Unfortunately, Custer's ambition was his undoing. It was a bicentennial year and patriotism was running high. He knew America tended to elect its war heroes to the presidency and he intended to be the next one. He needed to get a quick and decisive victory over the Sioux in time to announce his candidacy at the Democratic National Convention being held in St. Louis on June 28. So he pushed his men and horses hard on the first day of the march. The troops were exhausted when they stopped that night. Many were questioning Custer's decision on this, since some of the troops had just come from a long march just to get to the Yellowstone. Others questioned Custer's decision to leave behind the Gatling guns. Custer hadn't wanted them because he figured they would slow down his pace. Custer refused to listen to the protests and in fact threatened retribution against those who continued to criticize him.
So the army continued on the next day at 5 a.m., led by a large group of scouts, including two dozen Arikara Indians, six Crow Indians, and several civilian white men. Each soldier led twelve pack animals, which carried rations for 15 days. Each man had 100 rounds of ammunition for his carbine rifle and 24 rounds for his pistol. He carried 12 pounds of oats for his horse. The whole contingent led an additional 160 mules, which carried another 24,000 rounds of ammunition.
The soldiers followed an Indian trail along the Rosebud. Along the route they passed large abandoned Indian camps. The Indians had left for the annual summer gathering of all the Teton Sioux that would take place near the Little Bighorn. They had previously gathered at Bear Butte in the Black Hills. But since the white man's gold rush at Deadwood had invaded that area, they were reconnoitering at the Little Bighorn instead. The Indian trail was getting wider and there was evidence of very large numbers of Sioux. The scouts warned Custer that there were too many Sioux for him to beat. Custer kept right on going and forced his troops into covering an incredible 33 miles that day.
