“GOLD!” proclaimed Dakota Territory’s Bismarck Tribune, August 12, 1874. Custer’s expedition sparked a gold rush as the news of gold in the Black Hills spread nationwide.
By Bill Markley
Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s 1874 expedition to Dakota Territory’s Black Hills would discover gold, triggering a rush that would end the Lakotas’ possession their sacred Paha Sapa.
The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty included the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation prohibiting Euro-American access; but the federal government believed forts were needed in the Black Hills. In 1874, General Phil Sheridan authorized Custer to lead an expedition to reconnoiter potential fort locations, survey and map the area, and record the topography and geology. The Black Hills were relatively unexplored, shrouded in mystery. Many also hoped the expedition would confirm rumors of gold.
Custer organized his expedition at Fort Abraham Lincoln along the west bank of the Missouri River, Dakota Territory. The fort had been built in 1872 across the river from the new settlement of Bismarck located at the end of the line for the Northern Pacific Railroad.
The expedition comprised ten companies from the 7th Cavalry, one from the 17th Infantry, and one from the 20th Infantry, three Gatling guns, and a Rodman rifled cannon. Captain William Ludlow led an engineering detachment. Personnel included Indian and white scouts, a sixteen-piece band, teamsters, five newspaper reporters, scientists, photographer William Illingworth, and two miners.
A few notable characters accompanied the expedition: Custer’s favorite Arikara scout Bloody Knife; the white scout Lonesome Charlie Reynolds; Major George Forsyth, who had commanded scouts at the Battle of Beecher Island in 1868; Captain Luther North, whose brother Frank had formed the Pawnee Scouts; Colonel Fred Grant, who was son of President Ulysses Grant; two of Custer’s brothers Captain Tom Custer and Boston Custer, who was a civilian forage master; and Sarah “Sally” Campbell, Custer’s black cook, who would become the first non-Indian woman to enter the Black Hills.
On July 2, 1874, the band played “The Girl I Left Behind me,” as Custer, dressed in buckskin and riding his horse Dandy, led 995 soldiers and civilians, 660 mules pulling 110 wagons, 700 horses, and a herd of beef cattle westward from Fort Abraham Lincoln. Using sextants, chronometers, compasses, and odometers, Ludlow’s engineers recorded the expedition’s route as well as its forty-seven campsites, later creating maps.
Bearing southwest, crossing a treeless prairie under a scorching sun, plagued by clouds of choking dust, and drinking warm alkaline water, the expedition was led by Lakota scout Goose to Hiddenwood Creek on July 8 in present-day North Dakota. There they rested by a grove of trees growing along the creek. On July 11, they came to the Cave Hills in present-day northwest South Dakota. Goose led them to a sacred cave which Custer named Ludlow Cave.
The expedition reached the Black Hills’ northern foothills and traveled southward along their western edge in present-day Wyoming. July 21, Private John Cunningham died from diarrhea.
The next morning, Private William Roller discovered someone had cross-hobbled his horse which would not allow the horse to move without falling. Roller and Private George Turner had been feuding and Roller accused Turner of committing the deed. The two men reached for their revolvers. Roller shot Turner in the stomach, killing him. Cunningham and Turner were buried in a double grave and Roller was placed under guard for the rest of the trip.
On July 23, Custer and a small group climbed Wyoming’s 6,500-foot Inyan Kara. The expedition turned east on July 24, entering the Black Hills at what is called today Cold Springs Creek. So many wildflowers covered the valley floor that the men named it Floral Valley. On July 26, they proceeded into Castle Creek’s valley from the northwest.
Illingworth climbed a ridge taking an iconic photograph of the wagon train in the valley below. That same day, the expedition encountered a small Lakota village led by One Stab. Custer’s Indian scouts prepared to attack, but Custer stopped them. He allowed the village to leave but held One Stab as a “guide.” The expedition camped by Castle Creek, July 26 and 27.
On July 30, they reached French Creek encamping there for two days. Their campsite would later become the town of Custer, South Dakota. The miner, Horatio Ross, panning soil in French Creek, discovered a few pinpoints of gold. Custer, leading a small group, climbed 7,244-foot Harney Peak, now renamed Black Elk Peak. While Custer was away from camp, the men played baseball and the officers drank champagne.
The expedition traveled along French Creek three miles downstream where they camped for five days. Here, on August 2, miners Ross and William McKay discovered enough gold flakes to consider it profitable. Custer gave Lonesome Charlie Reynolds official Army dispatches that mentioned the discovery of gold and the newspapermen gave him their reports, which blared the discovery of gold. Reynolds rode south to Fort Laramie where the news of the discovery of gold in the Black Hills spread like wildfire.
The expedition began its return trip on August 6. The following day, Custer and a few others were in advance of the column when they encountered and killed an old grizzly bear. Illingworth took a now famous photo of the bear with Custer, Bloody Knife, Ludlow, and Private John Noonan posing behind it.
On August 13, the expedition forded Boxelder Creek then blazed a trail through Custer Gap. That evening, Private James King died of dysentery. He was buried the next morning as the expedition headed east out of the Black Hills.
They turned northward marching along the eastern flank of the Black Hills camping five miles south of Bear Butte on August 14 and 15. Bear Butte stands near but separate from the Black Hills. It is sacred to the Cheyenne, Lakota, and other tribes. A small group of scientists and officers climbed the rock formation rising 1,200 feet above the prairie.
The expedition proceeded north over prairie studded with massive buttes. When Custer reached the Northern Pacific Railroad survey route, he followed it eastward toward Fort Abraham Lincoln. Nearing the fort on August 30, correspondent William Curtis wrote “The mules of the wagon train lifted up their voices and wept for joy.” After traveling 883 miles, the expedition returned with the band playing “Garryowen.”
The damage was done. Custer’s expedition had sparked a gold rush. News of gold in the Black Hills was spreading nationwide. “GOLD!” proclaimed Dakota Territory’s Bismarck Tribune, August 12, 1874. The newspaper predicted the Black Hills would “become the El Dorado of America.” The tide of would-be miners and those who mined the miners began rushing toward the Black Hills. Custer’s Black Hills Expedition was the beginning of a series of events that would catch up with the 7th Cavalry and the Custer brothers at the Little Big Horn.
If you want to learn more about Custer’s Black Hills Expedition and follow the expedition’s trail, I highly recommend Paul Horsted and Ernie Grafe’s book Exploring with Custer, and Paul, Ernie, and Jon Nelson’s book Crossing the Plains with Custer.
Bill Markley can be reached at markley@pie.midco.net
