On June 26, 1876, U.S. Seventh Cavalry trooper Michael P. Madden of Louisville gulped brandy before a surgeon amputated his right leg under fire during the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
The sawbones gave the Irish-born Kentucky enlistee another snort afterwards. Supposedly, Madden was so appreciative of the second drink that he invited the surgeon to “cut off me other leg.”
The sesquicentennial of the storied battle Madden survived isn’t getting much press in the semiquincentennial hoopla. Nor is it widely known that several sons of the Bluegrass State rode with Custer. Some were killed…