On March 5, 1868, Saigo, who became a Shimo-sanbo staff of Tosei-daisotokufu (Tosei-gun army headquarters), directed the spearhead convoy consisting of Hanjiro NAKAMURA (a commander of the first platoon), Shinpachi MURATA (a commander of the second platoon) and Kunimoto SHINOHARA (a commander of the third platoon) and proceeded to Sunpu on March 18, and then to Odawara on March 20.
2月12日に東征大総督府の下参謀となった西郷は、中村半次郎（一番小隊長）・村田新八（二番小隊長）・篠原国幹（三番小隊長）らで構成される先鋒隊を指揮して2月25日に駿府、27日に小田原へ進んだ。