U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps: Wheels of War

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Moss chose 20 of the 40 infantrymen who volunteered for the expedition. The men ranged in age from 24 to 39 and were in top physical condition. Five were veterans of the previous year’s trials. Moss described the corps as ‘bubbling over with enthusiasm . . . about as fine a looking and well disciplined a lot as could be found anywhere in the United States Army.’ Also joining the corps were the assistant post surgeon, Dr. James M. Kennedy, and Edward Boos, a reporter for the Daily Missoulian newspaper.

Corps mechanic Private John Findley was an indispensable member of the unit, responsible for keeping the bicycles in top running condition. Damaged front crowns, front axles, pedals, and spokes would continually demand his mechanical expertise and ingenuity.

The cyclists pedaled out of Fort Missoula at 5:30 a.m. on June 14, 1897. When the soldiers reached Missoula they rode through town in an impressive, double-file formation as people lined the streets to cheer them on their way.

Unfortunately, the bright start quickly dimmed as heavy rains turned the road to mud. Lieutenant Moss noted in his official report that ‘we rolled our wheels through weeds and underbrush on the road side in order to avoid the mud, and then would carry them a few paces and stop for second wind, as it were.’ About 3:00 p.m. the weather began to clear, and ‘we stopped for an hour’s rest, after which the ride or rather the march was resumed over the muddy, hilly roads.’ It was an exhausting first day, but despite the wet weather the men managed to travel 54 miles.

Rain fell in torrents through the night, and by morning the road was completely impassable. Pushing off in a drizzling rain, the riders soon abandoned the road and traveled along the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks. Instead of mud the group endured bone-jarring jolts from mile after mile of railroad ties.

Near noon on the fourth day the corps trekked across the Continental Divide, enduring freezing temperatures and blowing sleet and snow that brought visibility down to less than 20 feet. Every so often the cyclists stopped to warm their hands and ears before pressing on. As they began their descent, melting snow forced the men to peddle along in ankle-deep water.

The soldiers were under pressure to make good time as they carried only two days’ rations. With food pick-up points stationed every 100 miles, their daily riding average had to be 50 miles, although that wasn’t always possible. Poor weather conditions between the Crow Indian reservation and Fort Custer in south-central Montana produced such muddy roads that the men covered only three miles in six hours on the 10th day of their journey, and they ran out of food before the next ration point. Boos wrote, ‘We were wet, cold and hungry, and a more jaded set of men never existed.’

On the evening of June 25, the expedition reached the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought exactly 21 years earlier. ‘The site of our camp was on the flat at the foot of the hill on which Gen. Custer fought the famous battle and where the Indians pitched their lodges the day before the battle,’ Boos reported. Before eating their supper, the men ‘visited the celebrated battlefield and viewed the site of the massacre with interest. The writer went over Custer’s very line of march on his bicycle under the direction of Mr. A.N. Grover, the custodian of the Custer National Cemetery.’

As the corps traveled through Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska, water became a critical problem. The only potable supply came from railroad tanks, and if the soldiers were too far from the railroad, they had no choice but to drink water that was often alkali-tainted, causing sickness throughout the corps. Moss reported that on June 29, after ‘having ridden somewhat over twenty miles up an almost continuous grade, under a broiling sun, we stopped, about 2 p.m. at Gillette, Wyo., for lunch,’ although many of the men were so tired that they fell asleep while eating. After being advised that the next place where they could obtain water was the town of Moorcroft, some 30 miles away, the corps started on its way again. By 7:00 p.m. the men had covered about 16 miles and ‘were bounding along at an eight-mile gait, when all at once the clouds began to gather thick and fast, and almost immediately darkness was upon us.’ Suddenly, the front axle on one man’s bicycle broke. Their need for water was too urgent to stop for repairs, however, and the soldier had no choice but to push his bicycle all the way to Moorcroft.

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