Sitting Bull ( lkt, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake ; December 15, 1890) was a
Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. He was killed by
Indian agency police on the
Standing Rock Indian Reservation
The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic " Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaks ...
during an attempt to arrest him, at a time when authorities feared that he would join the
Ghost Dance
The Ghost Dance ( Caddo: Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a ceremony incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. According to the teachings of the Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka (renamed Jack Wil ...
movement.
Before the
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, No ...
, Sitting Bull had a vision in which he saw many soldiers, "as thick as grasshoppers", falling upside down into the Lakota camp, which his people took as a foreshadowing of a major victory in which many soldiers would be killed. About three weeks later, the confederated Lakota tribes with the Northern
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
defeated the
7th Cavalry under Lt. Col.
George Armstrong Custer on June 25, 1876, annihilating Custer's battalion and seeming to bear out Sitting Bull's prophetic vision. Sitting Bull's leadership inspired his people to a major victory. In response, the U.S. government sent thousands more soldiers to the area, forcing many of the Lakota to surrender over the next year. Sitting Bull refused to surrender, and in May 1877, he led his band north to
Wood Mountain,
North-West Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
(now
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
). He remained there until 1881, at which time he and most of his band returned to U.S. territory and surrendered to U.S. forces.
After working as a performer with ''
Buffalo Bill's Wild West
William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa, Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but ...
'' show, Sitting Bull returned to the
Standing Rock Agency
The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaksa ...
in
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...
. Due to fears that he would use his influence to support the Ghost Dance movement,
Indian Service agent
James McLaughlin at
Fort Yates ordered his arrest. During an ensuing struggle between Sitting Bull's followers and the agency police, Sitting Bull was shot in the side and head by Standing Rock policemen Lieutenant Bull Head (''Tatankapah'', lkt, links=no, Tȟatȟáŋka Pȟá) and Red Tomahawk (''Marcelus Chankpidutah'', lkt, links=no, Čhaŋȟpí Dúta), after the police were fired upon by Sitting Bull's supporters. His body was taken to nearby Fort Yates for burial. In 1953, his Lakota family
exhume
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
d what were believed to be his remains, reburying them near
Mobridge, South Dakota, near his birthplace.
Early life
Sitting Bull was born on land later included in the
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...
.
In 2007, Sitting Bull's great-grandson asserted from family oral tradition that Sitting Bull was born along the
Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains a ...
, south of present-day
Miles City, Montana.
He was named Ȟoká Psíče (Jumping Badger) at birth, and nicknamed ''Húŋkešni'' or "Slow" said to describe his careful and unhurried nature. When he was fourteen years old he accompanied a group of
Lakota warriors (which included his father and his uncle Four Horns) in a raiding party to take horses from a camp of
Crow warriors. He displayed bravery by riding forward and
counting coup on one of the surprised Crow, which was witnessed by the other mounted Lakota. Upon returning to camp his father gave a celebratory feast at which he conferred his own name upon his son. While the name, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake, in the
Lakota language roughly translates to "Buffalo Who Sits Down", Americans came to commonly refer to him as "Sitting Bull".
Thereafter, Sitting Bull's father was known as Jumping Bull. At this ceremony before the entire band, Sitting Bull's father presented his son with an eagle feather to wear in his hair, a warrior's horse, and a hardened buffalo hide shield to mark his son's passage into manhood as a Lakota warrior.
[
During the Dakota War of 1862, in which Sitting Bull's people were not involved,] several bands of eastern Dakota people
The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided ...
killed an estimated 300 to 800 settlers and soldiers in south-central Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...
in response to poor treatment by the government and in an effort to drive the whites away. Despite being embroiled in the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
, the United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
retaliated in 1863 and 1864, even against bands which had not been involved in the hostilities. In 1864, two brigades of about 2200 soldiers under Brigadier General Alfred Sully
Alfred Sully (May 22, 1820 – April 27, 1879), was a military officer during the American Civil War and during the Indian Wars on the frontier. He was also a noted painter.
Biography
Sully was the son of the portrait painter, Thomas Sull ...
attacked a village. The defenders were led by Sitting Bull, Gall
Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...
and Inkpaduta. The Lakota and Dakota were driven out, but skirmishing continued into August at the Battle of the Badlands.
In September, Sitting Bull and about one hundred Hunkpapa Lakota encountered a small party near what is now Marmarth, North Dakota. They had been left behind by a wagon train
''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings ...
commanded by Captain James L. Fisk to effect some repairs to an overturned wagon. When he led an attack, Sitting Bull was shot in the left hip by a soldier. The bullet exited through the small of his back, and the wound was not serious.
Red Cloud's War
From 1866 to 1868, Red Cloud as a leader of the Oglala Lakota
The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority of the Oglala live ...
fought against U.S. forces, attacking their forts in an effort to keep control of the Powder River Country
The Powder River Country is the Powder River Basin area of the Great Plains in northeastern Wyoming, United States. The area is loosely defined as that between the Bighorn Mountains and the Black Hills, in the upper drainage areas of the Powd ...
of Montana. In support of him, Sitting Bull led numerous war parties against Fort Berthold, Fort Stevenson Fort Stevenson was a frontier military fort in the 19th century in what was then Dakota Territory and what is now North Dakota. The fort was named for Thomas G. Stevenson, a Civil War general who was killed in the Battle of Spotsylvania. It was b ...
, and Fort Buford and their environs from 1865 through 1868. The uprising has come to be known as Red Cloud's War
Red Cloud's War (also referred to as the Bozeman War or the Powder River War) was an armed conflict between an alliance of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapaho peoples against the United States that took place in the Wyoming and M ...
.
By early 1868, the U.S. government desired a peaceful settlement to the conflict. It agreed to Red Cloud's demands that the U.S. abandon forts Phil Kearny and C.F. Smith. Gall of the Hunkpapa (among other representatives of the Hunkpapa, Blackfeet, and Yankton Dakota
The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided int ...
) signed a form of the Treaty of Fort Laramie on July 2, 1868, at Fort Rice (near Bismarck, North Dakota). Sitting Bull did not agree to the treaty. He told the Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
missionary, Pierre Jean De Smet, who sought him out on behalf of the government: "I wish all to know that I do not propose to sell any part of my country." He continued his hit-and-run attacks on forts in the upper Missouri area throughout the late 1860s and early 1870s.
The events of 1866–1868 mark a historically debated period of Sitting Bull's life. According to historian Stanley Vestal, who conducted interviews with surviving Hunkpapa in 1930, Sitting Bull was made "Supreme Chief of the whole Sioux Nation" at this time. Later historians and ethnologist
Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropolog ...
s have refuted this concept of authority, as the Lakota society was highly decentralized. Lakota bands and their elders made individual decisions, including whether to wage war.
Great Sioux War of 1876
Sitting Bull's band of Hunkpapa continued to attack migrating parties and forts in the late 1860s. When in 1871 the Northern Pacific Railway
The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, wh ...
conducted a survey for a route across the northern plains directly through Hunkpapa lands, it encountered stiff Lakota resistance. The same railway people returned the following year accompanied by federal troops. Sitting Bull and the Hunkpapa attacked the survey party, which was forced to turn back. In 1873, the military accompaniment for the surveyors was increased again, but Sitting Bull's forces resisted the survey "most vigorously." The Panic of 1873 forced the Northern Pacific Railway's backers (such as Jay Cooke) into bankruptcy. This halted construction of the railroad through Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota territory.
After the 1848 discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...
and dramatic gains in new wealth from it, other men became interested in the potential for gold mining in the Black Hills
The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black ...
. In 1874, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer led a military expedition from Fort Abraham Lincoln
Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is a North Dakota state park located south of Mandan, North Dakota, United States. The park is home to the replica Mandan On-A-Slant Indian Village and reconstructed military buildings including the Custer House.
...
near Bismarck to explore the Black Hills for gold and to determine a suitable location for a military fort in the Hills. Custer's announcement of gold in the Black Hills triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush. Tensions increased between the Lakota and European Americans seeking to move into the Black Hills.
Although Sitting Bull did not attack Custer's expedition in 1874, the U.S. government was increasingly pressured by citizens to open the Black Hills to mining and settlement. Failing in an attempt to negotiate a purchase or lease of the Hills, the government in Washington had to find a way around the promise to protect the Sioux in their land, as specified in the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. It was alarmed at reports of Sioux depredations, some of which were encouraged by Sitting Bull. In November 1875, President Grant ordered all Sioux bands outside the Great Sioux Reservation to move onto the reservation, knowing full well that not all would comply. As of February 1, 1876, the Interior Department certified as "hostile" those bands who continued to live off the reservation.[ Utley ''Frontier Regulars'' 1973, p. 248.] This certification allowed the military to pursue Sitting Bull and other Lakota bands as "hostiles".
Based on tribal oral histories, historian Margot Liberty theorizes that many Lakota bands allied with the Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
during the Plains Wars because they thought the other nation was under attack by the U.S. Given this connection, she suggests the major war should have been called "The Great Cheyenne War". Since 1860, the Northern Cheyenne had led several battles among the Plains Indians. Before 1876, the U.S. Army had destroyed seven Cheyenne camps, more than those of any other nation.
Other historians, such as Robert M. Utley and Jerome Greene, also use Lakota oral testimony, but they have concluded that the Lakota coalition, of which Sitting Bull was the ostensible head, was the primary target of the federal government's pacification campaign.
During the period 1868–1876, Sitting Bull developed into one of the most important Native American political leaders. After the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) and the creation of the Great Sioux Reservation, many traditional Sioux warriors, such as Red Cloud of the Oglala and Spotted Tail
Spotted Tail (Siŋté Glešká pronounced ''gleh-shka''; birth name T'at'aŋka Napsíca "Jumping Buffalo"Ingham (2013) uses 'c' to represent 'č'. ); born c. 1823 – died August 5, 1881) was a Brulé Lakota tribal chief. Although a great war ...
of the Brulé, moved to reside permanently on the reservations. They were largely dependent for subsistence on the U.S. Indian agencies. Many other chiefs, including members of Sitting Bull's Hunkpapa band such as Gall, at times, lived temporarily at the agencies. They needed the supplies at a time when white encroachment and the depletion of buffalo herds reduced their resources and challenged Native American independence.
In 1875, the Northern Cheyenne, Hunkpapa, Oglala, Sans Arc, and Minneconjou camped together for a Sun Dance, with both the Cheyenne medicine man White Bull or Ice and Sitting Bull in association. This ceremonial alliance preceded their fighting together in 1876. Sitting Bull had a major revelation.
At the climactic moment, "Sitting Bull intoned, 'The Great Spirit has given our enemies to us. We are to destroy them. We do not know who they are. They may be soldiers.' Ice too observed, 'No one then knew who the enemy were – of what tribe.'...They were soon to find out."
:— Utley 1992: 122–24
Sitting Bull's refusal to adopt any dependence on the U.S. government meant that at times he and his small band of warriors lived isolated on the Plains. When Native Americans were threatened by the United States, numerous members from various Sioux bands and other tribes, such as the Northern Cheyenne, came to Sitting Bull's camp. His reputation for "strong medicine" developed as he continued to evade the European Americans.
After the ultimatum on January 1, 1876, when the U.S. Army began to track down as hostiles those Sioux and others living off the reservation, Native Americans gathered at Sitting Bull's camp. He took an active role in encouraging this "unity camp". He sent scouts to the reservations to recruit warriors and told the Hunkpapa to share supplies with those Native Americans who joined them. An example of his generosity was Sitting Bull's provision for Wooden Leg
Wooden Leg (Cheyenne ''Kâhamâxéveóhtáhe'')''Kum-mok-quiv-vi-ok-ta'' in Marquis 1931pg. 3/ref> (1858–1940) was a Northern Cheyenne warrior who fought against Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Early life
Wooden Leg was born, in 1 ...
's Northern Cheyenne tribe. They had been impoverished by Captain Reynold's March 17, 1876, attack and fled to Sitting Bull's camp for safety.
Over the course of the first half of 1876, Sitting Bull's camp continually expanded as natives joined him for safety in numbers. His leadership had attracted warriors and families, creating an extensive village estimated at more than 10,000 people. Lt. Col. Custer came across this large camp on June 25, 1876. Sitting Bull did not take a direct military role in the ensuing battle; instead, he acted as a spiritual leader. A week prior to the attack, he had performed the Sun Dance, in which he fasted and sacrificed over 100 pieces of flesh from his arms.
Battle of the Little Bighorn
On June 25, 1876, Custer's scouts discovered Sitting Bull's camp along the Little Big Horn River (known as the Greasy Grass River to the Lakota).
After being ordered to attack, Custer's 7th Cavalry's troops lost ground quickly and were forced to retreat. Sitting Bull's followers, led into battle by Crazy Horse, counter-attacked and ultimately defeated Custer while surrounding and laying siege to the other two battalions led by Reno and Benteen.
Aftermath of the Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Native Americans' victory celebrations were short-lived. Public shock and outrage at Custer's defeat and death, as well as the government's understanding of the military capability of the remaining Sioux, led the War Department to assign thousands more soldiers to the area. Over the next year, the new American military forces pursued the Lakota, forcing many of the Native Americans to surrender. Sitting Bull refused to do so and in May 1877 led his band across the border into the North-West Territories
The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
, Canada. He remained in exile for four years near Wood Mountain, refusing a pardon and the chance to return. When crossing the border into Canadian territory, Sitting Bull was met by the Mounties of the region. During this meeting, James Morrow Walsh, commander of the North-West Mounted Police, explained to Sitting Bull that the Lakota were now on British soil and must obey British law. Walsh emphasized that he enforced the law equally and that every person in the territory had a right to justice. Walsh became an advocate for Sitting Bull and the two became good friends for the remainder of their lives.
While in Canada, Sitting Bull also met with Crowfoot, who was a leader of the Blackfeet, long-time powerful enemies of the Lakota and Cheyenne. Sitting Bull wished to make peace with the Blackfeet Nation and Crowfoot. As an advocate for peace himself, Crowfoot eagerly accepted the tobacco peace offering. Sitting Bull was so impressed by Crowfoot that he named one of his sons after him.
Sitting Bull and his people stayed in Canada for four years. Due to the smaller size of the buffalo herds in Canada, Sitting Bull and his men found it difficult to find enough food to feed their starving people. Sitting Bull's presence in the country led to increased tensions between the Canadian and the United States governments. Before Sitting Bull left Canada, he may have visited Walsh for a final time and left a ceremonial headdress as a memento.
Surrender
Hunger and desperation eventually forced Sitting Bull and 186 of his family and followers to return to the United States and surrender on July 19, 1881. Sitting Bull had his young son Crow Foot surrender his Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
lever-action carbine to Major David H. Brotherton, commanding officer of Fort Buford. Sitting Bull said to Brotherton, "I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle". In the parlor of the Commanding Officer's Quarters in a ceremony the next day, he told the four soldiers, 20 warriors and other guests in the small room that he wished to regard the soldiers and the white race as friends but he wanted to know who would teach his son the new ways of the world. Two weeks later, after waiting in vain for other members of his tribe to follow him from Canada, Sitting Bull and his band were transferred to Fort Yates, the military post located adjacent to the Standing Rock Agency
The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaksa ...
. This reservation __NOTOC__
Reservation may refer to: Places
Types of places:
* Indian reservation, in the United States
* Military base, often called reservations
* Nature reserve
Government and law
* Reservation (law), a caveat to a treaty
* Reservation in India, ...
straddles the present-day boundary between North and South Dakota.
Sitting Bull and his band of 186 people were kept separate from the other Hunkpapa gathered at the agency. Army officials were concerned that he would stir up trouble among the recently surrendered northern bands. On August 26, 1881, he was visited by census taker William T. Selwyn, who counted twelve people in the Hunkpapa leader's immediate family. Forty-one families, totaling 195 people, were recorded in Sitting Bull's band.
The military decided to transfer Sitting Bull and his band to Fort Randall to be held as prisoners of war. Loaded onto a steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
, the band of 172 people was sent down the Missouri River to Fort Randall (near present-day Pickstown, South Dakota) on the southern border of the state. There they spent the next 20 months. They were allowed to return north to the Standing Rock Agency in May 1883.
In 1883, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported that Sitting Bull had been baptized into the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
. James McLaughlin, Indian agent at Standing Rock Agency, dismissed these reports, saying: "The reported baptism of Sitting-Bull is erroneous. There is no immediate prospect of such ceremony so far as I am aware."
Annie Oakley
In 1884 show promoter Alvaren Allen asked Agent James McLaughlin to allow Sitting Bull to tour parts of Canada and the northern United States. The show was called the "Sitting Bull Connection." It was during this tour that Sitting Bull met Annie Oakley in Minnesota. He was so impressed with Oakley's skills with firearms that he offered $65 (equal to $ today) for a photographer to take a photo of the two together.[Biography: Sitting Bull](_blank)
'' American Experience'' ( PBS) The admiration and respect was mutual. Oakley stated that Sitting Bull made a "great pet" of her. In observing Oakley, Sitting Bull's respect for the young sharpshooter grew. Oakley was quite modest in her attire, deeply respectful of others, and had a remarkable stage persona despite being a woman who stood only five feet in height. Sitting Bull felt that she was "gifted" by supernatural means in order to shoot so accurately with both hands. As a result of his esteem, he symbolically "adopted" her as a daughter in 1884. He named her "Little Sure Shot" – a name that Oakley used throughout her career.
Wild West show
In 1885, Sitting Bull was allowed to leave the reservation to go Wild Westing with Buffalo Bill Cody's ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West
William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa, Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but ...
''. He earned about $50 a week (equal to $ today) for riding once around the arena, where he was a popular attraction. Although it is rumored that he cursed his audiences in his native tongue during the show, the historian Utley contends that he did not. Historians have reported that Sitting Bull gave speeches about his desire for education for the young, and reconciling relations between the Sioux and whites.
The historian Edward Lazarus wrote that Sitting Bull reportedly cursed his audience in Lakota in 1884, during an opening address celebrating the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway
The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, wh ...
. According to Michael Hiltzik
Michael A. Hiltzik (born November 9, 1952) is an American columnist, reporter and author who has written extensively for the ''Los Angeles Times''. In 1999, he won a beat reporting Pulitzer Prize for co-writing a series of articles about corrupti ...
, "...Sitting Bull declared in Lakota, 'I hate all White people.' ... 'You are thieves and liars. You have taken away our land and made us outcasts.'" The translator, however, read the original address which had been written as a 'gracious act of amity', and the audience, including President Grant, was left none the wiser.
Sitting Bull stayed with the show for four months before returning home. During that time, audiences considered him a celebrity and romanticized him as a warrior
A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste.
History
Warriors seem to have be ...
. He earned a small fortune by charging for his autograph and picture, although he often gave his money away to the homeless and beggars.
Ghost Dance movement
Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency after working in ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'' show. The tension between Sitting Bull and Agent McLaughlin increased and each became warier of the other over several issues including division and sale of parts of the Great Sioux Reservation.
During that period, in 1889 Indian Rights Activist Caroline Weldon from Brooklyn, New York, a member of the National Indian Defense Association "NIDA", reached out to Sitting Bull, acting to be his voice, secretary, interpreter and advocate. She joined him, together with her young son Christy, at his compound on the Grand River, sharing with him and his family home and hearth.[Pollack, Eileen. Woman Walking Ahead: In Search of Catherine Weldon and Sitting Bull. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002]
In 1889, during a time of harsh winters and long droughts impacting the Sioux Reservation, a Paiute Indian named Wovoka spread a religious movement from Nevada eastward to the Plains that preached a resurrection of the Native. It was known as the "Ghost Dance movement" because it called on the Indians to dance and chant for the rising up of deceased relatives and the return of the buffalo. The dance included shirts that were said to stop bullets. When the movement reached Standing Rock, Sitting Bull allowed the dancers to gather at his camp. Although he did not appear to participate in the dancing, he was viewed as a key instigator. Alarm spread to nearby white settlements.
Death and burial
In 1890, James McLaughlin, the U.S. Indian Agent at Fort Yates on Standing Rock Agency, feared that the Lakota leader was about to flee the reservation with the Ghost Dancers, so he ordered the police to arrest him. On December 14, 1890, McLaughlin drafted a letter to Lieutenant Henry Bullhead (noted as Bull Head in lead), an Indian agency policeman, that included instructions and a plan to capture Sitting Bull. The plan called for the arrest to take place at dawn on December 15 and advised the use of a light spring wagon to facilitate removal before his followers could rally. Bullhead decided against using the wagon. He intended to have the police officers force Sitting Bull to mount a horse immediately after the arrest.
Around 5:30 a.m. on December 15, 39 police officers and four volunteers approached Sitting Bull's house. They surrounded the house, knocked and entered. Bullhead told Sitting Bull that he was under arrest and led him outside. Sitting Bull and his wife noisily stalled for time: the camp awakened and men converged at the house. As Bullhead ordered Sitting Bull to mount a horse, he said the Indian Affairs agent wanted to see the chief, and then Sitting Bull could return to his house. When Sitting Bull refused to comply, the police used force on him. The Sioux in the village were enraged. Catch-the-Bear, a Lakota, shouldered his rifle and shot Bullhead, who reacted by firing his revolver into the chest of Sitting Bull. Another police officer, Red Tomahawk, shot Sitting Bull in the head, and Sitting Bull dropped to the ground. Sitting Bull died between 12 and 1 p.m.
A close-quarters fight erupted, and within minutes, several men were dead. The Lakota killed six policemen immediately, while two more died shortly after the fight, including Bullhead. The police killed Sitting Bull and seven of his supporters at the site, along with two horses.
Sitting Bull's body was taken to Fort Yates, where it was placed in a coffin (made by the Army carpenter) and buried. A monument was installed to mark his burial site after his remains were reportedly taken to South Dakota.
In 1953, Lakota family members exhumed what they believed to be Sitting Bull's remains, transporting them for reinterment near Mobridge, South Dakota, his birthplace. A monument to him was erected there.
Legacy
* Following Sitting Bull's death, his cabin on the Grand River was taken to Chicago for use as an exhibit at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
. Native American dancers also performed at the Exposition.
* On September 14, 1989, the United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...
released a Great Americans series 28¢ postage stamp featuring a likeness of Sitting Bull.
* On March 6, 1996, Standing Rock College was renamed Sitting Bull College in his honor. Sitting Bull College serves as an institution of higher education on Sitting Bull's home of Standing Rock in North Dakota and South Dakota.[American Indian Higher Education Consortium](_blank)
* The American historian Gary Clayton Anderson of the University of Oklahoma
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, pr ...
published ''Sitting Bull and the Paradox of Lakota Nationhood'' (2010), a revisionist examination of the Lakota medicine man. Anderson stresses the Little Big Horn in light of past successes of the Lakota Nation and the merits of Sitting Bull himself, rather than simply a mishap by Custer.
* In August 2010, a research team led by Eske Willerslev, an ancient DNA expert at the University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...
, announced their intention to sequence the genome of Sitting Bull, with the approval of his descendants, using a hair sample obtained during his lifetime. In October 2021, Willerslev's research confirmed Lakota writer and activist Ernie Lapointe (who had previously proclaimed himself to be Sitting Bull's great-grandson) and his three sisters to be Sitting Bull's biological great-grandchildren.
Representation in popular culture
Sitting Bull was the subject of, or a featured character in, several Hollywood motion pictures and documentaries, which have reflected changing ideas about him and Lakota culture in relation to the United States. Among them are:
* ''Sitting Bull: The Hostile Sioux Indian Chief'' (1914)
* '' Sitting Bull at the Spirit Lake Massacre'' (1927), with Chief Yowlachie
Chief Yowlachie (August 15, 1890 – March 7, 1966), also known as Daniel Simmons; was a Native American actor from the Yakama tribe in the U.S. state of Washington, known for playing supporting roles and bit parts in numerous films. He is p ...
in the title role
* '' Annie Oakley'' (1935), where he is played by Chief Thunderbird
* '' Annie Get Your Gun'' (1950), where he is played by J. Carrol Naish
* ''Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull ( lkt, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake ; December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. He was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock ...
'' (1954), with J. Carrol Naish again in the title role
* ''Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
'' (1957), with Frank DeKova as Sitting Bull
* '''' (1976), where he is played by Frank Kaquitts
* '' Buffalo Girls'' (1995 miniseries), where he is played by Russell Means
* '' Into the West'' (2005 miniseries), where he is portrayed by Eric Schweig
* '' Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee'' (2007), where he is portrayed by August Schellenberg
* ''Sitting Bull: A Stone in My Heart'' (2008) Documentary
* ''Woman Walks Ahead
''Woman Walks Ahead'' is a 2017 American biographical drama Western film directed by Susanna White and written by Steven Knight. The film is the story of Caroline Weldon (Jessica Chastain), a portrait painter who travels from New York City to t ...
'' (2017), where he is played by Michael Greyeyes
As time passed, Sitting Bull has become a symbol and archetype of Native American resistance movements as well as a figure celebrated by descendants of his former enemies:
* Legoland Billund, in Billund, Denmark
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, the first Legoland
Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park co ...
park, contains a 36-foot tall Lego sculpture of Sitting Bull.
* Sitting Bull is featured as the leader for the Native American Civilization in the computer game '' Civilization IV''.
* Sitting Bull is listed as one of 13 great Americans in President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
's children's book, ''Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters''.
See also
* Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse ( lkt, Tȟašúŋke Witkó, italic=no, , ; 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band in the 19th century. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by w ...
* Black Elk
* Henry Mabb
Footnotes
References
* Documentary: ''Sitting Bull: A Stone in My Heart'
82 minutes
*
*
* Greene, Jerome A., ed. ''Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877''. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press
The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established ...
, 1994.
*
* Matteoni, Norman E. ''Prairie Man: The Struggle between Sitting Bull and Indian Agent James McLaughlin''. Guilford, Conn., 2015
* McLaughlin, James.
Account of the Death of Sitting Bull and of the Circumstances Attending It
''. Philadelphia, 1891.
*
*
" ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. December 19, 1953.
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Nelson, Paul D., A shady Pair' and an 'attempt on his life' – Sitting Bull and His 1884 visit to St. Paul", ''Ramsey County History Quarterly'' V38 #1
St Paul, MN, 2003.
* Adams, Alexander B. ''Sitting Bull: An Epic of the Plains''. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1973.
* Brown, Dee. '' Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West''. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970.
* DeWall, Robb. ''The Saga of Sitting Bull's Bones: The Unusual Story Behind Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski's Memorial to Chief Sitting Bull''. Crazy Horse, S.D.: Korczak's Heritage, 1984.
* Manzione, Joseph. ''"I Am Looking to the North for My Life": Sitting Bull: 1876–1881''. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1991.
* Newson, Thomas McLean.
Thrilling scenes among the Indians, with a graphic description of Custer's last fight with Sitting Bull
''. Chicago: Belford, Clarke and Co., 1884.
*
Confirmation of the Disaster
." ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. July 7, 1876.
*
The Death of Sitting Bull
." ''The New York Times''. December 17, 1890.
*
The Last of Sitting Bull
." ''The New York Times''. December 16, 1890.
* Reno, Marcus Albert.
The official record of a court of inquiry convened at Chicago, Illinois, January 13, 1879, by the President of the United States upon the request of Major Marcus A. Reno, 7th U.S. Cavalry, to investigate his conduct at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, June 25–26, 1876
''. (Reprint online) Pacific Palisades, Calif.: 1951.
* Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who's Who In The Civil War''. New York: Facts on File Publishing, 1988.
* Urwin, Gregory. ''Custer Victorious: The Civil War Battles of General George Armstrong Custer''. Lincoln, Neb.: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1990.
* Utley, Robert M. ''The Last Days of the Sioux Nation''. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Univers ...
, 1963.
* Utley, Robert M. ''Sitting Bull: The Life and Times of an American Patriot''
* Yenne, Bill. "Sitting Bull." Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2008.
* Vestal, Stanley. ''Sitting Bull: Champion of the Sioux, a Biography''. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1932.
External links
*
*
Sitting Bull's ledger drawings
, Smithsonian Institution
Sitting Bull's Winchester
Catalogue No. E384119, Department of Anthropology, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution
''The West'', PBS
*
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