<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Atop the bluffs, known today as Reno Hill, Reno's shaken troops were joined by Captain Benteen's column (Companies D, H and K), arriving from the south . This force had been on a lateral scouting mission when it had been summoned by Custer's messenger, Italian bugler John Martin (Giovanni Martini) with the handwritten message "Benteen . Come on, Big Village, Be quick, Bring packs . P.S. Bring Packs .". Benteen's coincidental arrival on the bluffs was just in time to save Reno's men from possible annihilation . Their detachments were reinforced by McDougall's Company B and the pack train . The 14 officers and 340 troopers on the bluffs organized an all - around defense and dug rifle pits using whatever implements they had among them, including knives . This practice had become standard during the last year of the American Civil War, with both Union and Confederate troops utilizing knives, eating utensils, mess plates and pans to dig effective battlefield fortifications . </P> <P> Despite hearing heavy gunfire from the north, including distinct volleys at 4: 20 pm, Benteen concentrated on reinforcing Reno's badly wounded and hard - pressed detachment rather than continuing on toward Custer's position . Benteen's apparent reluctance to reach Custer prompted later criticism that he had failed to follow orders . Around 5: 00 pm, Capt . Thomas Weir and Company D moved out to make contact with Custer . They advanced a mile, to what is today Weir Ridge or Weir Point, and could see in the distance native warriors on horseback shooting at objects on the ground . By this time, roughly 5: 25 pm, Custer's battle may have concluded . The conventional historical understanding is that what Weir witnessed was most likely warriors killing the wounded soldiers and shooting at dead bodies on the "Last Stand Hill" at the northern end of the Custer battlefield . Some contemporary historians have suggested that what Weir witnessed was a fight on what is now called Calhoun Hill . The destruction of Keogh's battalion may have begun with the collapse of L, I and C Company (half of it) following the combined assaults led by Crazy Horse, White Bull, Hump, Chief Gall and others . Other native accounts contradict this understanding, however, and the time element remains a subject of debate . The other entrenched companies eventually followed Weir by assigned battalions, first Benteen, then Reno, and finally the pack train . Growing native attacks around Weir Ridge forced all seven companies to return to the bluff before the pack train, with the ammunition, had moved even a quarter mile . The companies remained pinned down on the bluff for another day, but the natives were unable to breach the tightly held position . </P> <P> Benteen displayed calmness and courage by exposing himself to Indian fire and was hit in the heel of his boot by an Indian bullet . At one point, he personally led a counterattack to push back Indians who had continued to crawl through the grass closer to the soldier's positions . </P>

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