Author Archives: Sam Russell

About Sam Russell

I am a fifth-generation retired Army officer with twenty-nine years of commissioned service. I have been researching the frontier Army for over eighteen years and am interested in documenting the lives of the soldiers that participated in the battle of Wounded Knee using primarily official reports, diaries, letters, newspaper articles and other primary source documents. My interest in Wounded Knee stems from my kinship to one of the principal participants. I am the great-great-grandson of Samuel M. Whitside, who was a major and battalion commander at the battle. I welcome and encourage comments on posts and pages and am always interested in any new primary sources. If you have copies of letters, diaries, etc, from participants and are willing to share, please contact me. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are strictly my own, and should in no way be construed as official Army or U.S. Government positons.

Private James E. Kelly, I Troop, 7th Cavalry—Dying Words


It is sure death to go down here. For most of the enlisted soldiers killed or mortally wounded in the fighting along the creeks of Wounded Knee and White Clay the only recognition they received was their misspelled names in … Continue reading

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First Sergeant Dora Sherman Coffey, B Troop, 7th Cavalry – Killed in Action


It was bitterly cold.  The warriors’ blankets covered them completely, exposing only their eyes.  My first sergeant and I, with a few men, started the search of the line. —Captain Charles A. Varnum Dora S. Coffey, the young twenty-four-year-old first … Continue reading

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Investigation of the White Horse Creek Tragedy


I then called to the captain that it was squaws, and he replied “Don’t kill the squaws.” I said – it is too late, I am afraid they are already killed. –First Sergeant Herman Gunther Three weeks after Wounded Knee an … Continue reading

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