“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

This summer I will be part of a tour of the Little Bighorn and relevant sites across Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota organized by www.geeknationtours.com Check out the details of the tour at http://geeknationtours.com/tours_post/signature-battlefield-series-the-battlefield-of-little-big-horn/

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My lady (and author of History on Fire logo) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/. This is the video of her pro debut match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxM81mds1Qs&feature=youtu.be Thank you to Onnit, Datsusara, Float Clinic, Shaman’s Simple Solutions, and Fight Chix for sponsoring her for her first MMA fight. If you’d like to check out Fight Chix merchandise, you can get a 20% discount by going to http://www.fightchix.com/ and entering the code Fire20 upon checkout.

This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/

Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/

For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/

For listeners in US, UK, CA, AU, this episode can be found at Luminary Premium. Sign up here: luminary.link/history . If you are not in these territories, feel free to message us as we try to find a solution for listeners in other countries.