By Gary & Joy Gilbert
Webmaster's Note:
Gary & Joy Gilbert are members of the Friends of the Little
Bighorn Battlefield. They provide countless volunteer hours to the
National Park Service not only at LBH but at Ft. Bowie as well. The
Friends’ organization gives a big thank-you to Gary, Joy, and Chief
Historian John Doerner for their
hard work.
In January 2002 Neil Mangum,
Supt. of LBH, invited us as volunteers to work at the Little Bighorn
Battlefield National Monument. We worked on the Touch Screen Project
for the Visitors Center under John Doerner, Chief Historian in the
White Swan Memorial Library. The Touch Screen Project includes the
registry for the Custer National Cemetery, the 7th U.S. Cavalry in
1876, Indian warriors at the Little Bighorn, a description of Forts in
the area, weapons used in the battle, and other military units in the
Sioux War of 1876.
We returned in September 2003 to finalize and ready the data for
submission to the touch screen vendor. The 7th Cavalry data, the
rosters of the other military units in the 1876 campaign were brought
up to date. Our biggest task was to refine the list of the Indian
warriors at the Little Bighorn Battle. We knew there were errors,
duplications, and missed warriors. The work already completed would be
our guide, but we would start from scratch and check, revise, and add
to the data.
Researching the warrior names was difficult, interesting, and
confusing. We found some Indians with more than one name – and then
often cited as two different warriors. The Indian name and an AKA
became necessary to keep from duplication. Some errors were made in
the past and unfortunately would be repeated, which we especially
tried to avoid.
In July 2007, a Minnikojou Lakota, living at Eagle Butte SD recognized
some of his ancestors on the warrior list on the Friends website and
asked for a copy of the reference. We sent him the reference which was
the R.C. Craige letter listing warriors living at Cheyenne River Sioux
Agency in 1926 who fought in the LBH battle. This led to a great
exchange of information and a lasting friendship. My Lakota friend
showed the Craige letter to other Lakota who have contacted us with
information on Lakota at the battle.
We are grateful for the amazing knowledge John Doerner shared with us
when we were stumped. John is constantly finding more warriors,
warrior information, and making decisions whether to add or delete a
warrior. Also the well-stocked library at the White Swan Memorial
Library provided us nearly all the reference material.
We now continue to research
from home in finding names of Indians at LBH. People with questions or
information about the warriors contact Bob Reece through the website.
Bob directs them to us when it seems we are on the same path in
learning who was at the battle. We also come across leads in books and
articles and from other researchers. This opens up more research for
us, and our warrior list has increased these past years. We added
another list called “Non-Combatants”, due to finding names of Indians
who were at the Indian camp during the battle but who were not
participants.
We have had great people to work with and feel good about providing a
service. Living and working at the battlefield was wonderful. Even now
when we are at the Battlefield, we often look over our shoulders,
feeling the “ghosts” of the battlefield. We wish they would tell us
their names.
Updated
April 2011
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VIPs (Volunteer in the Parks) Gary & Joy Gilbert reviewing and entering data.
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Gary & Joy – husband and wife team providing countless volunteer hours to the National Park Service
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