This book details the life of John Martin. He carried Custer's final desperate message moments before the General's death at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876. Martin lived an extraordinary life, including abandonment as an infant and marching with Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi. After coming to America, he changed his name to John Martin (from Giovanni Martino) and joined the U.S. Seventh Cavalry. Newspaper accounts remembered him as "survivor of Custer massacre" and "the last white man to see Custer alive." Custer's Bugler offers new research from Italian scholars, relatives and newspaper accounts to provide a comprehensive look at Martin. The book reveals that his real name was Giovanni Martino, and not Martini as history books often note ... incorrectly.