Item #65213 SPECIAL ORDERS No. 255. HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 25, 1878. E. D. Townsend, Adjutant General.

SPECIAL ORDERS No. 255. HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 25, 1878.

[Washington, DC: 1878]. Broadside, 25 x 19 cm. Comprising six numbered directives, signed in type by E.D. Townsend, Adjutant General, and in manuscript [red pencil?] "Lt. Bradley," Assistant Adjutant General (?). Some age toning, a few shallow nicks at left margin, else very good. Not found on OCLC.
The second directive concerns the investigations surrounding the Little Big Horn and the loss of Gen. George Armstrong Custer and his command in June 1876. it reads: "By direction of the President, and on the application of Major Marcus A. Reno, 7th Cavalry, a Court of Inquiry is hereby appointed to assemble at Chicago, Illinois, on Monday, the 13th day of January, 1879, or as soon thereafter as practicable, for the purpose of inquiring into Major Reno's conduct at the battle of the Little Big Horn River, on the 25th and 26th of June, 1876." A list of members for the court follows, including Col. John H. King, 9th Infantry; Col. Wesley Merritt, 5th Cavalry; Lt. Col. W.B. Royall, 3d Cavalry; and 1st Lt. Jesse M. Lee, Adjutant, 9th Infantry (recorder of the court).
Edward Davis Townsend (1817-1893) was Adjutant General of the United States Army from 1869-1880. Lt. Bradley, who signed this copy, may be Thomas H. Bradley, 1st Lieutenant, 21st Infantry, on duty at the War Dept. in Washington, D.C. in 1877-78, according to House of Representatives Ex. Doc. No. 55, "Distribution of United States Troops, Letter from the Secretary of War.... [Wash., DC: 1878]. Item #65213

Major Marcus Reno (1834-1889) was Gen. Custer's senior officer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Custer's fateful decision to divide his command, sending Reno south of the Sioux Indian village while he reconnoitered to the north, contributed to the disaster which cost Custer his life. Still, post-battle reports from various sources put much of the responsibility on Major Reno. After an initial bloody encounter with Native American warriors, he retreated to a defensive position on a hill and did not go to Custer's defense. For much of the rest of his somewhat checkered military career, he was accused of cowardice for this inaction, and in 1878 he requested this court of inquiry to put the matter to rest. At the culmination of the inquiry, Col. John King concluded that "[t]he defense of the position on the hill was a heroic one against fearful odds. The conduct of the officers throughout was excellent and while subordinations in some instances did more for the safety of the command by brilliant displays of courage than did Major Reno there was nothing in his conduct which requires animadversion from this court." Judge Advocate General W.M. Dunn added his opinion: "The suspicion or accusation that Gen. Custer owed his death and the destruction of his command to the failure of Major Reno, through incompetency or cowardice, to go to his relief, is considered as set at rest by the testimony taken before the present Court." [see. Col. W.A. Graham's "The Official Record of a Court of Inquiry convened at Chicago, Illinois, January 13, 1879....," (Pacific Palisades, CA: 1951), pp. 555-6]. For Reno, the matter continued to follow him. In 1880, he was court-martialed for public drunkenness and dismissed from the Army. He died nine years later in Washington, DC, where he had spent the intervening years trying to restore his reputation and military rank.

Price: $1,750.00