Mark Kellogg ( reporter ) Mark Kellogg ( March 31 , 1831 – June 25 , 1876 ) was a newspaper reporter killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn . Kellogg rode with George Armstrong Custer during the battle and was evidently one of the first men killed by the Sioux and Cheyenne . His dispatches were the only press coverage of Custer and his men in the days leading up to the battle . As a newspaper stringer whose reports were picked up around the country , Kellogg is considered the first Associated Press correspondent to die in the line of duty . Life . Born Marcus Henry Kellogg on March 31 , 1831 , in Brighton , Ontario , Canada , Kellogg was the third of ten children . Kellogg ' s family moved a number of times in his youth before they eventually settled in La Crosse , Wisconsin . While there Kellogg learned to operate a telegraph and went to work for both the Northwestern Telegraph Company and the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company . He married Martha J . Robinson in 1861 and they had two daughters . During the years of the American Civil War , Kellogg became the assistant editor for the " La Cross Democrat " newspaper . He also unsuccessfully ran for the office of city clerk in 1867 and played shortstop on one of the town ' s baseball teams . In 1867 Kellogg ' s wife died . Leaving his daughters to be raised by an aunt , Kellogg began drifting around the upper Midwest , working as a reporter and editorial assistant in places such as Council Bluffs , Iowa , and Brainerd , Minnesota . While living in Brainerd he ran for election to the Minnesota Legislature , but was defeated . He also worked as a string correspondent for the " St . Paul Dispatch " , with his articles often published under the pen name of " Frontier . " In the early 1870s , he moved to Bismarck , North Dakota , where in 1873 he helped editor Clement A . Lounsberry found the " Bismarck Tribune " . Even though Kellogg was only an editorial assistant for the paper , he substituted for Lounsberry as editor of the Tribune ' s second , third and fourth issues . Battle of the Little Bighorn . When Lounsberry learned that a military column ( including the 7th U . S . Cavalry Regiment commanded by Lt . Col . George Armstrong Custer ) would soon leave Fort Abraham Lincoln for the Montana Territory , he agreed to accompany Custer and provide news coverage . However , at the last minute Lounsberry ' s wife fell ill , so the editor asked Kellogg to take his place . Lounsberry expected Kellogg would cover nothing more than a sensational military victory . Kellogg sent three dispatches back to Lounsberry , the last one four days before the battle when they were near the mouth of the Rosebud River . His last dispatch read , " By the time this reaches you we would have met and fought the red devils , with what result remains to be seen . I go with Custer and will be at the death . " Kellogg wasn ' t predicting his own death or Custer ' s defeat ; instead , " at the death " is a phrase borrowed from fox hunting meaning " present at the kill " ( " viz " . , of the pursued ) . Four days after that dispatch , the Battle of the Little Bighorn was fought , resulting in the deaths of Custer and the 208 soldiers , scouts , and civilians riding with him , including Kellogg . Aftermath . Colonel John Gibbon , whose men arrived at the battle on the second day and also helped bury the dead , said he found Kellogg ' s body in a ravine where a number of men from Company E died . Kellogg ' s body was scalped and missing an ear ; he was identified by the boots he wore . When Clement Lounsberry learned of the defeat of Custer ' s force and Kellogg ' s death , he " worked tirelessly throughout the night " to produce a special edition of " The Bismarck Tribune " . Published on July 6 , 1876 , the article was the battle ' s first full account . Lounsberry also telegraphed the news , including Kellogg ' s correspondence , to a number of eastern newspapers , including " The New York Herald . " Two letters written by Kellogg were published posthumously by the Herald on July 11 , 1876 . As a newspaper stringer whose reports were picked up around the country , Kellogg is considered the first Associated Press correspondent to die in the line of duty . Some of Kellogg ' s diary and notes survived the battle and these , along with his news accounts , are one of the primary historical sources for information on the days preceding the battle . His notes are now in the possession of the North Dakota State Historical Society . His satchel , pencil , and eyeglasses are on display in the Newseum in Washington , DC .