McGillycuddy, Julia B. (Julia Blanchard)

Surgeon, topographical engineer, and Pine Ridge Indian agent.

Michigan born Valentine McGillycuddy practiced medicine there briefly before serving as a topographical engineer and surgeon for the U.S. Lake Survey under Comstock, the 1874 U.S. Boundary Survey, and the 1875 Walter P. Jenney expedition to the Black Hills. He later was a surgeon with Gen. George Crook at the Rosebud action and on the Black Hills march, and at Camp Robinson, Nebraska. In 1879, McGillycuddy was appointed agent for the Oglala Sioux (later also a Cheyenne band) at the Pine Ridge Agency. Although considered an excellent agent, McGillycuddy's tenure was marred by confrontation with Red Cloud and his supporters. He was relieved in May, 1886, as a result of political manueverings. Later serving on the Dakota governor's staff, McGillycuddy observed the 1890 Battle of Wounded Knee and tended its wounded. He died in California in 1939.