"GENERAL E. S. GODFREY, INDIAN FIGHTER, DIES IN 88TH YEAR

COOKSTOWN, New Jersey, April 1, 1932 – Brigadier General Edward S. Godfrey, veteran of the Indian wars, died here tonight at the age of 88.

The General’s death following an attack of heart disease which had kept him in bed for some time in his old colonial house here filled with antiques and relics of his campaigns. The house has been in the possession of Mrs. Godfrey’s family for more than 200 years.

Funeral services will be held next Tuesday at the Memorial Chapel in Arlington National Cemetery. The body will be taken to Washington Tuesday morning.

General Edward S. Godfrey of the old Army died in a quiet little village in New Jersey at the ripe age of 88. He was a typical West Pointer of the old school, proud of his profession, and having certain standards of behavior that are rather uncommon in this age of advancement by the use of political influence. He never attained higher rank than that of Brigadier General, but he was retired for age long before the World War. General Godfrey was at the time of his death the oldest graduate of the Military Academy and the only surviving officer of the Little Big Horn campaign, in which Colonel George A. Custer and 277 troopers of the Seventh Cavalry were, killed to a man by Indians ten times their numbers, who were better armed with repeating rifles.

In the Little Big Horn campaign, Edward S. Godfrey was a Lieutenant in Captain Benteen’s force, which, with Major Reno’s troops, was operating in support of Colonel Custer’s main body. When scouts reported an Indian village in an unexplored country, Custer divided his command into three “battalions,” Reno was ordered to begin an attack on the village; Custer was to proceed up the river to reinforce Reno; while Benteen had orders to scout to the left and deal with bands of Indians he encountered. Major Reno had only 112 men, and, finding in his front a greatly superior body of the enemy, halted, took cover, and finally retreated across the river. Godfrey severely criticized the tactics of Reno, holding that it he had engaged the Indians their concentration on Custer might have been prevented. Reno had his defenders, among them General W. S. Edgerly, who was also a Lieutenant in Benteen’s command. Judge Advocate Graham also championed Reno. In spite of a distinguished Civil War record, Reno was dismissed from the army. There is no doubt that General Godfrey did his duty “as he saw it” in condemning Reno. The latter’s fate was, however, another tragedy of the Little Big Horn campaign."