Henry Moore Harrington (April 30, 1849 – June 25, 1876) was a military officer in the 7th United States Cavalry Regiment who went Missing in action during the Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana Territory.

Early life

Henry Moore Harrington was born in Albion, New York, the son of Shelby A. Harrington and Nancy K. (Moore) Harrington. Early in his childhood, his family relocated to Coldwater, Michigan. He attended the Cleveland Institute at University Heights, Ohio, and declined an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy before accepting an appointment to West Point in 1868.

7th Cavalry

Upon graduation from the U.S. Military Academy (ranking 17th the Class of 1872), he was commissioned a

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

and assigned to Company C, 7th United States Cavalry with an initial posting to North Carolina. He married Grace Berard, the granddaughter of a West Point professor. The couple had two children. In 1873, Company C was reassigned to Dakota Territory and Lieutenant Henry Harrington accompanied

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

(Brevet Major General) George Armstrong Custer and a large part of the 7th Cavalry on the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873, taking part in the

Battle of Honsinger Bluff The Battle of Honsinger Bluff was a conflict between the United States Army and the Sioux people on August 4, 1873 along the Yellowstone River near present-day Miles City, Montana. This was U.S. territory acquired from the Crows in 1868. The main c ...

, Montana on August 4, 1873, and in a skirmish near Pompey's Pillar, Montana on August 11, 1873. In the summer of 1874, Harrington and his Company C were part of the 7th Cavalry's military escort for the Black Hills Expedition under the command of

George Armstrong Custer. On May 17, 1876, during the

Great Sioux War of 1876 The Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of battles and negotiations that occurred in 1876 and 1877 in an alliance of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne against the United States. The cause of the war was the ...

, Brigadier General Alfred Terry's Dakota column departed

Fort Abraham Lincoln Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is a North Dakota state park located south of Mandan, North Dakota, United States. The park is home to the replica Mandan On-A-Slant Indian Village and reconstructed military buildings including the Custer House. ...

and embarked on the Little Big Horn campaign. Harrington's 7th Cavalry Regiment composed most of the Dakota column, but was in short supply of officers, so Harrington as a

was given the command of Company C, and accompanied

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Marcus Reno Marcus Albert Reno (November 15, 1834 – March 30, 1889) was a United States career military officer who served in the American Civil War where he was a combatant in a number of major battles, and later under George Armstrong Custer in the Gr ...

's June 10–18, 1876 scout on the

Powder River Powder River may refer to: Places * Powder River (Wyoming and Montana), in Wyoming and Montana in the United States * Powder River Country, the area around the above river * Powder River (Oregon), in Oregon in the United States * Powder River Ba ...

, and Tongue River in south-eastern Montana Territory. After Harrington and the over 300 soldiers on the Reno Scout rejoined Colonel Custer and the 7th Cavalry, the regiment marched up Rosebud Creek, then crossed to the Little Bighorn River. On June 25, 1876 the 647 men with the 7th Cavalry including Henry Harrington under the command of

George A. Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

attacked a village of several thousand Native Americans, in what became known as the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Harrington and 219 men of the 7th Cavalry under Custer were separated from the rest of the regiment, and were Killed in action. Henry Moore Harrington's remains were not identified on the battlefield, and the Lieutenant was declared Missing in action and presumed dead. His wife Grace Berard made a series of trips to the Battlefield to look for his body or information regarding his whereabouts if he had survived the savage fight, but to no avail.

Link

Bronze Star reference material

References

* ''Coldwater Republican'', Coldwater, Michigan (1868–1876) * Cross, Walt, ''Custer's Lost Officer: The Search for Lieutenant Henry Moore Harrington, 7th U.S. Cavalry'', Cross Publications (2005). * Horsted, Paul and Ernest Grafe, ''Exploring with Custer: The 1874 Black Hills Expedition'', Custer, South Dakota: Golden Valley Press (2002). * Mills, Charles K., ''Harvest of Barren Regrets the Army Career of

Frederick William Benteen Frederick William Benteen (August 24, 1834 – June 22, 1898) was a military officer who first fought during the American Civil War. He was appointed to commanding ranks during the Indian Campaigns and Great Sioux War against the Lakota and ...

1834–1898'', Glendale, California: The Arthur H. Clark Company (1985). * Magnussen, Daniel O. Ed., ''Peter Thompson’s Narrative of the Little Bighorn Campaign 1876'',

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

: The Arthur H. Clark Company (1974). * Scott, Douglas D. et al., ''They Died With Custer'', Norman, Oklahoma and London: University of Oklahoma Press (1998). * Utley, Robert M., ''Custer and the Great Controversy: The Origin and Development of a Legend'',

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

: Westernlore Press (1980). {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrington, Henry Moore 1849 births 1876 deaths Military personnel from Michigan People from Albion, Orleans County, New York People of the Great Sioux War of 1876 United States Military Academy alumni American military personnel killed in the American Indian Wars Battle of the Little Bighorn Military personnel missing in action