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 The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana. Original boundaries ...

during the Black Hills War. Lord was born in

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. Brunswick is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part o ...

and graduated from

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794. The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...

. 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 First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

in the 7th Cavalry, posted in Fort Abraham Lincoln 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 ...

. During the Great Sioux War, he accompanied 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 the United States Military Academy at West Point ...

's column towards the Little Bighorn River, where he was killed in action. Dr. Lord's body was not positively identified by the first burial crews, and he was initially listed by General Alfred H. Terry and others as missing in action. Captain Otto E. Michaelis and Lieutenant Richard E. Thompson, however, later contacted Lord's brother with their belief that a body sighted on the field had been the doctor's, based on a blue shirt the corpse was wearing as well as "the shapely hands, the moustache, and general appearance."Richard G. Hardorff, ''The Custer Battle Casualties II''. Michaelis also thought the socks on the corpse were from the same set of three pairs Lord had earlier purchased from a trader at Powder River. Based on this new information, three months after the battle Terry recommended that Lord's status be changed to killed in action. However, there is no marker with Lord's name at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument that specifically marks this reported death site. In 1890, a marker for Lord was placed on the so-called South Skirmish Line, based on the discovery there of buttons that were thought to be part of a staff officer's uniform which doctors would wear. Lord's surgical kit eventually was recovered from the Indians and sent to the Army's medical museum.

References

Bibliography * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, George Edwin 1846 births 1876 deaths People of the Great Sioux War of 1876 Bowdoin College alumni American military personnel killed in the American Indian Wars People from Brunswick, Maine Battle of the Little Bighorn