After seeing the DOW today, I am posting this just to let my friends and family know that I haven't jumped out a window..... yet.

I will be updating the bios on my 7th Cavalry website as new information becomes available. I get email from other "buffs" and even some direct descendants of 7th Cavalry troopers. I am always on the lookout for more information.

Also, there is a movement in progress to get a grave marker for Abram Brant. Brant earned a Medal of Honor for his actions at Little Big Horn. The sad part was that Brant died of an accidental gunshot wound the night before he was to receive his medal. The location of his grave has been lost to history. Brant has a rather famous relative, author John Saul, who would like to see his relative remembered with a headstone. If you would like more information on plans to get a headstone for Abram Brant, please email me.

Have a great weekend.

Does anyone else remember when the History Channel actually had shows on about history?

Don't get me wrong. I think THE UNIVERSE is a pretty cool show, but it doesn't belong on the History Channel. ICE ROAD TRUCKERS, AX MEN, and UFO HUNTERS are likewise all fine shows, but not for the History Channel.

I'm not naive. It's all about money. They have to snag the viewers with a show about Bigfoot then hope they don't turn the channel when the program comes on about the Kennedy assassination.

It's sad really.

After reading four consecutive books about Custer, I decided a break was in order. I picked up a copy of Estelline Bennett's OLD DEADWOOD DAYS. Usually books on Deadwood focus on the big two, Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. This is only fair as their names are the most recognizable and that's what people want. Bennett's book is different. Of course Hickok and Jane are mentioned but they are not the main story. This book is about the real people of Deadwood. Bennett's father was a judge so right there you know there will be some interesting stories.

I tend to read non-fiction about 98% of the time. Why would you want to read a fictionalized story when history is much more interesting?

In addition to their weekday hours, the South Dakota State Archives are open the first Saturday of the month. I got up this morning and decided to head over there to see if I could find any obituary information on Daniel Newell of the 7th Cavalry. I had no problem locating the newspaper obituary for Newell as he died relatively "recent" in 1933. I will work on getting the obit transcribed and posted on my website.

While hunting through some older papers (1878), looking for a reference to the shooting of Abram Brant, I ran across the following story on Sitting Bull...

From the Black Hills Daily Times, October 5, 1878

Sitting Bull Fatally Wounded

A few days ago one of the leading chiefs on Sitting bull's camp came into one of the forts on the Upper Missouri river, badly wounded, and said he had received his injuries in a personal rencontre with Sitting Bull. This fact was published in the Pioneer-Press, and now the news comes from Poplar river, Montana, under date of 29th ult., that old Sit was fatally wounded in the affray. The correspondent at that point says: "A Teton buck arrived in camp last night and reports Sitting Bull badly wounded, probably fatally, in a quarrel with some other Indians. It has been known for some time that bad feelings existed between several chiefs and Sitting Bull."

Sitting Bull actually lived another 12 years, dying in December of 1890. The more I read these newspapers in the Archives, the more I'm convinced that they were the TMZ.com of their times. Just as must hearsay and rumor as fact.