Friday, June 9

Grant Marsh, skipper of the Far West

At the Dakota Column’s camp along the Powder the dawn brought yet more rain as Custer continued to prepare his men for the planned scouting mission. Difficulty had arisen, as the mules brought with the expedition proved quite cantankerous, resisting efforts to load them to join the cavalrymen in place of the cumbersome wagons. Terry, meanwhile, departed down the Yellowstone aboard the Far West in search of Gibbon’s men.

Finding the Montana Column around noon, Colonel Gibbon boarded the riverboat for a conference with Terry, where the former was ordered to return to the Rosebud as quickly as possible, while Terry returned to the mouth of the Powder to rejoin his men. Joined now by the scout Mitch Boyer from Gibbon’s command, Terry set out back to the main camp, arriving just after 2200hrs after marching through a thunderstorm. The same storm had struck the main encampment of the Montana Column, forcing them to remain in camp for the night.

In Wyoming rain likewise kept the men of Crook’s column in camp, with the only excitement coming from a small scale attack in the evening. A group of hostile Sioux began to fire into the camp just after evening mess from a position across the river. Infantry units were deployed to engage them, flanking their position as cavalry charged them directly. The hostiles broke off and fled, with sentries claiming one killed for two minor wounded among the soldiers.

1. Dakota Column - CUSTER - Powder River

2. Wyoming Column - CROOK -Prairie Dog Creek

3. Montana Column - GIBBON - Yellowstone River/Wolf Rapids

4. Sioux Encampment - SITTING BULL - Rosebud Creek