We are the guardians of Sitting Bull's camp,
you are welcome here,
we are glad that you have come!
Welcome to Sitting Bull's fire!
Come and sit let us tell the stories
of our ancestors, let us remember them
and the sacrifices
that they made for our people.
The earth has received the embrace of the sun
and we shall see the results of that love.
Chief Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull, the great Hunkpapa Sioux Indian leader, was born on Grand River, South Dakota around 1834. He was the son of a sub-chief. As a youngster the boy – who’s native name was Tatanka-yatanka – soon showed his prowess as a hunter. His entrance into the world of the warrior came at age 14, when he was apart of a raid against the Crow, lifelong enemies of the Sioux. He distinguished himself from the start, darting ahead of the older warriors and counting first coup on the enemy. As he grew into a man Sitting Bull realised that he had a special connection with the spirit world. After experiencing several mystic visions he came to an understanding that he would one day lead his people in a great victory.
By age 25 Sitting Bull had been made a leader of the Strong Hearts, an elite military society. By the time he had reached his early thirties he had risen to become chief of the Hunkpapa. It was a time when the encroachment of the white man was threatening to destroy the very fabric of Sioux society. Sitting Bull was determined to save his people. He led a series of raids along the Bozeman trail and, in 1866, made a direct attack on Fort Buford. He refused to sign the 1868 Treaty of Laramie although many other chiefs, including Red Cloud of the Oglalas, did and were confined to reservations. Sitting Bull’s people, however, were still free to roam the ancestral hunting grounds. From 1869 through until 1876 he was on the warpath almost continuously.
The Black Hills Expedition of 1874 began a collision course between Sitting Bull and an extravagant U.S. Army General who rashly declared that he could decimate the entire Sioux nation with just his command. His name was George Armstrong Custer. Custer’s expedition discovered gold. Within a year thousands of prospectors were swarming into the sacred Black Hills. The Government responded by sending out an offer to purchase the Black Hills for $6 million. The offer was refused outright. So, the Government countered by simply ordering the Sioux out of the Black Hills and onto the reservations. Sitting Bull and most of the other Sioux leaders simply ignored the directive.
In March 1876 General George Crook set into the field with 10 Companies and two of infantry to round up the troublesome Indians. Sitting Bull countered by calling together the greatest amalgamation of Indian forces ever seen on the plains. He told the gathered tribes that they must stand together or die separately. By June they had gathered together on the banks of the Greasy Grass – Little Big Horn – in a massive village. They prepared to meet the enemy.
For Sitting Bull preparation meant the Sun Dance. This gruelling ritual involved receiving fifty gashes to each arm and then staring at the sun all day while performing a hypnotic dance. When the Sun went down the dance would continue all night until the participant fainted. In such a state Sitting Bull had a vision of soldiers falling into camp. It was a good omen. General Custer and his entire command were annihilated by The combined Indian force on June 25, 1876. Sitting Bull, the mastermind behind the Indian amalgamation, did not directly participate in the battle.
Now the Army was more determined than ever to hunt down the Sioux. As the great conglomeration broke up, Sitting Bull headed north with his people towards Canada. He was chased by General Nelson A. Miles, but just managed to make it across the border. They stayed in Canada until 1881. Here they lived in peace, reaching an understanding of co-existence with the Canadians. But rations began to deplete and, in desperation, in 1881 he led his small band of malnourished Hunkpapa across the border and back to Fort Buford where he surrendered.
For two years sitting Bull was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Randall. In 1883, he was moved to the Standing Rock Agency on the Missouri River. By now the white people had become fascinated with the ‘slayer of Custer.’ A tour of 15 American cities was organised in which the once great chief would scribble his name on photographs for the curious onlookers. In 1885 he went on the road with Buffalo Bill Cody.
In 1890 the Ghost Dance religion began to spread across the reservations. The authorities feared that it would lead to rebellion and moved to quash it. It was incorrectly reported that Sitting Bull was the ‘high priest’ of the movement, though he was not involved. It was decided to have him arrested. On December 14, 1890 a party of about 40 Sioux Reservation Police Officers surrounded the chief’s cabin. They stormed the house and dragged Sitting Bull from his bed. Sitting Bull stood his ground, refusing to go with them. Sergeant Red Tomahawk drew his revolver and fired point blank at Sitting Bull’s head. The great Sioux chief fell to the floor. He was dead, aged just 56.
Sitting Bull's camp at Ft. Randall, Dakota Territory, ca 1890.
This is going to be a dedication to the memory of Sitting Bull
In 1831, life on the Great Plains was good for the Lakota. The land provided everything. There were bison which provided meat to eat, skins for shelter and clothing, and bones for utensils. Even the sinew served the buffalo hunter as bow strings. There were respected enemies against whom to prove one's valor: Absaroke, Flatheads, Assiniboine, Omaha, Chippewa, and Pawnee. In this year of 1831, in a Hunkpapa Village near what is today called the Grand River, a son was born to Chief Jumping Bull. In time, the world would come to know this one. If life was good for the Lakota people, it was especially good for the youth. While still a small child, the little one learned to use a small boy's bow. With this, he hunted birds, rabbits, and other such small animals. There were also ponies to ride, and creeks in which to swim. No boy could have asked for more. As the boy grew into a young man, he desired to prove himself to his people. At the tender age of ten, he demonstrated both skill and courage when he killed his first buffalo. At the age of just fourteen, this boy (nicknamed "Hunkesh-nee" or "Slow" because of his deliberate way of doing things) joined a raid against the Hunkpapa Lakota's traditional enemy, the Absaroke. Known later to wasichu as Crows, the Absaroke were formidable enemies and themselves mighty warriors. (Jumping Bull, Tatanka Yotanka's father, would die while killing his own Crow slayer) The boy counted coup by touching a Crow warrior, and thus at the age of fourteen, the boy became a man and a warrior....
You all know how much I love Sitting Bull,
this I think is one of the best pictures of him that I have ever found!
Look into his eyes, look at his face.
Look not only with your eyes, look with your heart....
I sense so much pain, so much sadness....
What do you feel? what do you sense?....
(I know that I already of this picture on my page
;but this image seems so much more clear....)
..
Sitting Bull: Life Story
Sitting Bull Story
The Plains tribes didn't keep track of time in the same way that we keep track of time.
The months weren't called "January, February, March, etc." Months were marked by the phases of the moon and were described by things that happened in nature during that time. For example, one month was known as "The Moon of the Popping Trees" because that was the coldest month of winter. "The Moon of the Sore Eyes" was the month when the bright sun on the snow could cause snow blindness. In this same manner, the tribes or clans kept track the years by "Winter Counts." The tribal historian painted pictures on a buffalo hide, and these pictures described the an important or memorable event which took place every winter, so that time could be marked.
The people the white men called The Sioux were made up of several bands. When the bands got together, each band made their camp in a certain place within the larger tribe. One band camped by the entrance, and that is how their name described them. Hunkpapa means "those who camp by the entrance."
One Hunkpapa leader, Sitting Bull, wasn't always called Sitting Bull. But this is his story.
It was the winter when Yellow-Eyes Played in the Snow (March 1831), at Many-Caches on the south bank of the Ree River (now called the Grand River) a few miles below present-day Bullhead, South Dakota. It was that winter, in the Moon of the Sore Eyes, that the Hunkpapa baby was born.
He was called Hunkesni "Slow" until he was fourteen winters old. When he was fourteen winters, he counted his first coup, which meant that he struck his enemy with a coup stick, rather than killing the enemy. This was considered a great show of courage.
The father of this boy was proud of his son's great courage. He gave the boy his own name, the name Tatanka Iyotake, which means Sitting Bull.
How did the father get this name which he so generously gave to his son? This man, who was then known as "Returns Again" was sitting at a fire with other hunters, roasting the ribs from a buffalo which they had just killed. The meat smelled so good, and the fire felt so warm and comforting. The men were recalling details of their hunt, when they heard a sound. "What is that?" one hunter asked. "Who is speaking?" another asked. The men looked past the fire and saw a great buffalo bull approaching, his huge shaggy beard sweeping the ground as he spoke.
Returns Again had an affinity with his animal brothers, and he was in the right frame of mind and spirit to understand what the buffalo bull was saying.
Tatanka Iyotake, Tatanka Psica, Tatanka Winyuha Najin, Tatanka Wanjila
Sitting Bull, Jumping Bull, Bull-Standing-With-Cow, Lone Bull
The four names stood for the four stages of man-- Infancy, Youth, Maturity, and Old Age. The buffalo bull had given these names to the warrior Returns Again. Since this was a sacred and wonderful experience, Returns Again put aside his old name and took the name of Sitting Bull. And now, in his generosity, he gave this name to his only son and took the next name in the sequence, the name Jumping Bull.
The young Sitting Bull continued to make his father proud. He had killed his first buffalo when he was ten years old, and his hunting abilities finally earned him a place in the Strong Hearts, a group which did the tribal hunting. Soon he became a member of the Midnight Strong Hearts, the cream of the Strong Hearts. When he was leader of the Midnight Strong Hearts, he was in charge of the rations for his camp, 3600 tons of meat, which meant that his men had to kill about 30,000 buffalo each year. Part of his job was to defend hunting grounds wide enough to maintain his people, and so he was not only a great hunter, but a great warrior as well.
As pioneers began settling the west, things began to change for Sitting Bull's people. Buffalo became harder to find. The railroad separated the herds and changed the hunting patterns of the Plains tribes.
By 1875, the central buffalo herds were almost gone, and the Indians on unceded land were ordered to come in to the agencies.
On June 14, 1876, Sitting Bull gave 100 pieces of flesh from his arms in a Sun Dance offering. He had a vision of soldiers falling into the Indian camp and heard a voice say, "I give you these because they have no ears."
Sitting Bull's people beat "Three Stars" Crook at the Battle of Rosebud, but this was not the vision which Sitting Bull had seen. The people returned to Greasy Grass to find buffalo. Other tribes joined them, so that there were 2000 lodges in the camp, and approximately 2500 warriors among them.
June 25, 1876 was Custer's last stand. Sitting Bull and the other warriors defeated Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Sitting Bull continued to hunt, because his people were hungry and it was a big job to feed them. His people followed the northern herds of buffalo to Canada and lived there, until July of 1881, when Sitting Bull came back from Canada and laid down his gun at Fort Buford, accepting reservation status. At this time, only 200 buffalo were found in all of the West.
When he surrendered at Fort Buford, Sitting Bull was arrested for killing Custer and was held at Fort Randall as a Prisoner of War, but after two years, in 1883, he was allowed to return to ancestral home in Grand River (Standing Rock Agency). That same year, he led the last Teton Sioux Buffalo Hunt.
In 1885, Sitting Bull joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and was exhibited as Custer's killer. He earned $ 50 per week, plus what he earned selling autographed pictures. Most of the money he earned was spent feeding orphan boys.
He once made this comment to Annie Oakley regarding the way orphans were treated. "The white man knows how to make everything, but he does not know how to distribute it."
1889-1890 were years of terrible drought. Several of Sitting Bull's people starved to death. In 1889, during an eclipse of the sun, Wovoka (Pauite) received a vision of a dance which would bring back the buffalo. In his vision, long dead Indians came back to life and the white man disappeared. The dance became known as the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance came to Standing Rock in October 1890. The Pine Ridge Indian Agent, Royer, became very nervous about the dance and called for troops. October 19, 1890, army troops came into Pine Ridge and the Oglala fled to the Badlands.
In December, Short Bull requested Sitting Bull's presence at Pine Ridge. Sitting Bull requested a pass to leave Standing Rock Reservation. His request was denied. The Ghost Dance was a pretext to arrest Sitting Bull, but the motives were more personal and intertribal.
On December 15, 1890, Sitting Bull's arrest was ordered. He was pulled from his bed, and hurriedly dressed by his captors. His gray horse, which he had received from Buffalo Bill, was saddled. Sitting Bull's people gathered around him. They did not like the way he was being treated by the Indian police. During their protest, Sitting Bull was killed. Legend says that when his gray horse heard the shots, he went into his Wild West Show routine, sitting on his haunches and pawing the air over Sitting Bull's body. Many thought that the spirit of Sitting Bull entered his favorite gray horse.
Sitting Bull
1831-1890
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull was a medicine man, or holy man, of the Hunkpapa Lakota (Sioux), who were being driven from their land in the Black Hills. He took up arms against the white man, refusing to be transported to the Indian Territory. Under his leadership as a war chief, the Lakota tribes united in their struggle for survival on the northern plains.
Birth, childhood, and early career
Sitting Bull was born on the Grand River in present-day South Dakota in 1831. His father bore the name Sitting Bull, and his mother was named Her-Holy-Door. When he was born, his parents named him Jumping Badger.
As a little boy, Jumping Badger, there was nothing remarkable to set him apart from other children of his tribe. His nickname was Hunkesi, meaning, "Slow," because he never hurried and did everything with care.
At an early age, however, the boy distinguished himself as a leader. On his first hunt at the age of 10, Jumping Badger killed his first buffalo. He gave the meat away to elders who were unable to hunt for themselves.
Following the hunt, Jumping Badger set out on his first vision quest. When the lad was just 14, his father gave him a coup stick, a slender wand with which he could gain prestige by touching or striking an enemy in battle. He joined his first war party against the Crow, anxious for a chance to prove himself at that tender age.
Jumping Badger struck his first Crow warrior with his coup stick, thus earning a coveted measure of bravery in combat. His father was so filled with pride at his son's early victory, that he gave the name Sitting Bull (Tatanka-Iyotanka) to his son as part of the ceremonies celebrating his elevation to warrior status. His new name suggested a stubborn buffalo bull planted unmovable on his haunches. The Indians thought of the buffalo as a headstrong, stubborn creature that was afraid of nothing, a creature that had great endurance, courage and strength. Those were fighting virtues that people saw in Sitting Bull.
Promising maturity
As a young man, Sitting Bull successfully increased Sioux hunting grounds. By the age of 25, he was the leader of the Strong Heart Warrior Society and later, a distinguished member of the Silent Eaters, a group concerned with tribal welfare.
Soon, Sitting Bull became known for his fearlessness in battle. He also was generous and wise, virtues admired by his tribe. As young Sitting Bull matured into adulthood, he accumulated an exceptional war record in fighting with Assiniboins, Crows, Flatheads, Blackfeet, and other enemy tribes. That led, in 1857, to his designation as a tribal war chief.
At the same time, Sitting Bull mastered the sacred Lakota mysteries. He became as shaman and medicine man, and rose to eminence as a holy man.
Wives and children
Sitting Bull had at least three wives, and possibly as many as five over the years. His first two wives died. His last two wives, "Four Robes" and "Seen-by-the-Nation," gave him many children.
In his later years, Sitting Bull's most favored children were a son named Crow Foot and a daughter named Standing Holy. Although a Crow warrior had killed Sitting Bull's father in 1859, his mother was a powerful presence in his teepee until her death in 1884.
Later career
From 1863 to 1868, the U.S. Army continually invaded Lakota territory, especially their hunting grounds, which created problems for the native economy. The Lakota fought the army's encroachment.
Sitting Bull experienced his first encounter with American soldiers in June 1863, when the army mounted a broad campaign in retaliation for the Santee Rebellion in Minnesota, in which Sitting Bull's people had played no part. The next year, Sitting Bull fought U.S. troops again, at the Battle of Killdeer Mountain. In 1865, he led a siege against the newly established Fort Rice in present-day North Dakota. Widely respected for his bravery and insight, he became the first principal chief of the entire Lakota Sioux nation in 1868.
Although other tribal chiefs attended the peace conference of 1868, to sign the Fort Laramie treaty — declaring peace and the end to their free, nomadic sovereignty — Sitting Bull refused to attend. The stage was set for war between Sitting Bull and the U.S. Army in 1874, when an expedition led by General George A Custer confirmed that gold had been discovered in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory. That was an area sacred to many tribes and placed off-limits to white settlement by the Fort Laramie Treaty. Despite the ban, prospectors began a rush to the Black Hills. By 1875, more than a thousand prospectors were camping there.
When government efforts to purchase the Black Hills failed, the Fort Laramie Treaty was set aside and the commissioner of Indian affairs decreed that all Lakota not settled on reservations by January 31, 1876, would be considered hostile — provoking the Lakota to defend their land. Sitting Bull and his people held their ground. In March, as three columns of federal troops under General George Crook, General Alfred Howe Terry, and Colonel John Gibbon, moved into the area, Sitting Bull and the Lakota realized they could not defeat the army alone, that they must stand with other tribes. Sitting Bull summoned other Lakota bands, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, to his camp on Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory.
Battle of the Rosebud
Sitting Bull performed an important religious ritual, called the Sun Dance, a type of self-sacrifice that could include a loss of consciousness. He offered prayers to Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, then slashed his arms 100 times as a sign of sacrifice, while in a trance. When Sitting Bull emerged from his trance, he told of his vision of soldiers falling from the sky.
Inspired by Sitting Bull's vision, the Oglala Lakota war chief, Chief Crazy Horse, set out for battle with a band of 500 warriors, and on June 17, 1876, he surprised Crook's troops and forced them to retreat at the Battle of the Rosebud. Following the battle, they set up camp at Little Bighorn, where they were joined by 3,000 more Indians who had left the reservations to follow Sitting Bull.
Battle of the Little Big Horn
Although Sitting Bull was the principal chief among the Lakota Sioux, he did not personally participate in the Battle of the Little Big Horn. On June 25, Lt. Colonel George A. Custer and the soldiers under his command first rushed the encampment along the Little Big Horn River, as if in fulfillment of Sitting Bull's vision. They then made a stand on a nearby ridge, where by the end of the day, Custer and his column of more than 200 soldiers were dead. That military defeat brought thousands more cavalrymen to the area, and over the next year, they ruthlessly persecuted the Lakota — who had split up following the Custer fight — forcing chief after chief to surrender.
As the battles continued, many of Sitting Bull's followers surrendered. However, the old chief defiantly would not capitulate. In May 1877, he led his band across the border into Canada, beyond the reach of the U.S. Army. When General Terry traveled north to offer him a pardon in exchange for settling on a reservation, Sitting Bull angrily sent him away.
Four years later, however, finding it impossible to feed his people in a world where the buffalo was almost extinct, Sitting Bull finally came south to surrender. On July 19, 1881, he had his young son, Crow Foot, hand over his rifle to the commanding officer of Fort Buford in Montana, explaining that in this way he hoped to teach the boy that he had become a friend of the whites.
Latter days
For his people, Sitting Bull asked for the right to cross back and forth into Canada whenever he wished, and for a reservation of his own on the Little Missouri River near the Black Hills. Instead, he was sent to Standing Rock Reservation.
When his presence there raised fears that he might inspire a fresh uprising, Sitting Bull was sent farther down the Missouri River to Fort Randall. He was held as a prisoner of war there for two years, before he was sent to join other Lakota at the Standing Rock Agency in North Dakota. The Indian agent in charge of the reservation was determined to deny the great chief any respect, even forcing him to do manual labor in the fields. Sitting Bull still knew his own authority, and when a delegation of U.S. Senators came to discuss opening part of the reservation to white settlers, he spoke forcefully, though futilely, against their plan.
In 1885, Sitting Bull was allowed to leave the reservation to join Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. He toured the United States, Canada, and Europe, earning $50 a week for riding once around the arena, in addition to whatever he could charge for his autograph and picture. He stayed with the show only four months, unable to tolerate white society any longer.
During his adventures in the white man's world, he witnessed numerous things. White society and their version of civilization did not impress Tatanka Iyotaka. He was shocked and saddened to see the number of homeless people living on the streets of American cities. He gave money to hungry white people many times when he was in the large cities. In that time, he shook hands with President Grover Cleveland, which he took as evidence that he was still regarded as a great chief.
Back to Standing Rock
Returning to Standing Rock, Sitting Bull lived in a cabin on the Grand River, near where he had been born. He refused to give up his old ways as the reservation's rules required, still living with two wives and rejecting Christianity. He remained defiant toward American military power and contemptuous of American promises to the end. He sent his children to a nearby Christian school in the belief that the next generation of Lakota would need to be able to read and write.
Soon after his return, Sitting Bull experienced another mystical vision. This time he saw a meadowlark alight on a hillock beside him, and heard it say, "Your own people, Lakotas, will kill you."
Sitting Bull remained an influential force among his people. He counseled the tribal chiefs, who greatly valued his wisdom, and tried to influence his tribe to refuse to relinquish Indian lands. He counseled his people to be wary of what they accepted from white culture. He saw some things that might benefit his people, but cautioned them to accept only those things that were useful, and leave everything else alone.
Sitting Bull's last years found him in the familiar stance of opposing government aims. He battled the land agreements of 1888 and 1889, which threw half the Great Sioux (Lakota) Reservation open to white settlement and divided the rest into six separate reservations. Shortly after his return, the federal government again wanted to break up the tribal lands. They persuaded several "government-appointed chiefs" to sign an agreement, whereby the reservation was to be divided up and subsequently distributed among the tribal members. Missing from the list of recipients was Sitting Bull's name.
The death of a great warrior
In the fall of 1890, a Miniconjou Lakota named Kicking Bear came to Sitting Bull with news of the Ghost Dance, a ceremony that promised to rid the land of white people and restore the Indians' way of life. Sitting Bull was leery of the Ghost Dance, but let his people believe what they wanted. Although he himself was not a follower, his people's involvement was perceived as a threat by the American government that the movement was becoming more militaristic and might erupt into rebellion. The federal agencies sent extra troops to the reservations.
At Standing Rock, the authorities feared that Sitting Bull, still revered as a spiritual leader, would join the Ghost dancers. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agent in charge of the Lakotas sent the tribal police to arrest Sitting Bull, to force him to stop the dance. They dispatched 43 Lakota policemen to bring him in. Before dawn on December 15, 1890, the policemen burst into Sitting Bull's cabin and dragged him outside. When the chief resisted, one of the Lakota policemen put a bullet through his head. Crow Foot also was slain.
Sitting Bull was buried at Fort Yates in North Dakota, and in 1953, his remains were moved to Mobridge, South Dakota.
Sitting Bull's legacy
Today Sitting Bull is remembered as one of the greatest of all Indian leaders, a man of power and renown among his own people, an uncompromising foe of white encroachments on his land and his way of life. His rocklike dedication to the principles that ordered his life ensured failure in the great purpose he set for himself, but also awarded him stature as one of American history's greatest patriots. He is remembered among the Lakota not only as an inspirational leader and fearless warrior but as a loving father, a gifted singer, a man always affable and friendly toward others, whose deep religious faith gave him prophetic insight and lent special power to his prayers
Sitting Bull - Teton Sioux
When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set in their land; they sent ten thousand men into battle.Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them?What white man can say I ever stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet they say I am a thief.What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian.What white man has ever seen me drunk ?Who has ever come to me hungry and left me unfed ? Who has ever seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?Is it wrong of me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am a Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country?
Sitting Bull - Teton Sioux
..
Facts of the life and death of Sitting Bull
AKA Jumping Badger
Born: c. 1831
Birthplace: Grand River, SD
Died: 15-Dec-1890
Location of death: Fort Yates, ND
Cause of death: Assassination
Remains: Buried, Mobridge, SD
Gender: Male
Religion: Other
Race or Ethnicity: American Aborigine
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Military
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Warrior Chief of the Sioux
Named Jumping Badger at birth, he fought with his Sioux people against the Crow beginning when he was just 14, and for bravery he was given his father's name, Tatanka Iyotake, or Sitting Bull. Later the Chief of the Hunkpapa Lakota, he was nicknamed Hunkesi (slow) for his patient, deliberative decision-making process. He was revered as fearless in battle, generous and wise in leadership.
In the early years of the US Civil War, Sitting Bull tried to keep his people from becoming embroiled in the invaders' dispute, even as the US Army build new forts along the Missouri River and white settlers came by the hundreds. His perspective on co-existence changed after the Sioux were attacked by soldiers under the command of General Alfred Sully. Sitting Bull's men repulsed the attack, then counterattacked at the Battle of the Badlands. As other tribes joined the battle, Sitting Bull led a rout of US forces at the 1867 Battle of Powder River, and he was subsequently elected Chief of all Sioux, with Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux as his second-in-command.
In the Fort Laramie peace treaty of 1868, the Sioux were resettled on a South Dakota reservation. But two years later, gold was discovered in the nearby Black Hills -- land held sacred by the Sioux, and protected by terms of the treaty. As gold fever spread, though, huge numbers of white prospectors came and camped in the hills, and the Sioux were ordered by US authorities to yield access and retreat to a smaller portion of the reservation. Sitting Bull instead resumed warfare. In his most famous fight, the Battle of Little Bighorn, Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his men were decisively routed. Pursued north by General Alfred Terry, Sitting Bull led his men to Canada (then British territory), where they were ravished by famine and cold. Promised a pardon, he surrendered in 1881, stating, "I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle."
He was sent to Standing Rock Reservation, where he was greeted as a hero. But the Bureau of Indian Affairs, fearing another uprising, had him arrested and imprisoned at Fort Randall for nearly two years. When he was allowed to return to the reservation, the Bureau ordered that he be granted no status, and instead he was forced to work the fields. Contemptuous of reservation life, he briefly joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, and toured the west as a stage attraction for several months.
He then settled into a cabin near the reservation, where he lived his last years in relative peace with his two surviving wives, near a growing number of white neighbors. Despite his well-earned warrior reputation, when not fighting for his people he got along easily with red men or white. A friend, the Christian missionary Catherine Weldon who lived among the Sioux, wrote: "As a friend, he was sincere and true, as a patriot devoted and uncorruptible. As a husband and father, affectionate and considerate. As a host, courteous and hospitable to the last degree. He was a typical Indian, and he held tenaciously to the traditions of this people as sacred legacy."
In 1888 he attended a natives' conference in Standing Rock, Dakota, where he urged his people to accept no further compromise and relinquish no more land. He participated in the "Ghost Dance", a ceremonial movement which some Sioux believed would rid the land of the white newcomers, and his involvement again raised fears of an uprising. Federal agents ordered Sitting Bull arrested, and in a pre-dawn raid on 15 December 1890, more than three dozen tribal policemen backed by military escort were dispatched to his cabin. In the ensuing chaos Sitting Bull was shot through his head by one of the policemen. News accounts reported that the Chief had resisted arrest; eyewitnesses said he had asked only to be allowed to dress.
Sitting Bull's original Grave Site
Father: Sitting Bull (d. 1859)
Mother: Her-Holy-Door (d. 1884)
Wife: (d. 1857, childbirth)
Wife: (divorced)
Wife: (d.)
Wife: Four Robes (m. 1857)
Wife: Seen-by-the-Nation (m. 1857)
Son: Crow Foot
Daughter: Standing Holy
Son: Catch the Bear
Taken Prisoner of War
Shot by Police Fort Yates, ND (15-Dec-1890)
Exhumed
Sioux Ancestry
Risk Factors: Gout
The Life, The Battles And The Death Of Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull's father was a mystic and warrior called Returns-Again, also known as Sitting Bull/Four Horns. Sitting Bull was born sometime near 1831 into the Hunkpapa Sioux tribe, along the Grand River in South Dakota at the place called Many Caches. He was devoutly religious, and was thought of as a prophet, as well as a warrior. The Hunkpapa Sioux were a part of the Teton division and they were known for their fighting. Sitting Bull spent his youth engaged in warfare against the Crow, Assinibon, and Shoshoni Indians. These three tribes were enemies of the Sioux and many of their numbers were used to hunt the Sioux later, as both scouts and informants. At age 14, Sitting Bull (then called "Slow" or "Jumping Badger") got his first coup on a Crow warrior. At this time he was renamed Sitting Bull, after his father. Sitting Bull was a member of the tribal warrior society, called the Strong Hearts. During an 1856 battle with the Crows, Sitting Bull was shot in the left foot. AStill in pain, he felled the Crow leader with a shot from his muzzleloader and limped up to his body and killed him with a knife. Sitting Bull had a limp, from this wound, for the rest of his life.Sitting Bull was against the white man taking Indian land and food. In 1863, he fought against Gen. H.H. Sibley's soldiers. Sibley's men had attacked their hunting party. Sitting Bull fought many more battles against the whites and was a war chief. He directed the Sioux at the Battle of Killdear Mountain on July 28, 1864. At this battle 100 or more Indians died as compared to Sully's five men killed and ten wounded. However, Gen. Alfred Sully's army was 2,000 strong and they held the braves at bay. Crazy Horse (1841-1877) was another War Chief of the Ogala Sioux, another band like the Sioux. He fought at Feitermann's massacred in 1866.Later on Sitting Bull was shot in the left hip, while he met 600 of Gen. Sully's men. He resisted Sully's talk of peace, and more confrontations occured. The Teton Tribes then united under Sitting Bull. They first harrassed Fort Buford, North Dakota. They stole their cattle, horses, and killed a few soldiers. These activities continued at various locations.Sitting Bull underwent a Sun Dance ceremony which entailed his arms each being sliced 50 times from wrist to shoulder. Blood dripped from both arms and he hung in the sun all day. During the second day he collapsed from blood loss, but received a vision about his victory over the whites in a coming battle. The Sun Dance was one of the Seven Sacred Rites foretold by the White Buffalo Calf Woman. The Sun Dance was condemned by missionaries and Indian agents. It was a punishable offense of the Courts of Indian Offenses in the 19th century.On June 16, 1876, General George Armstrong Custer came to the Black Hills area, with 1,300 men. This was only three days after Sitting Bull's blood-letting ceremony. Sitting Bull was too weak to fight. Crazy Horse had to go in his place as leader. On June 25, 1876, the army of Gen. George Armstrong Custer led his 7th Cavalry again. This time there were 3,000 braves against Custer's 250 troopers, all of Custer's men were dead in an hour's time. Sitting Bull moved his camp down the river away from the bloating corpses.Gall (1840-1894), the Sioux Chief of the Hunkpapa, became Sitting Bull's enemy after the defeat of Custer's command, even though he was thought to have fled with him to Canada after the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Crazy Horse led his warriors to defeat General Crook in the Battle of the Rosebud, after his village was attacked by the soldiers. General Crook's army was augmented by nearly 300 Crows and Shoshone warriors. This addition made Crook's army at more than 1,300 men. Only ten of Crook's men were killed and 23 wounded at the Battle of the Rosebud. The Native American Indian casualties were unknown. Crazy Horse's men withdrew from the battlesite after a few hours. However, the biggest rift between Sitting Bull and Gall most likely came about when Gall became a farmer and advocated the federal government's plan for Indian education. Gall died at Oak Creek, South Dakota, in 1874.After this battle more whites came wishing to avenge those deaths and they killed off the Sioux's main food supply of buffalo meat. In 1877, Crazy Horse was arrested for leaving Fort Robinson's reservation. He left with his wife to join her family. Since Crazy Horse resisted arrest, he was killed. In May 1877, Sitting Bull took 400 of his men and crossed the border into Canada after 2,000 of his warriors were forced to surrender to Col. Nelson A. Miles and his men. Sitting Bull was in Canada for four years. Canada did not want the Sioux and asked the U.S. troops to force them back. Sitting Bull refused to be sent back. However, on July 19, 1881, he finally surrendered at Fort Buford and was there in prison for two years. At this time, his men were only 150 strong.Sitting Bull then took part in William F. Cody's Wild West Shows for a brief time. He signed at the urging of Reverand Joseph A. Stephan, a former Indian agent at Standing Rock Reservation. Sitting Bull toured in 1885. His contract was signed with his signature. The signature used for his autographs earned him a bit of money. He got $1.50 per autograph. It was said he was shown how to make his signature by a member of the troupe. His contract showed that he was paid $50.00 a week for four months and was provided with a $125.00 signing bonus. They also gave him all he could eat of his favorite food - oyster stew. Sitting Bull retained exclusive rights to sell his autograph and photographs. The show toured all over the United States and Europe.This contract was to be displayed in the Custer Battlefield National Monument when it first opened in 1995. It was thought that Sitting Bull liked both Annie Oakley and William Cody (in spite of his hatred for most whites). Many report that he was mesmerized by Annie Oakley's performance at the Olympic Theatre. He nicknamed her "Little Sure Shot." Some say he thought of her as his daughter. He liked Cody because he treated him fairly. The troupe of nine American Indians, counting Sitting Bull, had two interpreters. Their group traveled together from September 2, 1884 until October 25th. They visited twenty-five (25) cities, from Minneapolis to New York. Sitting Bull met President Grover Cleveland in 1885.An Indian agent, named Major James McLaughlin, was not happy with the fact that Sitting Bull earned so much money and then spent it "foolishly." The Bureau of Indian Affairs agent tried to influence Bill Cody to pay him less, but Cody had made a deal and he refused to pay Sitting Bull less, since he needed the money to provide for his family. Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Reservation in 1889. After this Sitting Bull was incarcerated a second time because he would not abandon the native traditions such as the Ghost Dance.The Ghost Dance was begun by the Paiute people of Nevada, in the later 1800's. The Ghost Dance was a circle dance. The Lakota/Sioux and Arapaho went into a trance-like state and wore ghost shirts, which they believed made them bullet-proof. The dancers also thought the dance allowed then to visit their departed frinds and relatives and thus learn sacred knowledge.On December 15, 1890, Sioux policemen surrounded his cabin. A riot broke out, when Sitting Bull resisted arrest, and Sitting Bull was shot through the torso and head by Sioux policemen called Red Tomahawk and Bullhead. Other victims of this disruption were six policeman and seven of the chief's men. He is buried in the miltary cemetary at Fort Yates, North Dakota, and his coffin was filled with quick lime. Sitting Bull's son, "Crow Foot," and seven others were killed at the same time as their chief. In 1953, Sitting Bull's body was re-buried in Mobridge, South Dakota. At the time of his death, Sitting Bull had two wives. One wife was called "Pretty Plume." He fathered nine (9) children.
Red Tomahawk
Killed my beloved Sitting Bull
It took a lot for me to finally post this picture....
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One Bull, Sitting Bull's nephew, and adopted son.
Widows and daughters stand near the doorway where Sitting Bull was killed.
Left to right: Many Horses, Four Robes, Seen-By-The-Nation and Standing Holy
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