Remembering Our Civil War Heritage and
Heroes:
1861-1865
Major Guido Ilges
(1835-1918): Indian Wars Hero to Disgrace—Part 2
By
Ken Robison
For The River Press
April 24, 2013
This
continues a monthly series commemorating the 150th Anniversary of
the Civil War and the veterans that settled in Central Montana. This month concludes
the adventures of Civil War hero Guido Ilges as he commanded Fort Benton
Military Post during the Indian Wars Army before resigning in disgrace.
Many Civil
War veterans served in the Indian Wars in frontier Montana. Among these was the
colorful and popular Major Guido Ilges who like many German immigrants served
in the Civil War and continued to make the Army a career after the war. Major
Ilges served with distinction during the Civil War and the Montana Indian Wars,
commanding the Fort Benton Military Post from 1875-79, only to fall victim to
bad judgment, court martial, and disgrace.
Prussian-born
Guido Joseph Julius Ilges (1835-1918) was a natural soldier and leader. During the
Civil War he rose to the rank of Captain in the Union army, earning brevets to
lieutenant colonel for gallantry in the Wilderness and at Spotsylvania. He
remained a Captain in the 14th Infantry Regiment after the war and served
in the Southwest during the Apache Indian Wars. Stationed in Arizona, Capt.
Ilges was active in scouting and operations against the hostile Apaches. In
April 1867, Capt. Ilges led a scouting expedition against Apaches in the Tonto
Basin and one year later fought at Cottonwood Springs.
In 1867 he
rescued a seven-year-old boy named Ernest Amelung, who had been captured by the
Apaches. Capt. Ilges adopted the boy as his ward, sending him to San Francisco
to live with Ilge’s aunt until relatives could be located. Finally, an uncle was
located near Frankfurt, Germany, and Ernst
was sent to live with him. About 1882, when Amelung was twenty-two, he returned
to the United States, securing work as an interpreter in the War Department. He
began a long search for the man who had saved his life, and finally found Ilges
in 1912 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Promoted to
Major, December 10, 1873, Ilges joined the 7th Infantry Regiment
under Col. John Gibbon in frontier Montana Territory. Assigned to command the
Fort Benton Military District, Maj. Ilges became a popular and respected figure
around that lively head of navigation town.
On September
25, 1877 with a depleted company from the 7th Infantry and a strong
mounted civilian volunteer column, Ilges fought the Nez Perce at Cow Creek
Canyon, suffering light casualties. [See this author’s series “Facing Danger
Down: Fort Benton Men in the Nez Perce War,” available online at fortbenton.blogspot.com]
In 1883 Ilges responded to an account of
the Nez Perce War with which he took exception. In his letter to the Benton Record of August 12, 1883, Ilges
wrote:
“In justice to one enlisted man, Private
Bundy, Company B, Seventh Infantry, and thirty-seven citizen volunteers under
my command, I desire to say that this [Ilges’] column took up its line of march
from Fort Benton at noon of the 21st of September, 1877, crossing
the Missouri at Fort Claggett, and reaching the opposite shore of Cow Island on
the evening of September 24th, six hours after the departure of the
Nez Perces from that point and having traveled about two hundred miles; that
this column on the morning of the following day (September 25th)
crossed the Missouri, followed the trail of the Nez Perces leading up Cow
creek, overtook these Indians at noon and engaged in a battle of two hours’
duration with them, during which one volunteer and several Indians were killed;
that during the following night I dispatched two of my volunteers, Charles
Bucknam and William Gantes, as couriers to General Miles, paying them for their
dangerous service the sum of $300; that these two couriers delivered my letter
of information as to the whereabouts of the Nez Perces on September 26th
to General Miles, who was then operating on the eastern slope of the Little
Rockies, and that they conducted as guides Gen’l Miles and his command to Snake
creek, where the final capture took place after five days’ severe fighting.
“Although these services rendered by my
command have for some unaccountable reason never been publicly recognized,
either officially or otherwise, I hold in my possession a private note from
Gen. Miles of subsequent date, in which he acknowledges the receipt of my
information and service rendered, of which he made such good use.
“In justice to my independent command, I
claim that the same discovered the trail of the Nez Perces, after evading the
different commands in pursuit, and the exact location of their crossing of the
Missouri; that it relieved the dangerous position of Fort Claggett; that it
saved by its prompt advance and pursuit two steamboats (then near Cow Island)
and over one hundred tons of Government freight; that harassed, fought and delayed
the Nez Perces for about two days, and that it furnished the information to
General Miles which rendered final success probable and even possible. Guido
Ilges Lieut. Col. 18th Infantry.”
While Ilges
exaggerated the impact of his small Army and civilian force, no doubt their
greatest contributions were delaying the movement of the Nez Perces to safety
and the intelligence delivered by scouts Bucknum and Gantes to Col. Nelson
Miles.
National
interest and newspaper coverage of Montana’s Indian Wars of 1876-78 was
intense. On June 2, 1878 the New York
Times headlined, “An Indian War Threatened. News From Sitting Bull—Hostile
Demonstrations—A Speech From the Old Chief—Runners Dispatched to Arouse the
Northern Tribes.
“Special Dispatch to the New York Times. Chicago, June 1.—Some
interesting intelligence concerning the movements of the Indians in the
North-western Dominion has just been received at military head-quarters in this
city. Under date of about a month ago Major Guido Ilges, commanding a detachment
of the Seventh Infantry, stationed at Fort Benton, Montana, reports to Gen.
Sheridan that from reliable information at hand he is convinced that the
hostile Sioux under Sitting Bull, encamped at the eastern extreme of the
Cypress Hills, British America, design an early excursion southward for scalps
and plunder. The officer [Ilges] states that the situation seems to him so
serious that he felt it to be his duty to bring it to the notice of the proper
authorities. At that time he claimed that there were encamped at the place
designated about 1,400 lodges, at least 2,000 of the dwellers in which were
warriors. Only a short time prior Major Ilges had been told by Major Irvine,
commanding officer [of the North West Mounted Police] at Fort Walsh, that there
was no dependence to be placed on the peaceable professions of the Indians
under Sitting Bull. Their demeanor was overbearing and defiant, and they were
mistrusted by the Canadian authorities. Major Irvine had also said that he
regarded the outlook as of so grave a nature that he was in favor of removing
Fort Walsh to a more suitable site for defensive purposes.
“Major Ilges also reported information to
the effect that the hostiles had assembled at Sitting Bull’s camp on a certain
day, and were harangued for several hours by that chief. Some 20 or 30 young
bucks dressed in blouses and pantaloons stripped, from dead soldiers on the
Custer battle-field, were paraded for the purpose of exciting a war feeling.
Old Sitting Bull told the assembled warriors that he had fled from the
Yellowstone country because he wanted to, and not because he was afraid of the
whites. He said he could not live there for the stench arising from the dead
bodies of the soldiers he had slain. He longed for fresh air, and crossed the
line expecting to find the true sons of the mother chief, but instead, he
added, he had found only Canadians, snakes, and crabs, and they had all lied to
him. He boasted that when the grass grew he would “make the Canadians weep,”
after which they would retreat to the Yellowstone.
“During the delivery of these remarks
Sitting Bull became so excited that he removed the clothing which he wore, and
tore it into shreds, this performance being wildly applauded by the thousands
of bucks and squaws present. This was followed by a war-dance, and on the next
day runners were dispatched to all the neighboring tribes both north and south
of the line, inviting them to a grand council to be held early in May. Word was
sent by the hostiles to the [Metis and Cree] half-breeds on Milk River, warning
them of the coming danger, and the latter fled in dismay.
“In a communication of a later date, Major
Ilges reports to Gen. Sheridan information gathered while making an inspection
of the soldiers’ graves at Snake Creek. At Old Fort Belknap he learned that the
Gros Ventres and Assiniboines had accepted Sitting Bull’s invitation, and had
nearly all gone to the Cypress. A few lodges had refused to go, and were
encamped at Sweet Grass Hills. Major Ilges reported that they have certainly
crossed the line, and for no good purpose. The half-breeds, with the exception
of three families, had all fled from Milk River Valley before Major Ilges
reached there. They were fearful that the Sioux would murder them. The American
half-breeds, some 42 families, had fled South, while the other 65 families,
whose nativity is unknown, had gone north to the neighborhood of Fort Walsh.”
By the
summer of 1878, the Third Infantry Regiment had relieved the Seventh at Fort
Shaw and Fort Benton. On October 22, Maj. Ilges used his Fort Benton based
Third Infantry Company to capture a camp of 35 Metis from the Red River in
Canada, and returned them northward across the border.
In December 1879
Maj. Ilges transferred to the Fifth Infantry at Fort Keogh, near today’s Miles
City. One year later with five companies from his new regiment, he moved
through bitter winter weather from Fort Keogh to Camp Poplar on the Missouri
River. On January 2, 1881 with about 300 officers and men, Maj. Ilges attacked
a strong camp of Sioux on the north side of the Missouri River, killing eight
and forcing about 300 to surrender. One week later some 20 additional Sioux
were captured, and on the 29th of January 64 more were taken,
without casualties to the U.S. Army troops except for many cases of frostbite
because of the bitterly cold weather. Among the captured Sioux were warriors
Gall and Iron Dog who had participated in the Custer defeat on the Little Big
Horn River five years earlier. Continuing to pursue the hostile Sioux, Maj.
Ilges arrested 185 in a Yankton camp at Redwater, Mont. on February 12, 1881.
One year later on February 6, 1882, Ilges was promoted Lieutenant Colonel of
the 18th Infantry.
In 1883 Lt.
Col. Ilges found himself with financial problems and was charged with conduct
unbecoming an officer and a gentleman and in violation of the 61st
article of war for depositing duplicate pay accounts. Col. Ilges pleaded “not
guilty” to the charges, and was court martialed. His trial was conducted in St.
Paul from 17-20 July.
Col. Ilges admitted
his errors, but denied any intent to defraud anyone, stating in his address to
the court:
“Has this act on my part, under the
circumstances shown, rendered me a fit subject to be branded by you as a felon;
to be hurled from the high position of an officer and a gentleman to the level
of a criminal, to be loathed and shunned by honest men? I think not! . . . I am
compelled to come to you, not asking for mercy, but for simple justice to
preserve for me my standing as an officer and a gentleman . . . You will rather
remember some good act of my life and my twenty-two years of faithful and hard
service to the country in determining as to my intent.”
Despite his eloquent
protestation, the court found Lt. Col. Ilges guilty of financial
irregularities, although no dishonesty was involved. The court recommended his
dismissal from the Army. President Chester A. Arthur approved the
recommendation, and on October 31, 1883 Guido Ilges was cast out of the Army.
Ilges’
friends in Fort Benton rose to his defense. The Benton Record of October 27 editorialized, “We cannot allude to the
recent action of the President in approving the sentence by which
Lieutenant-Colonel Ilges was dismissed from the army, without emotions of grief
and indignation. . . Col. Ilges had climbed too high upon the military ladder
for a man who was without family influence. His sole claim to preferment was,
that for long years he had undergone all the privations attendant upon early
campaigning in this country; that he had conducted the most successful
campaigns ever made against the Indians in this country; that he had furnished
information which made it possible for Miles to capture Chief Joseph; that his
energy was unequalled and his bravery unsurpassed; that no man in this country
who ever knew him did not recognize in him the brave soldier, the courteous
gentlemen, the steadfast friend.”
The Record kept up the drumbeat of
support in its news columns, “Just how much sympathy is felt for Colonel Ilges,
the gallant officer whose unjust sentence has been referred to in these
columns, among the men he had commanded so long, may be judged from this
incident: When Troops B and K, of the Second Cavalry, left Assinnaboine last
week, and were marching by the Colonel’s headquarters, the band involuntarily
wheeled about and played with spirit the grand old tune, ‘Hail to the Chief.’
Every soldier in the ranks drew up his horse and burst into cheers over the
pretty compliment paid the man they all so much admired and then in silence
rode away. That Colonel Ilges fully appreciated the mark of respect cannot be
doubted. In fact, he was completely broken down and was forced to retire. There
will never be a man in the army who can obtain such a hold upon his men as
Colonel Ilges has today and the sentence which deprives him of his position
also deprives the government of one of the best officers that ever entered the
service.”
After the
crushing blow of dismissal, Ilges traveled around Montana speaking of the
Apache Wars and his other experiences to enthusiastic and supportive audiences.
Eventually,
civilian Guido Ilges settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, and began working for
German-language newspapers there. For eighteen years Ilges worked as a
journalist in Cincinnati and then another thirteen years as a weight master at
a hay market.
In March
1905 a Cincinnati reporter visited the old soldier just as he was celebrating
his 67th birthday. The journalist described his visit with Guido
Ilges, “The tall [6 feet two inches], commanding form of this distinguished old
soldier looms up into the cupola of the little shanty when he rises from the
little old desk where he keeps his accounts and at the side of which he adjusts
the balance for the loads of hay and other produce and all sorts of things
needing certified weighings. The bronze of many campaigns during the great
Civil War and of many marches against Apache and Uncapapa Sioux clings to his
face and reminds one immediately of the Indians, against whom he marched and
fought for many years.
By 1917 Ilges
was crippled from war wounds, nearly blind, and almost destitute. As a last
resort to avoid the poorhouse, he applied for a pension based on his Civil War
service, rising from Private to brevet Lt. Col. After a lengthy delay, his
pension was granted finally for thirty dollars per month. Yet, Civil War hero Lt.
Col. Guido Ilges never cashed his first pension check—he died Jan 13, 1918 a
few days before it arrived.
[Sources: Benton Record; 12 Aug 1883, 27 Oct 1883;
Washington Evening Star 19 April, 26
April 1861; Unident Cincinnati Newspaper 19 Mar 1905; New York Times 2 Jun
1878; Civil War Service Records; Official Report 146, War of the Rebellion; U.S.
Census 1860-1910; Byron Farwell. Encyclopedia
of 19th Century Land Warfare. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001, p.
415; Guy
V. Henry. Military record of civilian appointments in the United States Army,
347-48; Encyclopedia of Frontier
Biography, vol. 2; http://www.guilfordgreys.com/14th_US-Regiment_and_Battles.htm ]
Photos:
1.
Major
Guido Ilges in the center of his men of the 5th Infantry Regiment.
(Courtesy of OHRC)
