06/26/2026
On June 25-27, 2026, the National Park Service, in partnership with tribal nations, elected officials, descendants, historians, and community partners, will honor the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. This commemoration will offer opportunities for reflection, learning, and cultural exchange. Did you know of the Dousman family connection to this historic event?
The following information is an exert from the newly published Wisconsin Historical Society Press book, 𝘈𝘯 𝘌𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘌𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘝𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘓𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘴 by historian Mary Elise Antoine.
Nina Dousman's younger brother, James Garland Sturgis was the second child and eldest son of Samuel Davis Sturgis and Jerusha Wilcox Sturgis, born 24 January 1854 at Albuquerque, New Mexico Territory. (Nina was born 20 April 1852 at Fort Leavenworth.)
Samuel Sturgis attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Upon his graduation, he was promoted to the US Army as Bvt. 2nd Lieutenant, 2nd Dragoons on 1 July 1842. Samuel made the US Army his career, so all of his children were born at a military post. Jack was born in New Mexico Territory. At that time, Samuel was engaged in skirmishes with the Jicarilla Apache's.
Samuel received promotions rising to Bvt. Lt. Colonel in August 1861. By this date, the United States had been divided by a Civil War. Samuel received a promotion to Brigadier General of US Volunteers. He held this title until the end of the war, when the US Volunteer army was dissolved. Samuel then reverted to his pre-war commission of colonel. On 6 May 1869, he was placed in command of the 7th Cavalry. His second in command was Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer.
At the age of seventeen, Jack entered the US Military academy. As he approached graduation, Samuel pled with Jack to seek placement in the artillery branch of the military. But upon graduation, he chose the cavalry and was promoted to 2nd lieutenant in the 7th Cavalry. Therefore, he stood under the command of his father. At first, Jack held several administrative assignments within the regiment, including court martial duty, perhaps at his father’s order.
Finally, Jack reported for duty at Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory in October 1875. He was then assigned to Company M at Fort Rice on the upper Missouri River in Dakota Territory. Jack’s duties at Fort Rice listed him as signal officer. He was the youngest officer in the regiment.
In the spring of 1868, a conference had been held at Fort Laramie, in present-day Wyoming, which resulted in a treaty with the Sioux (Brule, Oglala, Miniconjou, Yanktonai, Hunkpapa, Blackfeet, Cuthead, Two Kettle, Sans Arcs, and Santee) and the Arapaho The goal of the treaty was to bring peace between White settlers and the tribes, who agreed to relocate to the Black Hills in the Dakota Territory. All the tribes involved gave up many thousands of acres of land that had been promised in earlier treaties but retained hunting and fishing rights in their older territory. They also agreed not to attack railroads or settlers.
In exchange, the U.S. Government established the Great Sioux Reservation, consisting of a large portion of the western half of what is now the state of South Dakota, including the Black Hills, which are sacred to the Sioux people.
Many of the Sioux and Cheyenne refused to live on a reservation. The US Commissioner of Indian Affairs ordered those members of the two Indian nations to move to reservation by January 1, 1876. Many refused and thus began the Great Sioux War 1876-77. There had been numerous skirmishes between the Sioux and Crow tribes, so when the Sioux were in the valley in 1876 without the consent of the Crow, the Crow asked for the US Army to expel the Sioux. In the spring of 1876, the US Army began a massive campaign to remove the Lakota who refused to live on reservation lands and force them to comply with the treaty stipulations. (See detailed history below).
With Colonel Sturgis on recruiting service at St. Louis, Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, second in command, was placed in command of twelve companies of the 7th Cavalry. Custer reassigned officers for the expedition. Company E was under the command of Lt. Algernon Smith. Jack was placed as second in command to Smith.
There were twelve companies within the 7th Cavalry. To add to unit cohesion and to aid in identification, in 1868 Custer had reorganized the regiment. He assigned each company a different horse color. Company E was exclusively issued all grey or white horses. Company E came to be known as the “Grey Horse Company.”
Company E, marching towards the Little Bighorn, was composed of 39 men. All the men of the company and their horses were killed on 26 June 1876 in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Among the dead were Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer and 2nd Lieutenant James Garland Sturgis.
The Sturgis family received notice of Jack’s death with the delivery of a telegram dated July 6 and sent by General Ruggles, assistant adjutant to General Terry, who had overall command of the expedition against the Sioux. Upon learning that the Sturgis family had received the telegram, the St. Louis Globe-Republican dispatched a reporter to learn the details and found the family in “deep grief.” The newspaper printed the contents of the telegram:
"It becomes my painful duty, in accordance with telegraphic instructions just received for Gen. Terry, to inform you that Lieut. Sturgis was killed in battle with the Sioux, June 25. I have as yet no particulars; will telegraph you the moment I receive further information. I beg to extend to you an expression of the sincere condolence of the Commanding General and myself, and the other officers of this command in your affliction."
Within a few days, after an inspection of the battlefield and the burial of the dead, the Sturgis family learned that the body of Jack, and two other officers, had not been found. Only his uniform shirt had been found on the battlefield.
In October 1876, Samuel assumed command of the 7th Cavalry and was posted to Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory. Jerusha and the Sturgis children traveled with him. Nina and Louis remained in St. Louis, where they were living. In 1877, Louis had a portrait of Jack painted by John Dabour.
In September 1878, Jerusha, or Mrs. General Sturgis, which was the correct term by which to address her, and her daughters Ella and Mamie visited the Little Bighorn battlefield. The newspaper speculated that Jerusha had been “spurred on the probably vain hope that among the collected bones may be discovered those of her son Lieut. Sturgis of the 7th Cavalry.” Contrary to the idle speculation in the newspaper, Jerusha made the journey hoping to find closure.
The soldiers of the 7th Cavalry, hoping to assist Jerusha, created a fictional grave for Jack on the battlefield and marked it with a crude wood sign. Though Jack’s remains have not been recovered to this day, in 1890 a headstone for Lt. James G. Sturgis was placed at the site of the wooden sign.
In June 1926, Nina visited her son Louis de Vierville and his wife Sarah in Billings. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn and Nina had been invited to attend a gathering of the US 7th Regiment and men from the Sioux and Cheyenne Nations. The purpose of the gathering was to renew a pledge of peace between the groups that had once fought here. The Crow leader White-Man-Runs-Him and a Lakota leader, (not named) to smoke a pipe of peace and “smoke away forever the old hatreds.” There was a ceremonial burying of the hatchet led by General E. S. Godfrey.
Various political dignitaries from the plains states attended. But only two family members representing the men of the 7th Regiment were invited to attend: Libbie (Mrs. George Armstrong) Custer and Nina Sturgis Dousman. A Montana newspaper singled out Nina, with the headline “Daughter of Seventh Cavalry is Here for Custer Observance.” Before leaving for Montana, Nina had visited Libbie Custer. Libbie was unable to attend the ceremonies due to health. The newspaper reported that Mrs. Custer said to Nina, ““I thank you. I thank you.” Mrs. Custer’s voice broke and she was unable to speak for several minutes.” The event achieved national newspaper coverage.
In 1881, a granite memorial was erected on Last Stand Hill by the War Department. The remains of soldiers and attached personnel buried on the field were collected and re-interred in a mass grave around the base of the granite memorial on Last Stand Hill. In 1890, Army personnel erected more than 240 white marble markers at the locations of the fallen 7th cavalrymen.
At a visit to the battlefield by a member of the Sturgis family, grasses and ferns were collected. They were pressed and dried. A member of the family painted at least two watercolors in memory of Jack and the battle, including the fauna as part of the artwork. The paintings were framed. Two of the memorials are in the Villa Louis collection. They are not dated. The monument depicted is different from the granite monument placed on the battlefield in 1881. The 1877 portrait of Jack and the and the watercolor memorial still hang in the Sitting Room at the Villa Louis today like they did when the family was in residence in the 1890s.
For more information on the Battle of the Little Big Horn please visit: https://www.nps.gov/libi/learn/historyculture/battle-story.htm
📷Bvt. 2nd Lt. James G. Sturgis, by C.W. Wright, St. Louis, Missouri, c1875.
📷Jerusha Wilcox Sturgis with James Garland (Jack) Sturgis and Nina Linn Sturgis Dousman, c1855.
📷Memorial to Lt. James G. Sturgis, VL1952.1.12
📷 View of Villa Louis Sitting Room
