John Martin, the Last Known Soldier to See Custer Alive, Reasserts His Being Tasked With Delivering Custer's Desperate Last Message to Benteen

Background

George Armstrong Custer’s last order, given around 2:45 p.m. on June 25, 1876, written in the hand of his adjutant, Lieutenant William W. Cooke; to be delivered to Captain Frederick Benteen, Company H, by messenger John Martin (a.k.a Giovanni Martini), Trumpeter, Company H.

"Benteen. Come on. Big village. Be quick. Bring pack. PS bring pack. W.W. Cooke. PS bring pacs" - George Armstrong Custer

In July 1874, John Martin was shipped off for duty at Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Territory of present-day North Dakota. On June 25, 1876, he rode, at Custer’s direct order, to deliver an urgent message to Benteen, and so played a crucial, but futile, part in the epic loss of Custer’s five companies.

Giovanni Martini - John Martin - wasn’t really a messenger, but a trumpeter. He wasn’t born in America, but in Italy. He barely spoke English and according to Captain Frederick Benteen, receiving at his hands Custer’s last order at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, John Martin was a “thick-headed, dull-witted Italian.” Yet it was Martin(i)’s legacy that he was the last soldier to see Custer alive and successfully, perhaps miraculously, delivered the dire message unscathed.

Just ten days later, on July 4, 1876, Benteen recounted the day’s tragic events to his wife, Frabbie. Regarding the note, he says:

I have the original but it is badly torn, and it should be preserved - so keep this letter, as the matter may be of interest hereafter ... This note was brought back to me by Trumpeter Martin, of my Company (which fact saved his life).

Benteen continues, that:

Cooke sent the note to me by Martin, which I have quoted … I suppose after the five companies had closed up somewhat, Custer started down for the village, all throats bursting themselves with cheering (so says Martin).

Premature euphoria aside, that was the last time Martin saw Custer alive, with both men hurrying to complete their respective missions.

For almost a half-century after the battle, Martin was determined to defend his unique place in history against discrediters and false-claimants. Here, he discredits the most notorious of them, Theodore W. Goldin.

Recalling the events of the day, Martin wrote to a friend:

I am the only Messenger who was sendt [sic] out from Custer Command at that time and also the last. The only Message sendt [sic] that I’ve know [sic] off [sic] was the one I received from Gen [sic] Custer to deliver to Capt [sic] Beenteen [sic] on that fatal day, for Reinforcement.

Martin died, having been hit by a vehicle, crossing the street, on Christmas Eve in New York City, 1922. He would have been long forgotten, but for an 8 by 4.8-inch slip of paper, torn from a notebook, bearing 14-pencilled words.

Physical Description

[Little Bighorn – John Martin] Autograph Letter Signed (“John Martin, Retired, U.S. Army”), 2 pages, octavo, Prospect St. [Brooklyn, New York], April 12. 1922. To “Dear Sir.”