‘Yellowstone’ highlights Montana’s long-forgotten connection to the Confederacy

During and after the Civil War, thousands of Confederate soldiers resettled in the Big Sky State. Donovan Reese/Photodisc via Getty Images

The popular “Yellowstone” TV series, set and filmed in Montana, taps into a lesser-known chapter of the state’s history: its settlement by Confederates and ex-Confederates during and after the Civil War.

I come to this story with a unique perspective. I’m a fourth-generation Montanan. I’m also a scholar of U.S. Western literary and cultural studies and left the state in my 20s to pursue a career in academia.