Custer's Sergeant Major

• It is an interesting fact that all five non-commissioned officers on the Headquarters Staff and Band of the 7th United States Cavalry Regiment at the time of the Battle of the Little Big Horn were immigrants from Europe.¹ The most senior in rank was William H. Sharrow, the subject of this paper, who was born in Sheriff Hutton, an ancient village with strong royal connections situated some 12 or so miles northeast of the city of York, England.
• Early Years in Sheriff Hutton
• Sharrow was the only child of William Sharrow, a bread baker and confectioner, from Slingsby, near Malton, and his second wife, Elizabeth Hunter, an innkeeper’s daughter, from South Cave, near Beverley.² He was born on Sunday, 2 March 1845³ and baptised “William Hunter” in the 12th century church of St. Helen and the Holy Cross on the twenty-ninth day of the same month.  Neither civil nor parish registers give a specific place of birth beyond it was in Sheriff Hutton, where he attended school and, in common with countless generations of spirited boys, he almost certainly would have sought adventure in the jagged and brooding ruins of the castle, which in the 15th and 16th centuries was a favorite residence of two of the most charismatic monarchs in English history: Richard III and Henry VIII.

• Family moves to London
• In the 1 December 1860 edition of The York Herald,* under the heading ‘TO BAKERS,’ William Sharrow invited applications to rent his Sheriff Hutton house and bakehouse – with a good business – which included a stable, a small paddock and an orchard; the successful tenant to take possession before the end of the year. Sometime shortly after, the village baker and his family exchanged life in near-idyllic rural Yorkshire for the hustle and bustle of Islington, an inner suburb of London, which lies just two miles north from the centre of the capital. In early April 1861 they they are found residing at 1b Pulteney Terrace when William Sharrow Sr. was employed as a ‘grocer and cheesemonger’ and William Jr. a ‘bounty clerk’ with the Admiralty in the London Docks.⁴  The precise duties of a bounty clerk are somewhat obscure but it would seem that from a relative early age the future cavalryman’s talents lay with the pen rather than the sword.
• *Note: Also in this edition, the All The Year Round magazine, price 2d, owned by Charles Dickens, advertised that his new work Great Expectations would be serialised with effect from 1 December 1860 and continued from week to week until August 1861. No doubt both William Sharrows would have had ‘great expectations’ of their own!
• Enlists in United States Army
• Young Sharrow temporarily disappears from the historical record until he presents himself at a recruiting office in New York City on 21 March 1865, where he was enlisted in the United States Army by Captain Tattnall Paulding, 6th Cavalry,⁵ and assigned to Company C, 2nd Cavalry. The 20 year-old actually increased his age by one year – presumably to meet the minimum requirements to join the army without parental consent – and was described as having blue eyes, light brown hair, a fair complexion, standing 5 feet 7 inches tall, previously employed as a clerk who was born in York, England.⁶ A Local Bounty of $600 was paid, which is a considerable sum for ‘a raw recruit’ particularly when we bear in mind he did not actually join his company at Winchester, Virginia, until April 24: more than two weeks after Lee had surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House and the war was all but over.
• Virtually the whole of Sharrow’s time in the 2nd Cavalry was spent on detached duty or detached service as a clerk; initially with the regimental Quarter Master Department from May 1865 to February 1866. It was during this period he was transferred to Company E. Six months of detached duty followed at Fort Riley, Kansas where, on 1 April 1866, he was promoted to corporal. The remainder of this enlistment was covered by a stint of detached service at the Headquarters of the Department of the Platte in Omaha, Nebraska, from where he was discharged on 21 March 1868 as a “Corporal of Excellent Character.”⁷
• A fugitive from justice
• It is fairly safe to assume that Sharrow remained in Omaha and found civilian employment in the office of Major Robert D. Clarke,⁸ Paymaster there, who 16 months later would be the author of a most extraordinary dispatch. Dated 11 August 1869, and written to Brevet Major General Benjamin W. Brice, Paymaster General in Washington, D.C., it cast a shadow over the Yorkshireman’s previously unblemished reputation.  Clarke wrote:
• “General, I have the honor to nominate as my Clerk from this date, Mr. Henry Hyde, aged 28 years, a permanent resident of Chicago, Ills., but for a few months past of Omaha. 
• William H. Sharrow, my late clerk, abused his position to contract debts upon false pretences, and a few days since absconded in disgrace, a fugitive from justice.“⁹

• Re-enlists in United States Army
• The major’s letter does not state the actual date of Sharrow’s departure or the mode of transport he chose to make his getaway, e.g. stage line, Missouri River steamboat or the newly-opened Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs RR. By whatever route he travelled the former clerk managed to complete the 175-mile journey to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas within a few days as it was there, on 12 August 1869, that he was enlisted as a private in the 7th Cavalry by 2nd Lt. William W. Wood, 21st Infantry.¹⁰ 
• Born “At sea”
• Bearing in mind the adverse content of Major Clarke’s letter, it comes as something of a surprise to find that Sharrow made no attempt to conceal his true identity other than to say he was born “At sea.”¹¹ But what prompted him to make such a bizarre claim? One possible justification could be attributed to the widely-held view that relations between Great Britain and the United States had been at a low point since Grant assumed the presidency in March 1869, owing to Britain’s perceived sympathies with the Confederate States during the Civil War. Sharrow was perhaps mindful of the Oath of Enlistment and Allegiance he was about to solemnly swear – that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States of America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies or opposers whomsoever – and wanted to conceal his English heritage: presumably having lost a distinctive Yorkshire or even a London accent. Pure speculation maybe, but is there a more rational explanation?  He was described as having blue eyes, light hair, a light complexion and standing 5′ 8″ tall.
• Rapid Promotion
• From September 1869 to March 1870 Sharrow was engaged in a general recruiting role at Fort Leavenworth before being transferred to the 7th Cavalry at the same post. Although he was assigned to Company B on 10 March 1870 five days later finds him on detached service as a clerk in the regimental headquarters, which moved to Taylor Barracks, Louisville, Kentucky in March 1871.

• On 2 April 1873 the regimental Headquarters departed from Louisville on board the steamer Richmond for Cairo, Illinois, from where they travelled on the Illinois Central RR to Sioux City, Iowa. They continued their journey to St. Paul, Minnesota, on the Sioux City and St. Paul RR. and arrived there on 11 April.
• A dubious past catches up with him
• Sharrow enjoyed a good position in St. Paul as the only others in HQ there were Sturgis, Lt. William W. Cooke and fellow countryman Lt. Henry J. Nowlan. Shortly after arriving at St. Paul, however, Sharrow would undoubtedly have been dismayed to receive correspondence from an Edward Benjamin,the victim of his fraudulent act at Omaha almost four years before. Benjamin, an African-American, who had been a body servant to General Nathaniel Banks during the Red River Campaign of 1864, sent two letters to Sharrow, dated 8 and 19 May 1873 respectively, “requesting him to make some arrangements to pay this old indebtedness,” both of which were to go unanswered. In desperation, Benjamin sought redress by writing to Brigadier General Edward D. Townsend, Adjutant General U.S. Army.
• Omaha, Nebraska                                                                                         June 16, 1873.
• Sir, You will please excuse the liberty I take in addressing you, knowing no other way to procure an old indebtedness from Sergt. Major William H. Sharrow, 7^th Cavalry, except with your kind assistance.
• On the 1^st of August 1869, the now Sergt. Major Sharrow, then Clerk with Major Clark (sic), Paymaster U.S. Army, borrowed from me the sum of $90, promising to repay the amount on the last day of August 1869, with interest, and handed me as security for the money loaned, the enclosed Vouchers for his pay for the month of August 1869.
• On the 31^st of August 1869¹² the said Sharrow, left the Office of Paymaster Clark (sic), drawing his pay before I could present the enclosed Vouchers for payment, and leaving the town of Omaha, did neglect to pay the amount due me.
• Ever since I have searched for the whereabouts of this man, but could not succeed until lately when I found he was in the 7^th Cavalry in the Department of Dakota ….
• …. Being a colored man and having a large family to support it is rather hard to loose (sic) such an amount.
• General, I would most respectfully pray that some steps may be taken to recover if possible the amount of $90, from Sergt. Major Sharrow, 7^th Cavalry, for me.
• I am willing to accept any amount he can spare from his monthly pay as Sergt. Major which may secure the payment of the sum due me, before his term of enlistment expires, would also be satisfied if Sergt. Major W. H. Sharrow, would transfer to me any amount due him from the U.S. providing it would cover the amount loaned to him in 1869.
• Hoping that the General will be kind enough to take some measure in order to secure my claim. I have the honor to be, General,
•                    Your most obedient servant
•                         Edward Benjamin (signed)¹³
• Benjamin’s letter¹⁴ was received at the Adjutant General’s Office on 19 June 1873 which deemed it had “no jurisdiction in the premises and that he [Benjamin] must look to the civil Courts for relief.” A reply to this effect was sent to Benjamin eight days later. History does not record either the reason for the loan or the outcome of this unsatisfactory state of affairs but it is sincerely hoped that Sharrow did honor his debt and the former body servant was eventually repaid in full, plus interest!
• Sharrow did not take part in the Yellowstone Campaign (1873), the Black Hills Expedition (1874) nor was he on duty with the Northern Boundary Commission Survey escort during either of those years. Throughout this time he remained in St. Paul until his discharge in that city on August 12, 1874. After taking four weeks leave of absence to attend to personal business he was re-enlisted in the same city on 10 September 1874, by Lt. Cooke, and retained the rank of sergeant major.¹⁵  For a second time he stated he was born “At Sea” but on this occasion gave his correct age. He had also grown an inch in height since his first enlistment. His re-assignment to the Non-Commissioned Staff was personally signed by none other than Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer himself, the regiment’s  de facto commanding officer in the absence of Colonel Sturgis who was shortly to take over as Superintendent of the General Mounted Recruiting Service at St. Louis, Missouri.
• Regimental Headquarters moves to Fort Abraham Lincoln
• In compliance with Special Order No. 213, dated 29 September 1874, and issued from the Headquarters of the Department of Dakota at St. Paul, the HQ of the 7th Cavalry was to be relocated at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory. Nine days later Sharrow, along with other members of the Headquarters Staff, duly arrived at the fort where they joined the six companies of the regiment that had been garrisoned there since the previous fall. The next eighteen months appears to have passed without any major incident but all that was to about change on the bluffs above the Little Big Horn River in Montana Territory.
• The Battle of the Little Big Horn
• It is well known that around noon on 25 June 1876, at the divide between the Little Big Horn River and Rosebud Creek, that Custer organised the 7th Cavalry into four battalions (as well as the pack train and its escort), one of which, comprising Companies D, H and K, was under the command of Frederick W. Benteen, the regiment’s senior captain. Benteen was ordered to move to the left to a line of bluffs about two miles away, with additional instructions to “pitch into anything he came across, and notify Custer at once.” Almost immediately he received two further orders from Custer, the first, delivered by Chief Trumpeter Henry Voss, and the second by Sharrow. According to Benteen the order received via Sergeant Major Sharrow, which came 15 to 20 minutes after that of the chief trumpeter, continued in the same vein and said, “If nothing could be seen from the second line of bluffs, then, to go on until he came to a valley, to ‘pitch in,’ and to notify Custer at once.”  Sharrow then returned to re-join the main column.     
• After leaving the divide 2nd Lt. Luther R. Hare, who was with the detachment of Indian Scouts under the command of Lt. Charles A. Varnum, pulled out and rode ahead of the column. He was following orders from Custer to keep a look out and report back should he discover any hostile Indians. However Hare and his scouts were in danger of being caught up by the main column and, at least temporarily, increased their gait but before reaching the Lone Tepee were overtaken by Sharrow who was “in a great rush” to contact Hare as Custer had not heard anything from the young subaltern. This meeting with Hare took place around 1.45 PM and is the last account of Sharrow being seen alive. As every student of the battle knows, neither Custer nor a single one the 209 men under his immediate command survived to tell the tale.
• Second Lieutenant Charles A. Woodruff, 7th Infantry, claimed that Sharrow’s remains were found, lying near an unidentified soldier, farthest north on the battlefield, although the exact spot continues to be a matter of debate. Two markers are situated just north of Last Stand Hill (aka Custer Hill) adjacent to the walking trail for the Indian Memorial, one of which may be for Sharrow. However, others say that his arrow-riddled body was discovered well over a mile away, beyond the Custer Battlefield Trading Post but north of the river,¹⁶ which begs the question: “Was Sharrow carrying a message from Custer to General Terry?”
• The Aftermath
• The news of Custer’s catastrophic defeat was announced in the British press on the morning of 7 July, when The Times carried the story that shocked the whole nation. Although the report included the number killed and wounded their individual names were not published in England. Yet, judging by a short paragraph in both the Northern Echo and York Herald, Friday, 4 August 1876, Sharrow’s claim to have been born at sea had evidently not deceived everyone.  It reads:
• THE LATE MASSACRE OF AMERICAN TROOPS – We understand that a Yorkshireman, and a native of the neighbourhood of Malton, was killed in the dreadful massacre by Sioux Indians, in the Valley of the Big Horn (sic), on 25th June, last. Sergeant-Major W. H. Sharrow, of the 7th United States Cavalry, was the person referred to, and, he was in the devoted band under General Custer’s command. We believe that Sharrow has left some relatives in the neighbourhood of York, who will probably now hear for the first time of his untimely fate.

• A ‘Final Statement’ of William Sharrow’s service affairs was signed by Lt. George D. Wallace, Adjutant of 7th Cavalry, at Fort Abraham Lincoln on 23 September 1876.
• DUE SOLDIER

• For five years’ continuous service under sec. 2, act August 4, 1854 … $2.00 per month
• For retained pay under act of May 15, 1872 … $21.50
• For clothing not drawn in kind … $88.52
• For deposits with the USA Paymaster August 5, 1875 … $13.50
• [No account has been made for basic pay due for the period May 1 to June 25, 1876]
• DUE UNITED STATES
• For tobacco … $1.14¹⁷
• The photograph of Sharrow (below) portrays an intelligent-looking, dapper man who took pride in his appearance, a notion supported by an extensive wardrobe and a small, but impressive, collection of books. Lt. Charles C. De Rudio was appointed recorder of the board of survey which was charged to make an inventory of the property of the men killed. It is assumed that Sharrow’s personal belongings remained unclaimed and were sold along with the effects of other soldiers, which apparently raised in the region of $5,500. However, unlike in the majority of other cases, no figure is annotated on the first page of his Final Statement regarding the value, if any, of any items sold.

• On 8 October 1876 Wallace compiled an inventory of the effects found in Sharrow’s quarters, which is worth listing the articles in full.¹⁸
• 1 Bedstead – 4 Woolen Blankets – 1 Bed Quilt – 4  Linen Bed sheets, –  4  Pillow Slips – 1 Trunk – 1 Rocking Chair – 1 Looking glass –  2 Hair Brushes – 1 Leather Satchel – 1 Wash basin & pitcher – 1  Sponge – 2 Towels – 1 Helmet Complete – 3 prs of Trousers – 1 Blouse lined – 1 Uniform dress coat – 31 Linen Collars – 15 prs berlin Gloves – 15 prs Shirt cuffs – 8 prs of Drawers – 1 white vest – 1 Linen overcoat – 8 white shirts – 2 Citizen Coats – 1 pr of Citizen Trousers – 4  Undershirts – 5 Pocket Handkerchiefs – 2 Sets of Stripes – 1  Gold watch chain – 1 Lamp & Chimney – 1 Oil Can – 1 Lossing’s outline of the U.S. illustrated –  1 Roget’s Thesaurus of English words – 1 Dictionary (in 3 Volumes) of science – 1 Brooks’ – ‘Written Arithmetic’ – 2 Books of fiction (By Harper Bros)

• The Cavalry Monument
• The revelation in the newspapers after the battle that half buried bodies were left strewn across the barren field inevitably caused a public outcry. High-ranking army officers demanded that Congress allocate funds for a cemetery to properly bury the fallen, which led to the Custer Battlefield National Cemetery being established on 1 August 1879 (renamed Custer National Cemetery in 1991). At the same time troopers from Fort Custer erected a cordwood memorial on top of Last Stand Hill and marked the scattered shallow graves with substantial wooden stakes. In 1881, the remains of the enlisted men were re-interred in a mass grave near the base of the impressive, white granite monument we see today.

• Back in Sheriff Hutton
• Sharrow’s parents returned to Sheriff Hutton sometime between 1863 and 1871, the latter being the year in which the Census recorded the couple living at a house in Finkle Street in the village.²⁰ His father, now styled a yeoman, died on 16 September 1875, age 75, in the nearby hamlet of Lilling, leaving his widow as sole executrix to administer his will: his effects being assessed as worth “Under £100. No Leaseholds.” He was buried in the same grave as his first wife, Ann Spofforth, in the grounds of St. Helen’s, the parish church.
• Elizabeth Hunter Sharrow died, age 76, in Sheriff Hutton on 30 December 1883, having outlived her son by more than seven years. Her mortal remains were buried with those of her late husband and his first wife where a much-weathered headstone marks the spot.²¹

• In his keynote presentation on ‘The Importance of Local Distinctiveness,’ at the Castleford Conference 2005, while referring to Sheriff Hutton, conservationist Keith Emerick told the assembled throng: “When an ‘expert’ arrives, local people first show them all their Listed, Scheduled and categorized structures [the church, the castle and an 18th coaching century inn].  When asked what makes the village special to them, however, they show the headstone of William Sharrow, whose son was staff (sic) sergeant to General Custer, and fought and died at the Battle of Little Big Horn. This story and its international connections are as important as the physical object in this case.”²² A fitting tribute to a brave and adventurous Yorkshireman who paid the ultimate price in arguably the most iconic event in the annals of America’s westward expansion.

• Notes & Sources:

• 1. Quartermaster Sergeant Thomas Causby [real surname Woolfitt], England; Saddler Sergeant John G. Tritten, Switzerland; Chief Musician Felix Vinatieri, Italy; Chief Trumpeter Henry Voss, Germany. Voss, killed in action, was the only participant in the battle.
• 2. Married in the parish church, Beverley, Yorkshire, on 4 May 1844. Register of Marriages Index for England & Wales, Apr-Jun 1844, Beverley, Vol. 23, Page 3.
• 3. Register of Births Index for England & Wales, Jan-Mar 1845, Malton (Yorkshire), Vol. 24, Page 399.
• 4. Census of Islington (1861). Mid-Victorian Pulteney Terrace, including number 1b, was demolished many years ago and should not be mistaken for the present-day street of the same name, which was called Alma Grove prior to 1939. The move to London may have been influenced by John Sharrow, the elder son of his first marriage to Ann Spofforth (1791-1840).  A John Sharrow lived in Islington during the early 1860s.
• 5. Tattnall Paulding (1840-1907) was captured on third day of the Battle of Gettysburg and spent at least nine months in Libby Prison. He resigned his commission on 1 July 1866 and later became president of the Delaware Insurance Company, Philadelphia. PA.
• 6. Oath of Enlistment and Allegiance dated 21 March 1865.
• 7. U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments 1798-1914.
• 8. Robert Dunlap Clarke (1816-91), ‘edited’ The Works of Sitting Bull in the original French and Latin with Translations, Diligently Compared (1878) – a hoax perpetuated by Clarke, then an officer on General Crook’s staff. A reprint of the second edition can be found within John M. Carroll’s pamphlet The Sitting Bull Fraud (1978).
• 9. Record Group 99 entry 7. Letter No. 731, Letters Received and Correspondence File, 1799-1912, Office of Paymaster General, U.S. Army.
• 10. William Warner Wood, from Philadelphia, PA, resigned his commission on 1 May 1872 while serving in the 13th Infantry and later twice enlisted in the 8th Infantry under the name William W. Warner.  He died November 27, 1901.  Source: Francis B. Heitman Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army (1903).
• 11. Private Martin McCue, Company K, was actually ‘born at sea’ of Irish parents on board the sailing ship Panola on 8 November 1851, one day out from Liverpool, not Ireland as is universally quoted (U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments 1798-1914). See below.
• 12. Benjamin was clearly mistaken regarding the date of the loan as Sharrow had reenlisted in the army over three weeks before. Surely he meant July 1869?
• 13. Edward Benjamin was born 20 March 1845 in Hampton, VA. Soon after the cessation of hostilities he married Mary, a girl from the same state, and went west to Omaha. The family moved to Cheyenne in the mid-1870s and it was there that Benjamin learned to read and write, become a freemason, and work as a janitor and hotel cook. According to his obituary (Cheyenne Daily Leader, 11 June 1900) he was with Colonel Miles in the Sioux War of 1876 and with the detachment that visited the fateful battlefield after the “Custer massacre.” Also, he was with soldiers from Fort D. A. Russell on 29 September 1879 at the Battle of Milk Creek, Colorado. Edward Benjamin died suddenly from a heart attack at his home in Cheyenne, Wyoming on June 11, 1900 and was buried the following day in Lot 1085, Lakeview Cemetery, Cheyenne, where a fine black marble headstone was erected in his memory. He was survived by his wife and three sons.
• 14. The Federal Census of 1870 states that Benjamin, believed to be a former slave, could neither read nor write which clearly indicates that this letter was written by some other person of good education.
• 15. Oath of Enlistment and Allegiance dated 10 September 1874.
• 16. [Sharrow] Died of gun shot wounds on 25 June 1876 at Battle of Little Big Horn River, M.T. Certified by  William J. Sloan Surgeon U.S.A. & Medical Director, Department of Dakota. (U.S. Register of Deaths in the Regular Army, 1860-89, p. 212).  Sloan was the surgeon responsible for Charles C De Rudio initially being refused a commission when he wrote: ” … in my opinion he [De Rudio] is disqualified from performing the duties of an Officer, on account of retraction of the right testicle, existing from his birth (17 September 1867).   
• 17. Record Group 217 (UD) Paymaster Accounts of Maj. William Smith, Department of Dakota 1876-1877. On the Muster & Pay Roll, N.C.S. & Band, April 30 – June 30, 1876, Voucher No. 72 Paid July 31, 1876, Wm. Smith Paymaster – the following is written in red: “William H. Sharrow Sergt. Maj. $171.91 paid Soldiers Home by Report Sett. No. 4919 Conf. M[ar]ch 6 – 1885,” which confirms the Elizabeth Sharrow never received any money from her deceased son’s estate.
• 18. Record Group 393, Part V. Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, 1821-1920 – Fort Abraham Lincoln, D.T.
• 19. From a carte-de-visite identified by Sergeant Samuel Alcott, Company A, 7th Cavalry, as “Wm. Sharrow. Killed at Custer Massacre” [written on back of photograph]. It was taken at Swain’s Gallery, 130 Third Street, St. Paul, MN, between April 1873 and October 1874. New York-born Allen Swain (1831-1923) served in Company F, 6th Minnesota Infantry from 1862 to 1865.
• 20. Islington Directory, London. Editions 1863 and 1866.
• 21. The barely legible inscription reads: William Sharrow/Of this place/Who died September 16 1875/Aged 75 years/Also Ann his wife/Who died January 7 1840/Aged 49 years/Their end was peace/And of Elizabeth/Second wife of the above/Who died Dec 30 1883/Aged 76 years.
• 22. Based on a piece, under the heading ‘Standing with Custer,’ published in the [York] Evening Press, 28 April 28 2003, which featured a ground-breaking article entitled ‘Custer’s Sergeant Major’ by Peter Russell, first published in the Custer Association of Great Britain’s biannual journal, The Crow’s Nest, Winter/Spring 2003.

• Based on a paper written by Peter Russell and presented by Ronald H. Nichols at The Brian Pohanka 27th Annual Symposium of the Custer Battlefield Historical & Museum Association., Inc. held at Hardin Montana on 21 June 2013.  Reproduced here with kind permission of Jon Custer, President.