“At The Death:” Reporter Mark Kellogg’s Final Dispatch: (“I Go With Custer . . .”)

Mark Kellogg was a Bismarck Daily Tribune reporter who accompanied the 7^th Cavalry in 1876. In fact, he rode out with Custer on his final mission June 22. Some confusion seems to prevail regarding his final dispatch.

A Reporter Riding Along

General Alfred Terry had been sent in charge of the Dakota Column. Lieutenant Colonel Custer had angered President Grant. Initially he was denied permission to go. However, with support from his Civil War superiors and mounting political pressure, the popular Custer was finally allowed along.

While admonishing Custer, Commanding General of the Army William T. Sherman ordered Terry not to take reporters, “who always make mischief.” Kellogg came anyway. The Bismarck Daily Tribune benefitted, along with the New York Herald. Kellogg, a stringer for both newspapers, did not.

A Prophetic Preamble

Kellogg is best known for his classic lines to the Tribune, “We leave the Rosebud tomorrow and by the time this reaches you we will have met and fought the red devils, with what result remains to be seen. I go with Custer and will be in at the death.” [italics added]  In hindsight those words ring poetic, prophetic and ominous.

The Bismarck Tribune’s editor agreed. It led off its astounding July 6, 1876 extra with Kellogg’s prophetic words. Word of Custer’s unthinkable defeat and annihilation had just reached Bismarck the night of July 5^th when the steamboat Far West arrived bearing the battle’s wounded.

A Phantom Telegraph?

Oddly, several writers overlook the obvious; they ignorantly state that Kellogg telegraphed his last dispatch to the Tribune. Nothing could be farther from the truth. One of the distinct challenges of Custer’s last campaign was the lack of telegraph wires or other efficient forms of communication.

In fact, the entire campaign was hampered by that distinct challenge. Three military columns had all been sent to seek out and attack non-reservation Indians, viewed as “hostiles,” in the Powder, Tongue, and Bighorn River region. No command really knew the others’ whereabouts most of the time.

The three “converging” columns were effectively unable to communicate. In fact, Reno was within roughly 40 miles of General Crook’s Wyoming Column at the time of the Rosebud Battle. Reno went north up Rosebud Creek while Crook was attacked and turned back south.

The communication challenge was two-fold. First, couriers had to ride miles and days through lands teeming with hostile Sioux and Cheyenne. The closest telegraphs were at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Fort Ellis, or Fort Fetterman respectively. These posts lay 200 to 300 miles or more from the Powder River, Rosebud, and Bighorn drainages.

Any telegram would had to be sent by courier back to one of the forts. Then, the messages were telegraphed to the Department Headquarters in Chicago or St. Paul – or at best to whichever fort might served as the recipient’s home base. Then that message must be relayed by courier out to the officer for whom it was intended.

Any reply would require that the process be reversed. Return messages then had to be taken back by courier to the nearest fort, then telegraphed to the recipient’s home fort. Another courier then had to relay it to its recipient at an unknown location.

All of that to say that Kellogg’s final dispatch was hardly telegraphed. He had to send his missives downriver by whatever boat might be travelling that way. His previous dispatch, dated June 12, had been dropped into the Yellowstone River with an entire mail bag of mail while being loaded onto the steamboat Josephine. Some diligent souls spent an entire night opening letters and messages, then spreading them out and drying them by a fire.

Slow News Days

Kellogg had chronicled parts of the column’s travels and experiences thus far. However, he had relatively little to report. In more than 300 miles of marching, patrolling and scouting, the Dakota Column had not seen a single Indian – except their own Ree scouts.

That was about to change. It might be understandable that most in the command were eager for some action. In fact, Gibbon’s column held the same anticipation, which would soon turn to disappointment.

Kellogg’s final dispatch, hand-written, described the changing terrain and natural history. He even commented on how ripe the Rosebud drainage looked for “economic” development. He castigated Reno and praised Custer. It might well have appealed to Bismarck Tribune readers.

Aside from that, Kellogg had no action to report – except that he planned to march out with Custer’s 12 cavalry troops, and that he expected they would find “hostiles” and fight them. He expected to be “in at the death.” He neglected to specify whose death.

At The Death?

Kellogg’s words “at the death” ring poetic. Several writers have noted that they are an expression used previously in fox hunts. Apparently those who rode fancy horses and chased foxes with hounds strove to finish the fox and be “at the death.”

The expression, interestingly, was used by two other members of that campaign. In his journal, also on June 21, Lt. James H. Bradley expressed frustration and disappointment when he wrote, “. . . it is understood that if Custer arrives first, he is at liberty to attack at once if he deems prudent. We have little hope of being in at the death [my italics], as Custer will undoubtedly exert himself to the utmost to get there first and win all the laurels for himself and his regiment. . .”

In his excellent book Custer’s Luck historian Edgar Stewart noted a New York Herald article printed July 8,1876 amidst the battle’s aftershocks. The piece mentions General Terry’s meeting with his higher-ranking officers. It then states, “It was announced by General Terry that General Custer’s column would strike the blow and General Gibbon and his men received the decision without a murmur. There was great rivalry between the two columns and each wanted to be in at the death. . .” [italics mine]

Stewart stated the article was written by a member of Gibbon’s command. He believed Major James Brisbin was likely the source. Brisbin led the 2^nd Cavalry troops that were combined with infantry under Gibbon. Brisbin was noted for some published writings. Given the duplicated wording and Bradley’s literary bent, however, it seems he also could have been the source.

Regardless, the repeated use of “at the death” makes Kellogg’s final dispatch and others stand out stark and ominous. Four days later, on June 25, 1876 Kellogg would be in at his own death at the Little Bighorn.

Remains and Relics

Gibbon’s troops would arrive, somewhat as predicted, to deal with the aftermath. When combing the battlefield for survivors or corpses, Gibbon’s men found Kellogg’s body well below most of Custer’s dead. It lay and closer to the Little Bighorn near a ravine where others had apparently attempted to escape.

It is unknown if Kellogg was killed there early in Custer’s advance, or in a later attempt to flee. His body, curiously, had been stripped. He had been scalped, and an ear was missing (given his ‘mutton-chop’ whiskers, perhaps one of those had been scalped away, as Lt. W.W. Cooke’s had been.)

Kellogg could be identified only by his civilian clothes and the unique boots he wore. They had an unusual strap that buckled over the arch, and they had not been taken.

Some of Kellogg’s belongings had been left back at a supply base at the Powder River. They now belong to the North Dakota State Historical Society and may be displayed in its museum. A notebook of Kellogg’s is also there, but it holds no entries past June 9, 1876. It is unknown if the notebook was found near his body or had been left behind.

Kellogg’s Legacy

The Bismarck Tribune was in close cahoots with the New York Herald. Even in death Kellogg helped the Herald sell countless copies. In an earlier Kellogg bio it was noted that the New York Herald’s publisher helped Kellogg’s two daughters financially, along with the aunt who had taken them in. In the end, maybe being “at the death” did benefit Kellogg in some way, as his lifeless body rested near the Little Bighorn.

EXTRA: THE BIG SKY SCOOP

News of Custer’s defeat had reached Bozeman, MT via courier on July 3rd. Due to telegraph wires being down, a stringer instead sent the dispatch to Helena, but not before the Bozeman Times ran an ‘extra’ at 7 p.m. on July 3^rd. The Helena Herald received the report on July 4^th and ran its astounding ‘extra’ that evening. It also sent the new by wire to the Associated Press in Salt Lake City.

The steamboat Far West, bearing Reno and Benteens’ wounded survivors reached Bismarck the night of July 5,1876 on the heels of America’s first centennial celebration. The New York Herald then got the news by telegraph and published it on July7. It followed up with several reports, including the letter above.) Other papers had gotten the AP report, but the New York Herald ran ongoing reports for more than a week, due to its Bismarck Tribune connection.