nto the hostile Indian territory with three separate expeditions from different directions. In the spring of 1876, a military force under the command of Brigadier General George Crook moved northwest from Fort Fetterman, Wyo. General Alfred H Terry, organized two separate columns. General John Gibbon, with a force of cavalry from Fort Ellis, Montana and infantry from Fort Shaw, Montana started in April and moved slowly east down the Yellowstone. General Terry started from Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory on May 17, with two companies of the 17th Infantry, one company of the 6th Infantry, and the entire 7th Cavalry numbering in all about 925 men (Luce 7.67-68).
             June 7, 1876 General Terry's column finally reached the confluence of the Powder and Yellowstone Rivers. The 7th cavalry and one gatling gun were ordered to scout up the Powder River over to the Tongue River and then back to the Yellowstone. Reno went beyond the orders and continued west to Rosebud Creek, there he found an Indian trail which he followed for about 45 miles. (Sills 1.28-30)
             Billy Jackson a scout for Custer said of the Indian trail found "on the 3rd day, we struck the trail of the Hostiles, the one Reno had found several days before. And what a trail it was, a trail all of 300 hundred yards wide, and deeply worn by
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