Custer has his first skirmishes with Sitting Bull. Although Custer holds the Sioux off and the railroad survey is completed, the Panic of '73 shuts the Northern Pacific down. Custer is assigned to Fort Lincoln in Dakota Territory. Custer thinks it's pointless, since the Northern Pacific is dead for the moment. But Sheridan explains: there are rumors of gold in the Black Hills. The Hills are on the Sioux Reservation, and the army is supposed to keep whites out of them. Sheridan sends Custer to build a post within the Hills - ostensibly to keep miners out, but in fact to bring them in, along with the press, to tout the gold in the Hills and revive the fortunes of the Northern Pacific.

[ Thu, 12 Apr 2007 23:39:00 GMT ]

Listen

Download

Listen on your iPhone