Frederick Benteen

Frederick Benteen was born August 24, 1834, in Petersburg, Virginia to Theodore Charles Benteen and his wife Caroline (Hargrove) Benteen. Benteen's paternal ancestors had emigrated to America from the Netherlands in the 18th century, settling in Baltimore, Maryland. Theodore and Caroline moved their family to Virginia from Baltimore shortly after the birth of their first child, Henrietta Elizabeth, in October 1831. Frederick Benteen was educated at the Petersburg Classical Institute, where he was first trained in military drill. His family moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1849.

The election of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. President in 1860 polarized the country and the state. While a slave state, it had many Union sympathizers and active abolitionists. Theodore Charles Benteen, an ardent secessionist, vehemently opposed his son's associating with Unionists. A family crisis was ignited when Frederick joined the Union Army on September 1, 1861 as a first lieutenant in the 1st Missouri Volunteer Cavalry Regiment.[1] (Len Eagleburger's book places Benteen at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in August 1861.) The 1st Missouri Volunteer Cavalry was often referred to as "Bowen's Battalion."[1] It was later redesignated as the 9th and then merged into the 10th Missouri Cavalry.

Benteen participated in numerous battles during the American Civil War, for which he was awarded the brevet ranks of major and then lieutenant colonel. Among his engagements were the battles of Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, Vicksburg, and Westport. On February 27, 1864, Benteen was promoted to lieutenant colonel and commander of the 10th Missouri Cavalry.[1] Benteen was mustered out at the war's end on June 30, 1865.[1]

Shortly thereafter he was appointed to the rank of colonel as commander of the 138th Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Troops.[1] He led the regiment from July 1865 to January 6, 1866, when it was mustered out.[1] Later that year, he was appointed a captain in the 7th U.S. Cavalry.[1] Meanwhile, the Senate finally approved awards of brevet ranks to distinguished veterans of the Civil War. Benteen received brevets of major for the Battle of Mine Creek and lieutenant colonel for the Battle of Columbus (1865).

In January 1867, Benteen departed for his new assignment with the 7th US Cavalry Regiment and its field commander Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. He was assigned to this regiment for 16 years, through many of the Indian Wars. Until 1882, except for periods of leave and detached duty, Benteen commanded H Troop of the 7th US Cavalry.

On January 30, 1867, Benteen made a customary courtesy call to the quarters of Custer and his wife Elizabeth. Benteen said later that he regarded Custer as a braggart from their first meeting (and his dislike deepened throughout his years of service under the man).[2] Meanwhile, on March 27, 1867, Benteen's wife gave birth to their son in Atlanta.

Following the Civil War, the Cheyenne Indians represented the greatest threat on the Kansas frontier. In late July 1868, Benteen led an expedition to provide security for the Indian agents near Fort Larned. On August 13, Benteen, commanding 30 troopers, encountered a Cheyenne raiding party along the banks of Elk Horn Creek near Fort Zarah. He charged into a force of what appeared to be about fifty warriors. To Benteen's surprise, he next discovered more than 200 Cheyenne raiding a ranch. Benteen pursued the Cheyenne without rest until dark, engaging them throughout the day without respite. This first undisputed victory of the 7th US Cavalry brought Benteen a brevet to colonel and the adoration of the settlers of central Kansas.

Frederick Benteen in his later years

On October 13, Benteen and his men were assigned to escort a wagon train loaded with weapons and ammunition meant for the regiment. They reached the wagon train just as a war party began to attack. Benteen drove off the warriors, saving the wagon train from capture. Later following the trail of the raiding party, the 7th US Cavalry came upon a Cheyenne encampment on the Washita River in the Indian Territory.

In response to the continued Cheyenne raids, General Philip Sheridan devised a plan of punitive reprisals. His troops would respond to Indian attacks by entering their winter encampments, destroying supplies and livestock, and killing those who resisted. The cavalry was directed to travel in the dead of winter through a largely uncharted region, which required daring leadership. Sheridan turned to Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, who was brought back early from his court-martial and given the mission. Sheridan trusted only Custer with such a deed, and in November 1868 Custer returned to his regiment under special orders from Sheridan.

On November 23, 1868, Custer left Camp Supply with the 11 companies of the 7th US Cavalry, heading toward the Washita River. On November 27, the 7th surrounded a Cheyenne encampment at the river. Just before dawn, Custer launched a four-pronged assault on the village, known as the Battle of Washita.

As captain of H Troop, Benteen led a squadron of Major Elliott's command during the attack. His horse was shot from under him by a son of Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle. The boy was about fourteen years old and was armed only with a revolver. Benteen yelled he would spare the boy's life if he dropped the revolver, and made the peace sign. In reply, the boy aimed his revolver at Benteen and fired. The bullet missed, so the boy fired again, and the bullet passed through the sleeve of Benteen's coat. The boy fired a third time, although Benteen was making friendly overtures. This bullet hit Benteen's horse, killing it, and pitching Benteen into the snow. When the Indian boy raised his pistol to fire once more, Benteen finally shot him dead.

Custer, in his battle report to Sheridan, made little reference to US casualties. During the action itself, the 7th lost only one man killed (Captain Hamilton) and seven wounded. However, shortly after the battle, Major Elliot and 19 men had pursued escaping warriors up the river and had yet to return: as such they were posted as missing. It later emerged that Elliot (who rode off with the cry "Here's for a brevet or a coffin!") had been surrounded and killed by the Cheyenne, along with all his men.

Benteen concluded that Custer had abandoned Elliot and wrote to a friend criticizing the senior officer over this. The letter was passed to the St. Louis Democrat newspaper and published without Benteen's permission or name. On its publication Custer called the officers together and threatened to 'horsewhip' the author. Without revealing that the letter had been published without his knowledge or permission, Benteen admitted authorship, albeit with a hand on his pistol. Custer did not attempt a whipping but dismissed the matter with a curt "Mister Benteen, I will see you later".

Captain Benteen still commanded H Troop of the Seventh US Cavalry regiment during an 1876 expedition to find the Lakota and Cheyenne and force them onto reservations. On June 25, 1876, still searching approximately 12 miles from the Little Bighorn River, Custer divided his force into three battalions. He assigned Benteen command of a battalion comprising Troops D, H and K, tasked with searching on the left flank and securing any possible escape route. Benteen searched fruitlessly through rough ground for about two hours before returning to the trail of the main column. At a marshy crossing of Reno Creek ("the morass"), he stopped twenty minutes to water the horses. Some of his officers were concerned with the delay; one asked, "I wonder what the old man is keeping us here for."[3] Just before leaving, they heard the sound of gunfire in the distance.[4] Captain Thomas Weir was already mounted at the head of the column. Pointing ahead, he said of Custer's companies, "They ought to be over there," and started his company forward. Benteen ordered the rest of the battalion to advance.[5]

As they approached the Little Bighorn River, Benteen was met by a messenger from Custer, soon followed by another, both saying that a big village had been found and that Benteen should immediately come up. A note delivered to him read: "Come on. Big village. Be quick. Bring packs."[6] The slow pack mules, carrying reserve ammunition and guarded by B Troop, had reached the marsh and were slaking their thirst. After first waiting for the pack train, Benteen decided to move on without them.

Meanwhile, the battalion made up of Troops A, G and M, and led by Major Marcus Reno had attacked the southwest corner of the large village, further down the Little Bighorn River, and had been routed with heavy casualties. The tattered remains of the battalion struggled to cross the river and climb the bluffs, pursued by many warriors. Benteen met up with the remnants of the battalion on Reno Hil, and Reno called out "For God's sake Benteen! Halt your command and help me! I've lost half my men!".[8]

Shortly afterward, they were surprised that the pursuing warriors began to turn away from them and head north. Three miles back, Captain Thomas McDougall, marching with the pack train, heard gunfire, "a dull sound that resounded through the hills".[9] The troops with Benteen and Reno -- even Lieutenant Edward Settle Godfrey, who was deaf in one ear -- also heard it.[10] Both Reno and Benteen claimed they never heard it.[11] Further, they did not at once advance to find out, which would later give rise to charges that they had abandoned Custer.[12]

After a delay of at least half an hour waiting for orders, Captain Weir rode north about a mile toward the sound of gunfire to the present-day Weir Point, followed by his company.[13] There they could see a cloud of dust and smoke some three miles farther north.[14] They assumed it was Custer.[15] As they watched, however, they saw warriors emerging from the smoke, heading toward them, "thick as grasshoppers in a harvest field."[16]

Just then Benteen arrived. Looking at the situation, he realized this was "a hell of a place to fight Indians."[17] He decided they must retreat to their original position, now called the "Reno-Benteen defense site". Here Benteen quickly established a horseshoe-shaped defensive perimeter on the bluffs near where he and Reno had met earlier. They were attacked immediately and throughout the rest of the day.

As night fell the attack slackened off, while the large Lakota village was alive with celebration. About 2:30 a.m., two rifle shots signaled a resumption of the attack. Whatever his reluctance earlier, Benteen took on leadership of the force, leading at least one, perhaps three, charges which drove the Indians back just as it seemed the soldiers would be overrun. Cool and calm (at one point he lay down for a nap), Benteen walked among his troops encouraging them. When his men urged him to get down, he replied that he was protected by some charm his wife had sewn in his uniform.[18] He was wounded in the thumb, and the heel was shot off one of his boots.

Attacks on the soldiers slackened off by the afternoon of June 26, 1876. By 4:00 p.m.., gunfire had stopped altogether. By 5:00 p.m., thick smoke obscured the village. The smoke cleared by sunset, revealing the entire village moving away "two to three and a half miles long and from half a mile to a mile wide ... as if someone was moving a heavy carpet over the ground." [19] moving south. Overnight, Army stragglers from Reno's battalion, given up for dead, wandered in. Finally, during the morning of June 27, 1876, the survivors could see a cloud of dust downriver. It turned out to be Generals Alfred Terry and John Gibbon. The standoff was over.

When General Terry and his staff reached him, Benteen asked if he knew "where Custer had gone." Terry answered, "To the best of my knowledge and belief, he lies on this ridge about four miles below here with all his command killed." Benteen could not believe it.[20] Later they rode to the battlefield, where Benteen identified Custer's body. "By God, he said, "that is him."[21]

In the aftermath of the battle, Benteen's decision to remain with Reno, rather than continuing on at once to seek Custer, was much criticized. One veteran of the battle said decades later:

Reno proved incompetent and Benteen showed his indifference – I will not use the uglier words that have often been in my mind. Both failed Custer and he had to fight it out alone.

— Private William Taylor, M Troop 7th US cavalry, veteran of Little Bighorn. Letter of 21 February 1910[22]

Benteen participated in the Nez Perce campaign in 1877. He was brevetted brigadier general on February 27, 1890 for his actions in that campaign at the Battle of Canyon Creek, as well as for his earlier actions at the Little Bighorn. He testified at the Reno Court of Inquiry in 1879 in Chicago.

Benteen was promoted to major, 9th U.S. Cavalry, in December 1882. In 1887, he was suspended for drunk and disorderly conduct at Fort Duchesne, Utah. He was convicted and faced dismissal from the Army, but President Grover Cleveland reduced his sentence to a one-year suspension. Benteen retired on July 7, 1888, citing disability from rheumatism and heart disease.

While stationed in eastern Missouri in 1856, Benteen became acquainted with Catharine "Kate" Louisa Norman, a young woman recently arrived in St. Louis from Philadelphia. They were married on January 7, 1862 at St. George's Church in St. Louis. He and Catherine had five children, four of whom died in infancy: Caroline Elizabeth, born in July 1863 at St. Louis; died before her first birthday; Katherine Norman, born in December 1868 at Fort Harker, Kansas; died a year later; Francis "Fannie" Gibson Norman, born in April 1872 at Nashville, Tennessee; died at eight months; Theodore Norman, born April 1875 at Fort Rice, North Dakota; died that winter. Their fourth child, Frederick Wilson, born March 27, 1873 at Atlanta, Georgia, survived, living until July 20, 1956. Like his father, he pursued a military career, rising to Lt. Colonel.

Benteen died in Atlanta, Georgia on June 22, 1898, leaving his widow Kate and son Frederick. He was buried in Westview Cemetery in Atlanta; his pallbearers included Georgia Governor William Y. Atkinson and Atlanta mayor Charles Collier. Benteen's remains were later re-interred at Arlington National Cemetery.[23]

Benteen Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia is named for Frederick Benteen's son, Frederick Wilson Benteen, who grew up there and had a military career.[24]

• Evans, D. C. Custer's Last Fight, Volume I, Battle of Little Big Horn. El Segundo, CA: Upton and Sons, 1999
• Graham, W. W. The Custer Myth, Lincoln NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1986
• Hammer, Kenneth, edited by Ronald H. Nichols, Men with Custer: Biographies of the 7th Cavalry June 25, 1876, Hardin, MT: Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association, 2000.
• Mills, Charles K., Harvest of Barren Regrets: The Army Career of Frederick William Benteen, 1834–1898, Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1985. ISBN 0-87062-160-2
• Eagleburger, Len. The Fighting 10th: The History of the 10th Missouri Cavalry US (Bloomington, IN: 1stBooks), 2004. ISBN 1-4140-1644-1

• Frederick Benteen: Oath of Office as Captain in the 7th Cavalry, 1866, Shapell Manuscript Foundation
• Complete transcript of the Reno Court of Inquiry
• "Frederick Benteen". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-02-10.