Custer's Lone Survivor: Interview of Frank Finkel the Reputed Only Living Survivor of the Custer Massacre

"Is Frank Finkel of Dayton, the Only Living Survivor of the Custer Massacre in 1876?" is the question William Hail Banfill asks in his March 20, 1921, article published in the Walla Walla Bulletin. It is this 5-page article which has been republished here for the convenience of the interested reader.

Frank Finkel (1854 1930) was an American who rose to prominence late in his life and after his death for his claims to being the only survivor of George Armstrong Custer's famed "Last Stand" at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. He provided several details that would only have been known by someone who was at Little Bighorn.

Finkel is not believed to have said anything about the Battle of the Little Bighorn over the course of 40 years living in Dayton, Washington. He is believed to have first made his claim of surviving the battle in 1920 after hearing his companions discussing what he believed to be erroneous details about Custer and the battle. Over the next several years he expanded on his claims in local speaking engagements, and in 1921 gave an account to a reporter, William Hail Banfill, from the Walla Walla Bulletin, the largest newspaper in the area at the time.

In explaining his anonymity Frank is quoted in the article:
"The only souvenir," he said, "I ever had of the battle was the bullet I carried for 40 years but I have lost that too. I never had any discharge papers for I was never discharged from the army. There was none in my command left to apply to and I wasn't going to chase all over that country to find someone to discharge me. As far as I was concerned, Frank Hall was reported dead along with the rest of Custer's men and I let it go at that."

Finkel's intriguing story has been referenced in the following modern works:

Custer, the Seventh Cavalry, and the Little Big Horn, O'Keefe - 2012
Custer and the Epic of Defeat, Rosenberg - 2010
The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer: The True Story, Hatch - 2015
A Surgeon with Custer at the Little Big Horn: James DeWolf's Diary, Harburn - 2017
Wildest Lives of the Frontier, Stephens - 2016
To tame a savage, Gentry 2002
Billy Heath: The Man who Survived Custer's Last Stand, Genovese 2003
Custer's Luck, Stewart - 1955
Custer Legends, Frost - 1981
Paul Andrew Hutton - 1993
Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, Thrapp - 1991
Custer and his times, Hutton - 1981
Legend Into History: the Custer Mystery, Kuhlman - 1952
The Custer mystery, Du Bois - 1986
The Custer Controversy: A Critical Analysis, Pennington - 1996

About the author:
William Hail Banfill (1887-1933) was for 12 years a member of the Billings Gazette staff. Banfill was considered one of Montana's best known feature writers, and his knowledge of pioneer history and Indian lore was regarded as the most comprehensive of any Montana reporter. He left for Montana after having worked on newspapers in Sheridan, Wyo., and Walla Walla, Wash.

Dettagli