Assalamu Alaykum
Abū Thaʿlabah al-Khushanī (I) said:
“When the people stopped in a place to camp, they would scatter in the mountain paths and valleys. So the Messenger of Allāh (H) said: “Your scattering in these mountain passes and valleys is only from the Shayṭān.” After that, they never stopped to camp except they were close together, to the extent that it used to be said that if you spread a piece of cloth over them, it would cover them all.”[1]
[1] Sunan Abū Dāwūd (no. 2628). Shaykh Albānī declared the ḥadīth to be authentic in Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan Abū Dāwūd.
Importance of sitting together Sh Albani