About Sam Russell
I am a fifth-generation retired Army officer with three decades 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.
…when the Indians opened fire it was regardless of the consequences to their women and children and to the inevitable destruction of them. Such Was the testimony on January 7, 1891, of the grizzled fifty-two-year-old commander of A Troop, 7th … Continue reading →
Posted in Officers, Wounded Knee Investigation
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Tagged 7th Cavalry, 7th Cavalry Regiment (United States), Big Foot, Cavalry, Fort Riley, Lakota, Medal of Honor, Miniconjou, Myles Moylan, Nelson A. Miles, Oglala Lakota, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Sioux, Wounded Knee, Wounded Knee Creek, Wounded Knee Massacre
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..displayed conspicuous and gallant conduct in battle, when voluntarily leaving his work as cook, his gallantry was noticed by several officers. On the morning of December 29, 1890, while troopers of 7th Cavalry’s 1st Battalion were manning their posts as … Continue reading →
Posted in Award Recipients, Enlisted
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Tagged 7th Cavalry, 7th Cavalry Regiment (United States), Big Foot, Cavalry, Fort Riley, George Hobday, Hunkpapa, Lakota, Medal of Honor, Miniconjou, Oglala Lakota, Pine Ridge Agency, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Sioux, Wounded Knee, Wounded Knee Creek, Wounded Knee Massacre
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He had been scalped, his head crushed in, hands cut off and in other ways horribly mutilated. Private Dominick Franceschetti, who had been with the 7th Cavalry Regiment for a year, came through the Battle of Wounded Knee unscathed. He was not … Continue reading →
Posted in Casualties, Enlisted
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Tagged 7th Cavalry, 7th Cavalry Regiment (United States), Big Foot, Cavalry, Franceschetti, Killed in Action, Lakota, Miniconjou, Oglala Lakota, Pine Ridge Agency, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Two Strike, White Clay Creek, Wounded Knee Creek, Wounded Knee Massacre
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Sam Russell
Army at Wounded Knee 