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Bruce Brown's 100 Voices... James Wilber's Story of the Battle
PRIVATE JAMES WILBER'S STORY OF THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN "WHEN WE LEFT the woods to cross the Little Big Horn and reach the bluffs on the other side," says Mr. Wilbur, "I was lucky enough to get my horse. It was a wild rush for the river with the Indians on all sides, yelling like devils, shooting into our ranks and even trying to drag men from their horses. One big Sioux rode along side of me as we went along at full gallop, and tried to pull me from the saddle. He had been shot in the shoulder, and with every jerk he made at me the blood gushed from the wound and stained my shirt and trousers. He was a determined devil and hung on to me until we almost reached the river. Right at the Little Big Horn a trooper was shot down in front of me and Lieut. Hodgson got his first wound. My horse stumbled over Hodgson and went over the bluff into the stream, but got to his feet again and carried me across and up the hill. Lieut. Hodgson hung on to the stirrup of Bugler Myers and got over the river and part way up the hill, but received another wound there and was killed." The Custer Battle Book by Herbert Coffeen, A Reflection Book, Carlton Press, Inc., New York, 1964 p 46
According to the Custer Battle Book, "James Wilber, also of the National Soldier's Home, Washington, D.C, is another survivor of the Custer Fight. A member of troop M, he was with Reno, and is partially paralyzed from a wound received on the second day of the battle." -- Bruce Brown
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