Custer's Gold: The United States Cavalry Expedition of 1874

A provision in the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty assigned all the lands west of the Missouri River in present-day South Dakota, including the Black Hills, to the Sioux. But rumors began to emerge that the Black Hills were rich in gold, and in 1874 the government authorized a "reconnaissance" to check out the rumors. George Armstrong Custer, headquartered at Ft. Abraham Lincoln near Bismark, ND, was put in charge, and from July 2 through August 30 he led an expedition to the Black Hills that indeed proved the rumors to be true. In this short book Donald Jackson tells the story of the expedition. Perhaps once THE book on the expedition, now it's best utilized as a supplementary text next to Grafe & Horsted's amazingly superb EXPLORING WITH CUSTER: THE 1874 BLACK HILLS EXPEDITION, which is a detailed, eye-popping, near mile-by-mile account of the expedition. Jackson expands somewhat on the scientific corps that accompanied the expedition as well as the prelude and postscript to the trip, but generally relates in words what Grafe & Halsted reveal in maps and photographs. One interesting sidenote is the baseball game played by the troops on July 31 in what is today downtown Custer, the first baseball game played in South Dakota. The results of the expedition ushered in a gold rush and another disaster for the Indians whose lands were once again invaded. Jackson is a well-known and excellent western historian and this book tells the story of Custer and the 1874 expedition succinctly and well. Recommended.