View source for Thomas Causby

Date of enlistment: 1 January 1872

Age given at enlistment: 25

Rank: Quartermaster Sergeant

Company: Staff

Location on 25 June 1876: Powder River Depot

It is an interesting fact that all four non-commissioned officers on the Headquarters Staff of the 7th United States Cavalry at the time of the Battle of the Little Big Horn were born in Europe; two of whom were English. Sergeant Major William H. Sharrow came from Sheriff Hutton, near York, and Quartermaster Sergeant Thomas Causby, the subject of this paper, hailed from Liverpool, then in the county of Lancashire.

So who was Thomas Causby? What do we know of this man who served with the Seventh Cavalry during one of the most eventful periods in its long and distinguished history? According to the U.S. Army Register of Enlistments it would seem that he was born in 1846, but this conflicts with the date of 9 May 1848, which is inscribed on his headstone in Oakland Cemetery, Davenport, Iowa.  Information received by this writer from a direct descendant of Causby living in the United States revealed that his mother’s name was Martha and surviving correspondence refers to a brother, Harry, and a nephew, Harry Gidlow, all residing in Liverpool. Despite this apparent wealth of genealogical data a diligent search failed to find anyone matching his description or, indeed, a single person bearing the surname Causby residing in the whole of Lancashire during the period in question. Therefore until further evidence was forthcoming one had to reluctantly conclude that the true identity of Custer’s Quartermaster Sergeant would remain uncertain.

However, the breakthrough came just under twelve months ago when this writer came across the following report in the  Liverpool Mercury, Monday, 25 January 1869, p. 6.

A  DERBY EMBEZZLER ARRESTED IN LIVERPOOL. – Thomas Causby Woolfitt, a young man of 25 years of age, was in the employ of Mr. James Chollelton (sic), bent timber manufacturer, Derby, as clerk and occasional traveller. He was on business connected with his employer, at Manchester, and absconded from there on Monday last. His accounts were discovered to be embarrassed to the amount of about £300. A warrant charging him with embezzling £60 was placed in the hands of Inspector Fearn, of Derby police, and that officer traced Woolfitt, by means of a peculiar portmanteau, to Liverpool. Woolfitt’s mother resided in Woodruffe [Woodruff] – street, and when Inspector Fearn placed himself in communication with the Liverpool detective force, Detective-officer Graham was appointed to act with him, and watched the residence of Woolfitt’s mother. It was noticed that Woolfitt’s mother made many calls at the shop of a Mrs. Irving, and the officers went to that shop and asked to see Woolfitt. They were told he was not in the house; but on searching it they found Woolfitt concealed under a bed. The prisoner was taken to Derby by Inspector Fearn, and will be brought at the Derby police court today, under the warrant. 

Although Woolfitt claimed to be slightly older than the age Causby gave on enlistment further research confirmed beyond any doubt that they were one and the same person.  His birth certificate clearly shows he was born on the ninth of May, but two years earlier than depicted on his headstone.

To confuse matters further the name ‘Causby’ was added at baptism but it is a short step from ‘Thomas Causby Woolfitt’ to ‘Thomas W. Causby.’ When in America it seems that the ‘W’ stood for ‘Wellesley’ (pronounce Wells-lee), presumably after Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, the victorious general at the Battle of Waterloo and later British prime minister, the 1st Duke of Wellington. Causby always had a great sense of occasion.

Thomas Causby and Emma Evenson (his third wife) in 1882.