Custer’s Battle of The Little Bighorn Marker Project

Above is one of over 200 markers on the Custer Battlefield indicating where an Unknown Trooper fell during the Battle of the Little Bighorn.  It is the only battlefield in the world where markers exist signifying where soldiers fell in battle  but are not permanently buried there.

While much has been written about the Battle of the Little Bighorn and “Custer’s Last Stand”, no one has ever attempted a project to associate every Trooper’s name to an specific marker now in place on the Custer Battlefield…at least until now. 

Rick Stone is a retired Chief of Police with service in the Dallas, Texas Police Department, the Wichita, Kansas Police Department, and the Hollywood, Florida Police Department.  As a law enforcement retiree in June 2010, Chief Stone visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield and became intrigued with the fact that so many of the over 200 marble markers placed on the battlefield had no names associated with them and only marked the spot where some “Unknown” trooper of Custer’s 7th Cavalry had fallen on 25 June 1876.  This interest became the impetus for an unpublished manuscript titled “A Soldier Fell Here.”

Before this project could be completed, Chief Stone served during 2011 and 2012 with the Department of Defense (DoD) as the Deputy Chief of the World War II Research and Investigation Branch of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Honolulu, Hawaii.  During his tenure with DoD, Chief Stone investigated over 175 cases of American servicemen who were still listed as “Missing In Action” (MIA).  Chief Stone also noted that administrative errors often left families suffering the loss without even knowing where their loved one had fallen on the field of battle.

In 2019, Chief Stone again agreed to come out of retirement status to accept an appointment as the Chief of the Histories Branch at the U.S. Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC).  In 2021, Chief Stone returned to retirement status and again began activities as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable Foundation.

To date, Foundation researchers and investigators have completed almost 600  “Investigative Reports” that have assisted in the accounting for over 200 American servicemen who were originally listed as Missing in Action.

After Chief Stone’s departure from NHHC, The Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable Foundation took up the long dormant “Battle of the Little Bighorn Marker Project” by  utilizing publicly available government resources, other non-governmental organizations, and the worldwide network of volunteer researchers and investigators within the Foundation who assist MIA families in learning the circumstances of their service member’s loss.

For the “Little Bighorn Marker Project”, Foundation researchers poured through dozens of books and articles published on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, acquired and analyzed all available government documents, maps, muster rolls, and the most recent anthropological reports on archaeology completed at the battlefield.  In addition, Foundation investigators obtained other documents from the National Archives to determine possible biometric matches to “Unknown” troopers recovered from the battlefield after the initial burials.

While the evidence varies from case to case, Foundation investigators and researchers were able to form professional opinions on exactly which of Lieutenant Colonel Custer’s troopers originally fell at sites identified by existing “Unknown” markers, which markers were spurious, and which of the 7th Cavalry troopers were not killed on the battlefield.

Even after almost 150 years, giving their loved ones and family closure of where a 7th Cavalry trooper actually fell in battle is the greatest gift we can imagine and the greatest way to celebrate and thank the soldiers who lost their lives on a hot Montana day in 1876.

Below are the active cases of the 210 members of the 7th Cavalry who died with Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer on 25 June 1876 and that Foundation research has assigned a specific marker location on the battlefield:

If you are a family member of one of these 7th Cavalry troopers listed above, please contact us as soon as possible as we have a great deal of information to share with you.   Please use the “Leave A Reply” form below and include your Name, Email Address, and Trooper Name.

Your contact information will NOT be posted on-line.

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