Black Hills

Black Hills, rugged mountains, c.6,000 sq mi (15,540 sq km), enclosed by the Belle Fourche and Cheyenne rivers, SW S.Dak. and NE Wyo., and rising c.2,500 ft (760 m) above the surrounding Great Plains; Harney Peak, 7,242 ft (2,207 m) above sea level, is the highest point in the Black Hills and in South Dakota. The mountains received their name from the heavily forested slopes that appear black from afar. Native Americans, white settlers, and railroad companies depended on wood from the Black Hills for fuel and building material. Gold was discovered in the hills in 1874 by an expedition led by Gen. George Custer, and the resulting gold rush drove out the indigenous population. White settlements grew rapidly after 1876, chiefly in such mining towns in South Dakota as Custer, Deadwood, Lead, Spearfish, and Rapid City, the largest city in the Black Hills. Gold is still mined in the area. Other important minerals found in the hills are uranium, feldspar, mica, and silver. The Black Hills are a major recreational area of the northern plains and a principal tourist spot. Most of the slopes are in two national forests. Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, and Custer State Park are attractions. The 6,000 ft (1,829 m) Mt. Rushmore, with its gigantic open-air sculpture of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and T. Roosevelt, is famous throughout the world (see Mount Rushmore National Memorial).

Group of mountains in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, U.S. Occupying about 6,000 sq mi (15,540 sq km), they lie between the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche rivers and rise to a maximum elevation of 7,242 ft (2,207 m) at Harney Peak. Their name refers to the dark appearance that their rounded hilltops and well-forested slopes present at a distance. The Sioux Indians were guaranteed treaty rights to the region in 1868; however, the discovery of gold in 1874 led to an influx of white miners and to the Black Hills War (1876), including the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Tourist attractions include the mining town of Deadwood, Mount Rushmore and Jewel Cave national monuments, Wind Cave National Park, and Custer State Park, all in South Dakota, and Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

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The Black Hills War (also known as the Great Sioux War or Little Big Horn Campaign) was a series of conflicts between the Lakota (Sioux), their allies, and the United States from 1876 until 1877.

Background

The Lakota considered the Black Hills a sacred land, which they claimed as theirs since they had defeated the Cheyenne in 1776. The Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), following Red Cloud's War, excluded non-Indians from the Black Hills and established the area within the Great Sioux reservation. The United States had little interest in the area until the Custer Expedition of 1874, confirmed rumors of gold deposits.

Prospectors motivated by the economic panic of 1873, began the Black Hills Gold Rush, in violation of the treaty and Federal law. Further tension resulted from the United States Army's inability to keep intruders out. Eventually, the Lakota, inspired by Sitting Bull and led by Crazy Horse attacked the intruders and fought the US Army. Some historians have speculated that the Ulysses S. Grant Administration deliberately provoked the war in order to open the gold fields, possibly to mitigate the economic panic.

Campaign

Following demands for Lakota families and hunters to report to the various agencies in the middle of the winter of 1875-76, Grant approved orders for the Army to round up the bands by force. In the spring of 1876, the Army launched a coordinated campaign, involving three columns of troops operating in what is today a five-state region. It resulted in the Battle of Rosebud, where the Lakota, under Tašunka Witko, defeated one of the three Army columns moving to find and force the tribes home. Days later, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry attacked a camp of the Lakota and their Cheyenne allies on the banks of Greasy Grass Creek Little Big Horn River. The resulting Battle of the Little Bighorn saw the Sioux and Cheyenne, under the leadership of Tatanka Iyotake and Tašunka Witko, defeat the 7th Cavalry, killing 258 soldiers (43% of the regiment present) in one of the worst defeats of the Indian Wars for the Army.

In later battles in the summer and fall of 1876, including the Dull Knife Fight and the Battle of Slim Buttes, cavalry and infantry units defeated the Lakota war parties and forced the Lakota people to return to the agencies.

The war was finally ended with another treaty, in which the Lakota ceded a 50-mile (80 km) strip along the western border of their reservation, and some additional lands. This gave the U.S. legal title to the Black Hills and legalized the previously-illegal gold hunters and camp followers in Custer City, Deadwood, and other boom towns in the Black Hills.

See also

• Indian Campaign Medal

Notes

• Named Campaigns — Indian Wars

References

• Named Campaigns — Indian Wars. United States Army Center for Military History. .

External links

• South Dakota Historical Society timeline