Red Cloud and
the Indian Trader

In the summer of 1871, JW Dear, a young Virginian who fought with Mosby’s Rangers in the Civil War, met Red Cloud, the leader of the Oglala Sioux, who at that time was the most respected Indian chief in America. For the next twelve years the two men lived alongside each other on the vast Northern Plains. This was one of the most turbulent, violent, and controversial periods in the history of the American West. The ravages of the Civil War forced thousands of emigrants to cross Indian territory in search of a better life; the trans-continental railroad crossed Sioux land; millions of buffalo the Indians depended upon for survival were slaughtered; and gold was discovered in the Indians’ sacred Black Hills of Dakota. These events led to the Great Sioux War of 1876, Custer’s last stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn, and the government forcing the Lakota onto reservations.

This book is about two men caught up in these momentous events, and exposes what it took to live through the visionary, but brutal process of nation building. It is a uniquely personal insight into how betrayal, corruption, and backroom deals drove the white man’s relentless encroachment onto Indian tribal lands in pursuit of domination – and gold. It traces how respect and loyalty grew between two men from vastly different cultures as they fought injustice, and how JW sacrificed his career to support Red Cloud in his battles with the US government and Indian Agent Valentine McGillycuddy. It ends in tragedy.