Sylvester Levinus Blauvelt (b. 17 Feb 1854, d.11-Jan-1933), son of Sylvester Little Blauvelt and Jane Persus Brown. Sylvester served in the US Army Frontier Regulars during the Indian Campaigns of the late 1800’s in Company C, 9th Infantry Regiment. Sylvester enlisted on24 Apr 1872 and was discharged on 4 Apr 1877 at Fort Laramie Wyoming. After his discharge, Sylvester received $30.00 a month pension as part of the 69th Congress Session’s budget. While with the 9th Infantry, Sylvester performed garrison duty at various posts and guard duty on the Union Pacific Railroad line. From the summer of 1874 to May 1876, the regiment was stationed at posts on or near the Sioux reservation in Nebraska and Wyoming and was almost constantly escorting wagon trains. 1 In the summer of 1875 Companies C, E and H, were in the Black Hills, Dakota, as part of the escort to the Newton-Jenney Party. In May 1876, Companies C, G, and H became a part of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition under command of Brigadier General Crook and were in the field until late in October taking part in the engagement with the Indians at Tongue River, Montana, 9 June, the Battle of the Rosebud, and the Battle of Slim Buttes. The Battle of the Rosebud occurred June 17, 1876, in the Montana Territory between the United States Army and its Crow and Shoshoni allies against an Indian force consisting mostly of Lakota Sioux and northern Cheyenne Indians during the Great Sioux War of 1876. The Army’s offensive was stymied by the Indians, led by Crazy Horse, and had to wait for reinforcements before resuming the campaign in August. The Battle of the Rosebud is considered by to be the prelude to the Little Big Horn battle where Custer was defeated. 2 In the early part of September, the entire command was without rations for a number of days, and subsisted on horseflesh and a small quantity of dried meat and fruit captured at Slim Buttes. The Battle of Slim Buttes was the first U.S. Army victory after General George Custer’s defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn on June 25 and 26, 1876, in the Great Sioux War of 1876-1877. Brigadier General George Crook, one of the U.S. Army’s ablest Indian fighters, led the “Horsemeat March”, one of the most grueling military expeditions in American history, destroying Oglala Chief American Horse’s village at Slim Buttes and repelling a counter-attack by Crazy Horse.3 In October, 1876, the Powder River Expedition was organized and Companies A, B, D, F, I and K formed a part of it. They remained in the field until January 1877, during the most severe part of the winter, and practically brought to a termination the Great Sioux War of 1876-77. Sources: 1. Captain E. B. Robertson, “The Ninth Regiment of Infantry”, history.army.mil/books/R&H/R&H-9IN.htm 2. Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition images.library.wisc.edu/History/EFacs/SetPerAmerInd/Finerty/reference/history.finerty.i5.pdf 3. Jerome A. Greene, “Slim Buttes, 1876: An Episode of the Great Sioux War”, (1982), p. xiii-xiv. Blauvelt Genealogical records
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 00:39:41 +0000
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