Editing Battle of the Little Bighorn (section)

====Reno and Benteen on Reno Hill====
[[File:Bloody Knife, Custer's scout, on Yellowstone Expedition, 1873 - NARA - 524373.jpg|thumb|[[Bloody Knife]], a scout in the American army.]]

Atop the bluffs near what is known today as Reno Hill, Reno's depleted and shaken troops were joined by Captain Benteen's column while Reno’s men were still retreating up from the valley.{{sfn|Nevin|1973|p=216}} (Companies D, H and K), arriving from the south. This force had been returning from a lateral scouting mission when it had been summoned by Custer's messenger, Italian immigrant bugler John Martin (Giovanni Martino) with the handwritten message: "Benteen. Come on, Big Village, Be quick, Bring packs. P.S. Bring Packs."<ref name="court of inquiry" /> This message made no sense to Benteen, as his men would be needed more in a fight than the packs carried by herd animals.{{sfn|Nevin|1973|p=216}} Though both men inferred that Custer was engaged in battle, Reno refused to move until the packs arrived so his men could resupply.{{sfn|Nevin|1973|p=216}} The detachments were later 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]], as Union and Confederate troops used knives, eating utensils, mess plates and pans to dig effective battlefield fortifications.<ref>John Keegan, The American Civil War.</ref>

[[File:Www-cgsc.army.mil MAP21 Defense of Reno-Benteen Hill.GIF|thumb|left|Reno–Benteen defensive position]]

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 (American soldier)|Thomas Weir]] and Company D moved out to contact Custer.<ref name="court of inquiry" /> Capt. Weir remained on the bluffs, while D moved to the right down Cedar Coulee (RCOI figure 8), but they soon looped back around to the bluffs. Lt Luther Rector Hare, sent by Reno to Weir, and troops M, K and H also had moved north from the Reno retreat area. D, M and K advanced a mile to what is today Weir Peaks or Weir Point, and dismounted. From his vantage point on the bluffs, Weir could see that the Indian camps comprised some 1,800 [[Lodging|lodge]]s.{{sfn|Nevin|1973|p=216}} Behind them he saw through the dust and smoke hills that were oddly red in color; he later learned that this was a massive assemblage of Indian ponies.{{sfn|Nevin|1973|p=216}} By this time, roughly 5:25 pm,{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}} Custer's battle may have concluded. From high ground at Weir Peaks, looking though his [[Refracting telescope|spyglass]], Weir witnessed many Indians on horseback and on foot shooting at items on the ground, perhaps killing wounded soldiers and firing at dead bodies on the "Last Stand Hill" at the northern end of the Custer battlefield. Realizing these were Indians, the 3 troops remained on the peaks and the hill to the east. Some historians have suggested that what Weir witnessed was a fight on what is now called Calhoun Hill some minutes earlier.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}} 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 (Native American)|White Bull]], Hump, [[Gall (Native American leader)|Gall]], and others.<ref name="michno1997">Michno, Gregory F., ''Lakota Noon, the Indian narrative of Custer's defeat'', Mountain Press, 1997, pp. 284–285. {{ISBN|0-87842-349-4}}.</ref>{{rp|240}} Other native accounts contradict this understanding, however, and the time element remains a subject of debate. The other companies had eventually left the area near Reno Hill and followed Weir by assigned battalions—first Benteen, M troop, Reno’s command, & the pack train and wounded. Strung along the bluffs behind D/M/K, Benteen and H soon returned to meet Reno’s command at the high point called Capt. Weir’s Hill (RCOI figure 7) and deployed along the ridge/bluffs there. Benteen informed Reno of their bad position. Weir also returned from the Peaks to the command at that location. The 3 troops (D, M, K) which had dismounted and remained at Weir Peaks (RCOI figure 9) were soon attacked by natives,{{sfn|Nevin|1973|p=216}} increasingly coming from the concluded Custer engagement. Following Benteen’s advice, Reno via Hare ordered the withdrawal of the 3 advance troops, and all seven companies eventually fell back to Reno Hill before the pack train had moved even a quarter mile ({{convert|1/4|mi|m|disp=out}}). Lt. Edward Settle Godfrey, Lt. Hare and troop K set up a skirmish line where Reno had retreated up from the valley, south of Weir’s Hill, to halt the pursuing Indians, who took the surrounding high ground and hills. The companies remained pinned down on the bluff, fending off the Indians for three hours until night fell.{{sfn|Nevin|1973|p=216}} The soldiers dug crude trenches as the Indians performed their war dance.{{sfn|Nevin|1973|p=216}}

Benteen was hit in the heel of his boot by an Indian bullet. At one point, he led a counterattack to push back Indians who had continued to crawl through the grass closer to the soldiers' positions.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}