Career
As the surveyor for the Newton-Jenney Party, Doctor McGillycuddy was the first known person to climb Harney Peak in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He then served as Contract Surgeon with General George Crook during the Battle of the Rosebud (June 17, 1876), the Battle of Slim Buttes (September 9 and 10, 1876), and the Horsemeat March (1876). Red Cloud"s accusations of mismanagement led to several investigations of Doctor McGillycuddy"s administration.
Under pressure to arbitrarily fire a loyal clerk, Doctor McGillycuddy eventually resigned his post.
Later, in the days leading up to the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890), Red Cloud conceded that Doctor McGillycuddy had been a "young man with an old man"s head on his shoulders."
Doctor McGillycuddy would later serve as mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota, Dean of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, delegate to the South Dakota State Constitutional Convention, and South Dakota"s first State Surgeon General. The mansion 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, Wasicu Wacan (Lakota: translates as Holy White Manitoba)."
Books based on Valentine McGillycuddy"s life include:
McGillycuddy, Julia B. (1941).
McGillycuddy, Agent (First ed).
H. Milford, Oxford University Press. ASIN B0007F33PM. McGillycuddy, Julia B. James C. Olson (Introduction) (1990).
Blood on the Moon: Valentine McGillycuddy and the Sioux (1st ed). University of Nebraska Press.
. - republication of McGillycuddy, Agent
O"Brien, Dan (1999).
The Contract Surgeon (1st ed). The Lyons Press.
O"Brien, Dan (2004). The Indian Agent: A Novel.
The Lyons Press.
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Schaefer, Jack (1965). Heroes Without Glory: Some Goodmen of the Old West. Amereon Limited.
Journey Museum, Rapid City, South Dakota
McGillycuddy House
"State Historical Archives".
Pierre, South Dakota.
"About United States dollar: Our History and Traditions". University of South Dakota.
Vermillion, South Dakota. "Our History". South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
Rapid City, South Dakota.
Fort Robinson Historical Museum, Fort Robinson, Nebraska
National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Suitland, Maryland.