Editing Battle of the Little Bighorn (section)

====7th Cavalry organization====
The 7th Cavalry had been created just after the [[American Civil War]] (1861-1865). Many men were veterans of the war, including most of the leading officers. A significant portion of the regiment had previously served 4½ years at [[Fort Riley]], in  [[Kansas]], during which time it fought one major engagement and numerous skirmishes, experiencing casualties of 36 killed and 27 wounded. Six other troopers had died of drowning and 51 in [[cholera]] epidemics. In November 1868, while stationed in Kansas, the 7th Cavalry under Custer had routed [[Black Kettle]]'s Southern Cheyenne camp on the [[Washita River]] in the [[Battle of Washita River]], an attack which was at the time labeled a "massacre of innocent Indians" by the [[Indian Bureau]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/218456/pdf | doi=10.1353/jmh.2007.0179 | title=Washita Memories: Eyewitness Views of Custer's Attack on Black Kettle's Village (Review) | year=2007 | last1=Carroll | first1=James T. | journal=The Journal of Military History | volume=71 | issue=3 | pages=927–928 | s2cid=162234777 }}</ref>

[[File:S.J. Morrow, Slim Buttes.png|thumb|[[U.S. Army]]  
[[7th Cavalry Regiment]]'s Troop "I" [[Guidon (United States)|guidon]] banner recovered at the camp of [[American Horse (elder)|American Horse the Elder]], c.1876]]

By the time of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, half of the 7th Cavalry's companies had just returned from 18 months of constabulary duty in the [[Deep South]], having been recalled to [[Fort Abraham Lincoln]], [[Dakota Territory]] to reassemble the regiment for the campaign. About 20% of the troopers had been enlisted in the prior seven months (139 of an enlisted roll of 718), were only marginally trained and had no combat or frontier experience. About 60% of these recruits were [[United States|American]], the rest were [[Europe]]an immigrants (primarily [[Irish people|Irish]] and [[Germans|German]])—just as many of the veteran troopers had been before their enlistments. Archaeological evidence suggests that many of these troopers were malnourished and in poor physical condition, despite being the best-equipped and supplied regiment in the Army.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astonisher.com/archives/museum/wm_slaper_little_big_horn.html|title=A 7th Cavalry survivor's account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn|work=Conversations with Crazy Horse|access-date=August 19, 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080906155747/http://www.astonisher.com/archives/museum/wm_slaper_little_big_horn.html|archive-date=September 6, 2008 <!--DASHBot-->|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Barnard, pp. 121–36.</ref>

Of the 45 officers and 718 troopers then assigned to the 7th Cavalry (including a second lieutenant detached from the 20th Infantry and serving in Company L), 14 officers (including the regimental commander) and 152 troopers did not accompany the 7th during the campaign. The regimental commander, Colonel [[Samuel D. Sturgis]], was on detached duty as the Superintendent of Mounted Recruiting Service and commander of the Cavalry Depot in [[St. Louis, Missouri]],<ref>{{cite web |url =https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/1303*.html |title= Online version of Cullum's Register of Graduates of the United States Military Academy – Class of 1846 – Samuel D. Sturgis |access-date = 10 December 2018}}</ref> which left Lieutenant Colonel Custer in command of the regiment. The ratio of troops detached for other duty (approximately 22%) was not unusual for an expedition of this size,<ref name="dtch">{{cite web |url = http://www.historynet.com/magazines/wild_west/3035376.html |title= The 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment Fought in Battle of the Little Bighorn |publisher= HistoryNet.com |access-date = January 18, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080121092726/http://www.historynet.com/magazines/wild_west/3035376.html |archive-date= January 21, 2008 |url-status = dead|df= mdy-all}}</ref> and part of the officer shortage was chronic and was due to the Army's rigid seniority system: Three of the regiment's twelve captains were permanently detached, and two had never served a day with the 7th since their appointment in July 1866.{{NoteTag|Capt. Sheridan (Company L), the brother of Lt. Gen. [[Philip H. Sheridan]], served only seven months in 1866–67 before becoming permanent aide to his brother but remained on the rolls until 1882. Capt. Ilsley (Company E) was aide to Maj. Gen [[John Pope (general)|John Pope]] from 1866 to 1879, when he finally joined his command. Capt. Tourtelotte (Company G) never joined the 7th. A fourth captain, Owen Hale (Company K), was the regiment's recruiting officer in St. Louis and rejoined his company immediately.}} Three second lieutenant vacancies (in E, H, and L Companies) were also unfilled.