George Edwin Lord
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George Edwin Lord (February 17, 1846 - June 25, 1876) was a U.S. Army Assistant Surgeon in the 7th Cavalry who was killed in the Battle of the Little Big Horn in Montana Territory during the Black Hills War.
Lord was born in Massachusetts and graduated from Bowdoin College. He attended medical school and moved west to serve in the U.S. Army at various forts and outposts. He entered into another contract with the U. S. Army in January 1875 and was made a first lieutenant in the 7th Cavalry, posted in Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory.
During the Northern Plains Expedition of the Black Hills Wars, he accompanied Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's column towards the Little Bighorn River, where he was killed in action. Major Marcus Reno later claimed that Dr. Lord's body was never identified, and he was initially listed as missing in action, making it difficult for his family to obtain a pension. However, Captain Michaelis, a fellow officer, had identified his body on the field by a distinctive pair of socks that Lord had purchased from the sutler at Fort Lincoln before the regiment departed. The pension was later granted when the army changed Lord's classification to killed in action.
However, there is no marker on the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument that specifically marked his death site and initial grave, unlike most of his comrades.
Lord's surgical kit eventually was recovered from the Indians and sent to the Army's medical museum.
[edit] References and links
- Vaughn, J. W., Dr. George E. Lord: Regimental Surgeon, Arrow and Trooper Press, reprint of 1962 edition.
- National Museum of Health & Medicine, brief mention of their artifact from Dr. Lord taken from the Little Bighorn Battlefield
