Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy (1849 -1939)

Valentine Trant McGillycuddy was a Western legend, and a controversial pioneer of the effort to build a sustainable relationship between the United States and the Native American Indian people. As the surveyor for the Newton-Jenney Party, McGillycuddy was the first person to climb Harney Peak in the Black Hills of South Dakota. As Assistant Post Surgeon at Fort Robinson and later Indian Agent for Red Cloud Agency, McGillycuddy was known to the Lakota Sioux of modern day Pine Ridge as "Friend of Crazy Horse," and was the doctor who treated Crazy Horse at the time of his death. Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy would later serve as Mayor of Rapid City, Dean of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, delegate to the South Dakota State Constitutional Convention, and as South Dakota's first State Surgeon General. The mansion that he built in 1888 is still standing today in Rapid City. McGillycuddy died at age 90 in Berkeley, California. His ashes are entombed at the top of Harney Peak behind a plaque that reads "Valentine McGillycuddy, Wasitu Wacan." Harney Peak is the highest mountain in South Dakota, located in Black Hills National Forest. ... The Black Hills are a small, isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming. ... State nickname: The Mount Rushmore State Other U.S. States Capital Pierre Largest city Sioux Falls Governor Mike Rounds (R) Official languages English Area 199,905 km² (17th)  - Land 196,735 km²  - Water 3,173 km² (1. ... In March, 1874, the U.S. Government authorized the establishment of a military camp at the Red Cloud Agency on the White River. ... Red Cloud Red Cloud (Sioux: Makhpyia-luta), (1822 – December 10, 1909) was a chief of the Oglala Sioux. ... The Lakota (friends or allies, sometimes also spelled Lakhota) are a Native American tribe, also known as the Sioux (see Names). ... Pine Ridge is the name of several places in the United States and Canada, most notably the Pine Ridge region of northwestern Nebraska and southwestern South Dakota and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of southwestern South Dakota. ... Crazy Horse (Sioux: Tasunka witko, pronounced tashúnka uitko), (c. ... Rapid City is the name of several places in the United States of America: Rapid City, Michigan Rapid City, South Dakota This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM & T) was founded in 1885 as Dakota School of Mines, primarily as an institution to teach mining engineering and related disciplines. ... State nickname: The Mount Rushmore State Other U.S. States Capital Pierre Largest city Sioux Falls Governor Mike Rounds (R) Official languages English Area 199,905 km² (17th)  - Land 196,735 km²  - Water 3,173 km² (1. ... Berkeley as seen from the Claremont Canyon reserve Berkeley is a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of northern California, in the United States. ... Harney Peak is the highest mountain in South Dakota, located in Black Hills National Forest. ...

Books based on Valentine McGillyuddy's life include: McGillycuddy, Agent (Julia McGillycuddy, 1942) Blood on the Moon (Republication of McGillycuddy, Agent) Contract Surgeon (Dan Obrien, 2001) Indian Agent (Dan Obrien, 2005)

References

• The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse: Three Eyewitness Views by the Indian, Chief He Dog the Indian White, William Garnett the White Doctor, Valentine McGillycuddy

External links

• History of Dr. Valentine McGillycuddy and Links to other Resources.

Museum and Archival Collections

• Journey Museum, Rapid City, South Dakota
• State Historical Archives, Pierre, South Dakota
• University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota
• McGillycuddy House, Rapid City, South Dakota
• South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota