and a few nearly complete remains were recovered as a result of professional archaeological work on the battlefield that began in the 1980s. Human remains, largely individual bones, representing 44 of those who died at the Little Bighorn have been found, collected or formally recovered from the battlefield since 1877. However, the individuals who exhumed the remains were not trained skeletal anatomists, and the soldier work details overlooked some bodies and only collected large skeletal elements of others, leaving behind many bones. Their bones were exhumed in 1881 and reburied in a mass grave on the top of Last Stand Hill, where they remain today under a large granite monument listing the men’s names and memorializing their sacrifice. For the most part, the enlisted soldiers’ bodies were not identified. Several other officers’ remains – including those of Custer’s brother Captain Thomas Custer, who was twice awarded the Medal of Honor in the Civil War – were reinterred at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The most famous among these men was George Custer, whose remains were reinterred at West Point. Most of the officers’ remains were identified during the hasty burials, and these were exhumed in 1877 and returned to the east or to their homes for reburial. One officer recalled that the battlefield was a “scene of ghastly and sickening horror.” The victorious Native Americans had removed all of their dead before departing the valley of the Little Bighorn River at the approach of an army column under Brigadier General Alfred Terry and Colonel John Gibbon on June 27. Most of the men, found lying on the battlefield in the locations where they had died, were simply covered with soil scooped up from either side of their already swollen and decomposing remains. The bodies of about 260 7th Cavalry Regiment officers and men killed on June 25 and 26, 1876, were given a hasty but not uncaring burial on June 28. One important legacy of the battle is the bones of the fallen soldiers that have come to light from time to time over the years.
Benteen a few miles away from “Custer’s Last Stand.” All soldiers in the five 7th Cavalry Regiment companies personally led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer were killed, and the seven surviving companies suffered numerous dead and wounded during the fighting and in a successful defensive action led by Major Marcus A. Frontier Army regulars and the most famous battle of the 19th-century Indian Wars. The June 25-26, 1876, Battle of the Little Bighorn fought in southern Montana was Native Americans’ greatest victory over U.S. Examining the bones of the Little Bighorn dead reveals the hard lives – and sudden, violent deaths – endured by these U.S.