Thieves' road : the Black Hills betrayal and Custer's path to Little Bighorn / Terry Mort.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mort, T. A. (Terry A.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.)--Discovery and exploration.

Black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.).

Custer, George A. (George Armstrong), 1839-1876--Travel--Black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.).

Custer, George A.

Custer, George A. (George Armstrong), 1839-1876.

Travel.

Black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.)--Gold discoveries.

Black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.)--History--19th century.

Indians of North America--Wars--1866-1895.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--Wars.

Physical Description:

336 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books, 2015.

Summary:

Tells the little-known story of this exploratory mission and reveals how it set the stage for the climactic Battle of the Little Bighorn two years later. What is the significance of this obscure foray into the Black Hills? The short answer, as the author explains, is that Custer found gold. This discovery in the context of the worst economic depression the country had yet experienced spurred a gold rush that brought hordes of white prospectors to the Sioux's sacred grounds. The result was the trampling of an 1868 treaty that had granted the Black Hills to the Sioux and their inevitable retaliation against the white invasion.

Contents:

War, taxes, and the resultant lure of gold

Gold in Montana, disaster in Wyoming

The adversaries

The Gilded Age

Politics, philanthropy, and corruption

The Northern Pacific Railroad

Custer agonistes

The Yellowstone Expedition

The Yellowstone battles

Anatomy of a crash

Build-up

Soldiers, scouts, and scientists

Alkali and comets, grass and stars

In the moon of black cherries

Homeward bound

Invasion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 323-324) and index.

ISBN:

9781616149604

1616149604

9781616149611

1616149612

OCLC:

879915680