Louis L'amour's Great-Grandfather Killed at the Battle of Big Mound

I was wrong in the previous post when I said I thought that Louis L'amour's Great-Grandfather was killed at the Battle of Whitestone Hill. It turns out that he was killed in a skirmish surrounding the Battle of Big Mound instead.

It is widely reported that during the opening sequences of the Battle of Big Mound that Lieutenent Ambrose Freeman (L'amour's Great-Grandfather) and George Brackett, a civilian contractor, were off hunting antelope and were joined by some friendly Dakota. Subsequently, they were attacked by a war party of other Sioux and Freeman was killed.

We will discuss the Battle of Big Mound in future posts, but this appears to be one of those battles in the1863 campaign that involved the Dakota, Nakota and Lakota tangling with the soldiers.

Interestingly, this battle took place well east of the Missouri River and Sitting Bull is often placed as being at the Battle of Big Mound and other battles in this area.

It is somewhat odd to think of Sitting Bull fighting US soldiers well east of the Missouri River in 1863. These battles are obviously overshadowed by events at places like Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Chickamauga.