History on Fire
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EPISODE 16 - The War For The Black Hills (Part 1): The Heart Of Everything That Is
🕑 Added 2017-10-06 18:30:00 +0000 UTC “The Black Hills is my land and I love it.And whoever interferes will hear this gun.”
— Lakota song
“Came to the Hills in 1833… got our gold in 1834. Got all the gold we could carry. Our ponys got by Indians. I have lost my gun and nothing to eat and Indians hunting me.”
— Ezra Kind
To the Lakota people, the Black Hills of South Dakota were — and still are — "the heart of everything that is." To the United States, they were a goldmine, and Manifest Destiny’s next target. It was for the Black Hills that the Lakota went to war against the United States for the last time.
In this episode:
- We become acquainted with one of this story’s key characters: George Armstrong Custer
- “In years long numbered with the past when I was verging upon manhood, my every thought was ambitious—not to be wealthy, not to be learned, but to be great.” Custer
- Custer’s key role at the Battle of Gettysburg
- Reckless and proud
- AWOL
- Washita
- ‘Garry Owen’ was Custer’s version of Apocalypse Now
- The genesis of the hatred between Benteen and Custer
- Raping POWs
- Lack of money makes President Grant a peaceful man
- The Mafia of the railroads
- The Yellowstone expedition and the economic collapse of 1873
- The Thieves’ Road, and Charley Reynolds’ ride
