OHOTBAÜ ACANTHA ................................................................................................................................ .............................................................................................................................................................................................. g Custer’s Expedition to the Black Hills in 1874 Resulted in | | Discovery of Gold and Stampede; Region Was Coveted | 1 Hunting Grounds of Hostile Sioux Indians Many Years | Published through courtesy of State tirely to blame for this ruthless loss of was built in a quadrangle with the of­ thrilling news of a gold strike in th e Historical Society of North Dakota. life. By the treaty of 1866 the govern­ ficers’ quarters along the west side, Black Hills, where soldiers found “gold (Copyright 193*. All rights reserv­ in the roots of the grass.” ed). ment set aside the western half of what looking eastward over the grounds and (By W. M. WEMETT) is now North Dakota, what is now call­ the river. All that now remains is the On August 27,. the Chicago Inter single row of trees in front of the pile* Ocean featured this fact in bold type, [E picturesque and valuable region ed the Missouri Slope, the eastern half of debris which were once the merry giving seven columns to the "news. The of the Black Hills w as n o t of Wyoming and eastern Montana, dwellings of the young officers and country was electrified. From all di­ opened to the westward march of th a t part lying south of the Yellow­ their wives. The site of the' Custer resi­ rections people of all classes started rcivilisation as soon as its importancestone and east of the Big Horn, for the dence may be singled out by the fact for the hills. The rush was on and th e Justified. When the country on all sides exclusive use of the Indians. By this that a thicker growth of shrubebry has treaty of 1869 did not matter. The gov­ was well known, the immediate vicinity treaty the government agreed to keep grown up around it. Here and there ernment made a serious attempt to stop o f the hills remained unexplored. This the settlers and emigrants out of that are the basements of the many build­ it, but with little success. That fa ll was due principally to the watchful­ region, to refrain from building forts, ings. At the water’s edge to the east , > the Collins-Russell party and many ness and hostility of the Indians, par­ from surveying for railroads and from the heavy cables that once held the pier others eluded the guards and built their ticularly the Teton bands under Red conducting military expeditions within in place protrude from the bank. And 'W W l i / \' t cabins on French creek on the site of Cloud, who valued the hills as a na­ its borders. All of these provisions to the northwest the old military road Custer’s permanent camp. They were tural game preserve at a time when were broken repeatedly by the white may be seen winding its way up a draw driven out by the authorities but could the buffalo and other wild life of the people, by the settlers, by the Indian agents, by the army and by the govern­ in the bluffs—the road by which the not be kept out. Custer City grew up plains were becoming scarce. expedition of 1874 started and the road -v * < almost over night, as did settlements at Early travelers skirted the Blackment itself within the next six years. by which General Custer began his ill- M '/ y Sheridan, Hill City and Palmer gulch. Hills nearly two centuries ago. The The Indians resisted in the only way fated expedition to the Big Horn valley But these places were short-lived. Tire­ two sons of Pierre Gaultier de Veren- they knew how. ^ two years later. ¥■*4 -x<' less prospectors discovered Deadwood dyre passed them, perhaps entered By 1873 it became evident to the de­ The commander of the expedition gulch and the motley horde moved to their timbered ravines, as early as 1743. partment commanders in the west that had been carefully selected. General the more northern diggings. Deadwood In the following generations many something must be done to give further George Custer was then in the prime then became the center of activity and travelers and scientists visited the edge protection to the bands of emigrants of his manhood, 34 years of age. He one of the most active mining towns of the broken and forbidden region and that insisted upon going through the was of medium height, slender and lithe of the west. It was only a few miles reported the general nature bf the Indian country to the gold fields of of frame, full of energy and very active from there that the Homestake mine country. Captain Hunt’s division of the Idaho and Nevada, The spot of great­ was opened. est danger was the Black Hills, whose and restless in his movements. His Astor overland expedition to Oregon complexion was fair, his eyes blue and The rush of gold seekers into the passed north of the hills in 1811. Jed- timbered valleys gave shelter to the penetrating. He wore a generous and eddiah Smith went through the south­ foraying bands of plainsmen. There hills during the spring and summer of were forts all around the hills, but too drooping mustache and his yellow hair 1875 was so fast' and fevered that the ern part of the hills on his way to the hung in curls upon his shoulders, from Cheyenne Indians who had occupied Rocky Mountains in 1823. In 1855 Gen­ far away to be of immediate service. which fact the Indians called him “Long eral Harney, in conducting a military There was Fort Pierre on the Missouri that region, making little trouble for expedition from Fort Laramie to Fort nearly 200 miles east, Fort Kearney on Yellow Hair.” the whites, became so disgusted with Pierre, passed along the northern part the west, Fort Fetterman on the south­ General Custer had become famous the perfidy of the white people that of the hills and his geologist, Dr. F. V. west and Fort Laramie on the south, as a dashing cavalry leader in General they left the shady recesses of their Hayden, climbed Bear Butte. Two all of them about 100 miles distant. Sheridan’s campaigns in Virginia. He beloved hunting grounds and joined years later Lieutenant G. K. Warren, And Fort Abraham Lincoln had recent­ was a popular hero, and it is said in with their ancient enemies, the Sioux, accompanied by Dr. Hayden, reoon- ly been established eight miles south of the review of the grand army in Wash­ in their hostile camp on the Little Big noitered almost around the hills and the present site of Mandan, North Da­ ington at the close of the Civil war, Horn in Montana. It was there that drew quite an accurate map of the re­ kota, nearly 400 miles to the northeast. he attracted more attention and re­ the next and most bloody chapter of gion. Again in 1859 Dr. Hayden, acting What was needed was a fort in the ceived a more marked demonstration qur Indian warfare was to be written. as geologist for Captain W. F. Ray- Black Hills from which troops could than did General Grant. After the war The Custer expedition camped on nolds, made a similar Journey and in protect the various trails in that region he was assigned to frontier duty in the French creek only five days, which time the following year gave the first scien­ and keep watch over the hostile Og- west where he gained a second enviable was occupied in sending out exploring tific knowledge of the geological for­ lalas and Unkpapas. reputation as a most efficient Indian expeditions in every direction to deter­ mation of the Black Hills. fighter. Tireless himself, he drove his Sitting Bull, Unkpapa medicine-man, the keenest native mind and most mine the nature of the surrounding General Sheridan recommended such men' hard. He was a strict disciplinar­ country. The permanent camp was During the middle years of the last a fort in his annual report of 1873, ian, demanding compliance with orders unyielding native spirit of which there is record. broken at 4:30 a. m., Thursday, August century, when Dr. Hayden’s reports and visited Fort Abraham Lincoln in the without fear or favor. While in the 6, and the long column began its slow maps began to waken interest in the spring of 1874 to make preliminary ar­ Black Hills on this expedition under journey back to Fort Abraham Lincoln, Black Hills, rumors began to come from rangements, secured the necessary au­ discussion, he had occasion and did not tion on the camp site, Including a king pin 400 miles away. Lapping back upon various sources that the mysterious re­ thority for a reconnaissance, and di­ hesitate to arrest Colonel Fred Grant the prospectors could “work” the creek their old trail for the first 10 miles they gion held gold within the fastnesses rected General Terry to place General from a freight wagon, a box-full of loaded beds for the coveted yellow dust. for drunkenness, an incident which may cartridges, which had been spilled, and camp then turned toward the northeast, of its canyons and wooded ravines. Dr. George A. Custer in command of suf­ have had some influence in the Gen­ Early the next' morning General Cus­ emerging from the hills not far from Hayden had mentioned finding specks ficient troops to prevent attack by the spoons marked with the initials 8. L. H.) Rapid City. Thence they took their Indians and to proceed with the recon­ eral’s being reduced in rank soon after­ ter, accompanied by his engineer, Col.