He had met Jackson when on the trail on the top of the hill but a short distance from the place where it turned towards the village. "Heritage and Horizon: American Painting, 1776-1976," May 5, 1976-June 13, 1976. He escaped from Nottingham Prison after sneaking through the locked doors and over a 20-foot prison wall. The same is also true of what seems, on the face of it, the wildest parts of Thompson's story: (1) the eye-witness account of how a white man with an Indian shot at him while he was fleeing to join Reno, (2) the hearsay claim (via his Seventh Cavalry straggler companion) James Watson, that Custer took a shot at half-Sioux Seventh Cavalry Scout Billy Jackson just before the beginning of the Custer fight. While I was wondering what it could be, I saw a small party of Indians, about thirty in number driving a small bunch of ponies and mules, coming toward us. Hats off to the leadership & teams at WEF who've had the vision and commitment to make this so. And with a cheer, away they dashed, their revolvers in one hand and their carbines in the other. 5. Authors always mention pets, so he has one dog and at least two possums. The loss of blood and the lack of water made me so dizzy that I reeled and f ell and lay unheeded. After this, I began to feel very sick and looked around for a sheltered place to avoid the heat of the sun. After completing my inventory, I sat down and began to reflect on my chances for my life, if I remained where I was. The Indian without lowering his rifle blazed away a second time, with the same result as before. Standing on the opposite bank of the river and at the very point we wished to gain were three Indians, with their smoking rifles in their hands. I made my way as rapidly as possible toward the bank of the river. Looking to my right, I saw a ravine and at the bottom of it a small clump of wild cherry bushes. That being denied him, he asked permission to take his company and ascertain Custer's position; but he was refused that privilege. The Indians while fighting remained mounted, the cavalry dismounted. Capt. One thing we made up our minds to do, that was to kill the white man even if the Indian escaped. He had begged in vain to have Reno advance to Custer's relief. The poor brute had fallen and was struggling to gain an upright position. It does not take very long to expend that amount of ammunition especially when fighting against great odds. "Fifteen dollars for a canteen of water," said a second. "Small Illusions: Children's Costume 1710-1920," June 20-September 9, 1990. Two years later Palaiokostas was captured and sent back to prison. My answer is, a sense of duty, and love for our comrades in arms. Curley, a young Crow scout, would leave the command within the next ten minutes to take news of the battle to General Terry." Peter Thompson 96K views 3 years ago. As I gained the rise of ground that commanded a view of the village, river and surrounding country I saw a small group of men examining an object lying on the ground which I found to be an Indian bedecked in all his war paint, which goes to make up a part of their apparent courage and fierce appearance. He was convicted for car theft and sentenced for four years imprisonment. Actually, these aren't "impossible" either. While I was making calculations as to leaving my horse and trying my luck on foot, I thought I was seeing something familiar in their appearance. We were ever on the alert, but could see very little on account of the underbrush. Share. After the disappearance of Custer and his men, I felt that I was in a terrible predicament to be left practically alone in an enemy's country, leading a horse practically useless. Jerking off his blanket he waved it in a peculiar manner and shouted out some lingo to those in the village and then pointed towards us. Watson began to crawl out of the water. And he did and gradually left me behind. That was the last I ever saw of Custer alive. said he, "Let's move." He added, "If they succeed, it will be a sad day with us.". John J. Mahoney] of our Company and I had no fear but that he would be well cared for. But there was something that made us move sooner than I wished; a large body of Indians had crossed the river and were coming across the flat toward the hill we were climbing. Peter Thompson went on to be wounded in Frederick Benteen's desperate, do-or-die charge to clear the head of the ravine that night, and then the next morning, before he had his wounds bandaged, he went for water for a dying friend as part of the extremely dangerous water brigade. We knew our duty, but to do it was beyond our power. Eight inmates charged with violent crimes, Lance Battreal, Charles Smith, and Mark Booher escaped from a. But this was getting to be a common sight. I told him that I could not bring myself to believe such would be the case but Watson persisted in his conviction and said, "It's no use talking, they are going to get the worst of it." I started down the ravine but halted f or I f ound I had not my belt in which I usually carried my pistol having given it to one of my comrades. While I was thus engaged and when Watson had forded to the middle of the stream, I heard the crack of three rifles which caused me to straighten up quickly and look around to see what the trouble was. Look where we could, we saw Indians; we two on foot could not cope with scores of them on horseback. He struggled to his feet; his face bore tokens of great fear. The sound came from the direction of the village, and immediately following was the sound of two others. Suddenly he put spurs to his horse and rode away, his long hair streaming in the wind and looking right and left as if expecting his enemy to appear at any moment. Round and round rode the savages in a seemingly tireless circle. I now struggled to my feet and found that I was weak and dizzy from the loss of blood. Peter is related to Peter William Thomsen and Peter William Thomson as well as 3 additional people. Benteen soon joined them and made a short speech. Peter Thomson works as a Permanent Representative, President of the Executive Board at United Nations ESCAP, which is a Non-Profit & Charitable Org anizations company with an estimated 470 employees. The rope was tied around both her hands, but, struggle as she might, she could not break away. Seeing that I was determined to go, they said no more but one of the men of Company C, named Tim Jordan [Pvt. There's even a fairly reasonable -- or at least plausible -- explanation for the story of Custer taking a shot at Jackson. Yes, absolutely! Benteen seemed to be aware of the impending danger, and was forming all the men he possibly could into line at the point where it was expected that the Indians would attack us. The following is a list of historically famous prison escapes, and of people who escaped multiple times: There have been many infamous escapes throughout history: Merrill, Anthony. Daniel Kanipe] of our company. When he saw that I was fully awake, he told me I would have to render some assistance at the head of the ravine up which the Indians were trying to sneak. The canvas had to be stretched very close to the ground. On coming close, I saw they were our Ree scouts and two Crow Indians, one of whom was Half Yellow Face or Two Bloody Hands. (360) 927-3234, Thompson was the last one to see Custer alive, gallop away a short distance to look around, a flat beside the river with a ford at the lower end, the Little Bighorn River ran hard against the bluffs, horsemen with Seventh Cavalry guidons climbing the bluffs above, Custer's Last Fight, The Experience of a Private in the Custer Massacre. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. However, there's also another, equally plausible but much, much darker read on the scene with Custer and the roped squaw, namely that Curley was Custer's procurer and they were both there to rape and murder the Sioux woman. Although the Indians denied it, there are several eye-witness accounts that suggest that there were one or more whites fighting on the Indians' side at the Little Bighorn, although not with the Sioux. Some of the blankets were stamped with the large letters I.D. In November 1987 Peter Thomson aged 19 at the time escaped from Winchester Prison. I straightened myself up and said, "I will tell you what I will do." He pointed down the stream, put spurs to his horse and disappeared at the ford, never uttering a word. Again we were sent to cover by the approach of more Indians. In 1977, convicted murderer James Robert Jones escaped from prison in Kansas, and lived in Florida for 37 years under the alias of Bruce Walter Keith. I told him I was too good a runner for that. Here is Arikara scout Red Bear's account of the incident, complete with the scouts' humorously insolent backtalk to the "Great Man.". We had scarcely got clear of the underbrush before we became aware of the fact that we had run into a hot place. He answered, "To our scouts, of course." It was equipped with artificial light, air conditioning, and high-quality construction materials. Then others may ask why we did not go sooner. I thought that my time for acting had again arrived and that I had better seek other quarters, so I determined that I would try to reach the trail where it made a turn toward the river. If it had not been for the terrible position we were in we could have had a panorama view of the snowcapped hills of the Big Horn Mountains, which forms the fountain heads of the Little and Big Horn Rivers. However, the most likely is Curley, who was at the river alone -- as Thompson described -- and he was always fundimentally evasive about what happened there. Benteen dash into the midst of our horses and drive out several men who were hiding and skulking about them. With a long sweep of my kettle upstream I succeeded in getting plenty of sand and a little water. While meditating upon the combination of circumstances which had brought me into this unhappy condition, I looked ahead and saw Watson, but was unable to overtake him slow as he was going. He tried to dissuade me, but as I would not go back without water and it was useless for me to remain where I was, I laid down my canteens and grasped the camp kettle which I had left on my previous trip. Training Rides Unpacked Peter Thomson. The Indians seemed determined to exterminate us if possible. I had not gone far before I heard my name called and on looking around I saw Watson coming after me at full speed. The three men were arrested a couple of weeks later and returned to the same facility. At this juncture the dry grass caught on fire threatening the destruction of the village, but the squaws fearless as the braves themselves fought the fire and tore down the teepees which were in danger of burning. September 12, 2019 7:13 AM EDT. When we stepped out into the trail at the head of the advancing column, it was about five o'clock in the afternoon. "Of approximately 210 men," writes Bray, "only one would survive the next hour. 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