Tuesday, June 20

This morning the Dakota Column departed its camp along the Tongue, with its leadership in a state of heightened aggravation. Both Terry and Custer were angered by Reno’s deviation from his orders, and as Terry departed along the river aboard the Far West Custer took the men and searched for a crossing point along the Tongue before continuing westward. Both the steamer and the column arrived at Reno’s position at noon, and the Major was ordered to board the steamer and answer to the General.

Custer’s favorite scout, the Arikara Bloody Knife

Custer’s anger with Reno stemmed not so much from the fact that Terry’s orders had been broken so much as that Reno had failed to pursue the located hostiles to destruction, publicly excoriating him in a dispatch to the press in the east. Terry was further irritated that his plans now needed to be altered in the face of the information just received from Reno regarding the location of the enemy, requiring the Montana Column to be redirected southward to form a right wing in a new advance toward the main camp.

The 7th Cavalry, now under Custer’s command as a full unit, was ordered to move as far west along the Yellowstone as possible for the night, with a meeting between Terry, Custer and Gibbon to follow the next day. Gibbon’s men, in the meantime, were ordered today to send parties of engineers under escort to bridge creeks in preparation for a move by the full force.

1. Powder River Depot

2. Dakota Column - Terry/Custer - Yellowstone River

3. Montana Column - GIBBON - Yellowstone River

4. Sioux Encampment - SITTING BULL - Little Bighorn River

5. Wyoming Column - CROOK - Goose Creek