 Frederick Benteen son of Theodore Charles Benteen and Caroline Hargrove was born on August 24, 1834 in Petersburg, Virginia. He entered the military service from Missouri first Lieutenant Company C Missouri volunteer cavalry on September 1, 1861. On October 1,1861 Frederick was moved to the position of Captain. He was involved in the actions at Wet Glaze and Wilson’s Creek, and the skirmish at Salem. |
| On January 7, 1862 in St. Louis, Missouri Frederick married Catherine Louise Norman. After they got married he in the actions at Bolivar and Milliken’s Bend, battle of Pea Ridge, defense of Helena, and the skirmishes at Springfield, Sugar Creek, Batesville, Cotton Plant, Kickapoo Bottom, and Greenville. He was then promoted to Major of the tenth Missouri Cavalry on December 4, 1862. In 1863 he was in the skirmishes at Florence and Cane Creek, the siege of Vicksburg, the actions at Iuka and Brandon Station and the capture of Jackson. He was then promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on February 27, 1864, leading to the actions at Bolivar and Pleasant Hill. He commanded the fourth Brigade of General Pleasanton’s Cavalry Division in engagements on the Big Blue and Little Osage Crossing in Missouri. Later he was also engaged at Charlot and in the skirmish at Montevallo. He commanded his regiment in raid on Columbus and assault and capture of Selma. On June 30, 1865 he was mustered out in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was then appointed Colonel, 138th Colored U.S. Infantry from July 1 to July 15, 1865. June 6, 1865 he was recommended for Missouri Militia as a brevet brigadier general but mustered out on January 6, 1866. A few months later on July 28, 1866, the day the regiment was organized, Benteen was promoted Captain of the seventh cavalry. He was then brevetted major, USA, and Lieutenant Colonel, USA, on March 2, 1867 for service in the battle of Osage and the raid on Columbus. |
| He received brevet of Colonel for gallant service in an engagement with hostiles on the Saline River on August 13, 1868, Frederick was in many campaigns such as Washita 1868,Sioux 1876, and Nez Perce campaign 1877. He was also in the Black Hills expedition 1874 and the Canyon Creek fight on September 13, 1877 |
| On June 25, 1876 at Little Big Horn he commanded a battalion on scout and Company H in the hilltop fight were he was wounded in his right finger. Frederick and Custer each despised of each other during the Little Big Horn and through out there lives. Benteen even once said, “ I’m only too proud to say that I despise of that man.” (Referring to man as Custer.) In 1878 Benteen commanded a battalion against hostile Indians. |
| Frederick was beginning to make some bad choices, as he grew older. He testified at the Reno Court of Inquiry in 1879 in Chicago, Illinois. In October of 1879 he was arrested at Fort Meade, D.T. On December 17, 1882 he was elected Major for the ninth cavalry. But he chose to make some bad decisions. On April 30, 1884 he was suspended from rank for one year at half pay for drunken and disorderly conduct at Fort Duchesne, Utah. He was back on duty at Fort Niobrara, Nebraska on April 27, 1888. Soon after that he retired for disability on July 7, 1888 where he resided in Atlanta, Georgia. He was brevetted Brigadier General on February 27, 1890 for gallant service at the Little Big Horn and against the Nez Perce Indians at Canyon Creek. |
| At the age of sixty-three on June 22, 1898 in Atlanta, Georgia Benteen died. Paralysis, organic disease of heart of rheumatic origin and spinal lesion were the cause of his death. He was buried on June 25 at Westview Cemetery in Atlanta. November 1902 he was reentered in Arlington National Cemetery. |
| Frederick was an enigma while he
was alive. Fellow soldiers enjoyed his pleasant humor, kindness, and his
bravery. Benteen once said, “I’ve been a loser in a way, all my life by rubbing
a bit against the angles --or hair--of folks, instead of going with their
whims; but I couldn’t go otherwise—t’would be against the grain of myself.”
But he was not a loser at all he was a hero even though most people don’t
realize it. |
Samone Cook Rossville Junior High 02 Plains Project Bibliography |