Charles Windolph, a private in Company L of the Seventh Cavalry Regiment, was one of the few survivors of the Battle of Little Bighorn, and his detailed account of the fight on June 25, 1876, has become one of the most significant firsthand records of the disaster. A German immigrant who enlisted in the U. S. Army in 1872, Windolph received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle.
Around noon on that Sunday, the regiment crossed the divide between the Rosebud and the Little Bighorn rivers, moving in a column of march with troopers riding four abreast. The command came to an abrupt halt, and Lieutenant Cook directed Captain Ben Tine to take his company, along with Company D under Captain Weir and Company K under Lieutenant Godfrey, to scout the hills and confront any hostiles they might encounter. General Custer retained companies C and L, while Major Reno commanded three more companies accompanied by most of the Indian scouts. The Seventh Cavalry, numbering about 600 men, was split into detachments pursuing Indian forces across difficult terrain.
The troops knew a significant force of hostiles lay 12 to 15 miles to the west, but the exact number was unclear. Indian scouts estimated several thousand warriors, while Custer and most of his officers anticipated facing between 1,000 and 2,000, likely poorly armed. They expected a rear-guard action that would let the Indians escape. Instead, they confronted a force that potentially doubled such estimates, outnumbering Custer’s 600 men by a ratio of about five to one.
Custer had intended a surprise dawn attack on June 26, but he opted to strike immediately once hostile scouts detected his column. Ben Tine led three troops ahead to reconnoiter, navigating rough terrain that posed serious challenges for the horses. From each successive hilltop, Lieutenant Gibson signaled that he saw no signs of Indians, and even troopers in the ranks believed the mission was pointless. After two hours, the detachment retraced its steps onto Custer’s trail and proceeded west along a minor stream, where pack mules became mired in a swamp, slowing the entire train.
As the column moved on, distant gunfire was heard ahead. Captain Weir led his company with Ben Tine in front. Shortly after leaving the swamp, the men passed a burning tepee, likely ignited by their Indian scouts, and the horses grew restless. Sergeant Knipe of Troop C arrived with orders for Captain McDougall to hurry the pack mules forward.
Then trumpeter Martini appeared, wounded, delivering a message from Custer to bring the pack train quickly. Martini, a spirited Italian who had served as a drummer boy with Garibaldi in the struggle for Italian independence, was well known to the men of H Troop. His horse was bleeding heavily from a bullet wound in its right hip, though Martini seemed unaware. Tine ordered him to rejoin his company.
The sound of intense gunfire grew louder, and soon the column came upon Crow and Ree scouts driving a few Indian ponies. They shouted “Soldiers! ” and gestured toward the bluffs to the north. Tine ordered the men to draw their pistols, and they charged up the bluffs at a gallop, expecting an immediate confrontation.
When they reached the crest of the first hills, the river valley suddenly opened before them. Below, perhaps 150 feet down in the valley and about half a mile away, figures on horseback were racing wildly, with gunfire echoing in every direction. Further down the river, large groups of mounted men were visible, presumably Native Americans. The troopers also spotted mounted and dismounted soldiers on a hill to the north and rode swiftly toward them.
Windolph, riding with Tine’s command, did not witness the first hours of the fighting involving Reno’s battalion. He recounted those events from the accounts of other survivors. When the two battalions descended into the dry creek bottom, they sometimes came within 50 yards of each other, at other times as far as 200 yards apart, both columns trotting westward toward the Little Bighorn. Around 2:00 p.
m. , they encountered a burning tepee containing the body of an Indian warrior killed a week earlier in General Crook’s fight with the Indians, less than 20 miles away. A white scout called back to Custer that hostiles were close but out of rifle range. Custer gestured for Major Reno to cross the creek, and Adjutant Cook ordered Reno to advance on the Little Bighorn two miles further west, then charge the Indian village to the right, with the understanding that the entire force would offer support.
That final instruction became a lasting point of controversy. Reno led his contingent of about 120 men with a few guides and scouts at a brisk pace, fording the Little Bighorn and halting only to water the horses and reorganize on the western bank. The valley there was relatively flat, roughly half a mile to a mile wide, leading to a low plateau in the west. On the opposite bank, the Wolf Mountains rose steeply, with coulees descending to the river bottom.
The river measured roughly 100 to 150 feet across, clear and cold over a gravelly bed. For nearly three miles along the western bank, Indian camps were arranged, with each of the five Sioux tribes, along with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, occupying distinct circles spaced about a quarter of a mile apart. West of the village, extensive pony herds grazed under the watch of Indian boys and women. Estimates put the camp at around 10,000 Indians, roughly one-third of all Sioux tribesmen, including between 2,000 and 3,000 warriors.
Windolph addressed a common misconception about the hostiles’ weaponry. Not all warriors were armed with modern repeating Winchester rifles with sufficient ammunition. In his assessment, half of the warriors carried only bows, arrows, and lances. Half of the remainder used old muzzle-loaders, single-shot rifles, and miscellaneous firearms.
Only about 25 to 30 percent had modern repeating rifles. Young Indian males aged 14 and older accompanied the warriors and took an active part in the battle, especially in its later stages. The soldiers carried single-shot Springfield carbines, celebrated for accuracy and lethality up to 600 yards. But when fired rapidly, the breeches fouled, and greasy cartridges frequently jammed, making extraction impossible.
Troopers often had to use hunting knives to pry out spent shells, and Windolph believed this malfunction contributed to many deaths that day. Each soldier also carried a six-shot single-action Colt Army revolver. The troops were instructed to carry 100 rounds of rifle ammunition and 24 rounds of revolver ammunition, either on their persons or in saddlebags. When the troopers dismounted and every fourth man held the horses, many horses stampeded, costing thousands of rounds of essential ammunition, especially for Custer’s men.
After Reno’s battalion crossed the river, the men formed columns of fours with the Indian scouts on their left. Soon Indian horsemen were seen riding frantically across the valley, and the southern end of the Indian camps came into view. Reno deployed his three troops and the scouts in a skirmish line spanning the width of the narrow valley. Troop M was stationed on the right, A in the center, and G on the left, with scouts to the left front.
Reno dismounted his men, spacing them about 75 yards apart, and advanced half a mile toward the camp before encountering a large number of mounted Indians who charged them. For ten minutes, Reno’s men held their position under steady fire, but they were soon surrounded by hundreds of mounted Indians, many armed with repeating rifles. Recognizing the danger of encirclement, Reno ordered a retreat, organizing his men and withdrawing about 300 yards. Thousands of mounted Indians surged toward them again.
Reno formed another skirmish line and dismounted his men once more, holding for another ten minutes, but the Indians closed in from all directions, firing at close range and inflicting heavy casualties. Fearing total encirclement, Reno ordered his men to fall back to a grove of cottonwoods half a mile to the rear. In the chaos, many troopers became separated from their units. Horses panicked, and men fled in wild disorder.
The heaviest casualties occurred at that point, with troopers shot from their mounts, killed instantly, or brutally cut down and scalped. The survivors crossed the river in confusion and climbed a steep hill on the east bank, closely pursued by hundreds of mounted Indians. Approximately 15 to 20 soldiers died in the river and along its bank. Once Reno’s men reached the summit, the Indians withdrew.
Around 2:30 p. m. , Captain Weir arrived with his company, closely followed by Tine’s troops. Although Reno’s forces were in disarray, the reinforcements brought some order.
Tine quickly assessed the situation and directed his men into defensive positions. Not long after, Captain McDougall’s troop and the pack train arrived with desperately needed ammunition and supplies. The combined force entrenched on the hill, preparing for a desperate defense. Custer, meanwhile, had moved down the river with five troops, attempting to flank the Indian village.
As they rode north along the bluffs, they encountered the main body of the hostiles. At the northern end of the valley, near what is now the Custer National Cemetery, the full extent of the Indian forces became clear. Custer’s troops were quickly overwhelmed. Despite their courage, they were surrounded and cut down, fighting to the last man.
As night fell, the men on the hill with Reno and Tine could hear the distant sounds of combat and understood the grim fate that had likely befallen their comrades. The night passed in tense anticipation, with sporadic skirmishes as the Indians probed the defenses. By dawn, the Indians began to withdraw, having secured a decisive victory. The remnants of Reno’s and Tine’s battalions were eventually rescued by General Terry’s column, which arrived two days later.
Windolph’s account remains a vivid and comprehensive record of one of the most famous battles of the Great Sioux War of 1876, offering an enduring look at the harsh realities of frontier warfare and the courage of the men who survived to tell the story.