Dr. James Madison DeWolf (January 14, 1843 – June 25, 1876) was an acting assistant surgeon in the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment who was killed in the

Battle of the Little Big Horn 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 ...

. Born in Mehoopany in

Wyoming County, Pennsylvania Wyoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,069. Its county seat is Tunkhannock. It was created in 1842 from part of Luzerne County. W ...

, DeWolf was a farmer prior to the

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

. In August 1861, 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 (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

in the 1st Pennsylvania Artillery at the age of 17. He first saw combat at the

First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas

. He was promoted to

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non- ...

, but was severely wounded in the arm and discharged in October 1862. He re-enlisted in September 1864 in Battery A, 1st Pennsylvania Artillery, serving in that battery until his discharge on June 14, 1865. Following the war, he became an enlisted man in the

Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standin ...

's 14th U.S. Infantry and entered

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is cons ...

, graduating in June 1875. He became a contract surgeon later that year with the 7th Cavalry at

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. ...

in the

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...

. In the spring of 1876, he was assigned to

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 indicato ...

Marcus Reno's

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions ...

. A letter to his wife is the only first-hand account of Reno's scouting expedition. At the

, Dr. DeWolf was killed June 25 during Reno's retreat from the timber to "Reno Hill". He and his orderly had made the difficult crossing of the buffalo ford and for some reason were going up a side path in a

coulee Coulee, or coulée ( or ) is a term applied rather loosely to different landforms, all of which refer to a kind of valley or drainage zone. The word ''coulee'' comes from the Canadian French ''coulée'', from French ''couler'' 'to flow'. The ...

. As DeWolf reached the top of the coulee, he was shot from his horse but survived. He was scalped next to his orderly in full view of the retreating cavalry. He was initially buried on the battlefield near where he fell, then moved to the National Cemetery. As an officer, Dr. DeWolf's remains were exhumed and returned to his family in 1877. He was reinterred in Woodlawn Cemetery in Norwalk,

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

Evan S. Connell Evan Shelby Connell Jr. (August 17, 1924 – January 10, 2013) was a U.S. novelist, short-story writer, essayist and author of epic historical works. He also published under the name Evan S. Connell Jr. In 2009, Connell was nominated for the M ...

, in ''

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 ...

'', stated that there is only one photograph known of him.

References

* Bates, Samuel P., ''History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861–1865'', Harrisburg: B. Singerly, State Printer, 1869–1871.
Find-a-Grave biography of DeWolf
, It Is a Good Day to Die: Indian Eyewitnesses Tell the Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn 1988

References

Further reading