The Death of Weir

[joewiggs]

I have placed this topic here because I have no evidence to support my position and, it is unlikely that, there shall ever be evidence to support my assumption;Weir committed suicide. Always a drinker, what he did in the last 6 months of his life is beyond explanation other than the realization that what he did was done purposely. He drank alcohol until he could no longer swallow. The Doctors who tended him claimed that he transpired from "consumption."

Before he died, he wrote a letter to Libby Custer. Their are some who will not hesitate to infer that he did so to entice the woman he secretly desired. Not so! The letter was addressed to Libby and other relatives as well. He speculated that they, together, could entice him to reveal what he knew about the battle. Something so tragic that it drove him to cloud the pain in a mass consumptions of alcohol.

I believe that a part of this deep secret lay within the heart and mind of Weir. His desire to "respond to the sound of fire" which was admirable, particularly when no one else seemed to care, and his final actions upon doing so. Something occurred that caused him tremendous torment.

[strange]

All the more reason why people should take better care of themselves or all the more reason as to why some one should not commit suicide. He had some important knowledge to share that will just leave us guessing to the end of time, and he allowed Custer's reputation to be smeared. By and large, history is always written by the people who outlive you.

[Cutter]

Here's his obit in the NYT.
query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9A01E4DC133AE63BBC4852DFB467838D669FDE

[joewiggs]

Thanks Cutter for the obit. Is it possible that Weir saw the last moments of Custer's fight. Did he see wounded men being dispatched Indian style? Did he realize that much could have been done had Benteen not spend so much time on Reno Hill? Did he see the dead Custer being stripped of his clothing. What not such a vision burn an image in his psyche that would torment him to the day he died? One can only wonder.

[whitebull]

I believe that Capt. Weir was a drinker and that he admired Custer a whole lot. From Weir's Point, he saw the indians over run Calhoun Hill and strip the dead and wounded. What he also saw was Custer on the hill still alive. When some of the indians charged his position he ran, like every body else. The only difference is that he drunk himself to death because he couldn't live with it. The others didn't give a damn one way or the other.

[Cutter]

Yup, he was a big drinker to be sure, and am sure it was magnified by seeing his comrades torn to pieces as he watched helplessly. Sure wish he would have kept it together to testify at the RCI.

[stumblingbear]

Can you just imagine it. An actual survivor of the battle. maybe it's true that he did not ride with Custer but, he could have told us so much about the battle. Perhaps his testimony would have defused that of Benteen, Wallace, and Reno.

Perhaps his testimony may have placed the blame of failure on a certain Captain who panicked and left the timber before it was necessary.