Before theBattle of the Little Bighorn, 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.[11] About three weeks later, the confederated Lakota tribes with the NorthernCheyenne defeated the7th Cavalry under Lt. Col.George Armstrong Custer on June 25, 1876, annihilating Custer's battalion and seeming to fulfill 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 toWood Mountain, North-West Territories (nowSaskatchewan). He remained there until 1881, when he and most of his band returned to U.S. territory and surrendered to U.S. forces.
After working as a performer withBuffalo Bill's Wild West show, Sitting Bull returned to theStanding Rock Agency inSouth Dakota. Because of fears that Sitting Bull would use his influence to support the Ghost Dance movement,Indian Service agentJames McLaughlin atFort Yates ordered his arrest. During an ensuing struggle between Sitting Bull's followers and the agency police, Sitting Bull was shot in the chest and head by Standing Rock policemen Lieutenant Bull Head (Tatankapah, Lakota:Tȟatȟáŋka Pȟá) and Red Tomahawk (Marcelus Chankpidutah, Lakota: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 familyexhumed what were believed to be his remains, reburying them nearMobridge, South Dakota, near his birthplace.
Early life
Sitting Bull was born on land later included in theDakota Territory sometime between 1831 and 1837.[12][13] In 2007, Sitting Bull's great-grandson asserted from familyoral tradition that Sitting Bull was born along theYellowstone River, south of present-dayMiles City, Montana.[14] He was named Ȟoká Psíče (Jumping Badger) at birth, and nicknamedHúŋkešni[ˈhʊ̃kɛʃni] or "Slow", an allusion to his careful and unhurried nature.[15]
When Sitting Bull was 14 years old, he accompanied a group ofLakota warriors, which included his father and his uncle Four Horns, in a raiding party to take horses from a camp ofCrow warriors. He displayed bravery by riding forward andcounting 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. The name, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake, in theLakota language, roughly translates to "Buffalo Bull Who Sits Down", but Americans commonly refer to him as "Sitting Bull".[16] 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 aneagle feather to wear in his hair, a warrior's horse, and a hardened buffalo hide shield to mark his son'spassage into manhood as a Lakota warrior.[16]
During theDakota War of 1862, in which Sitting Bull's people were not involved,[12] several bands of easternDakota people killed an estimated 300 to 800 settlers and soldiers in south-centralMinnesota in response to poor treatment by the government and in an effort to drive the whites away. Despite being embroiled in theAmerican Civil War, theUnited States Army retaliated in 1863 and 1864, even against bands that had not been involved in the hostilities.[17] In 1864, two brigades of about 2200 soldiers under Brigadier GeneralAlfred Sullyattacked a village. The defenders were led by Sitting Bull,Gall andInkpaduta.[17] The Lakota and Dakota were driven out, but skirmishing continued into August at theBattle of the Badlands.[18][19]
In September, Sitting Bull and about one hundredHunkpapa Lakota encountered a small party near what is nowMarmarth, North Dakota. They had been left behind by awagon train commanded by CaptainJames 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.[17] The bullet exited through the small of his back, and the wound was not serious.[20]
By early 1868, theU.S. government desired a peaceful settlement to the conflict. It agreed to Red Cloud's demands that the U.S. abandon FortsPhil Kearny andC.F. Smith. Gall of the Hunkpapa and other representatives of the Hunkpapa,Blackfeet andYankton Dakota, signed a form of theTreaty of Fort Laramie on July 2, 1868, atFort Rice (nearBismarck, North Dakota).[22] Sitting Bull did not agree to the treaty. He told theJesuit missionary Pierre Jean De Smet, who sought him on behalf of the government: "I wish all to know that I do not propose to sell any part of my country."[23] He continued his hit-and-run attacks on forts in the upper Missouri area throughout the late 1860s and early 1870s.[24]
The events between 1866 and 1868 mark a historically debated period of Sitting Bull's life. According to historianStanley Vestal, who conducted interviews with surviving Hunkpapa in 1930, Sitting Bull was made "Supreme Chief of the whole Sioux Nation" at this time, but historians andethnologists later refuted this, since Lakota society was highly decentralized. Lakota bands and their elders made individual decisions, including whether or not to wage war.[25]
An 1881cabinet card of Sitting BullAn illustration of Sitting Bull, published in the December 8, 1877, issue ofHarper's Weekly
Sitting Bull's band of Hunkpapa continued to attack migrating parties and forts in the late 1860s. In 1871, theNorthern Pacific Railway conducted asurvey for a route across the northern plains directly through Hunkpapa lands, it encountered stiff Lakota resistance.[26] 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.[27] In 1873, the military accompaniment for the surveyors was increased again, but Sitting Bull's forces resisted the survey "most vigorously."[28] ThePanic of 1873 forced the Northern Pacific Railway's backers, such asJay Cooke, into bankruptcy, which halted construction of the railroad through Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota territory.[29]
After the 1848 discovery of gold in theSierra Nevada and dramatic gains in new wealth from it, other men became interested in the potential forgold mining in theBlack Hills.
In 1874, Lt. Col.George Armstrong Custer led a military expedition fromFort Abraham Lincoln nearBismarck to explore the Black Hills for gold and to determine a suitable location for a military fort in the Hills.[30] Custer's announcement of gold in the Black Hills triggered theBlack Hills Gold Rush. Tensions increased between the Lakota andEuropean Americans seeking to move into the Black Hills.[31]
Although Sitting Bull did not attack Custer's expedition in 1874, theU.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.[32] It was alarmed at reports of Sioux depredations, some of which were encouraged by Sitting Bull.
In November 1875, PresidentUlysses S. Grant ordered all Sioux bands outside theGreat Sioux Reservation to move onto the reservation, knowing that not all would likely comply. As of February 1, 1876, theInterior Department certified as hostile those bands who continued to live off the reservation.[33] This certification allowed the military to pursue Sitting Bull and other Lakota bands as "hostiles".[33][34]
Based on tribal oral histories, historian Margot Liberty theorizes that many Lakota bands allied with theCheyenne 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.[35]
Other historians, such asRobert 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.[36][37][38]
During the period 1868–1876, Sitting Bull developed into one of the most important Native American political leaders. After theTreaty of Fort Laramie (1868) and the creation of the Great Sioux Reservation, many traditional Sioux warriors, such as Red Cloud of the Oglala andSpotted Tail of theBrulé, 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.[citation needed]
In 1875, the Northern Cheyenne, Hunkpapa, Oglala, Sans Arc, and Minneconjou camped together for aSun Dance, with both the Cheyennemedicine man White Bull or Ice and Sitting Bull in association. This ceremonial alliance preceded their fighting together in 1876.[35] 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 thePlains. 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 forWooden Leg's Northern Cheyenne tribe. They had been impoverished by Captain Reynolds' March 17, 1876, attack and fled to Sitting Bull's camp for safety.[35]
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.[12]
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, counterattacked and ultimately defeated Custer while surrounding and laying siege to theother two battalions led by Reno and Benteen.[39]
The Native Americans' victory celebrations were short-lived. Public shock and outrage at Custer's defeat and death, and the government's understanding of the military capability of the remaining Sioux, led theDepartment of War 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 theNorth-West Territories, Canada. He remained in exile for four years nearWood Mountain, refusing a pardon and the chance to return.[40] When crossing the border into Canadian territory, Sitting Bull was met by theMounties 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.[41]
While in Canada, Sitting Bull also met withCrowfoot, who was a leader of theBlackfeet, 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.[42]
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.[43] Before Sitting Bull left Canada, he may have visited Walsh for a final time and left a ceremonial headdress as a memento.[44]
Surrender
Fort Buford's commanding officer's quarters in present-dayWilliams County, North Dakota, where Sitting Bull's surrender ceremony was heldSitting Bull and family 1881 at Fort Randall. Rear L–R: Good Feather Woman (sister), Walks Looking (daughter); Front L–R: Her Holy Door (mother), Sitting Bull, Many Horses (daughter) with her son, Courting a WomanSitting Bull in 1885
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 sonCrow Foot surrender hisWinchester Rifle to major David H. Brotherton, commanding officer ofFort 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".[12] 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 toFort Yates, the military post located adjacent to theStanding Rock Agency. Thisreservation straddles the present-day boundary between North and South Dakota.[45]
Sitting Bull and his band of 186 people were kept separate from the otherHunkpapa gathered at the agency.U.S. Army officials were concerned that he would stir up trouble among the recently surrendered northern bands. On August 26, 1881, he was visited byU.S. census taker William T. Selwyn, who counted 12 people in the Hunkpapa leader's immediate family and 41 families, totaling 195 people, were recorded in Sitting Bull's band.[46]
The military decided to transfer Sitting Bull and his band toFort Randall to be held as prisoners of war. Loaded onto asteamboat, the band of 172 people was sent down theMissouri River to Fort Randall near present-dayPickstown, South Dakota on the southern border of the state, where they spent the next 20 months. They were allowed to return north to the Standing Rock Agency in May 1883.[12]
In 1883,The New York Times reported that Sitting Bull had been baptized into theCatholic Church.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."[47][48][49]
In 1884, show promoterAlvaren 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 metAnnie Oakley in present-dayMinnesota.[50] Sitting Bull was so impressed with Oakley's skills with firearms that he offered $65 (equal to $2,275 today) for a photographer to take a photo of the two together.[51]
The admiration and respect were mutual. Oakley stated that Sitting Bull made a "great pet" of her.[51] In observing Oakley, Sitting Bull's respect for the youngsharpshooter 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.[52]
In 1885, Sitting Bull was allowed to leave the reservation to goWild Westing withBuffalo Bill Cody'sBuffalo Bill's Wild West. He earned about $50 a week (equal to $1,750 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.[53] Historians have reported that Sitting Bull gave speeches about his desire for education for the young, and reconciling relations between the Sioux and whites.[54]
The historianEdward Lazarus wrote that Sitting Bull reportedly cursed his audience in Lakota in 1884, during an opening address celebrating the completion of theNorthern Pacific Railway.[55] According toMichael Hiltzik, "...Sitting Bull declared inLakota, '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 PresidentGrant, was left none the wiser.[56]
Sitting Bull stayed with the show for four months before returning home. During that time, audiences considered him a celebrity and romanticized him as awarrior. He earned a small fortune by charging for his autograph and picture, although he often gave his money away to the homeless and beggars.[57]
Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency after working inBuffalo 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.[58] In 1889, Indian Rights ActivistCaroline Weldon fromBrooklyn, New York City, 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.[59]
During a time of harsh winters and long droughts impacting the Sioux Reservation, a Paiute Indian namedWovoka spread a religious movement from present-dayNevada east to the Plains that preached a resurrection of the Native. It was known as theGhost 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.[60]
Death
Capture and death of Sitting Bull, an 1890lithographIn thisWestern Union telegram sent on December 20, 1890, after killing Sitting Bull, authorities describe a "wild scene" and "squaws death chant heard in every direction."Sitting Bull's grave atFort Yates,c. 1906Monument at Sitting Bull's grave inMobridge, South Dakota in May 2003
On December 14, 1890, McLaughlin drafted a letter to Lieutenant Henry Bullhead, an Indian agency policeman named as Bull Head in the letter's beginning, which 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.[59][62][63][64][65]
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. Bull Head told Sitting Bull that he was under arrest and led him outside.[66] Sitting Bull and his wife noisily stalled for time as the camp awakened and men converged at the house. As Bull Head ordered Sitting Bull to mount a horse, he said that the Indian Affairs agent wanted to see the chief, and that Sitting Bull could then 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 Bull Head, who, in response, fired his revolver into the chest of Sitting Bull.[67] 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.[67]
A close quarters fight erupted, and within minutes, several men were dead. The Lakota killed six policemen immediately, and two more died shortly after the fight, including Bull Head. The police killed Sitting Bull and seven of his supporters at the site, along with two horses.[68]
Burial
Sitting Bull's body was taken to present-dayFort Yates, North Dakota, where it was placed in a coffin made by theU.S. Army carpenter there,[69] and he was buried on the grounds of Fort Yates. A monument was installed to mark his burial site after his remains were reportedly taken toSouth Dakota.
In 1953, Lakota family members exhumed what they believed to be Sitting Bull's remains, transporting them for reinterment nearMobridge, South Dakota, his birthplace.[70][71] 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 1893World's Columbian Exposition. Indigenous dancers also performed at the exposition.[72] On September 14, 1989, theU.S. Postal Service released aGreat Americans series 28¢ postage stamp featuring a likeness of the leader.[73]
On March 6, 1996, Standing Rock College was renamedSitting Bull College in his honor. The college serves as an institution of higher education on Sitting Bull's home of Standing Rock in North Dakota and South Dakota.[74]
In August 2010, a research team led byEske Willerslev, anancient DNA expert at theUniversity of Copenhagen, announced its intention to sequence the genome of Sitting Bull, with the approval of his descendants, using a hair sample obtained during his lifetime.[75]
In October 2021, Willerslev confirmed Lakota writer and activistErnie Lapointe's contention that he was Sitting Bull's great-grandson and his three sisters were Sitting Bull's biological great-grandchildren.[76]
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)[77]
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:
^Lubetkin, M (2006).Jay Cooke's gamble : the Northern Pacific Railroad, the Sioux, and the Panic of 1873. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.ISBN978-0-8061-4468-9.OCLC171287606.
^Utley, Robert M. (1993).Sitting Bull: The Life and Times of an American Patriot. New York City: Henry Holt&Co. pp. 88, 122.ISBN0-8050-8830-X.
^Greene, Jerome (1993).Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–77: The Military View. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. xvi, xvii.ISBN0-8061-2535-7.
^Greene, Jerome (1994).Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. p. xv.ISBN0-8061-3245-0.
^Hiltzik, Michael (2020).Iron Empires: robber barons, railroads and the making of modern America. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. p. 261.ISBN9780544770317.
^Barry, Dan (January 28, 2007)."Restoring Dignity to Sitting Bull, Wherever He Is".New York Times.Archived from the original on June 12, 2013. RetrievedMay 29, 2008.Then, in 1953, some Chamber of Commerce types from the small South Dakota city of Mobridge executed a startling plan. With the blessing of a few of Sitting Bull's descendants, they crossed into North Dakota after midnight and exhumed what they believed were Sitting Bull's remains.
^Walker, Lawrence (September 5, 2015)."Cheyenne (1955 TV series)".PureHistory.Archived from the original on December 25, 2021. RetrievedDecember 13, 2018.
Ullrich, JanNew Lakota Dictionary. Lakota Language Consortium, 2008.
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,Ramsey County Historical Society, St Paul, MN, 2003.
Adams, Alexander B.Sitting Bull: An Epic of the Plains. New York:G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1973.
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.
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