The last Native American tribal chief to fight against the US armies: Who is Sitting Bull?
He spent part of his life touring with the Wild West Circus. Sitting Bull, who was the center of attention, cursed the audience in his own language, while the public laughed at him.
Sitting Bull (circa 1831-1890) was a Dakota-American Tetonian chieftain who united the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains in the Americas against invading white settlers. The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie gave the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota to the Sioux, but when gold was found in the area in 1874, the US government ignored the treaty and began forcibly displacing the indigenous tribes. The Great Sioux Wars culminated in the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn. In this war, he united the Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse tribes and marched to victory against General George Armstrong Custer. Sitting Bull was later shot dead by Native American police in 1890 at the Standing Rock Indian Reserve. He went down in history with his courage in defending Native American lands.
Sitting Bull (c. 1831 – 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 during an attempt to arrest him, at a time when authorities feared that he would join the Ghost Dance movement.
Sitting Bull's early years
Sitting Bull was born in 1831 near the Grand River in what is today South Dakota. He was the son of a famous Sioux warrior, Jumping Bull, and his father named his son "The Jumping Badger". He killed his first buffalo at the age of 10 and sided with his father and uncle in a raid on the Crow tribe at the age of 14. His father renamed him Tatanka Yotanka, Sitting Bull, after the raid because of his bravery.
Sitting Bull soon joined the warrior community called Strong Heart and the Silent Eaters, a group responsible for the tribe's welfare. He spearheaded the expansion of Sioux hunting grounds into the western region formerly inhabited by the Assiniboine, Crow, and Shoshone.
Sitting Bull first fought the U.S. Army in June of 1863. The war was ignited when the US Army in retaliation for the Minnesota Uprising hid food from the Sioux living in camps on the Minnesota River. More than 300 Sioux were arrested in the Minnesota Uprising, but Abraham Lincoln commuted all but 39.
Sitting Bull then faced the US military again at the Battle of Mount Killdeer on July 28, 1864. US forces under General Alfred Sully surrounded the Indian village, forcing the Sioux to retreat. These confrontations taught Sitting Bull a lesson: he would never again sign a treaty that would condemn his people to live in the reserve.
However, this decision of Sitting Bull was not accepted by everyone. In 1868, the Red Cloud or Oglala Teton Sioux chief of Dakota Mahpiua Luta (1822-1909) signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie with 24 tribal leaders and representatives of the US government, such as Lieutenant General William Tecumseh Sherman. The treaty established the Great Sioux Reserve, and additional space was allocated for the Sioux in parts of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska.
Sitting Bull's stance against the treaty gained him many followers, and around 1869 he became the largest lead of the autonomous group of the Lakota Sioux—the first to hold such a title. Members of the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes soon joined him.
The peace of the Fort Laramie Treaty was short-lived. In 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills, sacred to the Sioux and located within the boundaries of the Great Sioux Reserve. Seeking wealth, white settlers rushed to seize the land. The U.S. government reversed the treaty by imprisoning the Sioux in the redrawn zone until January 31, 1876, and stated that any Sioux who dared to resist would be considered an enemy of the United States. Sitting Bull was expected to carry everyone in his village 380 km in the agonizing cold.
Sitting Bull defied the decision and refused to back down. He gathered a detachment of Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Sioux warriors and faced General George Crook on June 17, 1876. He was victorious at the Battle of Rosebud. From there he moved his forces into the Little Bighorn River valley.
Sitting Bull had become a respected leader at that time and was nicknamed "Wichasa Wakan", which was given to holy men. He did an extraordinary job with the Sun Dance ceremony he performed at the camp in the Little Bighorn River. He went into a trance after dancing for 36 hours straight, getting 50 cuts on both arms. When he woke up, he said that he saw US soldiers falling like locusts from the sky and that this was a sign that the army would be defeated soon.
On June 25, 600 men, led by General George Custer, landed in the valley. Sitting Bull was responsible for keeping the women and children of the tribe safe, while Crazy Horse (1840-77) led more than 3,000 Native Americans to victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Custer had arrived in the area with only 300 of his men, hoping for an easy victory. He was destroyed, as was his army.
Exasperated after the Little Bighorn War, the US government redoubled its Sioux hunt and genocide efforts. In addition, white settlers' encroachment on Sioux lands greatly reduced the buffalo population on which the Sioux depended for survival. In May 1877, Sitting Bull led his people to safety in Canada.
As a result of food and resource shortages, Sitting Bull surrendered to the US Army on July 20, 1881, in exchange for an amnesty for his people. He spent two years as a prisoner of war at Castle Randall, South Dakota, before finally moving to the Standing Rock Reserve.
Sitting Bull was allowed to travel outside of the reserve occasionally, and in one of them he befriended sniper Annie Oakley. He named it "Little Sure Shot" after watching a show in Minnesota in 1884.
Sitting Bull appeared on Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show in Oakley in 1885. Buffalo Bill was a famous person at the time, whose background resembled the story of a Western: he fought in the American Civil War and served in the military as a reconnaissance officer.
Sitting Bull appeared in the opening act of the show, signed autographs, and even met President Grover Cleveland. On the contrary, he could be teased and booed on stage; but that didn't happen. He left the show in October at the age of 54.
With the Ghost Dance Movement gaining attention, the Standing Rock Reserve soon became the center of controversy. Members of the movement believed that while all white people perished, deceased tribesmen would resurrect along with the slain buffaloes. Worried that Sitting Bull would join the movement and start a riot, the Indian police proceeded to his cabin to arrest him.
On December 15, 1890, Indian police woke Sitting Bull sleeping in his bed at 6 am. A crowd gathered around the house because of the noise when he refused to go quietly. Sitting Bull was then shot in the head and chest by the Indian police. A young member who walked in retaliated by shooting the policeman. Sitting Bull died instantly from gunshot wounds. Two weeks after his death, 150 Sioux were slaughtered in the Battle of Wounded Knee, the final conflict between the army, federal troops, and the Sioux.
Sitting Bull was buried by the military at Fort Yates Military Cemetery in North Dakota. In 1953, family members excavated Sitting Bull's grave and reburied his bones near Mobridge, South Dakota, overlooking the Missouri River.
October 2021
A sample of the hair of Sitting Bull, one of the famous Indian leaders of the 19th century, who fought against the oppression of the whites until his last breath, helped to find his grandson who is still alive today. Using a new technique, scientists were able to analyze for the first time the DNA of a person who died more than a century ago. However, activist Ernie LaPointe, whose relationship with Sitting Bull has been proven, said: "They still see us as troublemakers. They say our land is not ours."
Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show
https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/sitting-bull