Lilla Bogert Letters, 1876-1877

Overview of the Collection

Title
Lilla Bogert Letters
Dates
1876-1877 (inclusive)
Quantity
9 items
Collection Number
2406
Summary
The Lilla Bogert Letters consist of six letters written by Charles Schofield from the field, 1876-1877. The 1876 letters were written while Schofield was on special assignment with the Second Cavalry. Schofield was with the "Montana Column" under Colonel John Gibbon on the 1876 Sioux Campaign. Colonel John Gibbon on the 1876 Sioux Campaign. Schofield tells Lilla of the conditions in the camps and his thoughts of Custer and other leaders, the Sioux, and the battle itself.
Repository
Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Languages
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Lilla Bogert was born on January 6, 1848, in Brooklyn, New York. Her family moved west to Bozeman in the mid-1870s and quickly became a leading family in the new town. Her father, John V. Bogert, became the first mayor of Bozeman in 1883. Along with her two sisters Augusta and Kate, Lilla became a socialite in the community and nearby Fort Ellis. Her sister Kate married Lieutenant Charles Roe from Fort Ellis and Augusta married Arthur Place. Lilla never married. She devoted much of her adult life to making Sunset Hills Cemetery the most beautiful one in the state. She held a charity bazaar with her sister Kate to raise money for the cemetery, planted trees and flowers on the grounds, and served as a member of the cemetery board. An accomplished western artist, Lilla is known for her paintings of Montana topics. She also published a poem in the compilation of poems . The last years of her life Lilla was a patient at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital where she died on September 3, 1951, at the age of 103.

Second Lieutenant Charles Brewster Schofield wrote to Lilla in the months surrounding the Battle of the Little Big Horn. He was born on June 26, 1849, in Illinois and graduated from West Point in 1870. His first field assignment was field duty at Fort Ellis where he was a Second Lieutenant. He fought in the United States Military's campaigns against the Sioux and the Nez Perce from 1872 to 1876, including the Sioux Expedition of 1876. The following year he fought in the Nez Perce War. From 1878 to 1885, he was the Aide-de-camp to his brother, Major General John Schofield. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in 1879. In 1885, he returned to frontier duty at Fort Walla Walla in Washington. In 1895, he was once again promoted, becoming a Lieutenant Colonel. He served in the Spanish-American War in 1898 and the following year was shipped to Cuba. Schofield died on February 1, 1901, of heart disease at the age of 51 in Matanzas, Cuba.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The Lilla Bogert Letters contain six letters written to Lilla Bogert by United Stated Cavalry lieutenant Charles Schofield from 1876-1877. Schofield wrote the letters from the field while serving in US Army's wars against the Sioux in the American west. The 1876 letters were written while Schofield was on special assignment with the Second Cavalry. Schofield was stationed with the "Montana Column" under Colonel John Gibbon on the 1876 Sioux Campaign. The "Montana Column" was part of a pincer movement including General Crook from Fort Fetterman, and General Terry and Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer from Fort Abraham Lincoln. The result was the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Schofield tells Lilla of the conditions in the camps and his thoughts of Custer and other leaders, the Sioux, and the battle itself.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

The Lilla Bogert Letters were donated to Special Collections in January 2000 by the Museum of the Rockies.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2009 April 21

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Original Letters, 1876-1877Return to Top

Container(s): Folder 1

Container(s) Description Dates
Lilla Bogert, Letter from Charles B. Schofield. May 28, 1876, Camp on the Yellowstone near mouth of Rosebud
1876 May 28
Camp on Yellowstone River near mouth of Rosebud
1876 June 14
Camp on Little Horn
1876 June 28
Camp on Yellowstone
1976 July 4
Fort Pease, Montana
1876 July 18
Camp on Rosebud
1877 May 23

Typed transcripts of letters, 1876-1877Return to Top

Container(s): Folder 2

Newspaper clipping, 1948Return to Top

Container(s): Folder 3

Photograph of Charles SchofieldReturn to Top

Container(s): Folder 4

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Dakota Indians--Wars, 1876--Personal narratives
  • Little Bighorn, Battle of the, Mont., 1876