Further research on the internet gives one account of The Battle of Little Big Horn as follows: "One of the most chronicled events in the history of the American West was the famous Battle of the Little Big Horn, otherwise known as Custer's Last Stand. Traveling up Rosebud Creek, Custer split his command into three battalions. Major Marcus A. Reno, in command of companies "A", "G", and "M", was directed to attack the southern most end of the village in the valley. Captain Frederick W. Benteen, in command of companies "D", "H", and "K", was directed to explore the area in a southwesterly direction and to "pitch into anything that he might find." Captain McDougall was assigned with "B" Company to guard the pack train. Custer took the five companies of "C", "E", "F", "I", and "L" to make a frontal attack on the encampment. Within a short period of time, Custer and his troops were annihilated by the full might of an estimated 5,000 Sioux Indians who were led by Chief Sitting Bull and Chief Crazy Horse. Four days later, the other two battalions of the regiment were rescued by supporting cavalry troops under the command of Generals Terry and Gibbon. In the search for survivors of Custer's forces, not one of the 264 troopers under Custer's command was found alive. Five members of the Custer family were killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn; the General, his brother Captain Tom Custer, brother-in-law Captain James Calhoun, younger brother Boston, and nephew Autie Reed. Both Boston and Autie were civilians.

Only one horse, with seven arrows in his body, was found in a thicket. The horse, named Comanche, was a gelding ridden by Captain Keogh, one of Custer's officers. In the subsequent campaigns of 1876, troopers of the 5th Regiment rode after the Sioux to avenge the death of their comrades. While Sitting Bull was pursued into Canada, Crazy Horse and the Cheyennes traveled about, comparatively undisturbed."

Another account of this battle tells how the Indians came through after the battle and stripped the bodies and mutilated all the uniformed soldiers, believing that the soul of a mutilated body would be forced to walk the earth for all eternity and could not ascend into heaven. For some unknown reason, Custer’s body was cleaned, and was not scalped or mutilated. He had been wearing buckskins instead of a blue uniform, and some believe that the Indians thought he was not a soldier, and his body was left alone. Because his hair was cut short for battle, others think that he did not have enough hair to allow for a very good scalping. Immediately after the battle, the myth emerged that they left him alone out of respect for his fighting ability, but few Indians knew who he was to have been so respectful. To this day, no one knows the real reason.

Evidently from the information I have been told, it is a well known fact around the Baxter area that Thomas J. Stowers was the only survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The story that has been passed down about him is that the reason he was able to survive was prior to the commencement of the battle, Stowers had been placed in a supply wagon because of an extreme case of intoxication. During the battle, the supply wagon was turned over, and he lay hidden beneath it. The fact that wagon got turned over saved his life. No one seems to know how he got from Montana to Tennessee, but it was in the Baxter area that he lived out the remainder of his life, and his final resting place was in the Odd Fellow Cemetery.

I found this bit of information quite interesting, and the fact that recorded history about this event might not be completely accurate after all. It would really be interesting to know how Stowers made it back to Tennessee, and why he settled in the Baxter area. I wonder if he slept through the entire battle, or awoke as it raged all around him. I suppose it’s quite possible he missed the whole thing since it only lasted 20 minutes, but hearing his account from underneath the wagon would completely different from any other that has been recorded.

I have Cecil Allen, former resident of Livingston, to thank for the suggestion that I do a story about the lone survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Cecil served as our tour guide one Saturday afternoon, and directed my husband and myself to the Odd Fellow Cemetery. The afternoon of our tour also included a visit with Mr. and Mrs. Harold Allen of Baxter who are close friends of Cecil Allen and wife Irene. Harold Allen is a retired Captain of the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The information about Thomas Stowers was shared with Cecil through Harold Allen. Maybe these two Allen gentlemen might use their influence with Baxter officials and have this historic information placed on a sign near the city limits ... Baxter, Tennessee, home of Thomas J. Stowers, lone survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Custer’s Land Stand. It’s an important piece of history that I think deserves special recognition and attention given to and should be shared with others.

I end this entry of my journal with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem.