Algernon E. Smith At Fort Fisher and Custer's Last Stand-- Part 3

Algernon Smith participated in seven campaigns against the Indians including the Yellowstone Campaign in 1873 and then he was made assistant quartermaster and was in the 1874 Black Hills Expedition.

He was first lieutenant of Company A of the 7th U.S. cavalry, but assigned to the command of Company E, whose commander was at Fort Leavenworth.  It was this reason why he was with Custer's group at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and was killed.

His body was found full of arrows and not among the men of his company, but instead was found with Custer in the small knot of dead troops on "Last Stand Hill."

He was given a hasty burial on the battlefield and later re-interred in 1877 at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in Kansas.

His widow survived until 1903.

From Fort Fisher to the Last Stand.  --Old B-R'er

Algernon E. Smith, 117th New York At Fort Fisher and Custer's Last Stand-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

September 17, 1842 - June 25, 1876

Officer in the U.S. 7th cavalry killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana Territory June 25, 1876.

Born in New York.  In June 1862, he enlisted in Company K of the 7th U.S. Infantry and was made a lieutenant in the 117th New York Infantry where he served until October 1863.

At that time he was assigned to Major General Alfred Terry as aide-de-camp.  He was severely wounded at the Battle of  Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865.  Later brevetted to major for his actions during the war.

--Old B-R'er

Oneida County's 117th New York Infantry-- Part 6: One Member Died With Custer

After their discharge in 1865, most of the men returned to Oneida County and to their former jobs.

Some remained in the military.  Captain Algernon Smith died at Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Colonel Alvin White went on to become superintendent of the Faxton Hospital in Utica.  Colonel Rufus Daggett became the Utica postmaster.

Surviving members of the 117th met regularly in the area until the 1920s, by which point few were still alive.

--Old B-Runner