His column followed the Loup River upstream and then marched overland to Bear Butte in the Black Hills, arriving there on August 13, 1865.

The two columns marched separately, but remained in contact as they moved west to the Powder River in Montana Territory, reaching it on August 29.

[3] On the morning of Friday, September 1, 1865, the over 1,400 soldiers and civilians of Colonel Cole's column were encamped along the Powder River near the mouth of what is now called Alkali Creek in present-day Custer County, Montana.

In the early morning, over 300 Hunkpapa, Sans Arc, and Miniconjou Lakota Sioux warriors led by Sitting Bull attacked the eastern columns' horse herd.

In desperate need of supplies, Colonel Cole and Walker decided to follow the Powder River north, to search for Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor's column and wagon train.

Indians attacked again on September 4, 5, and 7, and continued to harass Cole's and Walker's men as the soldiers moved south up the Powder River.

The soldiers' vanguard of about 25 men from the 16th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry under Second Lieutenant Charles Ballance of Company F was marching about a quarter of a mile ahead of the main column.

Lieutenant Ballance sent one of his men back to Walker, who was now viewing the action unfold from a butte a mile to the rear.

A German immigrant, First Lieutenant Charles H. Springer, of Company B, 12th Missouri Cavalry, said that this took place at about 1:00 p.m. Springer, who was with the 12th Missouri clearing out the woods, described the scene in front of the command: "The whole bottom and hills in advance were covered full of Indians, or to use a soldiers expression, they were thicker than fiddlers in hell".

The cannon were unlimbered and began firing at Indians gathered in some woods located in a bend of the Powder River.

Lieutenant Springer of the 12th Missouri mentioned the same incident in his diary, stating that an Indian had been making gestures in front of his line before a volley brought down his horse and made him "bite the dust".

Bent said that Black Whetstone, an elderly Cheyenne man, was killed by one of the soldier's artillery shells during the battle, while smoking a pipe behind a hill.

It has not changed very much from its 1865 appearance, and is accessible from Powderville West Road on the east side of the river, but there are no signs marking the site.

Lieutenant Charles Springer wrote in his diary that as the last of the soldiers left the camp of the previous night, the Native American warriors "came charging down from the hills, but a volley from Comp.

The Eastern column's chief engineering officer, Lyman Bennett, wrote in his diary on September 10, 1865, that: We commenced the march and coming to the river, found it swollen so that it could not be easily crossed.

We finally found another ford above and crossed the command only losing one wagon though many men and horses were thrown into the water.

The leader of the detail, Corporal Charles L. Thomas of the 11th Ohio Cavalry, had been wounded earlier in the day and rescued Private John Hutson, a soldier from the 2nd Missouri left behind by Cole's column, enroute.

Col Nelson D. Cole United States Army, Powder River Expedition Detachment, September 15, 1865.

Corporal Charles L. Thomas Native Americans, Lakota (Brulé, Oglala, Sans Arc, Hunkpapa, Miniconjou and Blackfeet) Sioux, Northern and Southern Cheyenne, and Arapaho.