Another Mysterious Mancunian

• Gannon, who is described as having blue eyes, brown hair, a light complexion, and 5′ 6 3/4″ tall, joined Company B at Fort Dodge, Kansas on 14 September 1867.  He participated in the Washita Campaign (1868), was promoted to corporal on 1 July 1871 and to sergeant exactly two months later. Having completed his first five-year term he was discharged on 18 June 1872 at Spartanburg, South Carolina, where his company had been on Reconstruction duty. Gannon was re-enlisted by Captain Edwin Sumner [a future commanding officer of the 7th Cavalry], in New York City on 16 July 1872 and was reassigned to his old company, which was still stationed in Spartanburg.  Promotion to sergeant followed as early as 1 November. However, on 5 May 1873 he went absence without leave at Yankton, Dakota Territory, only to be apprehended less than four months later at Louisville, Kentucky. Apparently a reward of $30 was paid for his capture. He pleaded not guilty and on unanimous recommendation of the court, and in consideration of his excellent character, the sentence of four full years was remitted and he was released and restored to duty on 9 February 1874.
• Somewhat surprisingly he was appointed 1st Sergeant of Company B on 16 April 1874, a position he held until reverting to his previous rank on 17 March 1875.  He participated in the Black Hills Expedition the summer of ’74.
• Peter Gannon claimed he was aged 23 and born in Manchester, England, when he was enlisted by Major Jacob D. Jones, 5th Infantry, at Boston, Massachusetts on 18 June 1867.
• To date no record has been found of his date or place of birth, which must remain uncertain. 
• Gannon was on detached service at the Powder River depot at the time of the Battle of Little Big Horn (1876) but took an active part in the Nez Perce Campaign (1877) and was discharged at a “camp near Sentinel Buttes, Montana Territory – a sergeant of good character” on 16 July 1877.  He was at Fort Abraham Lincoln on 12 October 1878 when he was enlisted by [future Brigadier General] 2nd Lt. William John Nicholson, 7th Cavalry, and assigned to Company C, for a third term in his old regiment. Promotion to corporal was made on 2 April 1880 and sergeant on 11 June 1881, only to be reduced to private on 9 March 1882, back to corporal on the 1st of July, and back again to private on 13 June 1883.  Despite his roller-coaster five years Peter Gannon was discharged on 11 October 1883 at Fort Meade – “a private of very good character.”

• DEATH AT FORT ASSINNIBOINE
• Whilst I have long held the view that fact is stranger than fiction, and invariably no less entertaining, I never cease to be amazed at why so many films based on a historical event pay such scant attention to faithfully portray what actually happened – They Died With Their Boots On, being among the best known. Nonetheless, I have reluctantly come to accept that profit is a far greater motivation to a film maker than any desire for factual accuracy. I am much less relaxed, however, when it comes to the written word or a documentary. Ideally, an author of a work of non-fiction should publish as fact only that he/she can personally verify to be so, which is not always the case. Of course, nobody is immune from making a mistake, certainly not this writer, and it is almost inevitable that an odd error or two may slip through even the most stringent checking process but, whenever possible, they should be kept to an acceptable minimum. The cause of death of Sergeant Peter Gannon is a perfect, if unusual, example to illustrate the inherent risk of over reliance on a secondary source.
• On 22 December 1883 he enlisted yet again, this time at Fort Leavenworth by 2nd Lt. James E. Macklin, 11th Infantry, and was assigned to Company A, 20th Infantry and appointed sergeant. He was admitted to the post hospital at Fort Assinniboine, Montana Territory in April 1886 and died there of ‘Localised Chronic Peritonitis, stricturing the traverse colon’ on 12 June 1886.  He was buried the post cemetery the following day. His remains were re-interred at the Custer Battlefield National Cemetery (renamed Custer National Cemetery in 1991), Section B, site 1285.
• Peter Gannon, age 39, a veteran of three enlistments in the 7th U.S. Cavalry (1867-1882),¹ who claimed to have been born in Manchester, England, signed up for a fourth term at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on 22 December 1883. He was assigned to the 20th U.S. Infantry, Company A, and quickly re-gained his sergeant’s stripes.
• John Catney born County Down, [Northern] Ireland, was baptised on 30 September 1863. He embarked on the S.S. Waldensian at Londonderry on 26 March 1882 and arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 7 April. In December 1884 Catney enlisted in the United States Army and was also assigned to the 20th U.S. Infantry. He joined Company I on 27 January 1885 at Fort Leavenworth.
• In May 1885, the regiment was transferred from Fort Leavenworth in the Department of Missouri to Fort Assinniboine,² Montana Territory, in the Department of Dakota. Company A and I both departed Leavenworth on 20 May and travelled by rail to Bismarck, Dakota Territory, where they arrived three days later. Company A boarded the steamer Batchelor, for the long journey up the Missouri River to Fort Assinniboine, while the men of Company I were transported to their new station by the steamer Rosebud, arriving on 30 May.
• On 17 April 1886 Gannon was diagnosed as suffering from “Constipation” and found himself an in-patient in the post hospital. It was there, on 4 June, he was joined by Catney who had been laid low with “Typhoid.” Sadly, Catney succumbed to this deadly infection on 12 June and Gannon, quite unexpectedly, expired later the same day. Initially, the Englishman’s cause of death was recorded as “Inhibition of hearts (sic) action by fear by the death of a comrade” [Private Catney?], although an autopsy determined it was “Chronic peritonitis with the colon constricted by lymph bands at hepatic flexure,” while the entry in his Record of Death and Interment (see below) reads, “Localized Chronic Peritonitis, stricturing the transverse colon.”

• Final Statement of Sergeant Peter Gannon signed by Captain John H. Patterson,* 20th Infantry, Commanding Company ‘A,’ at Fort Assinniboine, 13 June 1886.
• DUE SOLDIER
• For retained pay under act of May 15, 1872 … $29.23
• For clothing not drawn in kind … $55.44
• For deposits with the USA Paymaster September 7, 1875 [$8] & May 15, 1876 [$20] … $28.00
• Proceeds of sale of effects [January 18, 1883 (sic)] … $45.10
• DUE UNITED STATES
• Nil
• Remarks: Entitled to re-enlisted pay.

• Note (*): John Patterson (1823-1920) was “awarded Medal of Honor 23 July 1897 for most distinguished gallantry at the Wilderness Va 7 May 1864 under heavy fire of advancing enemy in picking up and carrying several hundred yards to a place of safety a wounded officer of his regt who was helpless and would otherwise have been burned in the forest while serving as 1 Lt 11 US Inf; retd 6 February 1899.” (Heitman, p. 775).

• Military Register (Williams) condenses the cause of death to three words, “stricture transverse colon,” which is essentially correct, whereas Men With Custer (Hammer) uses the Inventory (see above) of Peter Gannon’s personal effects as its source that wrongly gives “Constipation” as the reason of the sergeant’s demise. Unfortunately, Kenneth Hammer transcribed it as “consumption,” a mistake which is perpetuated in two subsequent editions of Men With Custer (Nichols). Both volumes of Participants (Wagner) add to the confusion by modernising the reason of death to “TB,” another case of too much faith being placed in an ostensibly reliable secondary source.
• Gannon and Catney were buried in the post cemetery the following day. On 27 March 1905, their mortal remains were re interred in the Custer Battlefield National Cemetery³ and lie side by side in Section B, #1285/6 respectively, where identical headstones mark their graves.

• Notes:
•  1. A sergeant in Company on detached service at the Powder River Depot, Montana Territory, from 10 June 1876 and consequently did not participate in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Gannon’s age and place of birth remain uncertain.
• 2. Although named after Assiniboine Tribe of Indians, this military post (built 1879) near Havre, Montana, is spelled with an additional letter ‘n’, i.e., Assinniboine, conceivably to differentiate it from Fort Assiniboine, an old Hudson’s Bay Company’s fur trading post (built 1823) on the north bank of the Athabasca River in present-day northwest Alberta, Canada. All four publications quoted above incorrectly refer to Fort Assiniboine, M.T.
• 3. Custer National Cemetery since 1991.

• Notes:
•  1. A sergeant in Company on detached service at the Powder River Depot, Montana Territory, from 10 June 1876 and consequently did not participate in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Gannon’s age and place of birth remain uncertain.
• 2. Although named after Assiniboine Tribe of Indians, this military post (built 1879) near Havre, Montana, is spelled with an additional letter ‘n’, i.e., Assinniboine, conceivably to differentiate it from Fort Assiniboine, an old Hudson’s Bay Company’s fur trading post (built 1823) on the north bank of the Athabasca River in present-day northwest Alberta, Canada. All four publications quoted above incorrectly refer to Fort Assiniboine, M.T.
• 3. Custer National Cemetery since 1991.