ResoluteReader: Joan Nabseth Stevenson - Deliverance from the Little Big Horn: Doctor Henry Porter & Custer's Seventh Cavalry

Friday, December 27, 2024

Joan Nabseth Stevenson - Deliverance from the Little Big Horn: Doctor Henry Porter & Custer's Seventh Cavalry

An almost uncountable number of publications have been written about the Battle of the Little Big Horn. In a genre of history that has no shortage of books, the defeat of Custer and his men by the combined might of the Lakota, Dakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho has been analysed, debated and obsessed about, almost from the moment Custer's command was extinguished.

There are a good number of microhistories that focus on particular individuals or experiences at the Bighorn. Deliverance from the Little Big Horn is one of these, though because its focus was on the only medical Doctor to survive the battle, and his experience with Reno and Benteen as they were besieged overnight, it is an unusal and rewarding read for those who are interested in the Battle.

Doctor Henry Porter was a contract surgeon with the US Army. This meant he was one of a handful of civilians to accompany the Seventh Cavalry on their expedition to slaughter the Native Americans. Porter was not armed and was not expected to fight. His job was to help injured troops on the trip and during any confrontation. The other doctors with the troops were killed with Custer, or early in the battle with Porter. In fact Porter's friend and fellow medic James M. DeWolf was killed a few metres from Porter, because he took a slightly different route up the hill during Reno's disastorous and panicked retreat from the first encounter with the Native American forces. It was to Porter that Reno famous denied he had fled. "That was a charge" he said.

Only a small section of the book is devoted to the battlefield experiences of Porter. It must have been a horrific situation as Porter used limited resources to patch up and keep alive a growing number of severally wounded soldiers. Most of these were bullet wounds. Porter did not have to deal with many arrow heads. But he did have to amputate and provide urgent care. Saving up to 68 men. One important detail that Joan Stevenson's book does explore is the complete rejection of germ theory by the US medical establishment and hence the doctors down to Porter on the battle field. Interestingly this would probably have made little difference on the battlefield as there was hardly any water for cleaning equipment or hands. But in the aftermath of the encounter Porter, as was common at the time, was more concerned by the bad smell from dead animals and men, and its impact on the wounded men's injuries.

When relief finally arrived Porter ministered to the men on an arduous trek to the vessel that was to take them down the Yellowstone river to Fort Lincoln near Bismarck in North Dakota. All the way Porter cared for the men.

Porter's dedication wasn't reflected in his treatment by the Army. As a contract surgeon he was expected to be at the beck and call of the military, but could be terminated almost without notice. In the immediate aftermath of the Custer defeat Porter set out again with General Terry on a classically pointless military adventure that failed to confront the Native Americans. Along the way though Porter was witness again to a military failure as the soldiers, following weeks of poor diet of hardtack and bacon, feel sick to scurvy.

In the miltary austerity of the next few years, Porter gained and lost contracts. He eventually became a successful doctor in Bismarck, and travelled the world. Dying in India trying to see the Taj Mahal. He also campaigned for better treatment, and pay, for medical professionals in the US army. Whether he eventually accepted germ theory is not said.

Joan Nabseth Stevenson's little book is an excellent account of medicine in the US army at the time. It is clearly a work of love, but written with a serious scholarship and knowledge of the Battle itself. For those interested in military medicine who know little of events in July 1876 this will be a good introduction. Stevenson has little to say about the wider context of the war, and makes no real comment on the overall strategy of the US government. To be fair to her that's not what the book is about. She does conclude with Porter's testimony into the conduct of Major Reno on the battlefield. He, along with the other surviving civilians, had little good to say. The officers, as is the military want, kept their deepest thoughts to themselves for the "good of the regiment". Porter's honesty did him credit. History has been less kind to Reno. The victorous Native Americans however were still being slaughtered.