DAKOTA DATEBOOK
Lonesome Charley
March 20, 2023 — Today’s story is about Charles Alexander Reynolds, who was born in Illinois on this date in 1842. As the son of a doctor, Reynolds attended an Illinois prep school before moving to Kansas with his family when he was 17. Feeling the urge for adventure, Reynolds soon left his family to work as a teamster on a wagon train. A year later, he joined the Infantry to fight on behalf of the Union in the Civil War.
Reynolds was short and stocky with dark red hair and wide-set blue eyes. He was inquisitive and led a clean life. He preferred the company of men with whom he could share his love of geology, animal life and Indian cultures. Otherwise he kept to himself, which earned him the nickname “Lonesome Charley.”
After his discharge from the Army in 1864, Reynolds headed west to work as a buffalo hunter. By the time he arrived in the Fort Berthold area, he had earned a reputation as a more than capable frontiersman. The Indians who knew him called him WhiteHunter-That-NeverGoes-Out-for-Nothing because of his superior hunting skills.
In 1872, Reynolds was hired to guide the first Yellowstone Expedition, which entailed escorting Northern Pacific Railroad surveyors westward. The following summer, he signed on for the second such expedition, during which he earned the respect of Custer as a quiet but superior scout.
Custer hired Lonesome Charley to be chief scout in his Black Hills expedition the following year. Reynolds was ordered to find a good site for a military post and to also check out rumors of gold. When the presence of gold was confirmed, Custer sent Reynolds on a dangerous mission to bring the news to Fort Laramie – an announcement that would ultimately result in his own death.
In 1876, Reynolds hired as a scout for General Alfred Terry’s column as it set out to bring in Sitting Bull and his people. Lonesome Charley went out to determine what the troops would face, and on May 17, 1876, he guided the 7th Cavalry westward toward battle.
Upon arriving at the Little Bighorn five weeks later, Custer sent Reynolds to guide Major Reno’s battalion in its attack on the Indian encampments. Reynolds had serious misgivings about the Cavalry’s ability to withstand the battle. And he was right; enemy warriors soon had Reno’s troops falling back in a desperate retreat.
Doctor H.R. Porter later said, “[Lonesome Charley] fell at my side. I was tending a dying soldier in a clump of bushes just before the retreat to the bluffs when it happened. The bullets were flying, and Reynolds noticed that the Indians were making a special target of me, though I didn’t know it. He yelled at me, ‘Look out, Doctor, the Indians are shooting at you,’ and I turned to look and just in time to escape. Then I saw Reynolds throw up his hands and fall,” Porter said.
Reynolds was only 34 when he died. Because of his actions, Doctor Porter survived; in fact, he was the only 7th Cavalry surgeon who made it.
“Dakota Datebook” is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from Humanities North Dakota. See all the Dakota Datebooks at prairiepublic.org, subscribe to the “Dakota Datebook” podcast, or buy the Dakota Datebook book at shopprairiepublic.org.