General Samuel D. Sturgis
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 44° 24.879 W 103° 29.941
13T E 619499 N 4919024
Statue is located in small park welcoming you to the city that carries his name.
Waymark Code: WM3KBN
Location: South Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 04/15/2008
Views: 70
Statue Sculpted by: Edward E. Hlavka.
Statue Commissioned by: The City of Sturgis and The Sturgis Area Arts Council.
Statue Dedicated: June of 2002.
Statue's name: Heritage.
Marker Text:
HERITAGE
Colonel Samuel D. Sturgis, for whom the town of Sturgis is named, came from a military family that included officers who had served in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. He graduated from West Point in 1846 and was promoted to the rank of Major General during the Civil War. He commanded the famed Seventh U. S. Cavalry from May 6, 1869, until his retirement in 1886. One of his sons was killed in the historic Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.
Another son, Samuel D. Sturgis II, was a general in World War I and a grandson, Samuel D. Sturgis III, became a general during World War II. Colonel Sturgis was one of the earliest post commanders at nearby Fort Meade when it was established in 1878 with his Seventh Cavalry as the principal garrison. He was a member of the Townsite Company that founded the town named for him. He was also a vigorous booster of the Black Hills and an active participant in the early development of the region. His retirement at Fort Meade on June 11, 1886, at age sixty-five, marked the end of forty years of outstanding service to his country. He died at St. Paul, MN, on September 29, 1889, and was buried with honors at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Historian: Bob Lee.