b'gradually sucked into the proceedings - with some honor for"You can hardly imagine what a real pleasure it was to the latter but much dismay for the former. make your appointment"Theodore Roosevelt (letter to McCaskey, April 23, 1907) (Farioli and Nichols, Last Man It is not necessary to regurgitate the sordid story of theStanding, p. 116 and p. 120).Brownsville Riots here, of which there is, to this day, no solid evidence whatsoever that the regiment, or evenThus the "last man standing" to shoulder a musket members of it had been the culprit (while it was possibledefending the Republic during the Great Civil War and who that angry, disgruntled members of the regiment sparkedwas still serving was now a major general but not for longthe riot, it is just as easily possible that townspeople,(Ibid., p.113).desirous of committing a racist incident to remove the Black soldiers from their midst may have done the dastardly deed.RETIREMENT, DEATH AND A WRITER\'S INTERESTRoosevelt unbelievably chose to smear - and dishonorablyIN THE SUBJECTdischarge all of the Black personnel of the 25th). McCaskey was almost 64 years of age upon receiving this much-coveted and much- earned position. The mandatory It is necessary, however, to bring up Brigadier McCaskey\'sRoosevelt\'s Rough Riders fought in the age of retirement as set by President Roosevelt was 65. role, that of the regiment\'s white commanding officer, MajorBattle of San Juan Hill, the most McCaskey had spent over 46 years save for periods on Charles W. Penrose, himself the son of a distinguishedsignificant U.S. land victory. leave, either on foot, almost 30 of those years in his beloved general whom Buffalo Bill once scouted for, and who20th Infantry Regiment, or in the saddle in the service of himself valiantly stood up for his men, and the sinisterthe United States of America. He had done his time and and disgusting role of the Army inspector-general, theAn ambitious rabbit to be sure, but an ambitious rabbit withhad finally attained the rank of major general. He had no southern-born Major General Ernest A. Garlington, whoa dark, racist past. Garlington was the son of a Confederatemore plateaus to climb, no prairies or plains to ride across. had more than a passing familiarity with McCaskey - andmilitia general, and he was raised with the mores of theAccordingly on the date of his 64th birthday, October 2, yet another Custer connection. Antebellum South- in short, Garlington disliked and1907, Major General William S. McCaskey officially retired distrusted Blacks, particularly Black soldiers. His careerfrom the United States Army. His duty was done.Initially, both McCaskey and Major Penrose arguedwas almost derailed early on in his career when he and strenuously on behalf of the accused men of the regiment.the 7th were chasing Chief Joseph across the width ofMcCaskey would retire to a comfortable home overlooking Their initial skepticism of the men\'s alleged guilt arousedMontana. On a riverboat one night, an old Black sergeantMonterey Bay, California, finally making the Golden State a hastily-formed Brownsville "Citizens Committee." Whenfrom another regiment accidentally bumped Garlington\'shis permanent home after so many years of traveling across their demands for incarceration and a turnover of the menarm, whereupon the young first lieutenant responded withstates and territories, overseas duties to boot. His final years to civil authorities were echoed by a particularly demagogica torrent of abuse so shocking that the commander of themay have been uneventful, but the old soldier preferred to and virulently racist Texas Ranger captain by the name of7th, Colonel Samuel Sturgis was so incensed that he hadfade away in that manner. He seemed fine and fit when on William "Wild Bill" McDonald, McCaskey, and PenroseGarlington placed on close arrest for two days and forcedthe evening of August 10, 1914 he collapsed after dinner justly feared for the safety of their troops at the hands ofhim to publicly apologize to the old sergeant. and passed away from the effects of possible kidney failure. white Texas mobs and both officers strongly recommendedPerhaps it was fitting that as the guns were booming and they be quickly sent out of Fort Brown to army camps in theIt is said that from that moment on, if not already ingrainedmen overseas were marching off to a war America wasIndian Territory. An astonished and aggravated McCaskeyin him, Garlington "had it" for Black troopers, and whenable to uncomfortably avoid for three years, McCaskey,further took umbrage when McDonald chortled to a Texaspressed under oath if the Black soldiers of the 25th werethe old soldier faded away in peace in a quiet town judge that he had the names of 12 men from the regiment\'struthful in their protestations of innocence, Garlingtonoverlooking the beautiful bay of Monterey. He was finally A, B, C and D companies who he claimed were involved inreplied with "they are not," in effect saying that he couldlaid to rest at another fort - the Presidio of San Francisco shooting up the town, stating, "The manner in which theirnever believe the word of any Blacks, that they were(Ibid., pp. 119-120).names were procured is a mystery. It seems to have been ahabitual liars. This was the man whom Theodore Roosevelt dragnet proceeding" (Ibid., p. 86). had appointed to investigate Brownsville and to ascertain ifSo, one may ask, how did this writer become so interested the Black soldiers were innocent or guilty, and Garlingtonin the story of William McCaskey who, on the surface, The men were hastily sent to Fort Reno in Oklahomahad already assumed the latter. If there was any validity toseemed to be just another average Old Army officer but with to await hearings, interrogation and eventual judgment.the fable of the fox guarding the chicken coop, this was it. what Andy Warhol called that "15 minutes of fame," i.e., But sinister outside forces were already pointing towardshis somber notification of the Custer women that they had a finding of collective guilt towards the men. PresidentIt is said that both General McCaskey and Major Penrosebecome widows?Roosevelt, who had been renowned for his sensitivitythemselves felt that at least some of the men were involved towards the concerns of Black Americans and hisin the rioting, but they strongly believed that the majorityFirst, having an interest in all things Custeriana I wantedearly support of Civil Rights did an abrupt about-face,of the regiment were honorable men whose hands wereto know more about the officer left behind in commandquestioning their innocence, and being dissatisfied by theclean of any involvement in the incident. The one-timeof Fort Abraham Lincoln when Custer and his command pleas and the findings of McCaskey and Penrose, orderedabolitionist-minded McCaskey was able to get the accusedrode off to a little river in Montana and Valhalla. I was the Army inspector general to conduct a full investigationregiment out of Texas to safer redeployment in the Indiancurious to know what his army career had been and since of the charges made against the 25th Regiment. Territory, but he was unable to prevent the shockingvery little had been written about his career in the wake of dismissal and "discharge without honor" made by Presidentthe Custer massacre (thank you, Dennis Farioli, for filling Enter one Major General Ernest A. Garlington, thenRoosevelt on November 5, 1906, of all 167 members ofin most of the gaps) that also sparked my curiosity. Bit and inspector-general of the United States Army. Like so the 25th including the same Sergeant Mingo Sanders whopieces began floating in - mainly from Custer and Little Big many others encountered in this narrative the southern- generously shared his hardtack with a very hungry ColonelHorn accounts.born Garlington also had a personal "Custer connection"Roosevelt in the aftermath of the taking of San Juan Hill. with McCaskey. Even Sergeant Sanders was not immune, and the whiteThen, unbelievably even eBay entered into the story about a Major Penrose who had strongly believed in the innocencedecade ago, when a considerable amount of the McCaskey You see, Garlington, a freshly-minted first lieutenant freshof his men, even he faced court-martial - but was acquitted. archive and ephemera went up for grabs and on sale on out of West Point, was one of those recruits hurriedlythe famed auction site. I don\'t know if someone from the rushed westward in the aftermath of the Little Big Horn,McCaskey was subsequently transferred out of theMcCaskey family was authorized to sell off the items, or if and his first posting was - you guessed it - the 7th CavalryDepartment of the Southwest to a more congenialthe Lancaster (PA) Historical Society decided to let go of and Fort Abraham Lincoln as a replacement for the slainposting in his old stomping grounds - the command ofthem - which would be astonishing, to say the least - but officers of Custer\'s command. No doubt it was then Captainthe Department of Dakota - headquarters in St. Paul,I ended up bidding on, and receiving the aforementioned McCaskey, still in command at Fort Lincoln, who allocatedMinnesota - the same headquarters of a man who was oncephotograph of McCaskey reviewing his men before billeting for Garlington as well as Hugh Scott, the rest ofMcCaskey\'s commanding officer, Major General Alfreddeparture to the battlefields of Cuba (or Philippines), and a the newly arrived West Pointers, and the recalled veteransTerry, just before the Montana campaign that had ended sobusiness card of his (didn\'t know army officers at the end of sent west to the Dakotas. But whereas McCaskey\'s rise todisastrously for Custer. the 19th Century) had business cards!command was tortoise-like, Garlington with his West Point connections and combat record - had served bravely duringNow it was McCaskey who occupied Terry\'s headquarters,To have something in my possession so personal from a the Nez Perce Campaign, commanded a search party forwith the same rank Terry held, as apparently McCaskeyprominent army officer who was involved - even remotely the survivors of the Greely Arctic Expedition was woundedeither did not press strongly or as forcibly as Penrose did- in the Little Big Horn campaign but also involved in the at Wounded Knee (where he received a dubiously earnedon behalf of the 25th, or Theodore Roosevelt, favoring aCivil War and the Spanish American War and mentioned Medal of Honor for "gallantry") and served well in Cuba,fellow Spanish-American war veteran was willing withoutin so many history books was indeed a rare find and a real his rise to rank was much more akin to that of an ambitiousanimosity to overlook McCaskey\'s initial support of thetreasure. I hope my modest account does justice to the rabbit. McCaskey may have outranked him in 1876 but inmen of the 25th. Respecting the abilities of McCaskey, helife of an old soldier of the Old Army, William Spencer 1906 it was Garlington who outranked him. promoted the old soldier to major general\'s rank on AprilMcCaskey, a man who not only participated in history but 15, 1907, with the following salutation: witnessed it first-hand. ArizonaRealCountry.com August 2022 55'