Custer apologists like to heap blame on
Benteen.
but looking at the message he received
and his distance from the village
and the distance of the pack train,
How quick could have Benteen realistically
arrived with the packs?
Benteen wrote;
"This note was brought back to me by Trumpeter
Martin of my Co. (which fact saved his life.) When I
received it I was five or six miles from the village,
perhaps more, and the packs at least that distance
in my rear."
