The Yellowstone Expedition of 1876, organized to suppress the hostile Sioux, marched from Fort Abraham Lincoln on May 17, 1876. It camped at the junction of Davis Creek and the Little Missouri River, four miles south of Medora, on May 29 and 30, 1876. The campsite was historically significant because Sully had occupied it in 1864, Whistler in 1871, Stanley in 1872 and 1873, and Crook in 1876, and near this camp and north of it Sully fought Indians in the summer of 1864. After scouting up the river the preceding day in search of Indians, Custer’s troops left the camp on the morning of May 31, 1876, proceeded west, passed north of Flat Top Butte, and entered Montana near Beach, North Dakota. The Custer Trail extends to the banks of the Little Big Horn River in Montana, where on June 25, 1876, Custer and a portion of the 7th Cavalry were annihilated by hostile Indians, many of whom had fought against Sully in the Medora vicinity in 1864.
