Collection 2457 - Fort Assinniboine Telegrams Received, 1881

Creator: Fort Assinniboine (Mont.)

Provenance Note: Telegrams received by the post of Fort Assinniboine in 1881 were purchased by the Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections from Mrs. Jeanne M. Irving of Olympia, Washington on April 5, 2004.

Historical Note: Fort Assinniboine was established by the United States Army during the summer of 1879 in Hill County near present day Havre, Montana. A huge complex of brick buildings, Assinniboine was easily the largest post in Montana Territory, and while its original mission included control of the Indian tribes who crossed the Canadian border, the fort became obsolete within a few years of its construction. During the early 1880s, soldiers at Assinniboine were called on to monitor the movements of Sitting Bull's band of Sioux and to continually escort Crees and other Canadian Indians back across the border. On August 23, 1879, a New Jersey fisherman named Louden Minugh enlisted in the United States Army at New York City. The twenty-two year old Minugh was assigned to Company C, Eighteenth Infantry and posted to Fort Assiniboine that fall. He remained at the post for his entire enlistment term, mustering out as a sergeant with an "excellent character" rating on August 22, 1884. Minugh later became a rancher and storekeeper in Harlem, Montana. Sometime before or after the closure of the post, Minugh came into possession of the 1881 telegrams from Fort Assinniboine and eventually they came to his granddaughter, Jeanne Minugh Irving.

Content Description Note: The telegrams in this collection are "true copies," duplicates of original transmissions that were mailed from the office of origin to Lt. Col. Henry M. Black, 18th United States Infantry and commanding officer of Fort Assinniboine during 1881. The majority came from the headquarters of the military District of Montana in Helena, and are signed by Lt. George L. Turner, Acting Assistant Adjutant General. Other telegrams are from the headquarters of the Department of Dakota at Fort Snelling, Minnesota; Fort Buford, Dakota Territory; and forts Maginnis, Shaw, and Keogh, Montana Territory. The telegrams address the movements of troops, disposition of supplies, court marital proceedings, and other routine military matters. Of particular interest are several messages dated in January 1881 concerning the movements of Sitting Bull and the army's failed attempt to capture his camp in the Milk River area. Other military movements against Canadian Crees, Piegans, and half-bloods are also discussed in the telegrams. The telegrams have been chronologically arranged. Unless otherwise indicated, all telegrams are from the headquarters of the District of Montana, Colonel Thomas H. Ruger, 18th U.S. Infantry, commanding, and signed by Lt. Turner, or from the Department of Dakota, Brigadier General Alfred Terry, commanding, and signed by Major Samuel Breck, Assistant Adjutant General. Parentheses after a date indicates more than one telegram bears that particular date of transmission.

Box 1: Folder 1. January 1881 (20 items); Jan 11; Jan 12 (4); Jan 15; Jan 12; Jan 13; Jan 14 (3); Jan 15 (2); Jan 17 (3); Jan 19; Jan 20; Jan 21; Jan 23

Folder 2. February 1881 (6 items)

Feb 2

Feb 4 (2)

Feb 9

Feb 14

Feb 18

Folder 3. March 1881 (8 items)

Mar 3

Mar 8 (From Fort Maginnis, Montana Territory)

Mar 10

Mar 14

Mar 15

Mar 21

Mar 26

Mar 31

Folder 4. April 1881 (3 items)

Apr 7

Apr 28 (2)

Folder 5. May 1881 (7 items)

May 10

May 19

May 21

May 24 (2)

May 29

May 31

Folder 6. June 1881 (4 items)

June 3

June 13

June 20

June 27

Folder 7. July 1881 (5 items)

July 13

July 25

July 26

July 27 (from Fort Shaw, Montana Territory)

July 31

Folder 8. August 1881 ( 21 items)

Aug 2

Aug 3

Aug 6 (2)

Aug 9 (2)

Aug 13 (3)

Aug 15

Aug 17

Aug 18

Aug 20

Aug 22 (2)

Aug 23 (4)

Aug 30

Aug 31

Folder 9. September 1881 (20 items)

Sept 1 (2)

Sept 2

Sept 3

Sept 5

Sept 9

Sept 10

Sept 13

Sept 16 (2)

Sept 18

Sept 19

Sept 21 (2)

Sept 22 (3)

Sept 28 (2)

Sept 30

Folder 10. October 1881 (16 items)

Oct 1 (from Fort Buford, Dakota Territory)

Oct 4 (from Fort Maginnis, Montana Territory)

Oct 6 (3) (1 from Adjutant General's Office, Washington, D.C.)

Oct 7

Oct 8 (2)

Oct 10 (3)

Oct 11

Oct 14 (2)

Oct 29 (2)

Folder 11. November 1881 (26 items)

Nov 2 (2)

Nov 4 (5) (1 from Adjutant General's Office, Washington, D.C.)

Nov 5

Nov 7

Nov 8

Nov 10 (2)

Nov 11 (3) (1 from Fort Buford, Dakota Territory)

Nov 12

Nov 15 (2)

Nov 21

Nov 23

Nov 26 (2)

Nov 28 (3)

Nov 30

Folder 12. December 1881 (9 items)

Dec 5 (from Fort Keogh, Montana Territory)

Dec 7 (2) (1 from Fort Keogh, Montana Territory)

Dec 8

Dec 12

Dec 13

Dec 17 (from Fort Buford, Dakota Territory)

Dec 28

Dec 30

Contents | Special Collections

Updated: 4/28/09