Elijah
Strode
Private
Company A
Born – March 1851 (Monroe
County, Kentucky)
Died – February 14, 1881
(Sturgis, South Dakota)
Grave location – Post Cemetery,
Fort Meade, Sturgis, South Dakota
He enlisted on October 15, 1872, in Elizabethtown, Kentucky by Lt.
Algernon Smith. He listed his previous occupation as farmer. He was
assigned to Company A; transferred to Company H. He was discharged on
June 24, 1877, at camp on Tongue River, Montana Territory, as a private
of good character. He re-enlisted and was promoted to sergeant, Company
D, in 1877. He had brown hair, brown eyes, a fair complexion, and was
5’ 9 ¾”in height. He is listed as Elija T. Strode in the
Register of Enlistments, U.S. Army, and elsewhere as Strond, Elijah
Stroude, and Elijah T. Stroud. He was serving as orderly for Lt.
Charles Varnum at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. He was wounded in
the right ankle during the scramble to the bluffs from the valley
fight. He was transported to Fort Lincoln on board the steamer
Far West. He was murdered on February 14, 1881.
Notes – Some reports list that he was shot at Fort Yates and was
transported to Fort Meade, where he died. This seemed strange to me as
anyone who has been to the Dakotas knows the distance between Fort
Yates and Fort Meade. This was well before the helicopter transport
days. A trip from Fort Yates to Fort Meade would have taken many days,
if not weeks. I just couldn’t believe that it happened that way.
A trip to the State Archives in Pierre, South Dakota confirmed my
suspicions. Looking through the microfiche of newspapers from around
the time of Strode’s murder, I found reference to it and the trial in
the BLACK HILLS DAILY TIMES. By reading the newspaper accounts it
became clear that Strode was shot and died in Sturgis.
Headstone for Elijah Strode at the
Post Cemetery - Fort Meade - Sturgis, South Dakota
