The plan called for the columns to arrive simultaneously, trapping the camp in a convergence that would make escape difficult.

Custer, however, moved independently.

Whether he was motivated by ambition, by concern that the camp would disperse before the columns could converge, or by underestimation of the force he was facing — probably some combination of all three — he decided to attack on June 25 without waiting for coordination with Terry and Gibbon.

He had roughly 700 men with him.

The camp he was attacking held several thousand warriors and the largest gathering of Plains peoples in American military history.

Custer divided his force into three battalions.