A “Custer Avenger”

• THE EARLY YEARS
• 21 November 1848 – SAMUEL ROBERT STURLA, born Cross Street, Chatham, Kent (long since demolished), next door but one east of the Smith’s Arms public house, eldest child of Samuel Robert Sturla, a baker, and Sarah Jane (née) Blackman.  His parents married the previous year.
• 17 January 1849 – Baptised in the parish church of St Mary’s where Charles Dickens worshipped and is reputed to have taken more than a dozen names for his novels from its gravestones.  The building we see today was substantially extended in the late 1880s and closed in 1974.

• 30 March 1851 – Census, a public house (name not recorded) in Church Street, Gillingham, Kent. Samuel Sturla, age 2, staying with maternal grandparents, Thomas Blackman, 57, a licensed victualler, and Mary (née) Brown, 59.
• 7 April 1861 – Census, Cross Street, Chatham. Age 12, living with his parents, six siblings and Elizabeth Rivett, 20, born Vandemon’s Land (sic) [Tasmania], Australia, a house servant.
• 2 April 1871 – Census, 13 Low Ousegate, York, next door to the Coach and Horses public house. Age 25 (sic), an assistant pawnbroker.
• CROSSES THE ATLANTIC
• 27 March 1872 – Embarks as a steerage passenger, age given as 25, a labourer, on the SS Moravian, which sailed from Liverpool and arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, via Halifax, Nova Scotia, Portland, Maine, and Norfolk, Virginia, on 30 April 1872.
• 18 September 1873 – Obtains a license (sic) from Probate Judge Daniel Rose Tilden (1804-1890), Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to marry Elizabeth Cozens, though the date of a ceremony is not recorded.
• 21 January 1874 ­- A son, Archibald, arrives prematurely in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The fate of Archibald and Elizabeth Cosens (sic) remains a mystery.

• ENLISTS IN THE US ARMY
• 4 September 1876 – Enlisted as a private by Lt Gilbert E. Overton, 6th Cavalry, in the United States Army, Detroit, Michigan. Described as age 25 (sic), a salesman, having brown eyes, brown hair, fair complexion, and being 5’ 6¼” tall. Gave ‘London’ as his place of birth.
• 28 September 1876 – Joins Company F, known as the “Band Box Company” (for its smart appearance) 7th US Calvary, at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota, Territory, under command of newly promoted Captain James Montgomery Bell.  Became a “Custer Avenger,” the name given to men assigned to the 7th Cavalry following the defeat of Lt Col George Armstrong Custer by an overwhelming force of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians under the leadership of Sitting Bull at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Montana Territory, 25-26 June 1876. Sturla was Company F’s clerk from December 1876 until August 1881, as is clearly identified by his very distinctive handwriting.
• 1876-1877 – At Fort Abercrombie, Dakota Territory during the infamous scandal of Major Marcus A. Reno’s behaviour towards Mrs Emily Hones Bell, wife of Captain James Bell.  Emily Mary Hones was born 12 March 1851, in London’s fashionable King’s Road, Chelsea.
• 13 September 1877 – With Company F in Battle of Canyon Creek, Montana Territory, against Chief Joseph’s Nez Percé Indians. Survives unscathed.
• 19 June 1880 – Census, Billings County, Dakota Territory. With Company F in the field guarding the Northern Pacific Railroad extension. Name listed as “Daniel R. Starla” and marital status as “Single”. Perhaps he and Elizabeth Cozens never formally tied the knot?  See 18 September 1873.
• 3 September 1881 – Discharged at Camp Biddle, Montana Territory, a private of excellent character. Camp Biddle, little more than a cluster of tents, was established by Company F to guard the Northern Pacific Railroad extension, on the north bank of the Yellowstone River opposite the mouth of Glendive Creek. Named after 2nd Lt Jonathan W. Biddle, Company K, 7th Cavalry, killed in action 30 August 1877 at Snake River, Montana Territory, against Nez Percé Indians.

• 19 June 1880 – Census, Billings County, Dakota Territory. With Company F in the field guarding the Northern Pacific Railroad extension. Name listed as “Daniel R. Starla” and marital status as “Single”. Perhaps he and Elizabeth Cozens never formally tied the knot?  See 18 September 1873.
• 3 September 1881 – Discharged at Camp Biddle, Montana Territory, a private of excellent character. Camp Biddle, little more than a cluster of tents, was established by Company F to guard the Northern Pacific Railroad extension, on the north bank of the Yellowstone River opposite the mouth of Glendive Creek. Named after 2nd Lt Jonathan W. Biddle, Company K, 7th Cavalry, killed in action 30 August 1877 at Snake River, Montana Territory, against Nez Percé Indians.

•  A CANADIAN “MOUNTIE”¹
• 22 June 1883 – Swears an Oath of Allegiance to Queen Victoria as lawful Sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and an Oath of Office of the North-West Mounted Police Force of Canada (NWMP), in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Described as age 31, blue eyes; brown hair, fair complexion, 5’10” [in boots], weighing 160lbs, smallpox scar on cheek.  He was posted to “C” Division stationed in Battleford, Saskatchewan. The force had been established ten years earlier to maintain order in the Canadian West. It assisted in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the relocation of indigenous peoples living along the route and enforcing unpopular prohibition laws to the white community.

• 5 October 1883 – Caught while intending to desert from NWMP while at Fort Garry. Punishment: 9 months imprisonment with hard labour. It would appear that Sturla had serious second thoughts about spending another five years in uniform!
• 7 May 1884 – Using abusive and improper language to Con[stable] Ryan while undergoing imprisonment. 14 days added to his sentence.
• 20 September 1884 – Absent from cloak (?) inspection.  Admonished.
• 13 January 1885 – Assistant Surgeon Augustus Jakes, Regina, reported Sturla, though physically strong, is temporarily suffering from depression, which “May probably have been caused by some act of his work.”  Battleford played a central role in Métis Louis Riel’s Northwest Rebellion later in the year (23 March – 3 June) and it is most likely that Sturla was actively involved in quelling this uprising.
• 3 October 1887 – Charged for driving his team at a rate faster than a walk contrary to orders. Fined $2.
• 21 June 1888 – Discharged at Battleford.. Conduct during service – “Indifferent.”  Intended place of residence, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
• 21 October 1888 – Marries Agatha Love (a widow?), daughter of William Moran and Catharine (née) O’Conner, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  The fate of Agatha is not known.
• 1889 – Chicago Directory – Living in 4329 South Halstead Street, employed in a laundry.

• RETURNS TO ENGLAND
•  1897 – His father, also Samuel Robert Sturla, dies age 76, Newington, near Sittingbourne, Kent, where he had set up in business as a baker and shopkeeper. Was this the reason for Sturla to return home?
• December 1900 – Samuel Robert Blackman Sturla, 39 (actual age 52!), widower, newsagent, 11 Upper Street, Islington, North London, marries Elizabeth “Eliza” Jane Bothamley, (née) Greenhill 36, widow (of James William Bothamley, died 1895), 7 Upper Street, Islington, daughter of Harry Greenhill (Dec’d), butcher.
• 31 March 1901 – Census, Mortimer Road, Canonbury, London N1.  Listed as James (sic) R. B. Sturla., 39, omnibus conductor and his wife, Eliza, 37, mantle maker (cloth).
• 1908 – Electoral Register lists him in Clift Street, Hoxton, renting a house which he shared with Frederick Gibbs.
• 1910 – Electoral Register lists him in 92 New North Road, Hoxton, renting an unfurnished back room on the first floor of a house which, again, he shared with Frederick Gibbs.
• 2 April 1911 – Census, 20 Aylesbury Street, Clerkenwell, London. Sharing a house with his wife, Eliza, 50, Robert Webb, 48, plumber, Webb’s wife and five children (one of whom, Robert, 20, was born in Detroit, USA). Sturla, 58, is described as a carter for a construction company, though currently “out of work.”  His clearly identifiable signature appears on this document.
• 1914 – Electoral Register lists him in 8 Camden Street, Islington, renting a room on the first floor from Mr Fraulo, the resident landlord.

•  THE FINAL CHAPTER
•  25 April 1916 – At a recorded age of 63 (actually 67), admitted to Highgate Hill Infirmary by a Dr Hutchings from 2 St Peter’s Street, Islington, suffering from an “unknown illness.”
• 15 August 1916 – Transferred from Highgate Hill Infirmary to Luke Ward, St John’s Road Workhouse, Islington.
• 1917- His mother, Sarah Jane Sturla, ((née) Blackman, died age 87, Newington, Kent, c. February.
• 23 March 1917 – Dies at a recorded age of 67 (actually 68) of Morbis Cordis Mitral (heart disease) in St John’s Road Workhouse and was “buried by friends.” Who could have guessed that this terminally- ill patient, who died in poverty, had witnessed at first-hand the “taming of the Wild West” on both sides of the American border, the Nez Percé War, the surrender of the legendary Sitting Bull and the crushing of the Northwest Rebellion?  A sad end to a truly incredible story.
• Samuel Robert Sturla’s final resting place and the fate of his wife, Eliza, remain unknown to this writer.
•  Note 1. Strictly speaking the term “Mountie” applies a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which was not formed until 1 February 1920.