On this day 1876, Welshman Sgt William B James was killed at the Battle of Little Bighorn. 

The story of General George Armstrong Custer's last stand against 7,000 Cheyenne and Sioux warriors at the Battle of Little Bighorn is a well known one.  But not so well known is that one of the men of the Seventh Cavalry who fought to the death alongside him on June 25 in 1876 was a farmer's son from Pembrokeshire.

This was 28-year-old Sgt William B James, the only Welsh-born soldier to fight in the famous battle, who was born at Pencnwc Farm, in Dinas Cross, near Newport, Pembs in 1848.   Following the death of his father and two sisters, William went to America to look for a new start.  After a stint as a coach driver in Chicago, he became a soldier and rose rapidly up the ranks to sergeant in only three years, a promotion that in those days usually took 12yrs.  In a sad twist of fate, the record also shows him listed in E Troop and had just one year left of his contract in the Army and had saved $80 to secure a brighter future - when he was killed with Custer.

Little Bighorn was the scene of America's worst military disaster and an all-round human tragedy.  The battle took place after three Army columns, including Custer's Seventh Cavalry, were dispatched to Montana to return thousands of rebelling Sioux and Cheyenne Indians - gathered there under the warrior Sitting Bull - to their reservations.  After spotting a Sioux village and a group of 40 warriors along the Rosebud River, Custer attacked.  But he had grossly underestimated the number of warriors in the village and was soon massively outnumbered.  The battle raged and after splitting his men into three groups, Custer and his group of 210 men - many of them Irish or German - were killed.  With the exception of Custer, who had been wearing buckskins, every uniformed man's body was mutilated, preventing them, the Indians believed, from ascending into heaven.  Outraged at the death of a famed Civil War hero, the nation demanded retribution and the downfall of the Great Plains Indian began in earnest.

On this day 1258 Llywelyn ap Gruffydd and Roger Mortimer signed a truce in Montgomery.  It didn't last long

Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer, of Wigmore was a loyal supporter of King Henry III of England and later of his son Edward I.  He was also a sworn enemy although an occasional ally of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.  They began fighting in 1256 and continued intermittently until both of their deaths in 1282. They were both grandsons of  Llywelyn the Great.

1231   Born  the eldest son of Ralph de Mortimer and  Gwladys Ddu, the daughter of Llywelyn the Great

1247   Married Matilda de Braose, eldest daughter of William de Braose, whom Llywelyn the Great had hanged in 1230, on a suspicion of adultery with his wife Joan.  Matilda brought with her substantial lands in Brecon and Radnor.

1256   Llywelyn ap Gruffudd invaded Roger's lordship of Rhayader and the two went to war.

1258   (25 June)  Mortimer signed a truce with the Llywelyn at Montgomery.

1260   Llywelyn attacked and captured Builth Castle from Mortimer.

1260  (August) Mortimer and Llywelyn signed another truce.

On the outbreak of the great struggle between Henry III and the barons in 1258 Mortimer, at first, arrayed himself on the baronial side but the increasingly close relations between his great enemy, Llywelyn of Wales, and the party of Montfort, must have made it extremely difficult for Mortimer to remain long on the side of the barons.

1262   Mortimer's Welsh tenants in Melenydd (Radnorshire)  rose in revolt and Llywelyn and Mortimer were at war again.  Llywelyn took Mortimer's three Radnorshire castles of Knucklas, Bleddfa, and Cefnllys.  

1263   Mortimer is reported to have  inflicted terrible slaughter on his Welsh enemies and recovered Cefnllys, but lost Brecon and his castle at Radnor to Llywelyn. 

1264 - 1267   The Second Barons War, an English civil war where the English barons, led by Simon de Montfort went to war against the forces of King Henry III.  Mortimer was loyal to the King whilst Llywelyn and Simon de Montfort made an alliance which concluded with The Treaty of Pipton in 1265, which came after The Battle of Lewes, at which King Henry and his son (the future Edward I) were captured.  The Treaty of Pipton stipulated that Llywelyn pay de Montfort, 30,000 marks in return for him being acknowledged as the Prince of Wales, with the fealty of all the Princes, Lords and Chieftains of Wales, they also agreed on a permanent peace and that Llywelyn would marry De Montfort's daughter, Eleanor.  However in 1265  Mortimer's wife, Maud de Braose helped rescue Prince Edward, who defeated and killed de Montfort as well as slaughtering his Welsh soldiers at The Battle of Evesham.  Mortimer sent the severed head of de Montfort to Wigmore Castle as a gift for his wife. 

1267    The Treaty of Montgomery;  Llywelyn was acknowledged as Prince of Wales    by King Henry III .   

1272    Henry III dies and Edward I becomes King of England, relations between England and Wales deteriorate

1276   Edward declared war on Llywelyn and Mortimer was appointed captain for Shropshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire in the Welsh Marches

1277    Mortimer was assigned to widen the roads in Wales and Bromfield to facilitate the march of the king's troops

1277    The Treaty of Aberconwy superseded the stipulations laid down at Montgomery and severely curbed Llywelyn's power.

1282    Mortimer took part in Edward I's  campaign against Llywelyn and was put in charge of operations in mid-Wales.

1282  (30th October)  Roger Mortimer died and was buried at Wigmore Abbey.

1282   It was Roger Mortimer's son Edmund who tricked Llywelyn into coming to Builth, on the pretence of offering Llywelyn his homage, which resulted in Llywelyn's death and it was Edmund's brother Roger Mortimer of Chirk who presented Llywelyn's severed head to King Edward I at Rhuddlan Castle. 

The Newport Ship

In June 2002, a fifteenth-century ship was discovered on the bank of the River Usk in Newport, during the building of the city's Riverfront Arts Centre.  Items discovered in the 80 foot ship suggest that it was engaged in trade with Portugal in the fifteenth century.  The £3.5 million rescue and preservation costs have been shared by Newport City Council and the Welsh Assembly.

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Born this day 1969 in Merthyr

Michael Gustavius Payne, award winning and much respected  figurative painter, who was raised in Merthyr's Gurnos estate during the mid-1970s until the early 1990s.

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25th June 1883  - Six miners were killed and another 8 badly injured in an accident at the New Duffryn Colliery, Rhymney. 

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