5835 Vine Street Lincoln, Nebraska 68505 Colonel Ralph Reed Bolling Air Force Base Washington, D. C.
Dear Colonel Reed:

While you are there in Washington, I am wondering if you could obtain for me and item of information that I need badly for my autobiography. I need to know where Captain George Wallace of the Seventh Cavalry is buried.

Captain Wallace was the first soldier killed in the Battle of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, against the Sioux December 29, 1890. He is buried in the region of Rock Hill, North Carolina, but I am not certain exactly where the graveyard is. I have seen Captain Wallace's grave, but I have forgotten near what town the graveyard lies. I am familiar with the history of the Seventh Cavalry, but I have never heard where Captain Wallace came from nor where this body was taken. Twenty years ago my son and I drove past the graveyard. We even went in and read the writing on the tombstone. I thought this graveyard was near Pineville, North Carolina, but the Chamber of Commerce wrote that there is no such grave in Pineville.

Perhaps there are records in the War Department that might be available to you, or perhaps there is a biographical dictionary of officers where those of the Seventh Cavalry would be included. I am fairly certain that Captain Wallace's given name was George; at any rate, I have seen the roster of the Seventh Cavalry and there was only one Wallace. He may have been a lieutenant at the time of Wounded Knee, but I am reasonably certain that the tombstone gives his rank as Captain.

I will greatly appreciate your efforts in obtaining this information for me. As you know, it is vitally important that anything I use be correct.

Thank you so much for the white horsehair for the pipe. It dyed perfectly and, thanks to you, the pipe is once again really beautiful. You must see it when you return.

With all kind thoughts,

John G. Neihardt
JGN:fmb
FRANCIS HEITMAN
HISTORICAL REGISTER DICTIONARY
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Mr. [?] is in the [National?] [Archives?]. He will try to get and send more information.

Burial first at Battle site. Then probably at Natl. [Cem.?]. (Could be Ft McPherson), then at [Yorkville?] [Speculates?], [but?] normal procedure. He will try to [verify?].

Information furnished by Colonel William G. Bell, USA (retired)

Office of the Chief of Military History 2nd and R Streets, Southwest Washington, D.C. 20315

(Telephone: Area Code 202, OXford 71450)

In a book written by Robert M. Utley, entitled "The Last Days of the Sioux Nation," published by Yale University Press, Copyright 1963 (originally published as Yale Western Americana Series No. 3), on page 228, Footnote No. 48 includes the following quotation:

"On the 7th of January the body of the gallant officer (Wallace), which had been sent to his home in Yorkville, South Carolina draped in the flag of his troop, was buried with solemn ceremonies at that place. The schools of the town and many of the people joined in the funeral procession; and when the well deserved eulogies had been pronounced the local military body fired a salute over his grave."

The above quotation was attributed to Harper's Weekly, January 17, 1891, pages 41-42.