(1876) one of the Plains Indians Wars between the United States and the Sioux. It grew out of a dispute about rights to gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota; the gold was on Sioux reservation land and the United States wished to buy it back, but native leaders who were not party to the treaty establishing the reservation refused to negotiate. The first incident in the war was Custer's Last Stand, which galvanized opinion against the indigenous population.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
