James Calhoun (August 24, 1845 – June 25, 1876) was a soldier in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

and the

Black Hills War 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 ...

. He was the brother-in-law of

George Armstrong 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 ...

and was killed along with Custer in the

Battle of the Little Bighorn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

. His brother-in-law

Myles Moylan Myles Moylan (December 17, 1838 – December 11, 1909) was a United States Army officer with an extensive military career, which included the battle of Gettysburg, and the battle of the Little Bighorn. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his ...

survived the battle as part of the forces with Major

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 ...

and Captain

Frederick 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 N ...

Early life

Calhoun was born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...

into a prestigious and wealthy

Scottish-American Scottish Americans or Scots Americans (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ameireaganaich Albannach''; sco, Scots-American) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, d ...

merchant family that included his brother Frederick. When the

broke out, he was travelling in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and two years later, both joined the Union army. Both brothers were to forgo the merchant life for the frontier to the dismay of their parents.Jefferson County Library History Rescue, "The Story of the Calhoun Family and General Armstrong Custer"

Career

Upon returning to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, he enlisted in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

in 1864. By the end of the war, he was a Sergeant. In July 1867, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

. He met Margaret Custer while she was visiting the Custers in 1870, and they fell in love. His soon to be brother-in-law

had him appointed to

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a ...

in the

U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment The 7th Cavalry Regiment is a United States Army cavalry regiment formed in 1866. Its official nickname is "Garryowen", after the Irish air " Garryowen" that was adopted as its march tune. The regiment participated in some of the largest ba ...

, assigned to Company C.

Personal life

Calhoun was known as "The Adonis of the Seventh" due to his handsome features. He was part of the so-called "Custer Clan," which was a clique of close-knit relatives and friends of the former Civil War general. Calhoun was also the brother-in-law of fellow Clan member Myles Moylan. He often wrote letters to his brother and to Margaret, or Maggie as she was called, writing with disdain of his limited understanding of complex native culture, adherents to which naturally resisted military conquest. He often referred to them as "heathens" and desired that one day a post-agricultural population explosion would make hunting-gathering lifestyles unsustainable in the face of Western society.

Death

At the

Montana Territory The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries ...

during the

, he was acting as temporary commander of L Company, whose commander was on detached service as aide to General

Philip H. Sheridan Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

, and killed along with most of the company. Evidence at the hill where he died, later known as Calhoun Hill, showed that he and his men fought fiercely before they were killed. He and his second in command, Lt. John Crittenden, were found within feet of each other and their men initially had been deployed in a defensive perimeter on the hill. His remains were initially buried on the battlefield, but were reinterred in

Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located on Fort Leavenworth, a United States Army installation north of Leavenworth, Kansas. It was officially established in 1862, but was used as a burial ground as early ...

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., and the oldest perma ...

, in 1877.''Fort Leavenworth''
/ref> A marble slab on the Little Bighorn battlefield marks the place where his body was discovered and initially buried.

References

Sources and links

* Jefferson Country Public Library History Rescue Project: "The Story of the Calhoun Family and General Armstrong Custer" ; James Calhoun, Frederick Calhoun and Miles Moyla

* ''

Son of the Morning Star ''Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Big Horn'' is a nonfiction account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876, by novelist Evan S. Connell, published in 1984 by North Point Press. The book features extensive portraits ...

'', Evan S. Connell, 1984, * ''Classic Battles: Little Big Horn 1876'', Peter Panzieri, 1995, * ''Cavalier in Buckskin'', Robert M. Utley, 1988, * ''Custer: A Soldier's Story'', D.A. Kinsley, 1967, * ''The Custer Autograph Album'', John M. Carroll, 1994, * ''A Sherlock Holmes Collection'', Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, {{DEFAULTSORT:Calhoun, James 1845 births 1876 deaths Calhoun family Military personnel from Cincinnati Union Army officers United States Army officers People of the Great Sioux War of 1876 American military personnel killed in the American Indian Wars Battle of the Little Bighorn