Mitch Boyer (sometimes spelled 'Bowyer', 'Buoyer', 'Bouyer' or 'Buazer', or in Creole, 'Boye') (1837 – June 25, 1876) was an interpreter and guide in the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

following 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 ...

. General

John Gibbon John Gibbon (April 20, 1827 – February 6, 1896) was a career United States Army officer who fought in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Early life Gibbon was born in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the four ...

called him "next to

Jim Bridger James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old ...

, the best guide in the country". He was killed at 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 ...

Family background

He was born Michel Boyer in 1837. His father, Jean-Baptiste Boyer,Camp gives 'Vital', probably a confusion with Vital Beauvais, whose surname is similarly pronounced in French was a French Canadian who was employed by the American Fur Company, trading with Sioux in the Wyoming area. Mitch's mother was a Santee Sioux. His father was killed by Indians while trapping, about 1863. Mitch's Indian name was Kar-pash. He had three full sisters: Marie, Anne, and Thérèse, who seem to have been

triplets A multiple birth is the culmination of one multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such bi ...

born in 1840. He also had at least two half-brothers: John Boyer (c. 1845-1871), who was hanged at

Fort Laramie Fort Laramie (founded as Fort William and known for a while as Fort John) was a significant 19th-century trading-post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte rivers. They joined ...

for killing an Army scout in the first legal execution in

Wyoming Territory The Territory of Wyoming was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 25, 1868, until July 10, 1890, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Wyoming. Cheyenne was the territorial capital. The bou ...

, and Antoine Boyer (born 1852?), whom Walter Mason Camp interviewed in 1912. John, in an interview just before he was hanged, stated that there had been other siblings who had already died. Boyer was an interpreter at

Fort Phil Kearny Fort Phil Kearny was an outpost of the United States Army that existed in the late 1860s in present-day northeastern Wyoming along the Bozeman Trail. Construction began in 1866 on Friday, July 13, by Companies A, C, E, and H of the 2nd Battalion, ...

in 1868. In the fall of 1869, he married a young

Crow A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...

woman named Magpie Outside (or Magpie Out-of-Doors), who became known as Mary. Their first child, also named Mary, was born in 1870. Sometime later they also had a son, apparently named Tom, but eventually called James LeForge (see below).

Army scout and death at the Little Big Horn

Boyer became a guide for the

2nd U.S. Cavalry The 2nd Cavalry Regiment, also known as the 2nd Dragoons, is an active Stryker infantry and cavalry regiment of the United States Army. The Second Cavalry Regiment is a unit of the United States Army Europe and Africa, with its garrison at the ...

, working with the

Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whi ...

's survey team. From 1872 on he was employed by the Crow Agency and the US Army. In 1876 Lt. Col.

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 ...

requested that Boyer be transferred to the 7th U.S. Cavalry as an interpreter for the

scouts when Gen.

Alfred Terry Alfred Howe Terry (November 10, 1827 – December 16, 1890) was a Union general in the American Civil War and the military commander of the Dakota Territory from 1866 to 1869, and again from 1872 to 1886. In 1865, Terry led Union troops to v ...

ordered the 7th south from the Montana Column to search for hostile Indians. Custer's regular scouts were Ree (

Arikara Arikara (), also known as Sahnish,
''Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.'' (Retrieved Sep 29, 2011)

). However, for this mission, Terry had assigned six of Lt. James Bradley's Crow scouts to the 7th (including Curley). Boyer had the additional bonus of knowing the country well. At the

Crow's Nest A crow's nest is a structure in the upper part of the main mast of a ship or a structure that is used as a lookout point. On ships, this position ensured the widest field of view for lookouts to spot approaching hazards, other ships, or land b ...

, Boyer was one of the scouts who warned Custer about the size of the Indian village, which Custer claimed he couldn't make out. Boyer told him, "General, I have been with these Indians for 30 years, and this is the largest village I have ever known of." After failing to convince Custer, it is reported Boyer gave away his possessions, convinced he would die in the coming battle. There was a report that Sitting Bull had offered a

bounty Bounty or bounties commonly refers to: * Bounty (reward), an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for a specific task done with a person or thing Bounty or bounties may also refer to: Geography * Bounty, Saskatchewan, a g ...

of 100 ponies for Boyer's head. When Custer's command was divided into 3

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 ...

s, about noon, Boyer was assigned to accompany Custer, whose battalion would be almost completely wiped out. There were only about a dozen survivors of Custer's battalion, all of whom had left it before the battle began. Soldiers in Reno's fight claimed to have seen Custer on the bluffs watching the retreat, but this was later shown probably to have been Boyer and Curley, who had ridden ahead of the main force. Boyer stayed with Custer and 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 ...

. In 1984, a fire burned through much of the Custer Battlefield, enabling archaeological digs to be made. Part of a

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...

was found that was identified as Boyer's by comparison of the facial bones with a misidentified photograph.Nast, Charles A.; '' Ute Indians, "Acapore" ''; glass photonegative c.1895-1899; Denver Public Library Special Collections; call number X-31214; image file ZZR710031214 The skull fragment was found to the west of the monument on Custer Hill, at what is called the 'South Skirmish Line'. Boyer seems to have been a flamboyant character. He was wearing a

piebald A piebald or pied animal is one that has a pattern of unpigmented spots (white) on a pigmented background of hair, feathers or scales. Thus a piebald black and white dog is a black dog with white spots. The animal's skin under the white backgro ...

calf's vest the day of the fatal battle. After Boyer's death, his widow Mary was taken in by his close friend,

Thomas Leforge Thomas H. Leforge (July 9, 1850 – March 28, 1931) was an American writer who was the author of ''Memoirs of a White Crow Indian'', his highly detailed account of living among the Crow Indian nation during the mid-to-late 19th century, first pub ...

. When his own wife died, Leforge married Mary and adopted her children. This is probably when Mitch's son was renamed, as Leforge had a son of his own named Tom. Mary died in 1916.

Notes

References

* Connell, Evan S.; '' Son of the Morning Star: Custer And The Little Bighorn.'' (1985) * Gray, John S.; Custer's Last Campaign (1991) * Hammer, Ken, ed.; ''Custer in '76: Walter Camp's Notes on the Custer Fight.'' Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1976. * Weibert, Henry & Don; ''Sixty-Six Years in Custer's Shadow'' (1985)

External links

A-ca-po-re, Ute musicianMitch Bouyer or Acapore?
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyer, Mitch 1837 births 1876 deaths People of the Great Sioux War of 1876 Sioux people American people of French-Canadian descent American military personnel killed in the American Indian Wars Battle of the Little Bighorn

Family background

Army scout and death at the Little Big Horn

See also

Notes

References

External links