Connor's strategy was for three columns of soldiers to march into the Powder River Country. The "Right column", composed of 1,400 Missourians and 140 wagons commanded by Colonel Nelson D. Cole, was to march from Omaha, Nebraska and follow the Loup River westward to the Black Hills, meeting up with Connor near the Powder River. The "Center Column", consisting of 600 Kansas cavalrymen led by Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Walker, was to head north from Fort Laramie and traverse the country west of the Black Hills. The "Left" and "West" Columns of 675 men, personally commanded by Connor and composed of soldiers from California, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio, along with Indian scouts and a wagon train, would move toward the Powder River with the goal of establishing a fort near the Bozeman trail. All three columns were to unite at the new fort.