Reno's Chief Accuser

[deadwoodgultch]

Frederick Whittaker: Custer’s First Biographer
By David Osborn
Site Manager, St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site
May 2006
A cavalry officer, best-selling novelist and spiritualist, Frederick Whittaker is one of the
more intriguing figures buried in the historic cemetery at St. Paul’s Church National
Historic Site. He wrote the first and perhaps still most controversial biography of George
A. Custer, the American cavalry officer killed atthe Battle of the Little Big Horn in June
1876. A Mt. Vernon resident for 20 years, Whittaker worshipped at St. Paul’s Church,
and died under mysterious circumstances117 years ago this month.
He was born in England in 1838 and immigrated to New York as a youngster when his
father fled to avoid debtor’s prison. In 1861, the 23-year-old was 5’6”, with light hair and
blue eyes when he volunteered to help the Union fight the rebellious South, joining the
6th New York Cavalry, lured by the glamourof the horse-riding wing of the army.
Eventually rising to captain, Whittaker fought with distinction in some of the war’s major
engagement, including Gettysburg; he was also wounded, captured, paroled and
exchanged.
After the war, he purchased a home on South 7th Avenue in Mt. Vernon with money
donated by an English relative. Whittaker married Elizabeth May at St. Paul’s on August
2, 1870, and the couple eventually had three daughters, all baptizedat the church. A
prominent educator, Elizabeth served as principal of a Mt. Vernon elementary school, a
rare achievement for a woman in the 19th Century.
The former Union cavalry officer, too, taught school briefly, but, perhaps driven by the
same romantic, creative impulse that drew him toward the cavalry, he quickly turned to a
writing career, contributing to the Army and Navy Journal, and many widely circulated
magazines. In addition, he developed a large and devoted readership base as a pulp
fiction writer, producing more than 80 novels over a period of 15 years. From his secondstory writing studio on South 7th Avenue, he wrote tales set on the colonial frontier, in
the Wild West and in Napoleonic Europe; his characters were always brave and dashing
figures.
Whittaker met Custer in 1874 at the New York offices of a magazinethat was publishing
the lieutenant colonel’s memoirs, and the two became friendly. Custer’s annihilation at
the infamous Battle of the Little Big Horn, by combined bands of Sioux and Cheyenne
warriors June 25-26, 1876, changed Whittaker’s life. Within six months of the defeat,
Whittaker published the two-volume, A Complete Life of General George A. Custer.
He created a lofty image of his deceased friend Custer as a fearless and brilliant soldier,
and “a great man one of the few really greatmen that America has produced.”

Whittaker also cast blame for the defeat at LittleBig Horn on Major Marcus Reno, who had
retreated with his contingent of the 7th Cavalry, allowing the Indians to focus on Custer’s
command. The charge against Reno set the context for debate over the battle that
continues to this day.
In the 1880s, Whittaker dabbled in spiritualism, a belief in communication with the dead,
an acceptable pursuit in the 19th Century, especially for the bereaved. His continued
interest in history led him to help establish a local historical society that still exists. The
author died under circumstances seemingly scripted for a murder mystery, May 13, 1889,
in his Mt. Vernon home. As he toppled down the staircase, a bullet discharged from the
38-calibre pistol he usually carried, lodging in his head. Whittaker was known to be in
debt, a possible motive for suicide; a coroner’s jury deadlocked on the question of
accidental or intentional death. Elizabeth, however, in applying for a widow’s soldier’s
pension, asserted, stretching, that the death was suicide -- the climax of tensions created
25 years earlier from her husband’s Civil War combat experience. The argument was
accepted by the sympathetic War Department, and she received a monthly widow’s
pension until her death in 1925.
Whittaker was interred in the St. Paul’s graveyard on May 15. Beadle and Adams, his
pulp fiction publisher, continued to reissue the author’s novels into the 20th Century,

and his volumes on Custer inspired many biographers and film makers.

Please note that I have not inserted my opinions in yellow or other colors, to give the unwashed masses guidance. 

Regards,

Tom

[Beth]

I didn't realize how much of a cavalry mindset WHittaker had. He had Custer led rather parallel lives.

[quincannon]

What would you have inserted in yellow had you Tom, that he was AKA as Freddie the Pimp?

You may have noticed that I have a lot of heartburn with people who intentionally bring discredit upon people, based upon supposition and innuendo, based upon no or incomplete analysis of fact, especially those that do it for profit. I emphasize intentionally here, for there is a lot of information out there that lead one down the garden path of misinformation. The internet can be a wonderful tool. It can also be a dangerous cancer in obtaining fact.

Didn't that pistol go off while it was in his pocket? Must be so, I read that on the internet. Also read in the same place, that he fell up the stairs (both no kidding). I would love to see AZ weigh in on this, as to probability/possibility.

[BrevetorCoffin]

I appreciate the fact, Tom, that you acknowledge most of us have IQs in the 100+ range, can interpret for ourselves when someone is so full of s**t their eyes are turning brown and we do not need to be spoon-fed agenda. Grazie Mille.

We also have the good sense not to fudge job applications. Happy Friday all (except I beleve it is Saturday morning for Mac and the wee hours for Ian).

Best,

David

[dave]

I notice that all those who were acquainted with Reno seem to have had serious problems in their lives. George Custer, Tom Custer, the majority of the officers of the 7th, Whittaker and many others. It is almost as Reno's life was terminally affected by the Little Big Horn. He lived the rest of his life under the shadow of cowardice and attempting to prove his manhood.

Few men suffered as much as Reno starting with his wife's death in 1874 through the turmoil of the LBH, his Court of Inquiry, the rest of his military career till his death nine years after his court-martial and dismissal from the army. Even the manner of death was excruciating as was his whole life. I honestly believe he had no friends to stand by him and that is pitiful.
Regards
Dave

[quincannon]

War is hell. In many ways the only winners are the dead, and all those that survive are the losers. The difference in the losers, is that most learn to cope with the loss, while many, too many never do. In this regard, the strength of character they had going in is the only prayer they have to help them come out. Even that can fail.

We expect too much. We judge too quickly. We cut slack to infrequently. We keep our helping hands in our pockets. All because we see our own frailty on display in the faces of others, and it scares us to such an extent we avoid the vision of it.