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Survivor Frank Finkel’s Lasting StandWild West | 20 comments | Print This Post | Email This Post Perhaps leery of his status as a ?deserter? — Custer had ordered some deserters shot in 1867, leading to his own court-martial conviction and a year’s suspension — Finkle discovered that his entire company had been wiped out at the Little Bighorn. His own name appeared, fourth from the bottom on the front page of the Bismarck Tribune. Now officially dead, he may have decided that he?d had enough of the Army. He later told his second wife that he tried to claim a discharge but was unable to prove he?d been a soldier without two witnesses — which sounds like a coverup for the fact that his successful escape could also be construed as desertion in the face of the enemy. He knocked around St. Louis for about a year working in the dairy business, then visited California and discovered Dayton, Wash. Finkle used his sparse money and his skills in carpentry and farming to speculate in land, building thriving farms, then selling some of them and buying more vacant land. In 1886 — near his birthday — he married Delia Rainwater, the daughter of Jacob Rainwater, one of the most prosperous farmers and civic leaders in Dayton. Finkle signed the marriage certificate book ?Finckle? but the marriage license ?Finkle.? On his wedding night, Finkle’s teenage bride asked about the old gunshot wound on his left side. He told her he?d been shot in a fight with some Indians. He didn?t say where the fight took place. The slug eventually worked its way to the surface, and Frank had a surgeon take it out. Subscribe Today
Through the 1890s, Finkle continued to buy and sell farms — and his signed name gradually shifted from ?Finkle? to ?Finkel.? The lot numbers and Delia’s name indicate he was the same person. By 1920, Frank and Delia had four children — three lived to grow up, including Ben, who served several terms in the Idaho Legislature — and they were moderately wealthy and respected citizens of Dayton. In April 1920, at a game of horseshoes perhaps lubricated by beer, Frank unexpectedly went public with his status as a Custer survivor. Another farmer made some remarks about poor old Custer being ambushed by Indians. ?You don?t know what the hell you?re talking about,? Frank said bluntly. ?How do you know so much about it?? his crusty neighbor shot back. ?I was there….? Somebody asked Frank to talk about the Battle of the Little Bighorn at the Dayton Kiwanis meeting, and after his neighbors hired a relief carpenter to finish a porch Frank was working on, he obliged. The article appeared in the April 8 issue of the local newspaper:
Nobody who knew him doubted he?d been there. The journalist obviously didn?t understand when Finkel used the term’skedaddled? and wrote ?kettler,? but the Civil War slang term for a panicked flight brands Finkel as a veteran of the Old Army. But Finkel told one more whopper that compromised his story for future generations. Frank had joined the Army in 1872, a year after the Franco-Prussian War, and lived and worked in Dayton through the later 19th century, when the hard-working, music-loving Germans were the best-loved minority in America. World War I changed all that, and in 1920 the Germans were blamed for everything from ?German measles? to the influenza epidemic. Finkel originally said that his name was on the roster, and made no bones about it when the story first broke. He also claimed to have had papers that were lost in a house fire that provided further confirmation. Later, when somebody found ?August Finckle? on the casualty list, his second wife appears to have fudged and denied that he?d ever been August Finckle — whose bogus birthplace was recorded as ?Berlin, Prussia.? When his second wife attempted to pursue the pension he could have won, she claimed that he?d enlisted under the name ?Frank Hall.? Frank Hall, 5-foot-6, brown eyes and 14 years older than Finkel, had deserted the 7th Cavalry in May of 1875, a year before the battle. Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to
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20 Comments to “Survivor Frank Finkel’s Lasting Stand”
Frank Finkel is my great great grandfather. I was raised in
Portland, Oregon and knew this story…teachers from my mom’s
generation and mine told us were were liars in class whenwe’d be
studying Custard’s Last Stand…that no one survived…we’d say
that wasn’t true. It feels great to know the REAL story has been
confirmed.
My Great Grandfather was Emler Finkel, my grandma was Lucy
Finkel and my mom is Donna Jean Roll-Hartel. My children read
about this story last fall and were so excited to share with their
history teachers.
Thank you to the writing who took the time to research this
incredible event our family has always known.
Traci Parsons
Oregon
By Traci on Nov 7, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Frank Finkel was my great uncle , we had always heard of the story also but never confirmed it untill a book was published in 1983 by Douglas W. Ellison ” Sole Survivor an Examining of the Frank Finkel Narritive ” . Mr. Ellison contacted my father the grandson of Joseph , brother of Frank , for information about the story . Tracy if possible I would like to contact you , Ray Finkel , Natrona Hgts , Pa
By Ray Finkel on Nov 20, 2008 at 1:43 pm
My name is John Koster and I wrote the article in the June 2007 edition of “Wild West” assisted by my wife and our researchers. The book “Custer Survivor” will be published next spring with, as I understand it, a roster of evidence including the authenicated signatures from 1872 and 1921 evaluated by a psychiatrist, a criminologist, and a genealogist. I was happy to see that Finkel descendants may now assert with Frank actually survived the Little Bighorn and was substantially telling the truth with confidence. Based on the records from the Oshkosh Public Museum nd Columbia County Courthouse he was an honest man who told a factual story which became twisted — and eventually preposterous — through no fault of his own. As his best friend Charles Windolph said: “He was a gallant soldier!”
By John Koster on Nov 28, 2008 at 10:37 am
I have the discharge papers of John Martin who was in company H of the 7th cavery. He was dischaged from the army on May 31st 1879. After the battle of Little Big Horn, he was fighting on 13th of September 1877 against Chief Josiph. I also have the bugle for the 7th cavery and I understand John Martin was the bugler for H company. I have the documents from the United States Government dated on June 1879
By Richard Thompson on Jan 20, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Frank Finkel was my grandfather Dyer Burgess Pettijohn’s brother in law. (My granfather married Mary Catherine Rainwater.) I was born in 1942 and remember as a child hearing about the survivor from Custer’s Last Stand being a relative from my father who was born in 1891. The first published record was in “True Magazine” in the 1950’s.
By Victor Pettijohn on Feb 2, 2009 at 2:55 am
frank`s my great great great great uncle i was told this story since i was little and up till now i have not found out it was true i am proud to be a descendant of a great man and a brave war hero.
By stephen harper on Mar 25, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I used to have the book, “I Survived the Battle of the Little Big Horn”. When I taught on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, several students used it for book reports, and I didn’t get it back.
Disappointing!
I would like to find the book just to have it. It wasn’t a thick book, perhaps 150 pages. The author’s story was corroborated by later statements of several indians who said that they saw a man riding fast to the Northeast, slumped over in the saddle, like he had been wounded. To make a long story short, He kept his secret because He didn’t want to be charged with desertion. In the 1920’s he went to the doctor complaining of stomach pain. The doctor checked him out and removed a bullet of the kind and size used at the “Battle”.
I found it to be a facinating story, and immediately believed it to be true because of the way the man told it. Like he was really there, from personal knowledge of the events of the day.
The man lived out his life, dying in the early thirties.
If you can help me find a copy I could purchase, please let me know.
Thank you,
Loren Soule
By Loren Soule on Mar 26, 2009 at 2:02 pm
I grew up in Craigmont, Idaho and our family farm was located close to Ben Finkle’s farm. My parents told me of this story when I was a young boy and one time while we were visiting the Finkel’s I asked Ben about it. He told me the story basically as it was told in this writing. I have always been convinced that this was true as Mr. Finkle was a man of his word.
Mike Watson
Lewiston, Idaho
By Mike Watson on Mar 29, 2009 at 11:54 pm
This is John Koster, author of the article about Frank Finkel in “Wild West” and the forthcoming book “Custer Survivor.” Will any Finkle descendants or family friends who don’t object to being quoted in a magazine story please get in touch with me. My email address is JPK07452@aol.com and my telephone number is 201-445-1343. Sergeant Finkel was a gallant soldier and an honest man and people who scoffed as his (true) claims to be a Custer survivor should know this.
By John Koster on Jun 10, 2009 at 7:05 pm
I am a history buff on Custer and the Liittle bighorn. While in the 1st Cav US Army I studed everything I coul find (Retired in 1995. Some researchers agree on the fact that Finckle/Fincle was a trooper in the 7th CAv. Some say enlistmsannt records show there may have been two Fincle troopers at that time? Road construction workers in the 40’s, found a long dead Cav horse bones, saddle, spencer rifle, brass hardware, half under dirt remains near a river some miles away suggesting that a trroper might have survived. Some say that Fincle was not over 5,11 . His story as told in the 30’s tended to be modest and sounded truthfull but also had some holes in it, example how he played dead shot one indian then found a cabin and two men out in the far boondocks, could not remember much more?? He was shot in the back heil/foot and cut on the face and so on. He refushed to meet with a man still alive in the 30’s from the 7Cav who he claimed to know? Still it is a great story . After the battle many dead could not be IDed , some of the mounts came from KY and could out run the shorter legged poney of the red men so it could be true however Fincle did not say anything about his Co Cpt Tom Custer or at what momment he left the action/battle. So one can not pin point the facts close if he was a real survivor. Some say that he may have been a deserter 2 times and the 2nd time used his own name? Thus did not want to give all the true facts, still it is a great story . I served in the 1st Cav in Korea 1960 Garry Owen..
By Greg Stoner on Jun 12, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Greg, This is John Koster. Thanks for the “great story” comment. A couple of points (1) the 7th Cavalry carried Springfields, not Spencers in 1876 — but a sorrel horse that may have been Finkle’s C Company horse was found at the confluence of the Rosebud and Yellowstone, 80 miles from the Little Bighorn, with the carbine still in the scabbard; (2) the story that Finkle refused to meet another 7th Cavalry veteran is bogus — Charles Windolph didn’t find out that Finkle had survived until after Finkle had died in 1930. (3) there was only one Finkle on the roster ; (4) the story about shooting an Indian after the battle didn’t appear until 1948 and came from Finkle’s second wife, Hermie Speey Finkel Billmeyer — Finkle’s first wide, Delia Rainwater, was part Cherokee and there may have been some projection there. (5) Hermie mentioned that Tom Custer had been Finkle’s company commander and listed all the other sergeants correctly. Neighbors who remember Frank Finkle say that he was a quiet, honest type of man, and the stories that he himself told, as opposed to what Hermie and reporters she talked to afterwards wrote in the newspapers, are all modest and straightfoward. He and a half-dozen others broke out when C Company collapsed but the others were all killed or fatally wounded. (Nathan Short got 25 miles before his horse fell on him and they both died together.) Last but not least, if you can find the article in “Wild West,” check the signatures from August Finkle in 1872 and Frank Finkel in 1921: same handscript. Best wishes.
By John Koster on Jun 14, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Looking for Stimpson, Abner P. (Veternan), Cass County. Enlisted in compan;y L, Second Cavalry as Bugler, Sept 14, 1861 at Niles, for 3 years, age 25. Mustered Oct 2, 1861. Re-enlisted Jan 5, 1864, at Mossy Creek, Tenn. Mustered March 29, 1864. Regimental Bugler April 1, 1864. Mustered out of Macson, Ga Aug 17, 1865.
I am confused that this website is too much and not know where is I looking for history of map for civil war. Hope this help me if get my e-mail? Thank you
By virginia on Jun 19, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Dear Virginia,
Call the National Archives in Washington DC and ask them to send you some NATF-86 forms for Old Military Records. If you fill one out with all the information you mentioned to the web site, they will send you the man’s personnel file. You can also look for Pension and Land Bounty claims in the same archive.
Best of luck,
John Koster
By John Koster on Jun 25, 2009 at 4:07 pm
As Carl Sagan, the prominent Astro-Physicist once said re: the possibility of UFO’s visiting earth and being extraterritorial in nature.
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof”
I think this statement also fits the Finkle Story. Remember, much of what happened at the Little Big Horn remains an enigma and will be forever open for debate as to who did what, when, and how.
Even many of the ‘known’ Indian Participants stories are in direct conflict with each other, may be self-serving and cannot be completely corroborated by anyone, then or now.
Am I saying the Finkle story is bogus. Absolutely Not!
Like you, I was not there so there is no way to prove or disprove the possibility of this nice story being fact or fiction.
The bottom line for me is this.
The burden of proof does not rest with I/we the readers, but with the author (Finkle) and the publishers of this account, i.e. those who propagate this story as being factual.
To date- not enough evidence can be offered to factually sustain or disprove the believability and credibility of this story. In the end this claim would never pass the standard/burden of proof in a court of law as much of it is based purely upon speculation and hearsay.
Much like UFOs I hope they and the Finkle story can one day be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
It makes for wonderful reading and folklore in the interim though.
By Herb L on Aug 6, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Carl Sagan was notably into denial about NDEs and claimed against solid evidence that they were memories of birth trauma, though he was not an MD. He also said that chimpanzees were nicer than we are with only a tourist’s knowledge of primates while Jane Goodall, a real expert who lived with chimps for decades, found to her dismay that they sometimes hunted smaller moneys for kicks or killed one another in family feuds. These are the facts. We have photographs to prove them. Sagan’s infatuation with Darwin as an antidote to religious beliefs that made him uncomfortable led to a reaction-formation that made him incapable of dealing with facts.
The staggering thing about the Frank Finkel case is that nobody ever studied it on a forensic basis — they preferred endless argumentation and debate. The information in “Custer Survivor” will offer documentary proof that would stand up in any criminal or inheritance case. The book also describes how the case got so tangled to begin with — racial prejudice of two different varieties was a big factor but so was the inability of people to think independently and realize that Custer wasn’t Errol Flynn and Indians are human beings — on the average, they have higher IQs than any other race. The Little Bighorn wasn’t Thermopylae either — Benteen and Walter Mason Camp confirmed that anywhere from a dozen to 18 bodies were never found — and when Charles Windolph went back to find Frank Finkel’s body, he couldn’t find it.
When you see the documentation for yourself, you may be convinced or you may choose not to be — but the facts are always the facts.
PS: I’d rather not find out that UFOs are real….they might be like too much like the rest of us….
John Koster
By John Koster on Aug 21, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Hi John,
Wow, I have been studying the Custer fight for most of my adult life, and have only herd murmers about a possible “genuine” battle survivor. I can’t wait to read about Frank Finkle in detail! Please, hook me up! Where can I read the whole story? Ken Stasiak
By Ken Stasiak on Sep 10, 2009 at 11:30 am
Ken –
“Custer Survivor” by John Koster will be in print at the end of the year and provides all the documents mentioned in the text. You should be able to buy it at Barnes & Noble or on Amazon. Thanks for your interest.
John Koster
By John Koster on Sep 10, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Question: Were Frank Finckle and August Finkcle the same height?
Where can I see examples of the hand writing?
I think this is a really big deal! (if true) What do some of the other Battle authorities think about this?
Come on, Big Deal, Need information,
PS need information
K.D. Stasiak
By Ken Stasiak on Sep 24, 2009 at 5:05 pm
August Finckle’s height was measured by the Army as 6 feet 1/2 inch in his 20s in 1872. Frank Finkel’s second wife said he was 6 feet tall in his 60s in the 1920s. (People generally lose an inch or so as they age. His hair color and eye color are also consistent.) The handwriting samples from the Army, from a card Finkel mailed in 1914, from the probate of his first wife’s will in 1921 and from his own will in 1930 all show the same handwriting patterns with allowances for the aging process. Two comparative signatures appeared in the June 2007 edition of “Wild West.” The new book “Custer Survivor” shows all the signatures on the original documents and stacks them up for comparison. Louise Barnett and Jeffrey Wert endorsed the research and I understand that Greg Michno thinks Finkle’s presence at the Little Bighorn is probably if not proven.
By John Koster on Sep 24, 2009 at 6:10 pm