Adolph Metzger was born in Balingen, Wurtemberg, Germany about 1834. He immigrated to the United States as a young man and settled in Philadelphia, where he worked as a laborer.
On May 29, 1855, he was enlisted into Company C, Regiment of Mounted Rifles by Lieutenant Burns. His enlistment documents describe him as 21 years of age, 5’ 5” tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a dark complexion. After service with his regiment in the southwest, he was discharged at the expiration of his enlistment at Hatch’s Ranch, New Mexico as a private on May 29, 1860.
Civilian life apparently didn’t resonate with Adolph, and he re-entered the army a few months later. On November 14th he was enlisted into Company C, 2nd U.S. Cavalry by Lieutenant Wilkins as a bugler. He was working in Newport, Kentucky as a laborer at the time of his enlistment, and it is unclear whether he was east- or westbound at the time. Miraculously, he aged only three years in the five and a half years since his first enlistment, listing his age as 24. He served through the various campaigns of the Civil War without major incident, and was discharged the day prior to his third enlistment at Light House Landing, Virginia shortly after the regiment’s return from the battle of Trevilian Station.
Bugler Metzger was enlisted into Company C, 2nd U.S. Cavalry by Lieutenant Robert Lennox on July 12, 1864. Although he had grown three inches since his last enlistment, he had aged only a single year. A few weeks later, probably during a furlough granted due to his reenlistment, Adolph married Fredericka Cooper. The ceremony took place on August 2nd, at the German Evangelical Church in Washington, D.C. The bride was only 15 or 16 at the time of the wedding, and Adolph apparently did not inform his parents back in Germany of his changed marital status.
He remained with his company through the end of the war and its subsequent recruiting and refitting in Maryland. When the regiment moved west in October 1865, his wife remained behind. Due to the numerous changes of post and their attendant dangers, this was probably a wise choice.
In November 1866, the company was assigned to Fort Phil Kearny, Dakota Territory, in present day Wyoming. Second Lieutenant Horatio S. Bingham was the company’s commander and sole officer for the assignment. Bingham, who had served as a captain in the 2nd Minnesota Cavalry during the Civil War, had been appointed an officer in the regiment in February. Lieutenant Bingham was killed in an engagement with Indians on December 6, 1866 when he and a small group of soldiers were decoyed away from the main body while attempting to assist a woodcutting party which was under attack.
On December 21st, twenty six members of the company, including Bugler Metzger, rode out of the fort to assist another woodcutting party. A mixed party of infantry and cavalry sortied from the fort under the command of Brevet Lieutenant Colonel William J. Fetterman. The force was drawn into a trap out of view of the fort and wiped out in less than twnety minutes by over a thousand Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. The only survivor was a gray cavalry horse named Dapple Dave, badly wounded by both bullets and arrows. The horse was probably Metzger’s, as it was the practice in that unit to mount buglers on white or gray horses to make it easier to find the commander during a battle.
Metzger was one of only two soldiers whose body wasn’t mutilated by the victorious Indians. The other was Sergeant James Baker, also a Civil War veteran of Company C. According to several verbal accounts from Indians who participated in the battle, Bugler Metzger fought to the very last. Once his ammunition was exhausted, he continued to fight using his bugle as a bludgeon until overcome.
The bugle is now part of the collection of the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum, who very kindly granted me one-time permission to publish a photo with this post. It was found around 1935 by early homesteader Christian Hepp, who ran cattle near the grounds of the ruins of the fort. Since Metzger was the only bugler in the expedition, it seems extremely likely that it was his.
The dead from the fight were brought back to Fort Phil Kearny, and initially interred there. After the fort was abandoned and when Custer National Cemetery was created at Little Big Horn, they were moved there. They now lie there in graves numbered 15-49 and 108-144.
Metzger’s wife Fredericka drew his pension. This was later disputed by his mother, who contacted the American consulate in Stuttgart to press her claim. She maintained that Adolph could not possibly have been married without informing his family in Germany. Her claim was later rejected.
Notes:
1. One account from a soldier in Company C mentions a man named Footer as the company’s bugler, but there was no such person assigned to the cavalry company or the 18th Infantry at the post at this time. Since the account was written several years later, it seems likely he confused the name of the bugler. Some accounts describe the bugler as a teenager, but there’s no evidence to support this.
2. Historian John H. Monnett maintains that the story of Metzger and the bugle is apocryphal. For more information, see his very detailed book Where A Hundred Soldiers Were Killed. He makes a very strong case.
Sources:
Brady, Cyrus Townsend. Indian Fights and Fighters. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press: 1971.
Fort Phil Kearny/ Bozeman Trail Association. Portraits of Fort Phil Kearny. Banner, WY: 1993.
Guthrie, John. “Fetterman Massacre,” Annals of Wyoming 9 (October 1932): 714-718. Accessed via Internet Archive on August 30, 2015.
Lambert, Joseph. One Hundred Years With the Second Cavalry. San Antonio: Newton Publishing Company, 1999.
Monnett, John H. Where A Hundred Soldiers Were Killed. Albuquerque: University of New mexico Press, 2010.
National Archives, Record Group 94, Letters Received by the Office of the Adjutant General, 1861-1870.
National Archives, Record Group 94, U.S. Army Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914
National Archives, Record Group 94, U.S. Returns from Regular Army Non-infantry Regiments, 1821-1916: 2nd U.S. Cavalry.
National Archives, Record Group 94, Civil War Widows Pensions. Accessed via Fold3.com on August 30, 2015.
Rodenbough, Theophilus F. From Everglade to Canyon with the Second United States Cavalry. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000.
Utley, Robert M. Frontier Regulars. Lincoln: Univeristy of Nebraska Press: 1973.
Watson, Elmo Scott. “The Bravery of Our Bugler is Much Spoken Of,” Old Travois Trails 1 (1941): 139.
Metzger’s story never gets old.
Reblogged this on Lenora's Culture Center and Foray into History.
I’m having trouble with this one. The Company C, 2d US Cavalry in which Metzger enlisted in November 1860 is not the same Company C, 2d US Cavalry in which he enlisted in July 1864, the first 2d Cavalry being formed in 1855 and later becoming the 5th Cavalry, and the latter 2d Cavalry being formed in August 1861 from the 2d Dragoons of 1836. Correct?
Dave, Sorry for the delay, im TDY this week. Nothing to have trouble with, you are correct, he served in 3 different regiments. Interesting all 3 were C Co, but that’s what the enlistment documents say. From 60-64 he was in 2d/ 5th Cav. Confirmed that additionally in that he wasn’t present at Wilson’s Creek with the rest of C/ 2 Dragoons. Not sure why he jumped regiments, but the 5th was pretty beat up by summer of 1864, they were in the same brigade, and you know the saying about the grass being greener. Hope this helps.
Best,
Don
Thanks Don, no problem.
What really threw me off was the 1864 discharge/enlistment location at Light House Landing, Virginia. Didn’t know the 5th Cavalry was there also at the time. I’m trying to document all the 2d Dragoon/2d Cavalry enlistments I can find for the 2d Cav’s museum in Vilseck, Germany. Got around 1400 pages so far, about 700 each chronological and alphabetical. Most of the way through 1865 now.
And no, I couldn’t find Bugler Footer either.
Hi, I like how Pvt Metzger’s height kept changing while at the time of enlistments he showed he was immune to aging. I make him as being 32 at the time of his death. I do have a problem with the bugle however. “found around 1935 by early homesteader Christian Hepp, who ran cattle near the grounds of the ruins of the fort.” Other websites claim the bugle was found near his body. The fight occurred several miles away from the fort. The tort was only 5 months old at the time of the Fetterman fight. After the fight it became 27th Infantry. As per a treaty it was abandoned in 1868 and later burnt by a local tribe. With the death of Pvt Metzger I would presume sometime in the next 2 years a replacement bugler had eventually arrived. I would also imagine logistical stores may have on occasion had more than one Bugle in inventor alongside spare reeds. Therefore I am doubtful what Mr. Hepp found was actually Private Metzger’s bugle.
Kenneth,
That is certainly possible. We can’t prove it definitively one way or another. As I stated in the notes at the end of the article, Dr. John Monnett, someone far more knowledgeable about the fight than I am, believes the story is apocryphal. Based on the sources noted at the end of the post, I believe that it is possible that the bugle was Metzger’s. I probably should have been a little more precise in my word choice there.
However, for the sake of discussion and in appreciation of you taking the time to make the comments, I will address the points you raised.
1. There were definitely other buglers assigned to the post, even others from the 2nd Cavalry. See my post on Bugler Nicolai , whose sketches of the fort are at the park headquarters.
2. It would be extremely unlikely for a bugler to lose his bugle unless fleeing or fighting somewhere outside the fort. It would be very conspicuous that it was missing.
3. Cattle are still kept today in close proximity to the site of the fort and the fight, and they’re not that far apart. At that time, both sites could have belonged to the same person, I didn’t research that.
Thanks for stopping by!