The Unceded Territory (Yellow Stone Book 1) (English Edition)

The Unceded Territory refers to the land west of the Black Hills and east of the Rocky Mountains named in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 as land that was never under the control of the United States and remained in possession of the Sioux Nation. The novel tells the story of Rufus Randall, once an officer in the Army of Northern Virginia and recently an Army scout under General Crook in the American southwest. Tired of war against the Apache, he comes north in the spring of 1876 with his friend and former sergeant, Andy, hoping to establish a ranch in a valley on the Yellowstone River that they had scouted years before when they had first come west after the end of the Civil War. Traveling with the Shoshoni Scout, Big Hand, they rescue a small party of pioneers and meet Miss Sarah Locke, leader of a small family group that was heading west to find a new life on the frontier. Randall takes Sarah and her family into the newly built mining town of Deadwood, but realize it is no place for decent women and children. Sarah agrees to try ranching and farming with Randall on the Yellowstone, knowing the Sioux are being driven off their lands by Custer and the 7th Cavalry. The story details the difficulty they have in establishing a homestead in the background of the military campaigns against the Sioux, the defeat of Custer, and the lawless frontier. The story follows historical events and briefly includes some characters from history like George Custer, George Crook, and Bill Hickok.