Private John Martin, an Italian-born trumpeter in the U. S. Army’s Seventh Cavalry, became one of the few survivors of the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. Known in some records as Giovani Martino, Martin was dispatched by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer with a final message moments before the commander rode into the fight that would become his last stand.
Martin, born in Italy in 1852, emigrated to the United States and enlisted in the army in 1873. He served as a trumpeter with the Seventh Cavalry and participated in several campaigns before the regiment’s fateful engagement along the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory. According to Martin’s firsthand account, shortly before 8:00 a. m.
on June 25, Captain Frederick Benteen called him over and ordered him to report to Custer as his orderly trumpeter. The regiment had halted to make coffee after a night march. For two days, the soldiers had been following a heavy trail from the Rosebud River and passing through abandoned villages, knowing large numbers of Native Americans were somewhere nearby. Martin reported directly to Custer, who nodded at him briefly.
The general was deep in conversation with an Indian scout named Bloody Knife, who described a large village in the valley with several hundred lodges and roughly 5,000 Sioux. Martin sat some distance away and listened, catching the meaning through the general’s questions and the interpreter’s responses. Custer that morning wore a blue-gray flannel shirt, buckskin trousers, and long boots, with his yellow hair cut short rather than flowing over his shoulders as it had in earlier years. By 8:30, the command was ready to move, and the scouts went ahead.
Martin rode about two yards behind the general as the column advanced at a walk. After about two hours, the column reached a deep ravine and halted. Custer rode off with his scouts to the Crow’s Nest, a lookout point on the divide, searching for the village Bloody Knife had described. When he returned, scouts reported fresh pony tracks nearby and made clear the Sioux had already spotted the column.
Custer immediately ordered Martin to sound officer’s call, abandoning the two days of silence and concealment. He understood now that surprise was lost. Officers gathered quickly for a serious conference, then returned to their companies, and the column resumed its march, crossing the divide around noon. Soon Custer pointed to the left and sent Captain Benteen with three troops in that direction.
Martin wondered where they were going because his own troop was among them. The rest of the regiment advanced in two columns: Major Marcus Reno with three troops on the left, and Custer with five troops on the right. Martin continued riding directly behind the general. Along the way, they came upon an old tepee containing a dead warrior, which the Indian scouts had set on fire.
From a small hill, scout Fred Gerard spotted Indians between the column and the river and called out that they were running away. When Custer ordered the Indian scouts to pursue them, they refused. Custer then gave Reno orders through his adjutant: take three troops, cross the river, and attack the village, with the rest of the regiment promising support. Reno departed at once, and Custer’s column followed for a few hundred yards before swinging to the right at a gallop, stopping only briefly to water the horses.
After traveling a mile or two, Custer and Martin rode to the top of a large hill overlooking the valley. From that vantage point, they could see a large village, though not all of it, with several hundred tepees in plain sight. No warriors were visible, only women, children playing, dogs, and ponies. Custer seemed surprised and pleased, remarking that the Indians must be asleep in their tents.
Martin noted that Custer looked around with his glasses and could not see Reno’s column at all. The general turned in his saddle, took off his hat, waved it to the men below, and shouted, “Hurrah, boys! We’ve got them. We’ll finish them up and then go home to our station.
”
Riding on at a fast pace, the column came to a large ravine leading toward the river, roughly three miles from where they had left Reno’s trail. Custer summoned Martin and delivered his final order: take a message to Colonel Benteen, ride as fast as possible, tell him to hurry, that it was a big village, and to bring the ammunition packs. As Martin checked his horse, the adjutant stopped to write a message in a small book, tore out the page, and handed it to him. The adjutant instructed him to take the same trail back, and if there was no danger, to return; otherwise, to stay with his company.
Martin started back as fast as his tired horse could carry him. The last he saw of Custer’s command, the troops were galloping down into the ravine with the gray horse troop in the center. Before he reached the hill where he and Custer had viewed the village, he heard firing behind him and turned to see Indians, some waving buffalo robes and some shooting, emerging from an ambush. Approaching the summit, Martin encountered Boston Custer, who was riding at a run.
When Boston shouted, “Where’s the general? ” Martin pointed behind him and answered, “Right behind that next ridge, you’ll find him. ” Boston dashed on. That was the last time he was ever seen alive.
From the hilltop, Martin looked down and saw Reno’s battalion already in action. It had been only ten or fifteen minutes since he and Custer had stood there, seeing no Indians at all. Now large numbers of warriors were riding around and firing at Reno’s dismounted men in a skirmish line, which was falling back. Some Indians spotted Martin and opened fire on him.
Several shots were fired at him, he later recalled, but he was not hit. His horse was struck in the hip, though he did not realize it at the time. It was a very warm day, and the animal was already hot, yet Martin pushed on as fast as he could, uncertain where Benteen was, but knowing he had to find him. He followed the trail back to the place where the horses had been watered and searched for Benteen’s command.
Soon he spotted them coming. He waved his hat and spurred his horse, but the animal could not go faster. Martin finally encountered Benteen riding well in front of his troops with his orderly trumpeter, Captain Weir at the head of his troop two or three hundred yards back. Martin saluted and handed over the message, relaying Custer’s words: it was a big village and Benteen should hurry.
When Benteen asked where the general was, Martin answered that the Indians they had seen were running and that he supposed Custer had charged through the village by then. He wanted to mention that Reno was in action, but Benteen interrupted, asking what was wrong with his horse. When Martin said the horse was just tired, Benteen replied, “Tired out? Look at his hip.
” Martin then saw the blood from the wound. Benteen remarked, “You’re lucky it was the horse and not you. ” Captain Weir had come up by then, and Benteen handed him the message to read before telling Martin to rejoin his company. Martin was given another horse and rode on with the unit.
The pack train was in sight about a mile behind, mules walking, trotting, and running to keep up. The troops moved faster than the packs, and soon the train dropped out of sight, leaving only its dust visible on the horizon. Martin survived the battle and later provided a detailed account of his experiences, which has become an important historical record of the events surrounding Custer’s final movements.