"A Messenger to Custer?" Topic

Working on the LBH again, the text this time being Scott et al They Died with Custer. I'm looking for messengers. When Custer saw the village, he sent Sgt Knipe of C Troop to the pack train and Trumpeter Martin--H Troop, but detached as a messenger--to Benteen. He must have sent someone to Reno. My nominees are Trumpeter Doss or Dose of G Troop, attached to Custer as an orderly and Sgt James Martin of L. Both bodies were found pretty much between the Custer and Reno positions.

But Reno says in his official report that he sent word to Custer from the valley. Who? I'm looking for a sergeant or trumpeter of A, G or M Troops, listed as killed at the LBH without a description of death or an identified grave. Have we got any such? DocMcb, this is where the AI ought to shine if carefully checked.

Thanks to all.

It was reported that from the valley that Reno saw Custer and his command group on the bluffs waving them on, and if Reno did send a message back to Custer, it could have been an Indian scout if any actual message were sent. Given the panic Reno was dealing with, he may have told someone to try to get to Custer, but in all that confusion, one never knows.

Reno's exact words from his 5 July 1876 report: "when I came to a ford of the river. I crossed immediately, and halted about ten minutes or less to gather the battalion, sending word to Custer that I had everything in front of me, and that they were strong."
This is before the charge or the dismount. I don't think even Reno was panicked at this stage. And I'd be very surprised at an Indian messenger. Yeah, lots of things could have happened. But we should be able to check on Sergeants or trumpeters in three troops. Probably not a dozen men involved.

Here is what GROK gave me just now:

The known, well-documented Custer messengers match what the TMP poster already has. After Custer first saw the village from the bluffs he sent Sgt. Daniel Kanipe (C Troop) back with a verbal order for Capt. McDougall and the pack train: hurry, cut loose packs if they slow you down, big village. Kanipe passed Benteen on the trail and survived. A short time later, farther north, Custer sent Trumpeter John Martin / Giovanni Martini (H Troop, serving as Custer's orderly that day) with Cooke's written note to Benteen: "Come on. Big village. Be quick. Bring packs." Martin is the last white soldier known to have seen Custer's battalion alive; he also survived.
There is no confirmed messenger from Custer to Reno after the split. Custer's last verbal order to Reno was that Reno would be supported by "the whole outfit." Once Custer saw the size of the village he appears to have assumed Reno was already attacking and that the two battalions would converge. That is why later writers look for an isolated body in the gap between the two fights.
The two bodies the poster nominated
Trumpeter Henry C. Dose (G Troop)

Dose was detached that morning as one of Custer's orderlies (Martin later said the only orderlies that day were himself, Dose, and possibly one other). His body was found well south of Last Stand Hill—accounts place it on the flats or in a coulee between Medicine Tail Coulee and Deep Coulee, or "halfway between Custer and Reno." Lt. DeRudio described finding a badly mutilated trumpeter about 500 yards from a ford; Pvt. Henry Petring (also G) told Walter Camp the body had arrows in the back and sides. Dose is a plausible Custer-to-Reno courier simply because he was already with Custer, was a trumpeter (typical messenger), and died in the intervening ground. His remains were later gathered into the mass grave on Last Stand Hill.
1st Sgt. James Butler (L Troop)

The poster's "Sgt. James Martin of L" is almost certainly a name slip for Butler (there was a Cpl. James Martin in G Troop who died in Reno's valley fight). Butler's isolated body was one of the first found on 28 June, south of Calhoun Hill on a ridge overlooking Medicine Tail Coulee—again, in the gap. A large number of spent Springfield cases were under and around him; he had clearly fought hard and alone. Godfrey and others later guessed he had been sent as a courier toward Reno. Martin himself doubted it: no written message was found and Custer would not normally send a first sergeant as an orderly. The position and cartridge scatter still make him the strongest candidate for a late, desperate attempt to reach Reno or Benteen.
Reno's messengers to Custer
Reno's official report of 5 July 1876 states that after he crossed the river he "sent word to Custer that I had everything in front of me, and that they were strong." Two men are identified in the secondary literature as those messengers:

Pvt. Archibald McIlhargey
Pvt. John Mitchell

Both are listed as killed with Custer's five companies, which implies they reached Custer and then died with him. McIlhargey is described in some sources as Reno's "striker" (personal orderly) that day even though his official company was I (Keogh's). Their bodies were not isolated in the gap; they were among the Custer dead. That is why they do not match the poster's search criteria (sergeant or trumpeter of A, G or M with no recorded death location).
Matching the poster's exact filter
Reno's three companies were A, G and M. Men from those companies who were killed, whose deaths are not described in any detail, and who lack an identified individual grave are the ones worth checking against They Died with Custer and the monument panels. Dose (G, trumpeter, detached) is the closest fit already discussed. Other G Troop NCOs killed that day include Sgt. Edward Botzer and Sgt. Miles Considine; their death sites are not well documented. A Troop and M Troop lists should be checked the same way—any sergeant or trumpeter whose only record is "killed in action, Little Bighorn, no further particulars."
Bottom line for the TMP thread:

Custer → pack train = Kanipe (survived).

Custer → Benteen = Martin (survived).

Custer → Reno = no proven name; Dose and Butler are the two bodies that sit in the right geography and have the right "possible courier" stories.

Reno → Custer = McIlhargey and Mitchell (both died with Custer).
Scott et al. will give the osteological and marker data; the Camp interviews and the Reno Court of Inquiry testimony give the contemporary identifications. The gap between the two battlefields still contains the unanswered courier question.

Looking at grave sites and information listed – there were two messengers from Reno to Custer – both from Company I – one acting as a striker for Reno and the other a cook

link

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Thank you all, and well played, AI--especially in catching my error on Butler. (And good point about a 1st Sergeant probably being too high up the food chain for courier duty.) I'm going to have to look up the sources on Mitchell and McIlhargey. Assigning a striker and a cook suggests more permanence to the battalions than I would have expected.

Already had my eye on Considine. Botzer is described as being killed in the retreat to Reno Hill, which is too late to make him the or a courier. The only other dead sergeant from Reno's valley fight is O'Hara, who is decently documented, and Dose is the only trumpeter fatality among Troops A, G and M. After that, I'm down to a couple of corporals.

robert, thanks for doing this challenge to the AI. The results here pretty accurately reflect my own experience. It is not a panacea but a useful tool. And the more knowledgeable you are in asking, the better the results seem to be.