Like the other scouts, he joined the army on April 10 for six months of service. He went to the Crow’s Nest with Lt. Varnum and the others, was with the Custer column the afternoon of June 25 and witnessed the fight. He carried the news of the battle to the steamboat Far West at the mouth of the Little Bighorn. He was briefly listed as absent without leave, but was back on detached service at Ft. Shaw in August of 1876 and was discharged on September 30, 1876 at Ft. Lincoln.

He died May 21, 1923, at his ranch home near Crow Agency of pneumonia, and his body lies in the Little Bighorn Battlefield Cemetery.