In March 1876, Company E Seventh Infantry, commanded by Captain Walter Clifford, departed their station at Camp Baker, Montana, to join General John Gibbon in preparation to launching against the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne who had refused to come into the reservations. The company arrived at Fort Ellis near Bozeman where other troops were gathering. In April, the column departed, heading east along the Yellowstone River and finally meeting up with General Alfred Terry's column in early June. After Lieutenant Colonel George Custer's column broke off heading up the Rosebud, the Terry-Gibbon column marched up the Yellowstone and then turned up the Rosebud River. They arrived at the tragic scene of the Battle of the Little Bighorn two days after Custer and his men had lost their lives.