Frederick W. Benteen 

Frederick William Benteen was born in 1834 in Virginia. Benteen moved with his family to St. Louis, Missouri in 1849. Against his father’s wishes, Benteen volunteered for Federal service in September 1861 joining the Bowen’s Missouri Cavalry Battalion. As captain of Company C, Benteen fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge. Later during the war, the 1st Missouri Cavalry was redesignated as the 9th Missouri Cavalry and then merged into the 10th Missouri Cavalry. In February 1864, Benteen was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assumed command of the 10th Missouri Cavalry. During Price’s 1864 invasion of Missouri, Benteen assumed command of the 4th Brigade, Provisional Cavalry Division, Department of the Missouri, after Col. Edward F. Winslow was wounded. Benteen led the brigade in the charge against the Confederate line at the Battle of Mine Creek. After Benteen mustered out as a volunteer in 1866, he was appointed captain in the 7th US Cavalry, whose commander was Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. In 1876, Capt. Frederick W. Benteen was in command of a three company battalion during the Little Bighorn Expedition. Benteen continued to lead US cavalry troopers against western Indians before retiring from the military in 1888.