Custer’s Second Call Before Congress: Results, Ramifications and Reverberations

Custer was called to testify before Congress a second time on April 4, 1876. Their inquiry probed the “Trader Post Scandal,” or “Indian Ring Scandal.” It was not the only corruption scandal to mar U.S. Grant’s presidency. This one, though, would have farther-reaching ramifications.

For one thing, Grant was Custer’s Commander-in-Chief, and Grant’s brother Orvil was implicated in the inquiry. Grant took that personally.

The issue had come to light years earlier. As mentioned in my last post, part-time reporter Mark Kellogg had published a letter in 1874 decrying Orvil Grant’s involvement in graft. Then in 1875, as commander at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Custer had looked into monopolistic price gouging by the post’s sutler, or trader.

Sutler Selection

Until the early 1870’s the commander of a regiment or military post had chosen the merchant through which his enlistees would buy personal supplies. Oftentimes the sutler would accompany the regiment out on campaigns.

However, under Grant’s Secretary of War William Belknap, the War Department (Belknap, specifically) appointed all post traders. He awarded each trader exclusive rights to a given post. Prices were inflated and Belknap received kickbacks.

Custer was not the only officer to question the tradership monopolies. In fact his rival Frederick Benteen also questioned how a post trader could save $13,000 to $15,000 on a salary of only $1,500. When a new trader arrived at Fort A. Lincoln in 1875, Custer questioned him as to his profits. The sutler informed Custer that he received only $3,000 out of the year’s $15,000 profits. The rest went to his “investors.”

Scandals and “Scoops”

Custer then went on an extended leave, much of it in New York, in late 1875 and early 1876. On February 10, 1876 the New York Herald printed a story further exposing the Tradership Scandal. It ran another on March 31 under the title “Belknap’s Anaconda.” Custer was suspected of supplying the manuscript, or at least supporting information, helping the Herald in its investigation.

During this same time-frame the “Whiskey Ring,” was being investigated publicly as well. With Civil War notoriety and recent success in Indian campaigns, Custer was soon coveted as a witness by Congress. However, that would soon put him in hot water with his military superiors.

Tradership Twists

An odd twist played into this turmoil. Under Grant’s Peace Policy, various Indian tribes were given food, blankets and supplies for cooking and other subsistence. They were even being supplied, directly or through trade, with firearms and ammunition. These were to be used in hunting off the reservations. They were often used in hunting white settlers.

Devious bands would go to reservations to receive these “presents” as promised. They would then leave to carry out depredations. They burned homesteads and stage stations, and they murdered some whites. They kidnapped numerous women and children. While the Indian Department gave provisions and arms to the tribes, the U.S. Military had to pursue them and fight them in an attempt to keep citizens safe.

Another twist was that tribes were often compelled to leave reservations due to hunger. Unscrupulous agents often cheated tribes out of supplies promised to them in treaty agreements. Their monopolies also let them inflate prices and sell the goods elsewhere. They filled their own pockets while giving tribes badly inferior goods.

The agents, obviously, were a twofold problem. They supplied tribes that would leave reservations at will, and they caused tribes to leave by cheating them.

Sheridan’s Chagrin

General Sheridan had complained of this as far back as 1868. On one hand his troops (including Custer) were expected to quell uprisings and push tribes onto, or back onto, reservations. At the same time the Indian Bureau gave those tribes food, blankets, firearms and ammunition and then let them leave their reservations to hunt. Agents also benefitted by inflating the census counts on their agencies, regardless of how many of those Indians were actually present.

Custer dealt with these issues in 1867 and 1868 in Kansas, Indian Territory (today’s Oklahoma) and Texas. He would again face untallied tribesmen off reservations in 1876.

Ripples, Results and Ramifications

Despite Belknap’s resignation on March 2, a Congressional committee still investigated. It soon chose to impeach him anyway. These events had a huge ripple effect, however.

During Custer’s absence, Sitting Bull enticed more tribal members to leave reservations. He sent runners to ask that tribes gather in some of their traditional lands. They would congregate in the vicinity of the Powder, Tongue, Rosebud and Bighorn Rivers. Their numbers increased (not entirely without notice, as will be discussed another time) while Custer’s regiment sat idle.

While the Montana Column and the Wyoming Column started General Sheridan’s campaign, the Seventh Cavalry remained sedentary. New recruits were coming in, or soon would be. Major Marcus Reno, though, is said to have neglected both drill and marksmanship practice.

Meanwhile Custer languished in a political mess not entirely of his choosing. (It is debated whether he was compelled to testify or if he could have opted out. Letters indicate he was advised by General Terry to go east.)

Commander-in-Chief’s Recourse

Historian Thom Hatch writes that transcripts show Custer did not mention Grant’s brother. Regardless, Grant took his testimony personally and forbid him from leading the 7^th Cavalry on its spring campaign. Custer tried to appeal in person but Grant refused to see him.

After Custer left for Forth Abraham Lincoln, Grant had him stopped in St. Paul. Custer had breached military decorum by not visiting Grant and the army’s top general (Sherman was away at the time.) This further delayed Seventh Cavalry’s campaign preparations.

Custer made an emotional appeal through Generals Sheridan and Sherman. Both supported him, given his Civil War exploits. General Terry also went to bat for him. Ultimately, it appears political pressure persuaded Grant to relent. He allowed Custer to accompany, but not to command, the Seventh Cavalry in its campaign.

Aspirations and Aftershocks

No written records or witness statements really tell Custer’s motivations past that time. Some speculate he had presidential aspirations. Some feel he was motivated to redeem himself with a dramatic victory in the campaign. Some believe he merely wanted to get free of his immediate superior, General Terry, once given the chance. Custer had “cut loose” from General Stanley, acting independently during the 1873 Yellowstone Expedition. He may have had similar designs in 1876.

What is known is that growing numbers of both treaty and nontreaty Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho were away from reservations in early 1876. General Sheridan wanted to strike them hard and force them all onto reservations. It is also known that the scandals under William Belknap had hurt soldiers in the short run. They also emboldened and even compelled Indians to leave reservations.

It is known that Custer was delayed in preparing his regiment for the campaign. It is alleged that Major Reno failed to drill and train during that time. It is also believed the Indians Custer would face were better armed and well supplied with ammunition. Some writers blame Belknap for this too, directly and indirectly.

We know that western problems grew while Custer muddled in political turmoil back east. That fallout would reverberate through history. It would crescendo, then climax at the Little Bighorn.