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Reno, Marcus A., 1835-1889, (Marcus Albert) / The official record of a court of inquiry convened at Chicago, Illinois, January 13, 1879, by the President of the United States upon the request of Major Marcus A. Reno, 7th U.S. Cavalry, to investigate his conduct at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, June 25-26, 1876
(1951)

Twenty-second day,   pp. 469-492 PDF (9.4 MB)


Page 477


A, I only went to where I presume the skirmish line was killed. MaJor Reno
    then ordered me to take my company and go to the village and get implements
    to bury the dead,   On returning., he ordered mne to bury Company E,
the one
    I had formerly commanded for five years, and to identify the men as far
    as possible.  I found most of them in a ravine.
QO here is a ravine marked H on the map. State if that is the one,
A. That is where the most of Company E were found to the best of my recollect
    tion;  about half were in the ravine and the other half on a line outside0
Qo What appeared to have been the nature of the conflict there?
A. I have no idea. All the men were lying on their faces and appeared to
have
   been shot mostly in the side0
Q0 Were the evidences such as indicated to your mind a stand had been made
    there?
A. I thought they fought the best they could, and probably were attacked
from
    both sides
Q. Where was the skirmish line you speak of?
A, About a hundred yards from the ford where I crossed.
Q, Co-a you locate that ford?
A, I think that is the place marked B30
Q0 How far was that skirmish line from the river?
A. I can't tell that., I can't give even a good guess,
. On the knolls and ridges as far as you observed   did there appear to have
    been an organized resistance; or tno have the appearance of a rout or
panic?
A. I did not see any bodies but of the one company in the ravine0    I did
not
    go over the field at all. I buried that company and started on the
    march to where Gen. Terry was encamped,
Q0 State whether., to your knowledge, there was any uneasiness or solicitude
    in Major Reno's command as to what had become of General Custer and his
    command?
A, I did not converse much except with Capt0 Godfrey. During the night of
    the 25th, I think the conclusion was that he had met the same crowd and
    they were either following him or else he had gone to join General Terry,
    We could not judge very well there, That was only my opinion,
QW What was that based upon?
AX  W'e had heard firing down there and. all the Indians had come back after
    us;  and I thought perhaps  e. had retreated to Gen. Terry and they had
    come back to finish our command,
Q   L Was there any reason to believe that Gen. Custer would leave a part
of
    his command if it was a possible thing for him to get to it?
A, That is hard to siyd   It would depend upon the way he was fixed entirely0
    I can9t state,
Q<. $tate if an attempt was ;rade by Major Reno or by his order, to obtain
any
    informaition on the subject of where Gen. Custer was with his commend
    durinr. the 25th or 26th?
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