Captain Grant Marsh - Little Big Horn Hero

Captain Grant Marsh

There was one hero of the Little Big Horn battle who did not receive a Medal of Honor: Grant Marsh, captain of the Far West. Grant Marsh was a riverboat pilot and captain who was noted for his many piloting exploits on the upper Missouri River and the Yellowstone River in Montana from 1862 until 1882. He is probably best known for his piloting of the steamer Far West during the Sioux Campaign of 1876. 

During the operations that summer of 1876, the Far West transported troops and supplies for the army. It also served as a sort of meeting place for the officers to plot their plans to find and defeat the 'hostile' Sioux Indians.

The Far West

After the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Grant Marsh piloted the Far West down the Yellowstone and the Missouri Rivers to Bismarck, carrying troopers who were wounded in the fight back to Fort Abraham Lincoln. He brought the first news of the "Custer Massacre," which was published to the nation via telegraph from Bismarck. In delivering the wounded, Captain Marsh set a downriver steamboat record, around 710 river miles in 54 hours. He was indeed one of the heroes that summer. 

Captain Grant Marsh died in Bismarck, North Dakota, on January 6, 1916. He is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Bismarck. A large engraved stone marks his grave.

Grant Marsh gravesite in Bismarck, ND.

Due to the whole COVID fiasco, I was feeling a bit of cabin fever back in July 2020. I decided to take a drive down to Yankton, South Dakota, to explore a couple of the Captain Grant Marsh locations in that city. While Marsh was in Yankton, he purchased a brick house in 1877. In April 1883, with his own packet boat, the W.J. Behan, he participated in transporting the Lakota leader Sitting Bull and his remaining followers from Fort Yates to Fort Randall where they were detained after their return from Canada.

The former Grant Marsh home at 513 Douglas Avenue, Yankton, SD

Grant Marsh statue at Riverside Park, Yankton, SD

If you're interested in reading more about Captain Grant Marsh, or riverboat traffic on the Missouri River, I would recommend picking up a copy of the book CONQUEST OF THE MISSOURI.