Peter Thompson (soldier)

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For other people with the same name, see Peter Thompson

Peter Thompson (December 28, 1854 – December 3, 1928) was a Scots-American soldier who was awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Thompson was born in Markinch in Fife, Scotland. After emigrating with his family to the United States in 1865, Thompson enlisted in the United States Army in 1875, serving in the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment's C company from 1875 until 1880. His commanding officer was Capt. Thomas Custer.

[edit] Little Big Horn

In 1876, while serving under George Armstrong Custer in the eastern Montana Territory, he took part in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Had his horse not given out on the bluffs above the river as the regiment reached the battlefield, Thompson would have died with Custer. As it was, Thompson and a companion named James Watson fell behind, but continued on to the river. Unable to rejoin their own company, the two later climbed back up the bluffs and joined surviving elements of the regiment, under Maj. Marcus Reno. Thompson took part in other parts of the battle and was wounded in the hand. In spite of his wound, he made many trips outside the lines to obtain water for the wounded, an act that gained him one of 24 Medals of Honor awarded for the battle.

After the fight, he was evacuated to Fort Abraham Lincoln by steamboat. When his hand had recovered sufficiently, he wrote a lengthy account of the fighting. He said he had been in a hiding place from which he had seen Custer's death and, by implication, to have been the last white man living to have seen him alive.

Upon his honorable discharge from the cavalry in 1880, Thompson moved to Lead City, Dakota Territory where he worked in the Homestake Mine until 1890. At that time, he moved to Alzada, Montana, where he had established a Homestead Act claim and raised Percheron horses and sheep. He married Ruth Boicourt on September 21, 1904; the couple had two children, Susan and Peter Jr., and were respected members of their community.

[edit] Controversy over Thompson's story

Thompson was interviewed by the respected Indian Wars researcher Walter Mason Camp at the Little Bighorn Battlefield in 1909. Camp, who met with Thompson on other occasions and corresponded him for many years, was unable to reconcile Thompson's account with what he had learned from other participants and records. Thompson published his controversial 26,000 word account in his regional newspaper, the Belle Fourche, South Dakota Bee in the spring of 1914. This was an era when a number of old men (or deceased men, through their obituaries) claimed to have been "the last survivor" of Custer's Last Stand. Thompson would later have confrontations with other battle participants, and be accused of being a liar. He was so labeled by one veteran named William Slaper in a 1925 book, A Trooper with Custer, edited by Earl A. Brininstool. Thompson's attempts to prove his claims were frustrated by the unknown whereabouts of James Watson.

Peter Thompson died in Hot Springs, South Dakota, and was interred in the West Lead Cemetery in Lead, South Dakota.

Thompson's story has received significant attention in recent years. Daniel O. Magnussen wrote in 1974 that, while Thompson seemed to have been an honest man, his account was riddled with errors. He speculated that Thompson's memory may have been clouded by hallucinations brought on by stress and his wound. More recently, the publication of Camp's notes has again stimulated interest in Thompson's story, and provided corroboration for many controversial parts of the account. Like Curley's stories of the Little Bighorn, Thompson's account remains a fascinating enigma.

[edit] References

• Nichols, Ronald H. Men with Custer: Biographies of the 7th Cavalry. Revised ed, Hardin, MT: Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association, 2000.
• Hammer, Ken, ed. Custer in '76: Walter Camp's Notes on Custer's Last Fight. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976.
• Magnussen, Daniel O., ed., Peter Thompson's Narrative of the Little Big Horn Campaign 1876. Glendale: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1974.