On the Great Plains of North America, where the flatlands meet the Rocky Mountains and the buffalo once roamed, trailed by Cheyenne, Arapahoe and Sioux, there stood an oasis for westward migrants in search of new lives and fortunes…
It’s called Fort Laramie.
In this thought-provoking film, Don Wildman (American History Hit) travels to Wyoming to explore the story of this remarkable place, from trading post between Europeans and Native Americans to staging post for those on the trail westwards, a military bastion on the frontline of the battle for land, safe passage and resources.
To discover the site, Don meets with Park Rangers and interviews Dr Jeff Means of the University of Wyoming, a member of the Lakota Sioux Nation - a descendant of those who knew Fort Laramie in the 19th century.
The film investigates some of Laramie’s key events, from the Grattan Massacre to the treaties signed in this area in 1851 and 1868 as the United States spread westwards, across the Great Plains and beyond.
Fort Laramie stands as a memorial to America’s westward expansion, and a reminder of how the world of the Native American Plains Indians was changed forever.
Up Next in New on History Hit
-
The Ambassadors: Mysteries of a Tudor...
Tracy Borman unravels the web of messages and secrets hidden in one of the most spectacular and mysterious Tudor paintings, Holbein’s the Ambassadors.
In 1533 England was in turmoil - Henry VIII had secretly married Anne Boleyn and had his marriage to Katherine of Aragon annulled.
This was the ...
-
Churchill's Secret Army
Dan Snow investigates an extraordinary network of secret cells and underground bunkers built during Britain's "darkest hour".
In the summer of 1940, Britain and its empire stood alone as the Nazi war machine stormed through Europe. But in its darkest hour, Prime Minister Winston Churchill create...
-
Iron Age Women: Rulers of the Land
Did women have more power in Iron Age Britain than elsewhere? New discoveries from Britain's largest known Iron Age cemetery suggest yes!
At the site of Duropolis in Dorset, excavations led by the University of Bournemouth are revealing the prominence of women in Britain's pre-Roman societies. ...
