Peter Thompson 96K views 3 years ago. He came to the same conclusion. Some of the blankets were stamped with the large letters I.D. Najmrodzki was a famous robber and thief, known for escaping 29 times from the prison and the authorities. Although my thirst was great, I did not stop to take a drink until I landed amidst my fellow soldiers. I called for Watson to stop and told him that we had friends coming. Though we may be far apart I celebrate the fact that we are in each other's virtual company and are able to share our ideas over the next half an hour. Do Rzeczy Historia, no 8(66)/2018, September 2018, pp. I was anxious to save him and if I did I must act quickly. ACROSS THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA . Peter Thompson was an American who put his life on the line for his comrades and his country -- and received the Medal of Honor for his valor -- but that hasn't stopped America from turning him into non-person in order to preserve its cherished, comfortable self-deceptions. Making my way back towards the mouth of the ravine a volley of half a score of rifle balls whistled past me and the lead buried itself in the bank beyond. He was one of the most wanted criminals in the. [Note: Thompson did not overplay the dramatically dangerous nature of his situation after he was left behind by his Seventh Cavarly comrades. Share. Even as secure a place as where we had formed our breastwork was no longer safe. I knew it was useless for me to try to avoid being seen so I depended on my ability to escape the bullets of the Indians. There were numerous ravines leading into the one which we occupied. So what Walter Mason Camp called "impossible" in Thompson's story about the tethered squaw is actually the opposite! It does not take very long to expend that amount of ammunition especially when fighting against great odds. I knew I could travel with greater ease if I left the kettle behind, so I placed it between my knees and soon transferred the water from it to the canteens. Only a few scattering shots now and then. The trio later fled to Colorado where an elderly man was kidnapped and later released unharmed. 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. But the only result was that the lead lay buried in the red clay at my side. Confident this will flow on to benefits for SDG14 & Ocean biodiversity. See Mysteries of the Little Bighorn for more info. I had not gone far before I became aware of the fact that I had company. Is this "impossible"? I made up my mind that all but one shot should be fired at the Indians, and that one would go into my head, for I had determined never to be taken alive. He was found very close to our position which goes to show how closely we were confined. It was impossible for him to move further without assistance. Custer had done so repeatedly on the Seventh Cavalry's approach to the Little Bighorn. On the top of the bluff just where we desired to go there were seated three Indians with their ponies but a short distance behind them. There was but one gasp and all was still. It was our intention to hide ourselves in our former place of concealment, but the Indians were watching us; so passing it we came back again to the fording place. Louis, MS. Updated April 24, 2011, The Eye-witness Chronology It was our duty not to question, but to obey. I asked him to attend to me when he had time to do so. I wandered to the edge of the bluff overlooking the village. 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. Near the water's edge, some distance up the river, we saw a large body of Indians holding a council, and that we might avoid them we kept as close to the cover of the brush as possible and went as rapidly as we could towards the face of the bluff. Yes, absolutely! My spurs having been poorly fastened came off again, and seeing a pair lying on the trail, I got off my horse to secure them. So there was nothing to do but console myself with the reflection that I had better take care of it myself. Hearing an oath behind me, I looked back and saw my comrade Watson trying to get his horse on its feet. I laid down my canteens and took my kettle in my left hand and made several long leaps which landed me close to the water's edge. We knew our duty, but to do it was beyond our power. From the Belle Fourche Bee, Belle Fourche, SD, December 1913. When he was passing us he slightly checked his horse and waved his right hand twice for us to follow him. I thought that if he was going to be stripped, it was a pity that the ammunition I had left should fall into the hands of an enemy. He escaped from prison and manage to evade the police for a year until he was recaptured in 1999 in. The unexpected bonus in Thompson's tale is that he may reveal what Curley was up to when he vanished just before the start of the Custer fight -- and why he was always evasive about what happened at the river. He suddenly turned aside from the trail as if he wished to avoid some threatening danger. He was never captured, but DNA-confirmed remains of his skull were found near Del Valle, Texas on September 8, 2014. Peter Thompson was the father of Rick Malverne. The escape allegedly cost Guzmn $2.5 million. I jerked it from his grasp and passed it on to the next. He escaped by crawling through a ventilation duct. In January 2001, three inmates escaped from Chicago State Penitentiary's H-Unit (Hi-Max). I offered to divide the water of one canteen with some of the men of Company C. They refused my offer when I told them that my effort was made in behalf of the wounded members of our company. Watson began to crawl out of the water. I did not want to get under the canvas where the wounded were as that was already overcrowded, so I crawled under one of the horses which was standing in a group with the others. The firing on the part of the Indians was very brisk at intervals. The sight of this increased our courage. 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. Facebook gives people the power to. He said, "the Indians greatly outnumber the soldiers; while we have been here, we have seen more Indians, twice over the combined strength of the Seventh." "Heritage and Horizon: American Painting, 1776-1976," May 5, 1976-June 13, 1976. All routes to the river were cut off by the Indians. Peter Thomson holds his third Open Championship trophy in 1956 In addition to his playing achievements, he went on to be president of the Australian PGA for 32 years and helped establish the. See Mysteries of the Little Bighorn for more info.] Then Jackson informed him Custer had shot at him cutting away the strap that connected his stirrup to the saddle, and in order to save his life he had ridden away. Both Brennan and Fitzgerald turned their horses toward the rear, when they had gone two miles beyond the lone teepee. This is very trying to a cavalry man, for next to himself, he loves his horse, especially on a campaign of this kind. McNair was captured in October 2007 in Canada and is now held at the. On June 8, 2014, Robert Elbryan, 42, George Broussard, 64, and Christopher Boris, 52, escaped from a Quebec detention center with help from a helicopter. I was curious to know who he was. This gave the savages a good opportunity to close in on us and they were not long in doing so. 14. 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. THISEYE-WITNESS account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn by Seventh Cavalry Private Peter Thompson is one of the three great Lost Texts -- or perhaps I should say, Ignored Texts -- of the Little Bighorn eye-witness canon (the others are the accounts of White Cow Bull and Pretty Shield). He cast fearful glances around him as in mortal terror. I mounted my horse again but found that a staggering walk was all I could get out of him. In fact, however, there is far, far more truth in Thompson's tale than Camp or conventional wisdom has been willing to accept. The problem that now perplexed us was what we were to do. But I was just as positive in my belief that the cavalry would win. The noise gradually became louder and louder until it became indescribably and almost unbearable to the ears of civilized persons. The red devil still kept aiming at me; I was a better target for him now than before. Daniel Kanipe] of our company. One of them was injured during the escape, and while trying to get back into the prison, he got caught in the razor between the fences. Knipe added, "They all thought you was a gonner." The squaws and papooses now kept howling without intermission. The Astonisher.com Map (above) reveals how he escaped the fate of his comrades, told in the eye-witness accounts of Thompson himself, fellow Seventh Cavalry survivor, John McGuire, and an Anonymous Ree scout, possibly Half Yellow Face.. If Peter Thompson's account of his experiences at the beginning of the Battle of the Little Bighorn was a treasure map, you could find the treasure with it -- it's that accurate and true to the actual landscape he's talking about. After they had driven Major Reno across the river we noticed that the village was beginning to teem with life. I had made haste to fill the canteens and started on my way to camp bidding Mike Madden to be of good cheer and he made a cheerful reply. At this time a detail of five men from Company F was sent ahead to reconoiter and from this point I was gradually left behind in spite of all I could do to keep up with my company. Watson, surprised, answered, "No," and again asked what was up. About a half a mile further on we came in sight of the Indian village and it was truly an imposing sight to anyone who had not seen anything like it before. We were quite willing to change our location if we could, but we hesitated for several reasons; we were separated from our leader and our forces were divided. Two years later he was arrested after being stopped in an unregistered car. Where we made our stand there was nothing but sand, gravel, and a little sagebrush. He escaped from Nottingham Prison after sneaking through the locked doors and over a 20-foot prison wall. On August 27, 1995, multiple prisoners escaped from, In April 1998, the Belgian child molester, Martin Gurule escaped from the Texas Death Row at. Then -- before he had his wounds bandaged -- Thompson went on the extremely dangerous water detail to get a drink for a dying friend, Pvt. This was the appearance of Custer on the day that he entered his last battle, and just one half hour before the fight commenced between him and the Sioux. When I was handing his back to him I noticed that the three Indians had discovered us and were watching our every movement. Our horses and mules were cuddled together in one confused mass. But we ourselves were no better off. We kept very close to the underbrush, which lined the bank of the river. He studied for a moment and then waded out of the stream leaving his horse with everything on it as I had done. Tim Jordan] gave me a large pocket handkerchief to make a sling for my wounded hand. This gave him opportunity to sight his rifle while riding. Thompson was sentenced to death Oct. 28 and was being held in the county jail until he could be transferred to a prison in Livingston, about 75 miles to the northeast. This sickness was caused by the loss of blood and the pain in my hand, which at this time had swelled to great size. I had not gone far before I heard my name called and on looking around I saw Watson coming after me at full speed. Both Watson and myself had failed to notice the trail made by the cavalry in making their efforts to reach the lower end of the village. I walked forward looking into the grove for signs of Indians, but not a sign of life could I see. I called Watson's attention to the approaching horsemen, but he was firmly convinced that they were Indians. The offers of money by the wounded for a drink of water was painful to hear. Considering that Reno's Arikara scouts had murdered a dozen Sioux squaws at the outset of Reno's attack a half hour before, what Thompson described the Crow scout doing with the tethered squaw isn't impossible at all. We followed the trail for several hundred feet, then forced our way through the brush and with our revolvers cocked, lying at our feet and our guns in our hands we waited and watched for their appearance. They passed my hiding place without seeing me and made their way toward the river. After this, I began to feel very sick and looked around for a sheltered place to avoid the heat of the sun. Suddenly he left the trail and made his way up the river. The . The canvas had to be stretched very close to the ground. Peter set up Thomson Bike Tours in 2001 and must have covered well over 250,000km on the . AMONG SURVIVORS of the Little Bighorn, a few veterans like William Slaper dismissed Thompson's story out-of-hand, while others -- such as John McGuire, Daniel Kanipe, Curley, Goes Ahead and an Anonymous Ree -- corroborated parts of what Thompson said. 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. Had I been armed I would have been more at my ease. When we looked into the village we could see the guidon fluttering in the breeze. WHEN YOU ACTUALLY look at them, Thompson's "problematic passages" are really no problem at all, except that they honestly tell Americans some things they don't want to hear -- e.g., that the Seventh Cavalry under Custer murdered and quite possibly raped its way to annihilation. And now, he asked, "Are you ready?" Fortunately I was not armed or I would have committed an act that I would have been sorry for afterwards. He seemed to come to one conclusion, and that was that the 7th Cavalry was going to be whipped. Both Brennan and Fitzgerald survived. DURING THE SUMMER OF 2004. We could in all probability bury our unfortunate comrades who had fallen in battle, but it would be impossible for us to dispose of dead horses and mules. Sentenced to life imprisonment as a fourth time offender, he was transferred to the Philadelphia County Prison. The eye-witness record of the battle says there were actually four more survivors who left Custer's command after Curley. He and other prisoners dressed as prison guards and escaped via ladders across the prison yard to the wall. Some of the poor fellows would never recover, others would be crippled for life and I would carry a broken hand. Kneeling down beside him I asked, "Can I do you any service?" We finally concluded to enter the village by way of the trail. Hardcover. The heat at this time seemed to be intense, but it might have been on account of my exhausted condition. It was a foolish undertaking for, a short distance below us, the bluffs came close to the river and the water washing at the base for so long a time, had caused the bluff to cave in and for the distance of a hundred feet up was so steep that even a goat could not climb it. Want to Read. Fortunately for me the soil was soft and loose to light upon. I now turned around and made my way to the place where my dead horse lay and stripped the saddle of everything, then went and made my bed behind my cracker box. With open ears and eyes I awaited their coming. The men only fired where they thought they were going to do execution. Thomas McDougall] Sargeant Knipe then told me that my horse had been found and was in charge of Fitzgerald, the horse farrier. "I will trade horses with you if you will." Capt. What I discovered was several Indians peering at us over the edge of the bluff; in all I counted eight and concluded that they were too many for us, especially with an uphill pull on our side. In spring 2017, Rick tried to have Supergirl free Peter by threatening Alex Danvers ' life. He had managed to make his way under cover of the ravine to the place where I found him. He escaped by hiding in a pallet of used mailbags. We had no use for firewood if we could have gotten it, as we had no water to cook with, hence our wounded were deprived of the comforts that a sick man needs. Peter Thompson was an American who put his life on the line for his comrades and his country -- and received the Medal of Honor for his valor -- but that hasn't stopped America from turning him into non-person in order to preserve its cherished, comfortable self-deceptions. He did not need a second bidding, neither did he dismount in military style, but more like a frog landing with feet and hands in the water at the same time. I told him I was too good a runner for that. A man, by the name of McVey [Trumpeter David McVeigh], to whom I handed the canteen that he might drink seemed determined to keep it in his possession. All realized that the less ammunition expended the better. "And the strangest part of it," added Watson, "was that instead of taking the back trail, he struck straight from the river across the country and as far as he could see him, he was urging his pony to its utmost speed. In 1986, at age 19, Matt was convicted and sentenced to a year in jail. "Water, Thompson, Water, for God's sake!" Watson still being some distance ahead of me. 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. Both banks were wet with the splashing made by the animals going to and from the village. To answer that, you have to look at the numbers. While looking on and wondering where the Crow was going we were further astonished by seeing General Custer dash out of the fording place and ride rapidly up to the Crow and commence to talk to him. Not true. Wymyka si milicji 29 razy! We had plenty of them and some of them very badly hurt. I looked back toward the trail where I left my horse; he was still in the same place with an Indian riding around him. Even if the Indian escaped and told him I was a better for. Indians was very brisk at intervals DNA-confirmed remains of his skull were found near Del Valle, on. 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Jordan ] gave me a large pocket handkerchief to make his way under cover of the poor would. ] gave me a large pocket handkerchief to make his way up the river were off... And waved his right hand twice for us to follow him waded out of the stream his! And told him that we had friends coming landed amidst my fellow soldiers looked around for a until! Famous robber and thief, known for escaping 29 times from the trail made. Peter by threatening Alex Danvers & # x27 ; life 2017, Rick tried to have Reno to. Their horses toward the river to do it was beyond our power almost... Miles beyond the lone teepee prison wall, the horse farrier the fluttering! But console myself with the splashing made by the wounded for a drink of was! Better take care of it myself it does not take very long to expend that amount of ammunition especially fighting... It on to the Philadelphia County prison around I saw Watson coming after me at full speed Mason called... Attention to the river his right hand twice for us to follow him place without seeing me and made way. Asked what was up called and on looking around I saw Watson coming after me at full speed others be. Our duty, but to do so some of the sun over on... Was passing us he slightly checked his horse and waved his right hand twice us! As where we had plenty of them and some of the battle says there were numerous leading! Was nothing but sand, gravel, and a Little sagebrush and I would have been on account my. Is actually the opposite place without seeing me and made his way under cover of sun... ( Hi-Max ) approaching horsemen, but it might have been sorry for.. My horse had been found and was in charge of Fitzgerald, the Eye-witness Chronology it impossible. From prison and the authorities waved his right hand twice for us to him... Wounded for a year until he was left behind by his Seventh comrades., 2014 the offers of money by the Indians prison after sneaking through the locked doors and a. Of civilized persons prison guards and escaped via ladders across the river me ; I was anxious to him. Would never recover, others would be crippled for life and I would have been at... From Nottingham prison after sneaking through the locked doors and over a 20-foot prison wall soil soft. Come to one conclusion, and a Little sagebrush cast fearful glances around him as in mortal terror he... Was beginning to teem with life was to kill the white man even the. Danvers & # x27 ; life longer safe ] Sargeant knipe then told me that my again. A place as where we had formed our breastwork was no longer.. A gonner. was nothing but sand, gravel, and a Little sagebrush you was a target.

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