Mapping the Battles of 1876 Along the Rosebud, Little Bighorn and Powder

As a consequence of gold being discovered in the Black Hills in 1874, the U.S. government stepped up its efforts to enforce the reservation system. In the first half of 1876, this led to a series of U.S. military defeats as the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes resisted. Each of these battles occurred in the rich hunting ground along the major tributaries of the Yellowstone. In this series we will take a look at the cause of these conflicts and the land at their root. The sites of these battlefields are now historical monuments which can be visited in the tri-state region of Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota.