McWilliams was a member of the 1876 Sioux Campaign but never fought at the Little Big Horn.
Mark Kellogg, a reporter for the Bismarck Tribune, who was also along on the campaign, kept a diary of his experiences. His diary entry for June 6 reads: "Private McWilliams accidentally shot himself with a revolver today; ball took effect calf leg ran down tendon and lodged just under the skin top of foot, flesh wound, lay him up a month."
This happened during the 7th Cavalry's march to the Little Big Horn, near O'Fallon's Creek, Montana Territory. As a result of the injury, he missed the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and was taken back to Fort Abraham Lincoln on the steamboat, Far West.
The following is from the book, FOLLOWING THE CUSTER TRAIL OF 1876 by Laudie J. Chorne:
"Camp on O’Fallon Creek – June 6, 1876 – Not long after camp was established, a Private David McWilliams of Benteen’s Company H, 7th Cavalry, while mounting his horse accidentally discharged his revolver. The bullet, according to Dr. DeWolf, penetrated the calf of McWilliams’ right leg, traveled down the tendon, and came to rest under the skin at the top of his foot. Private McWilliams’ wound would place him in the hospital at the mouth of Powder River and keep him from all the action at the Little Big Horn." [page 126]
He was listed as Dan [sic] McWilliams, along with the wounded and killed from the battle, in the July 9, 1876 Sunday morning edition of the Yankton Press and Dakotaian.
He was discharged on August 29, 1876, at Fort Rice, upon expiration of service as a private of good character. He immediately re-enlisted.
The 1880 census for Fort Meade lists McWilliams, his wife Annie, and their 5-year-old son, James.
At the time of his death, David McWilliams was a civilian employee of the Quartermaster Department at Fort Meade, working as a teamster.
On September 19, 1882, McWilliams took a lethal overdose of laudanum, a combination of alcohol and opium.
Some sources say WcWilliams committed suicide. I'm not so sure. Laudanum was some nasty stuff. One of the opioids of the day. I prefer to give Trooper McWilliams the benefit of the doubt. I imagine he would be taking laudanum for pain, as a result of his gunshot wound. The newspapers of the time are full of accounts of accidental overdoses and that is what I feel happened in this case.
After his death, his wife Annie married Max Goetze, another 7th Cavalry trooper.
McWilliams is buried in Fort Meade's Post Cemetery near Sturgis, South Dakota. His widow Annie also lies in the cemetery, next to her second husband, Max Goetze.
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