PRESERVATION THURSDAY: CHARLES WINDOLPH: EXPERIENCES WITH THE US 7TH CAVALRY
DEADWOOD – Deadwood History, Inc. and the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission will host a presentation by South Dakota Humanities Council’s Speakers Bureau Scholar Brad Tenant at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 13, 2022, at the Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center (HARCC), 150 Sherman Street, Deadwood. Free to members and $5 for non-members. The event is wheelchair accessible. Please feel free to bring your lunch.
Nineteen-year-old Charles Windolph immigrated to the United States in 1871 from the Lower Saxony region of northwestern Germany and enlisted in the 2nd US Infantry that same year. The following year, he began an eleven-year enlistment with the 7th US Cavalry, which included the 1873 Yellowstone Expedition, Custer’s 1874 Black Hills Expedition, and the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn. Windolph‘s actions at the Little Bighorn resulted in his being awarded the Medal of Honor and eventually the Purple Heart. His military unit also assisted with the removal of miners trespassing in the Black Hills as well as going to New Orleans to subdue the increasingly violent activities of the Ku Klux Klan. Windolph is interred at the Black Hills National Cemetery. The presentation is part of Tennant’s On This Day In South Dakota History series.
Dr. Brad Tennant is a professor of history at Presentation College in Aberdeen, South Dakota. In addition to his teaching assignments, Tennant is an active researcher, writer, and a long-time South Dakota Humanities Council Speakers Bureau presenter on a variety of state and regional topics. Recent publications include articles in Great Plains Traverse and South Dakota History, a book titled On This Day in South Dakota History (The History Press, 2017), and a chapter in the Midwest Book Awards winner The Interior Borderlands: Regional Identity in the Midwest and Great Plains (Center for Western Studies, 2019). In addition to being a member of several local, state, and national organizations, he currently serves on the South Dakota State Historical Society’s board of trustees.
Preservation Thursday is made possible by the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission, Deadwood History, Adams-Mastrovich Family Foundation, Deadwood Chamber & Visitors Bureau, Black Hills Pioneer, The Lodge at Deadwood, Silverado Franklin Historic Hotel & Gaming Complex, Saloon No. 10, and the South Dakota Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Photograph available upon request.
We inspire the global community by preserving and celebrating the cultural heritage of Deadwood and the Black Hills in the context of the American West through exceptional exhibits, innovative educational programs, and access to extensive collections in unique settings.
Adams Museum, Days of ’76 Museum, Historic Adams House, Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center (HARCC), and The Brothel Deadwood.