Was General Custer's bandmaster, Felix Vinatieri, really the great-great-grandfather of NFL kicker Adam Vinatieri?
Yes. Felix Vinatieri was born in Turin, Italy in 1834. In 1859, Felix and his sister Emmelia, an opera singer, immigrated to America. Two years later, Felix enlisted with the 16th Regiment of Massachusetts at Boston, as a musician. His second enlistment occurred in 1867 as Infantry Musician with the 22nd Infantry at Fort Columbus, New York. He served during the Civil War, was sent west and discharged in December, 1870, at Fort Sully in the Dakota Territory. He chose to settle in Yankton. The 7th Regiment came into Yankton, Territorial Capital, on the Dakota Southern Railroad from Sioux City, Iowa, on April 9, 1873. They camped at Yankton for a number of weeks while preparing for their long march north to Bismarck. With Custer were 800 troops, 700 horses, enlisted men's and offiers' families, and aides. During their encampment in Yankton, a ball was given in honor of the general and his officers. The leader of the band that night was the lithe, trim, thirty-nine-year-old Italian Felix Vinatieri, who led the band with gusto. General Custer thought the music sophisticated for a wilderness town, liked Felix Vinatieri, and offered him the position of Chief Musician. On May 7, 1873, the band rode out of Yankton for Fort Abraham Lincoln. On the lead horse was a proud Felix Vinatieri. Following his arrival at the fort, Vinatieri travelled to St. Paul, Minnesota, to enlist for a three year period as Bandleader of the 7th Cavalry. Felix and the band would ride into battle alongside Custer playing the 7th's unofficial march song "Garry Owen" to fire up the troops. On June 25, 1876, General Custer, along with 276 men, was massacred at the Little Bighorn. The sixteen members of the band, who were mostly German, were spared, as Custer had left orders with band leader Vinatieri that the band was not to engage in battle, but to remain on the supply steamboat, Far West, moored on the Powder River. Subsequently, it served as a floating hospital with all of the band members assisting in placing the wounded on the boat. They served as medics as the Far West turned around and headed back for the fort at Bismarck, making the nearly thousand mile journey in fifty-four hours. Vinatieri was discharged on December 18, 1876, at Fort Abraham Lincoln, with a notation for good conduct. The family returned to Yankton where he had organized the Yankton band, serving as its director from 1868 to 1873 and 1886 to 1891. Felix Vinatieri died in Yankton in 1891.
Are the 1876 scenes in Bighorn authentic?
Yes, right down to Custer's twin Webley British Bulldog pistols and the Medicine Man singing in the Lakota language.
Are those real buffalo?
Yes.
How do you get buffalo to run on cue?
Chase them with a backhoe.
What was the total out-of-pocket budget for Bighorn?
$5000. However, most of the cast and crew donated their time and talent.
