The Seventh Cavalry departed the mouth of the Rosebud and General’s Gibbon and Terry about midday on June 22, 1876. After a short march they camped for the night at this location.
The Seventh Cavalry camped at this location at Busby, MT on June 24, 1876. After the command got settled in for the night the scouts told Custer if they marched that night they could get him to a high point that would allow them to see into the valley of the LIttle Bighorn by dawn. They assured him that if the Sioux and Cheyenne were camped there they would be able to show him in the early morning light, Custer elected to roust the troops from their sleep and make a night march. They departed this site around 11 p.m. By about 2:30 a.m. on June 25 Custer realized they were not going to be able to reach this high point known as the Crow’s Nest by dawn. He called a halt and the men lay on the ground beside their horses to get what rest they could. The scouts continued on and the next morning they sent for Custer to tell him the encampment was indeed in the Little Bighorn valley. By the time Custer made it to the Crow’s Nest and ascended it to where the scouts waited, the sun was too high for him to see anything of the village approximately 15 miles away.
The trail on Davis Creek, MT east of the Crow’s Nest as the Seventh Cavalry troops would have seen it on June 25, 1876. (Photo by Lowell Smith)
This also show’s the Davis Creek trail east of the Crow’s Nest. (Photo by Lowell Smith)
The current trail or Davis Creek Road follows closely to the Indian trail that Custer and the Seventh Cavalry were following on the morning of June 25, 1876 east of the Crow’s Nest. (Photo by Lowell Smith)
This view is looking west from the Crow’s Nest toward the location of the Indian encampment on the Little Big Horn. (Photo by Lowell Smith)
This brass marker was placed on the divide between the Rosebud and Little Bighorn valley’s by Walter M. Camp in 1917. Camp researched the battle of the Little Bighorn, interviewing survivors for years. He died before being able to write a planned book on the subject. His “Camp notes” continue to be a valuable research asset for modern historians. (Photo by Lowell Smith)
This photo looks west from the divide toward the Little BigHorn. This was taken just a few feet west of the Camp Marker, It was in this immediate vicinity that Custer made his division of command. Custer and Reno marched toward the area to the immediate front while Benteen would have begun his march to the left. (Photo by Lowell Smith)