RARE 1860\'s Civil War MAJOR MARCUS RENO W/ Signature ~ CUSTER Battle of BIGHORN
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RARE 1860\'s Civil War MAJOR MARCUS RENO W/ Signature ~ CUSTER Battle of BIGHORN:
$745.00
FRAME MEASURES 8 1/2\" by 6 1/2\"Early life and career[edit]
Reno was born November 15, 1834, inCarrollton, Illinois, the fourth child of James and Charlotte Reno. According to one biographer, he was a descendant of Phillippe Francois Renault, who in 1777 accompaniedLafayetteto America and was awarded a land grant by the U. S. (worth about $400 million by Reno\'s time). At the age of 15, he wrote to theSecretary of Warto learn about the qualifications necessary to enter theUnited States Military AcademyatWest Point, New York. He was admitted and attended West Point from 1851 until 1857, requiring two extra years due to excessive demerits.[1]Reno graduated 20th in a class of 38. He wasbrevettedsecond lieutenant,1st Dragoons, on July 1, 1857, and assigned to duty in thePacific NorthwestinOregon.
Reno served in theUnion Armyin the Civil War, leading as acaptainin theU.S. 1st Cavalry Regimentat theAntietam. Reno was injured atKelly\'s FordinVirginiaon March 17, 1863, when his horse was shot and fell on him, causing a hernia. He was given the brevet rank ofmajorfor gallant and meritorious conduct. Four months later, he served during theGettysburg Campaign. That same year, he married Mary Hannah Ross ofHarrisburg, who would bear him one son, Robert Ross Reno. They owned a farm nearNew Cumberland, Pennsylvania, inCumberland County. When she died in 1874, Reno was in the field in Montana. He rode all night toFort Bentonto request leave to attend her funeral, but his request was denied.
Reno participated in the 1864 battles ofCold Harbor,Trevilian Station, andCedar Creek. After serving in a variety of staff positions, he was brevettedlieutenant colonelin October. In December, Reno became brevetcolonelof the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry, later commanding abrigadeagainstJohn Mosby\'sguerrillas. On March 13, 1865, he was brevettedbrigadier generalfor \"meritorious services during the war.\"
In 1866 Reno was ordered toFort Vancouver, in the Pacific Northwest. He served as acting assistant inspector general of the Department of the Columbia. While there, he became a member of the Freemasons at Washington Lodge #4. He was initiated on July 6, 1867, made a Fellowcraft mason on August 3 and raised to sublime degree of Master Mason on August 21, 1867 at Vancouver.
Reno was promoted to major and in December 1868, joined the7th CavalryatFort Hays, Kansas. Later, he was transferred toFort Abraham Lincoln, in the Dakota Territory, where he accompanied Lt. Col. George A. Custer on his Sioux campaign in 1876.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn[edit]Reno was the highest-ranking officer serving under Custer at theBattle of the Little Bighornin June 1876. Reno with three troops, or companies, was to attack the Indian village from the south, while Custer with five companies intended to cross theLittle Bighorn Riverfarther north and come into the village from the opposite side; Custer ordered CaptainFrederick Benteenwith three companies to move below the Sioux camp to block the Indians from escaping to the south. Captain Thomas McDougall\'s troop was to bring the packtrain with ammunition and supplies. Historians believe they did not understand how large the village was, the closest estimate we have is in thousands of lodges, containing approximately 7,000 warriors and 10,000 women, children, and others too old to fight.
The plan quickly fell apart when Northern Cheyenne and Lakota warriors, rather than fleeing as the cavalrymen expected, poured out of the village to meet Reno\'s attack. Reno ordered his troops to dismount and form a skirmish line, but that was quickly outflanked by hundreds of Indians, and Reno fell back into the timber along the river.
After abandoning his defenses and ordering his troops to mount their horses, and thus allowing Indians to infiltrate the timber, Reno assumed that position could not be held and he led a disorganized, every-man-for-himself scramble across the river and up the bluffs on the other side. There the cavalrymen set up a defensive position on what is now called Reno Hill. By this time 40 of Reno\'s 140 men already had been killed, 7 were wounded and an undetermined number had been left behind in the timber (although some of these abandoned men would manage to rejoin Reno)bloody Knife, perhaps the foremost of the Arikara scouts attached to the 7th Cavalry, was shot through the head as he stood next to Reno. Most of the other scouts slipped away and escaped.
Benteen soon arrived at Reno\'s position with his three companies, and McDougall\'s company came along with the supply train shortly afterward. Sporadic fire continued to be directed at the hill, but heavier gunfire off to the northeast made it clear Custer was engaged in a raging battle. It is still hotly debated why Reno and Benteen did not press forward and attempt to join forces with Custer. CaptainThomas Weir, commander of D Troop under Benteen, disobeyed orders to remain at the defensive position at Reno Hill and led his men to the high bluffs now called Weir Point, where observation of the battlefield showed a cloud of dust with Indian warriors present in large numbers. Captain Benteen and other troops also headed towards Weir\'s position but then when the warriors, having destroyed Custer\'s command, returned to confront them, all the cavalry retreated back to Reno\'s original position on the bluffs, still not knowing what happened to Custer.
The warriors took up the high ground above Reno Hill and poured down constant fire on the exposed soldiers until dark. The firing resumed at dawn and continued until late in the afternoon, when the soldiers saw the distant village being broken up and the tribes moving south. The next morning, the 27th, the surviving troops moved closer to the river, where General Alfred Terry and ColonelJohn Gibbonand their forces found them. Thirteen of Reno\'s soldiers were awarded theMedal of Honorfor their bravery in the battle.
From Wikipedia
RARE 1860\'s Civil War MAJOR MARCUS RENO W/ Signature ~ CUSTER Battle of BIGHORN:
$745.00