Wakíŋyaŋ Čík’ala (''Little Thunder'') (c. 1820–1879) was a

Brulé The Sicangu are one of the seven ''oyates'', nations or council fires, of Lakota people, an Indigenous people of the Northern Plains. Today, many Sicangu people are enrolled citizens of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation ...

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan languages, Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of ...

chief. He took over as chief of the

after the death of

Conquering Bear Matȟó Wayúhi ("Conquering Bear") ( 1800 – August 19, 1854) was a Brulé Lakota chief who signed the Fort Laramie Treaty (1851). He was killed in 1854 when troops from Fort Laramie entered his encampment to arrest a Sioux who had shot a cow b ...

by U.S. Army soldiers in a dispute about a wandering

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

cow in 1854, which had prompted the Grattan Massacre of 30 U.S. Army troops on August 19, 1854, and led to the First Sioux War. The U.S. Army sent 600 troops led by Brevet Gen.

William S. Harney William Selby Harney (August 22, 1800 – May 9, 1889), otherwise known among the Lakota as "Woman Killer" and "Mad Bear," was an American cavalry officer in the US Army, who became known during the Indian Wars and the Mexican–American War f ...

to Little Thunder's village on Blue Water Creek, a tributary of the

North Platte River The North Platte River is a major tributary of the Platte River and is approximately long, counting its many curves.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 21, 2011 I ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, near what is now known as Ash Hollow State Historical Park. Harney attempted to parlay with the Sioux chief, Little Thunder, but his demands to hand over the men responsible for the Grattan attack were rebuffed. The American forces then attacked during the

Battle of Ash Hollow The Battle of Ash Hollow, also known as the Battle of Blue Water Creek or the Harney Massacre,, 2004, Nebraska State Historical Society; accessed 15 August 2016Warren, G.K. (Lt.) Report of September 4, 1855, and sketch of Battle Ground at Blue W ...

of September 3, 1855, in which approximately 86 Sioux were killed, women and children accounting for about half of the Sioux deaths. Another 70, mostly women and children, were taken prisoners., 2004, Nebraska State Historical Society; accessed 15 August 2016 Little Thunder was wounded and captured during the Battle of Ash Hollow. He was then deposed, although his son would lead a rebellion in 1865, and a teenager who witnessed the massacre,

Crazy Horse Crazy Horse ( , ; – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota people, Lakota war leader of the Oglala band. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by White Americans, White American settlers on Nativ ...

, would become a war leader two decades later and defeat U.S. Cavalry at the

Battle of Little Big Horn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northe ...

in 1876. Little Thunder lived his final years on the

Rosebud Indian Reservation The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who are Sicangu, a band of Lakota people. The Lakota name ''Sicangu Oyate'' translates as th ...

of 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 ...

References

Sicangu people Lakota leaders 1820s births 1879 deaths {{NorthAm-native-bio-stub