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A Dispatch to Custer: The Tragedy of Lieutenant Kidder

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For those interested in the various aspects of the Plains Indians wars, including some of the more obscure engagements, this book should be of interest. It details the death of Lt Lyman Kidder and all of his eleven men that were wiped out by the Cheyenne. The title of the book is drawn from the last mission of Lt. Kidder that involved delivering an important message to Custer. The events described took place in the summer of 1867 in western Kansas.

The author soundly disproves that the death of Kidder was due to inexperience by documenting that officer's involvement in the 1862 Sioux Outbreak in Minnesota that spilled over into Dakota territory. In the mid-1860's, Kidder ended up in the Second Cavalry and was sent on his ill-fated quest to locate Custer of the 7th, a man whom he had never met. The authors quote extensivley from Custer's writings about finding the horribly mutilated bodies of Kidder and his men. The quest of Kidder's Father to have his son's body returned from wildes of western Kansas is also dealt with.

For me, the best part of the book is the ending where the authors reveal how they located what is probably the site of the battle through artifact finds. Such finds were then used to produce reasonable conjectures about the last moments of these unfortuante soldiers of the U.S. Cavalry. In all, a short but highly detailed look at a grim episode in frontier history.

This is a very personal history as the author takes personal interest in the Lt. Kidder massacre that occurred to a platoon of soldiers carrying a dispatch from General Sherman to Custer. This was during the 1867 Kansas Indian war during the military's unsuccessful campaign to defeat the various tribes. Earlier references to Kidder stated that the young inexperienced officer was unfamiliar with Indians and was ill prepared for his mission. However, the author through research confirms that Kidder had Civil War and Indian warfare experience. The latter was during the Sioux wars in Minnesota. The author provides more detail than the normal few pages in books about Custer. The detail includes a biography of Kidder, a detailed description of his family and particularly information about his father who was a judge and politician in South Dakota. High points include the story of the massacre. It starts initially with Kidders recent re-enlistment and assignment in Kansas and within a few weeks of his arrival, the mission to deliver Custer a dispatch who at that time was with the 7th trying to locate and defeat the Indians. Kidder finds Custer's trail but unfortunately where Custer turned off the Wallace trail, Kidder misses the new yet faint trail perhaps because he passed it at night. Approximately 200 warriors found Lt. Kidder instead and he tries to escape finally fortifying himself in a small ravine among high grass. It sounds familiar to the last survivors of Custer Hill running to a ravine for cover also killed without survivors. The author's surprisingly successful archeology digs help them map a course of battle and determine what may have happened. Kidder also had an Indian guide who died with all 11 army members. The author also writes of Kidders father making a brave trek to the battle site to recover his son's body, which actually encouraged the army to recover all the bodies. It's a personal trip with history and a real person's story about the need to find more detail about an often referred to event without elaborate research. The authors virtually take you there with their visit through descriptions, maps and photos.

This book provides an interesting and poignant study of Lt Lyman Kidder and his brutal demise.The work also affords the reader an insight into the tragic existence of the frontier family by following the journey of Lyman's father to claim his son's body from the remote battlesite. The authors' skillful use of original sources paints a vivid picture of a father's search for meaning following the death of his son. Judge Kidder's subsequent correspondance with Custer and Sherman, among others, affords an invaluable window into these turbulant times. The book will not only be enjoyed by students of American Frontier history, anyone with any degree of empathy with, or sympathy for, a family's love for their son will be moved. I recommend this book without reservation.

This book provides an interesting and poignant study of Lt Lyman Kidder and his brutal demise.The work also affords the reader an insight into the tragic existence of the frontier family by following the journey of Lyman's father to claim his son's body from the remote battlesite. The authors' skillful use of original sources paints a vivid picture of a father's search for meaning following the death of his son. Judge Kidder's subsequent correspondance with Custer and Sherman, among others, affords an invaluable window into these turbulant times. The book will not only be enjoyed by students of American Frontier history, anyone with any degree of empathy with, or sympathy for, a family's love for their son will be moved. I recommend this book without reservation.

This is a very personal history as the author takes personal interest in the Lt. Kidder massacre that occurred to a platoon of soldiers carrying a dispatch from General Sherman to Custer. This was during the 1867 Kansas Indian war during the military's unsuccessful campaign to defeat the various tribes. Earlier references to Kidder stated that the young inexperienced officer was unfamiliar with Indians and was ill prepared for his mission. However, the author through research confirms that Kidder had Civil War and Indian warfare experience. The latter was during the Sioux wars in Minnesota. The author provides more detail than the normal few pages in books about Custer. The detail includes a biography of Kidder, a detailed description of his family and particularly information about his father who was a judge and politician in South Dakota. High points include the story of the massacre. It starts initially with Kidders recent re-enlistment and assignment in Kansas and within a few weeks of his arrival, the mission to deliver Custer a dispatch who at that time was with the 7th trying to locate and defeat the Indians. Kidder finds Custer's trail but unfortunately where Custer turned off the Wallace trail, Kidder misses the new yet faint trail perhaps because he passed it at night. Approximately 200 warriors found Lt. Kidder instead and he tries to escape finally fortifying himself in a small ravine among high grass. It sounds familiar to the last survivors of Custer Hill running to a ravine for cover also killed without survivors. The author's surprisingly successful archeology digs help them map a course of battle and determine what may have happened. Kidder also had an Indian guide who died with all 11 army members. The author also writes of Kidders father making a brave trek to the battle site to recover his son's body, which actually encouraged the army to recover all the bodies. It's a personal trip with history and a real person's story about the need to find more detail about an often referred to event without elaborate research. The authors virtually take you there with their visit through descriptions, maps and photos.

This book will take you only a day to read. It is exactly 100 pages. I was hoping for more content on the actual event, ie. the massacre of Lt. Kidder and his men.

But no, the bulk of the book is the story of Kidder's father retrieving his son's body from the impromptu burial at the site. There are many letters printed in the book that were sent between members of the Kidder family agonizing over their loss. These are only modestly interesting. Nor did I find the old photos of Lt. Kidder's sister and brother to be necessary. There is also a photo of General Sherman. I already know what he looked like, and so will 90% of the Western historians who read this book, so why include it? Photo space could have been FAR more wisely used showing the battlefield from different angles, but sadly there are only two--both inadequate.

The author has made an important and highly interesting case in the book, but amazingly devotes less than 10 pages to it--in the Afterword section of all places. He theorizes that the present monument at the massacre "site" is misplaced, and his argument is compelling. He argues that the actual massacre site is 300 yards east of the monument in a different shallower ravine. I'll let you read the book to see his reasoning. I wish he would have spent more time on this and less on Kidder's father and siblings.