Finding Lattman

John Lattman was a private in Company G, 7th U.S. Cavalry. He was born in Switzerland in 1848. He enlisted on October 14, 1873 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He listed his previous occupation as laborer.  He was discharged on October 14, 1878, at Fort Lincoln, Dakota, upon expiration of service, as a private of excellent character.

At the Battle of the Little Bighorn, he was left in the timber during the retreat from the valley.  He made it to the hilltop later.  He was possibly a member of Herendeen’s group.

Little Big Horn historian Walter Mason Camp interviewed Lattman:

“I then hid in lowly sagebrush and got my carbine and pistol ready for defense. All at once, I heard Indians trying to get my horse where I had left him. I laid there until dark and then started toward Custer. Again, when half way up the bluff, all of a sudden I heard Indian bells and looked and saw two Indians riding along, and began to wonder where they came from, and lay down to think it over and made up my mind they had been watching the command, and I started and walked that way. I walked along quite a distance and got into a ravine and looked up and saw a pony. Soon I saw a man whom I took for a soldier, and he challenged me and told me where camp was. I had been out nearly all night and it was nearly daylight when I joined the command on the hill. In burying the dead, the smell was so bad we had to be relieved every 5 minutes.”

Following his discharge he homesteaded on 160 acres of land 12 miles NE of Rapid City, SD, where he raised cattle.  He remained a bachelor and died in Rapid City on October 7, 1913. He is buried in Elk Vale Cemetery located northeast of Rapid City.

FINDING LATTMAN VIDEO

John Lattman Page