Montana Mayhem

I have been fortunate enough to find a group of buddies who are all interested in Custer and the Plains Indian wars of the 19th century. We have come to call ourselves Montana Mayhem even though we also have wreaked havoc over North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska. We get together every couple of years and travel the highways and byways in search of battlefields, historic markers, old graves, etc. We also hunt down micro-breweries and good buffalo ribeyes.

Remember way back...before Facebook? I had ended up in some online forums dealing with Custer and the different events surrounding his life. One of these was Delphi Forums. There were different Custer-related user groups on Delphi and these allowed for a back and forth discussion about the topic at hand. As is usual in most things Custer, there were some heated discussions, name calling, empty threats, and all the rest. Not much has changed and things are pretty much the same today. But what was born out of all that static and noise was a group of guys who just wanted to talk Custer and the Indian wars of the Great Plains. I was fortunate enough to be one of those guys. We started emailing each other and before we knew it we were planning a trip. I will admit that it was a bit weird to go on a trip with a bunch of guys I had never met in person before. How did I know one of them wasn’t a serial killer? Well, I didn’t and everything turned out fine. Today we are the best of friends and we keep in constant contact through phone calls, email, text messages, and our own private, super-secret Facebook group.

I have so many fond memories of our trips. We have been able to do things as a group that I doubt any of us could have done individually. Plus, it’s pretty cool to go on a trip to explore forts and battlefields in which you are all mutually interested. We spend the days hiking around the battlefields and the nights drinking beer and talking about it all. They are very special times.

Here we are on the porch of Old Bedlam at Fort Laramie - June 24, 2013

“Montana Mayhem - tracking down history one beer at a time”.

Please click on the links below to check out our different trips:

Montana Mayhem 2007

Montana Mayhem 2009

Montana Mayhem 2011

Montana Mayhem 2013

Montana Mayhem 2016

Turner and Cunningham - Black Hills 1874

This site has always been dedicated to the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry who are buried in South Dakota. Technically they are not all members of the mighty 7th. Rose Courtney, for example, was a servant for Lt. George Wallace. Moses Flint was a packer. James McGee was a wagon master. But they are all tied to Custer and either served him directly or served someone who did.

This brings us to troopers Turner and Cunningham. Both were official members of the 7th Cavalry and accompanied Custer on his Black Hills Expedition of 1874. Sadly, the Black Hills were the end of the line for both of them. Both died on the expedition. But they are not technically part of the scope of this website as both are buried in Wyoming. They died before Custer and the 7th had entered the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Private John Cunningham died from complications of diarrhea on July 21, 1874.

Private Turner’s demise was a bit different…

Privates Roller and Turner were both members of M Troop. They had been having a long-time feud. One morning, Roller went to check on his horse and found that it had been hobbled, making it incapable of moving without falling down. Because of this incident Roller and Turner had a fatal showdown. Turner was mortally wounded in the abdomen by a gunshot from Roller.

Turner and Cunningham were both buried near Inyan Kara Creek near the Expedition’s camp #19, about 14 miles south of present-day Sundance, Wyoming. After the troopers were buried, fires were built atop their graves in an effort to conceal the plots. This was done to prevent the bodies from being disinterred by Indians.

Their graves are located alongside Highway 585, 14 1/2 miles south of Sundance. For you GPS types, go to N44 13 06.8 W104 16 02.6. Take exit 187 off Interstate 90 and drive south until you reach the state historical marker below.  The marker is located on the east side of Highway 585. Inyan Kara mountain is off to the west. Behind the historical marker, up on the side of a hill, you will notice a small white picket fence.  These are the graves of Cunningham and Turner. You will need to walk to the graves.

Historical marker for the 1874 Black Hills Expedition along Highway 585 south of Sundance, Wyoming.

The picket fence surrounding the graves of Cunningham and Turner is on the upper right.  Inyan Kara can be seen in the distance.

Another view of the fence and Inyan Kara.

The graves of Privates Cunningham (Troop H) and Turner (Troop M), 7th U.S. Cavalry.

Welcome!

Well hello.  Welcome to the new site!

This is new and improved site is something that I've been meaning to do for quite some time.  I wanted a site that would be more interactive.  This new site will let visitors leave comments.  You can comment on any post or page.  Believe me, I love to receive your comments.  In the past you had to send me an email but now it will be much easier to leave comments, suggestions, and feedback.  We can all learn together.

You can still email me at scott.nelson [at] gmail.com.  Just replace the [at] with a @.  You can also find me on Facebook at facebook.com/scott.nelson.184.

One of the best features of this new site is it will automatically render itself for mobile devices.  I know the old site was hard to navigate on a tablet or phone.  This one should be much better.

Putting this new site together took some time.  I've done my best to make sure everything was transferred correctly.  If you happen to find a bad or broken link or see any other mistake please let me know so I can get it fixed as soon as possible.

So please, explore the site and let me know what you think.  You can also subscribe via email and you will be notified whenever a new update is made to the site.

I hope you enjoy the new site and find it easier to navigate than the old one.

Take care.