|
|
Survivor Frank Finkel's Lasting StandWild West | Single Page | 26 comments | Print This Post | Email This Post Hermie probably never knew about the dead sorrel horse Godfrey found in August 1876 — color-keyed to C Company. ?Here was the one chance I knew of where a man may have escaped the fate of his comrades,? Godfrey wrote in a letter not mailed until 1921, after Finkel went public, and not published by E.A. Brininstool until after Finkel, Hermie and Windolph had all died. ?I have met several who claim to have escaped, and have heard of many others, but never one who identified himself by this incident.? Subscribe Today
Hermie certainly never knew that only C Company could have been a plausible source of survivors, because the C Company breakup and breakout wasn?t well-documented before Richard Allan Fox's groundbreaking study of the Little Bighorn in the 1980s. Something of the kind had certainly been suggested by Rain-in-the-Face in the 1894 interview, where he described a lone white survivor escaping past the Hunkpapa camp at the base of Calhoun Hill before the circle closed. ?We were better armed than the long swords,? Rain-in-the-Face said. ?Their guns wouldn?t shoot but once — the thing [ejector] wouldn?t throw out the empty cartridge shells….It was just like killing sheep. Some of them got on their knees and begged; we spared none.? Instead of expanding from the Rain-in-the-Face account, Hermie tried to peg Finkel to a white horse in a dubious Indian account — and overlooked the factual escape account of Rain-in-the-Face, a genuine and undoubted Little Bighorn warrior, who even claimed he had later seen Finkel in Chicago. Finkel correctly insisted that his horse had been a roan — a C Company sorrel. He knew the terrain well enough to satisfy the compulsive topographer Charles Kuhlman, who calibrated distances with three different odometers. Finkel used Old Army slang correctly, had gunshot wounds and a military bearing, and was a perfect forensic match for a man known to have fought at the Little Bighorn, who was supposedly buried there but who was never properly identified among the dead. Above all, Finkel described the battle not as romanticized in the 1880s through the 1940s, but as described by the 7th Cavalry survivors like Captain Frederick Benteen and the Indians in the 1870s, and clinched by the cartridge-case and slug analysis of Dr. Fox in the 1980s — a rout where C Company broke up and fled, scattering corpses (and one fugitive) all over the landscape before most resistance in the other four companies collapsed. Hermie Finkel fooled the people who tried to follow Frank's trail with her name game, but Frank Finkel really was a Custer survivor. The world that justified expansion, shrugged off graft, glorified Custer and defamed the Indians just wasn?t ready for one. New Jersey journalist John P. Koster, who with Robert Burnette wrote The Road to Wounded Knee (1974), says that InHye Lee contributed significant archival and editorial research to his story. Suggested for further reading: Archaeology, History, and Custer's Last Battle, by Richard Allen Fox; The Custer Myth, by Col. W.A. Graham; and Custer in ?76, by Kenneth Hammer. This article was written by John P. Koster and originally published in the June 2007 issue of Wild West Magazine. For more great articles, subscribe to Wild West magazine today! Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to
            Tags: Historical Conflicts, Wild West
 |
SPONSORED SITES
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||
What is HistoryNet?The HistoryNet.com is brought to you by the Weider History Group, the world's largest publisher of history magazines. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 5,000 articles originally published in our various magazines. If you are interested in a specific history subject, try searching our archives, you are bound to find something to pique your interest. |
From Our Magazines
|
Weider History Group |
Weider History Network: HistoryNet | Armchair General | Great History | Achtung Panzer! Copyright © 2010 Weider History Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. |
||
Loading ...
26 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
No thank you.
By NorPlains on Nov 27, 2009 at 3:31 am
If anybody's interested….the analysts who say "Finckle" and "Finkel" had the same handwriting in "Custer Survivor" were:
1. Dr. Thomas P. Lowry, MD, PA, psychiatrist, graduate of Stanford, taught medicine for many years, wrote 20 books on medicine, Civil War and frontier medicine and legal cases. Expert in handwriting of the Civil War era.
2. John Ydo, former police chief of Wyckoff, New Jersey, pre-med graduate, studied criminology at John Jay in NYC and handwriting with the FBI.
3. Keith Killion, former chief of detectives in Ridgewood, NJ, expert in detection of forgery.
4. Astrid Baker, high school in Baden, Germany, MLS from Rutgers, expert in German handwriting of previous centuries.
5. Sandra Luebking, editor of FORUM, a magazine of genealogy and an expert in inheritance cases in the US, Canada, UK, Netherlands and Germany.
They all say that the signatures from 1872 (Finckle, U.S. Army) and from 1921 (Finkel, Washington State farmer) were by the same person and that he was actually an American and not a Prussian. The book is now in print and you can see specimens for yourselves. Take care….John Koster
By John Koster on Jan 5, 2010 at 8:38 pm
PS: This just in. Mike Watson was the foster son of Ben Finkel, Frank Finkel's oldest son, who served 12 years in the Idaho legislature and was esteemed to his honesty. Ben told Mike Watson — own his foster son — that Frank Finkel had used the name "August Finckle" when he enlisted. .Time to revise all those textbooks?
By John Koster on Jan 7, 2010 at 10:03 am
Hey Guys,
So here's what I don't get; Frank Finkel shows the Kiwanis folks some letters addressed to:
Frank Finkle
7th Cavalry
Fort LIncoln.
Dakota Territory.,
However,he is using the name August at that time. I can't wrap my mind around that. Is it possible that they would still deliver to him letters addressed to Frank Finkle even though everybody knew him as George or August?…………….Ken S
By Ken Stasiak on Jan 19, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Ken (and everybody)
Frank Finkel's foster grandson, Mike Watson, recently remembered that Frank's son Ben told him that many years ago that Frank had used the name "August Finckle" when he enlisted in the Army.
Brian Finkel, a collateral relative, corrected one thing in the book — Peter Finckel, Frank's father, came not from Hanover but from the Rhineland and had served two hitches in the Bavarian Army before he emigrated to the Unitied States in the 1840s. (This confirms that there was no "Prussian officer" named "August Finckle," as I had independently confirmed with what's left of the Prussian State Archives in Berlin.) Everybody in the extended family knew this story and had no reasons to embellish it. The family geneaology and memories thus support Finkel's own statements and the forensic and handwriting case — he really was a survivor of the Little Big Horn.
John Koster
By John Koster on Feb 27, 2010 at 1:04 pm
John,
As a child I was told by my grandparents that we were distant relatives of the Custer family (we're from Michigan). Since then I have been reading everything I could find regarding the Battle of the Little Bighorn, including some of Dr. Fox's archeological work. I just finished your book and loved it! I found the arguments for the veracity of Frank's story to be compelling, and the human interest part of the story is as fascinating as the historical part. I pictured that the story would make a great movie, perhaps with a lead-in scene showing handwriting under a magnifying glass, followed by flashbacks. Maybe someone will pick up on this idea.
Has anyone sketched out a map of Frank Finkel's probable escape route, with troop and indian positions shown?
Congratulations for your excellent work, and I will be anxious to see this picked up in the mainstream media, as I am sure it soon will be.
Robert B. Schock, Ph.D.
By Bob Schock on Mar 6, 2010 at 12:24 pm