He Pawned Three Springfield Carbines in Bismarck

• Not yet fully researched.
• On his enlistment on 20 October 1875, by Lt. Patrick Cusack, 9th Cavalry, at Cincinnati, Ohio,  Andrew Carter claimed to be 24 year-old labourer, born in Lincoln, England.  He joined the 7th Cavalry on 14 April 1876 at Fort Abraham Lincoln and assigned to the band two weeks later, presumably because he could play an instrument.  Along with the rest of the regimental band he was left behind at the Powder River Depot on 14 June 1876 and consequently did not take part in the Battle of the Little Big Horn.  He was among those who set off on 6 August for Fort Lincoln aboard the steamer Josephine.
• Carter’s career with the Seventh was a short one. In December 1876 he was in confinement for having stolen three Springfield carbines from the band’s quarters and pawned them in Bismarck. He was dishonourably discharged at Fort Lincoln on 27  January 1877 and sentenced by general court martial to two years confinement with hard labour, which he was never to serve, as he escaped from the post guardhouse nine days later.
• His fate remains unknown to this writer.
• Geoff Topliss adds:
• On 1 December 1879, an Andrew Carter, aged 26, a painter born in Peterborough, England, enlisted at San Francisco. The 7th Cavalry Carter was 5’ 6 1/4″ tall, had brown hair, brown eyes and a ruddy complexion, whereas the man who enlisted at San Francisco was 5’ 7 1/2″ tall, had brown hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion. He deserted on 1 January 1880 and was apprehended two days later, but deserted a second time on 3 July the same year.