Frederick Benteen

Frederick William Benteen was a military officer during the American Civil War and then during the Indian Campaigns and Great Sioux War against the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne. Benteen is best known for being in command of a battalion of the 7th U. S. Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in late June, 1876.

Frederick Benteen was born August 24, 1834, in Petersburg, Virginia to Theodore Charles Benteen and his wife Caroline Benteen. Benteens ancestors had emigrated to America from the Netherlands in the 18th century, settling in Baltimore. The family had moved to Virginia from Baltimore shortly after the birth of their first child, Henrietta Elizabeth, in October 1831. Frederick Benteen was educated at the Petersburg Classical Institute, where he was first trained in military drill. His family moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1849. In 1856, he became acquainted with Catharine Kate Louisa Norman, a young woman recently arrived in St. Louis from Philadelphia.

Source: Wikipedia