A Monument's Journey

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After the shock of Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn, efforts to memorialize the physical site of the Last Stand soon began. The site's first memorial (made of cordwood) was erected in 1878. The National Cemetery was designated in 1879, and the marble obelisk that stands today was built in 1881. These efforts demonstrated the Custer defeat's profound impact on the American government and the white American populace. Such dramatic effort to physically memorialize significant events of the Indian Wars was not the norm. The monument dedicated to Reynold's Fight on the Powder River, which took place March 17, 1876, thirty-five miles south of Broadus, had a very different history.

It was the first engagement of the Big Horn Expedition of 1876. General George Crook began this effort to force non-compliant Native Americans onto reservations. In early March, a contingent of Crook's cavalry under the command of Colonel Joseph J. Reynolds separated from the main body to find their quarry: a rumored large Ogallala Sioux village led by Crazy Horse. Fighting dangerous winter weather, Reynolds was led by his scouts to a moderately-sized encampment on the Powder River. The resulting battle was initially considered a success but soon realized to be a great failure. The village was not Crazy Horse's, but rather bands of Northern Cheyenne led by Old Bear and Two Moons. A small contingent of Ogallala under He Dog was also present. Reynolds attacked the village, scattered the villagers, and burned the camp. Notably, the village's large pony herd was captured. Thinking he had just destroyed Crazy Horse's village and captured his prized pony herd, Reynolds ordered a rapid withdrawal to meet up with Crook further up the Powder. Four enlisted men were killed in this confused and ill-considered attack. To make things worse for Reynolds, the Cheyenne were able to recover most of their horses the next day.

The history of the monument that marks this fight begins with the author and journalist Walter Mason Camp's speech to the Annual Meeting of the Order of Indian Wars of the United States on January 17, 1920. Camp had researched various engagements during the Indian wars and was concerned not only with the memory of dead soldiers but also with recording site locations for posterity. Forty years after the Battle of the Powder River, Camp addressed the issue:

In these days it is the problem of historical investigator to hunt up and identify the sites where the more important of these events transpired. Some of these are well known; a very few of them are marked in some shape, and many of them have been lost as far as public knowledge is concerned. The sod over the graves of many of the soldiers killed in these Indians wars has remained unbroken save by the plow of the rancher, for, by necessity, identification marks had to be dispensed with to prevent exhumation by the foe.

During his speech, Camp addressed the Reynold's Fight, as well as others:

The site of this fight has been well identified, but not marked, although government headstones for the four soldiers who perished there have, through the kind offices of General Mills and Major Lemly, have been shipped out to Wyoming, at the nearest railroad point, and will be placed on the battlefield next summer.

Camp refers to the four soldiers killed at the Battle of the Powder River. Whoever was tasked with placing headstones on the graves of these four casualties had a significant problem. All four bodies had (infamously) been abandoned on the field. One of the men, Private Lorenzo E. Ayers, was abandoned while still wounded. Colonel Reynolds was later court-martialed (in part) because of the way the four bodies were mismanaged. Unfortunately, the headstones Camp referenced were NOT placed the following summer. It would, in fact, take another fourteen years.

In 1933, State Senator Frank Kelsey of Moorhead owned the land where the battle occurred. In early December, Senator Kelsey received a letter from retired General William Carey Brown:

I am informed that you are the owner of the land on which the Reynolds fight on March 17, 1876, took place. Also, that four small headstones which, years ago were prepared at the request of the late W.M. Camp by the QMCUSA (Quarter Master Corps, USA), to be placed over the graves of the four men killed in the fight are still in storage in Benham's lumber yard at Arvada, Wyo.

I am pretty familiar with the details of the fight and am quite positive that there are no "graves" and that the bodies of the men – at least one of them scalped – were left on the ground. The troops had made a night march the previous night, the mercury was at 30° below zero and there was much confusion...

It is apparent that there is high ground on the western edge of the battle site, where under the unusual circumstances the headstones might appropriately be placed, overlooking the field.

I write this to ask whether you would be willing to permit the headstones to be so erected...I am in correspondence with Mr. D.C. Wilhelm of Gillette, Wyoming, regarding this matter, looking to the placement of the headstone. I have been in the military service for over 60 years and have a feeling, in which I trust you concur, that any soldiers who lost their lives under the circumstances which took place there are entitled to have the modest headstones provided by the government giving their names, Co & Regt & date of death placed on the field where they fell.

General Brown provided Kelsey with copies of several maps of the battle site. One map was provided by General (then Captain) Anson Mills, who commanded Company M, 3rd Cavalry, during the battle. Another, drawn by Reynold's adjutant, 2nd Lieutenant Charles Morton, proved more accurate. Camp's notes outlined the section numbers and the mouth of Thompson Creek. Kelsey was amenable to Brown's request and soon used the provided documents to confirm the location of the battlefield and the high ground suggested.

Brown, for his part, was fighting with the government regarding the possession of the headstones. Lt. Colonel James Lauback of the Quartermaster Corps wrote to General Brown:

As you doubtless know, the law pertaining to the supply of Government headstones, provides only for marking the graves (emphasis in original) of soldiers and does not provide for placing monuments marking battles, engagements or spots where soldiers fell in battle. If, on the other hand, the burial places of the soldiers...can be located, this office will be pleased to furnish headstones to mark their graves. No information can be found in the files to indicate that headstones have previously been furnished in these cases. Regretting the inability of this office to give you a more favorable reply.

By the date of this reply, four headstones had been sitting in storage in Arvada's Big Horn Lumber Company for over a dozen years. The lack of official headstone records explains Brown's assertion that Camp himself had made the arrangements. Camp had died unexpectedly in 1925.

On Memorial Day, 1934, the monument was placed in its current position with a ceremony led by the American Legion of Gillette. It memorializes the four soldiers killed that day:

• Pvt. Lorenzo Ayers, Company M, Third Cavalry

• Pvt. Peter Dowty, Company E, Third Cavalry

• Pvt. Micheal McCannon, Company F, Third Cavalry

• Pvt. George Schnider, Company K, Second Cavalry

The four headstones are arranged so that each side of a four-sided pyramid contains one of the markers. It took nearly sixty years and the earnest efforts of Frank Kelsey, D.C. Wilhelm, G.H. Benham, and General William C. Brown to finally have these soldiers, who were shamefully left on the field of battle, recognized.