Finkel correctly identified Company C's route

By Gary Lentz

Retired Ranger

Lewis and Clark Trail State Park

Special to the Dayton Chronicle

–Continued from Gary Lentz's informative program at the Blue Mountain Heritage Society's fundraiser in February, as started in the March 12 edition and continued in March 19's Chronicle..

Frank Finkel said Custer immediately went down Medicine Tail Coulee to the Little Bighorn River...where Custer saw first-hand how long this camp was.

Custer decided to go back up the coulee and cross over a bit of high ground called Nye-Cartwright Ridge. When the troopers got up to Nye-Cartwright Ridge, Custer decided to fire some volleys to get ahold of Reno and Benteen, to see if he could draw them up into his fight.

Lentz showed the map of the Little Bighorn River and Medicine Tail Coulee, tracing Custer's route down, and back up, across Nye-Cartwright Ridge to Last Stand Hill.

What Finkel says, is as he went back up this Nye-Cartwright Ridge, and got up onto the top. He said that the commanders of the two companies asked them to fire volleys, and they would fire volleys into the air. Hopefully the volleys would be loud enough to get Reno to come to their aid. Unfortunately, Reno had his own trials and couldn't come to their aid.

But Finkel said they fired the volleys! And wouldn't that mean that there would be some ammunition-empty cartridge cases in that area? Most likely, yes.

Finkel said General Custer pressed on to the west. He sent Company C and E down towards the village, to see if that was the end of it, and as they got down into that particular part of the valley, Company E was dismounted, and started to engage the enemy, and they were quickly surrounded, and killed.

Up until more recently, nobody knew for sure what had happened to that E Company, that grey-horse company. Where'd they go? They were scattered all over the battlefield and we didn't know exactly where they were.

But Finkel told us what happened there. He said Company C was still mounted but was attacked on its left flank and retreated up the hill towards General Custer.

Custer was on top of the hill with three other companies, and they decided that was the safest place to go. They retreated back up the hill.

Finkel says it was about this time he was raising his carbine to shoot at an Indian when a bullet struck the stock and a splinter hit him in the forehead.

Finkel said he tried to wipe the blood from his eyes when another bullet hit him in the side. He reined in his horse, but the rein broke. Government issue probably, Lentz quipped.

Another bullet hit his foot and Finkel's horse bolted. All he could do was hang on. The horse took off and Finkel had no idea which direction or what awaited him. He also had no idea what the situation behind him.

The question is: Did he go north or south?

He says in one of his statements that he went south, and later on he says he went north. We're a little bit confused on that.

If your face is covered in blood and you're wounded in three spots, and you've got Indians whooping and hollering and chasing you, you might get a little confused.

He didn't know which way he went. He grabbed on to the horse and the horse took him whatever direction he was going. He had not much choice in the matter.

-To be continued