The Sitting Bull Affair

Book excerpt: While the Battle of the Little Bighorn is a legendary episode in American history, what happened to Sitting Bull and his followers afterward is less well known. Ruthlessly harried by US troops, roughly twenty-five hundred Sioux Indians sought refuge in Canada. They crossed at the Cypress Hills near Fort Walsh, a North-West Mounted Police post that was under the command of Major James Walsh. Faced with the possibility of a full-scale war uniting all the tribes in the area, Walsh laid down the law to Sitting Bull, promising to help the Sioux with food and ammunition strictly for hunting. Walsh was in command of the situationbut only because Sitting Bull recognized him as a true friend who would do everything possible to help the Sioux. Although the Americans wanted the Sioux back and the Canadians wanted them to go back, the Canadian government was bound by its promise to grant refuge to the Indians as long as they obeyed the law. Narrating actual events and depicting Sitting Bull and his followers, this historical novel describes the war against the Sioux and other tribes in the late nineteenth century.