It was in July of 1874 when General Custer took a thousand man expedition to South Dakota to find a suitable site for a new military post at the behest of President Ulysses Grant.  Two geologists accompanied General Custer for the purpose of ascertaining the validity of rumors of gold.

​

            While it was perfectly legal to explore for a new military post, it was illegal for geologists to survey for gold there.  The prospectors reported “paying quantities” of gold.  This sparked a press frenzy of epic proportions at the time.

​

            The country was going through a very rough and extensive economic depression which had been ongoing for a number of years.  These press releases soon caused over a thousand whites to flood onto Indian land seeking to make their fortunes by prospecting for that gold.  Western politicians and Western Press outlets began to call for the Annexation of the Lakota Tribe’s lands.  With no legal basis to accomplish that, President Grant began to formulate an extensive secret plan to outright steal the lands from the Indians.

​

            He began by reducing the rations to the reservations of the Lakota Tribe and increasing predations by a corrupt Indian agent . Once they had come to Washington to meet with President Grant over those issues, President Grant used the event to attempt his first pressure on the Chiefs telling them that the government’s obligations of rations had run out and made the claim that the only reason they were getting any rations at all was by his good graces.

​

He then claimed to be powerless to stop the miners from overrunning their lands as they prospected for gold.  Which was partially true but as the military was making very little effort to stop it, the problem was growing.

​

            His next move was to attempt a logical explanation for the Chiefs to turn the Black Hills back over to the Government by threatening to cut off all the rations unless they ceded the lands.  This caused the Chiefs to return to the reservation disgusted by Grant’s actions.

At the time, Brig. General George Crook was responsible for removing any miners that were sneaking onto the Indian’s lands to mine.  While he was evicting them in accordance with standing policy, he was also telling them to record their claims in order to secure them once they were allowed back in, as the country would be opened up for mining later.  This was part of the information which led to the Supreme Court’s decision as General Crook had obviously already been discussing Grant’s plans with him at that time.

​

            Grant’s next move was to create a commission whose purpose was to negotiate with the Tribe to purchase outright the land or at least the mineral rights for the purpose of mining.  The Commission was a hand selected group whose secret purpose was to either accomplish the purchase or lie in reports showing the necessity to use force to make the Chiefs cooperate.  That is exactly what they did, lie.  Because the amount offered was so low, the Chiefs attempted to negotiate stating they would sell them and the price required was to sustain their people for seven generations to come.  Since the commission refused to negotiate, they turned in reports filled with lies to help President Grant gain the support for a forceful approach to dealing with them.

​

By November 3rd, President Grant held his secret meetings which included Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan, Secretary of War William Belknap, Secretary of Interior Zachariah Chandler, Assistant Interior Secretary Benjamin R. Cowen, The Commissioner of Indian Affairs Edward P. Smith, and General George Crook.

​

            Their objectives were to prepare the script and plan of actions for a secret war against the Tribe.  They felt that by killing Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse along with any other Sub-chiefs which were not favoring selling, that it would pressure the reservation Chiefs to sell at the ridiculously low price offered by Grant’s Commission.

​

            The False Flag Event of The Battle of Little Bighorn ended up giving President Grant everything he needed to pitch an all-out war with the tribe.  President Grant gave the Army carte-blanche to conduct unremitting war.  By May of 1877, the Lakota Indians were fully defeated at which time Grant redrew boundary lines of the Tribe’s land to lay claim to the Dakotas where his precious gold was.

​

            Since, the Supreme Court ruled that the Lakota Tribe is entitled to damages for Grant’s actions in stealing their lands.  The sum collected and accruing interest has now exceeded $1,000,000,000.00, but the Lakota Tribe would rather have their Black Hills instead.

​

Purchase Novel 

By: Guy Lozier