Winfield Scott Edgerly 27, 1875. From May to September 1876, the 7th Cavalry, including Edgerly, participated in the Sioux Expedition. Edgerly was promoted to first lieutenant in the 7th Cavalry effective June 25, 1876. The regiment was engaged in the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 26–27, 1876. Edgerly was the second in command of Company D, serving under Captain Thomas Weir; Company D was assigned to Captain Frederick Benteen's Battalion. Prior to the battle, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer was discussing upcoming events with his junior officers; Edgerly expressed enthusiasm about the possibility of success; Custer replied that success depended on
Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant the committee's demands and signed the agreement. During the Great Sioux War, Grant came into conflict with Col. George Armstrong Custer after he testified in 1876 about corruption in the War Department under Secretary William W. Belknap (see below). Grant had Custer arrested for breach of military protocol in Chicago and barred him from leading an upcoming campaign against the Sioux. Grant finally relented and let Custer fight under Brig. Gen. Alfred Terry. Two months after Custer's death Grant castigated him in the press, saying "I regard Custer's massacre as a sacrifice of troops, brought on by Custer himself, that