Manual of Military Field Engineering for the use of Officers and Troops of the Line Prepared at the United States Infantry and Cavalry School by the Department of Engineering. [Captain Poland's copy; Little Big Horn & Custer associate]

Originally bound in limp leather. The leather is essentially gone from this copy, with traces visible at the hinges only. The original, flexible, brown boards remain, firmly attached. Decorative endpapers. 284 pages. Illustrated. Text block tight and clean. Corners rounded. Illustrated with more than 50 plates. Inscription on the first blank page, “Col J.S. Poland. 17th US Cavalry. Compliments of W.C. [can’t make out last name]. Fort D.A. Russell Wyoming. September 16, 1894.” In 1875-1876, J.S. Poland was Captain of the 6th Infantry and was the officer in charge of the Standing Rock Military Station in the Dakota Territory. It was located on the Missouri River, in current Ft. Yates, North Dakota (400 miles from Little Bighorn). Poland was a decorated Civil War commander, and a West Point classmate of General George Armstrong Custer. John Scroggs Poland (1836-1898). Graduated from the Military Academy in 1861 (May graduation. 34th in his class of 39). (G.A. Custer graduated in June, 34th in a class of 34 – they were originally the class of 62, but they were hurried through because of the outbreak of the war. Both Poland and Custer went straight to the Battle of Bull Run. July 21, 1861. ). As a Lieutenant, commanded a battalion at Antietam. Promoted to Captain in 1862. Brevetted Major ‘for gallant and meritorious service’ at Antietam, Shepardstown and Fredericksburg. Promoted to Lt. Col in 1863 for the Battle of Chancellorsville. 1865-1870 served as an instructor at the Military Academy, in geography, history and ethics. 1870-1880, Frontier service. Promoted to Major in 1880. 1881-1886, Chief of the Department of Law at the US Infantry and Cavalry School in Leavenworth, Kansas. Promoted to Lt. Col in 1886; Colonel in 1891; and Brigadier General of Volunteers in 1898. The complete correspondence between Poland and Burke and their supervisors can be found in “Congressional Series of United States Public Documents, Volume 1691” Military Field Manual belonging to the commander of a Dakota/Indian Territory fort, and witness to the unfolding of the Massacre at Little Big Horn. Captain Poland had been warning his superiors for more than 6 months that Indians friendly with Sitting Bull were stockpiling ammunition. Please email with questions or to requests photos or links to the full correspondence, & historical photos of Poland, including posing with Gen. Custer. …