The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-07-28

F-SCCL w.
SITTING BULL.
Sitting Bull has probably done as much
"Injun devilment" in his time as any savage
since Tecumseh. Black Hawk wasn't n cir
cumstance to him, and the most noted Apa-
ches, though more bloodthirsty, were far in
ferior in talent and consequently in destruc-
ton. He was born in the Black Hills in 1888,
his father being Blackfoct Sioux and his
mother the daughter of an Uncpapa Sioux by
an Arickaree wife. The average age Of Indians
is much less than that Of whites, and so he is
now considered quite an old man; and hay
ing been prominently successful in war and
ambitious and eloquent in peace, his infu-
ence is very great. His speech in 1886, in
citing the Crows TO war, is fine specimen
of Indian eloquence. The joint council was
held on the scene of the Custer massacre,
and pointing to the monument, he said:
Look at that monument That marks
the work of my people We are respected
and feared by the white man, because we
killed as great chief and more than 800 of
his warriors on this spot. We receive one
and one-half pounds of beef per ration, but
you get only one-half pound; yet we do no
work, but ride and visit our friends as we
please. See your little log houses and farms
You are the white mans slave He is teach
ing you to labor, only that you may forget
the use of your war paint, and the battle
songs Of your fathers are stolen from the lips
of your children by the senseless chants of
the schools by the black robes priests. Is
there blood in the veins of your young menu
Rise up against the bloodless conquest that is
turning your people into slavesl The red
man was made by our Great Spirit to hunt
and to fight, to be free as the prairie wind.
1t is the white mans business to work He
is only soldier when he is paid to be-"
his EARLY EXPLOITS.
OF course the young warriors went wild at
this, and in no long time there was "Crow
outbreak" Yet Sitting Bull was long the
terror of the Crows, they and the Sioux being
hereditary enemies His first exploit was
Crow killing. He was so anxious to be con-
sidered man and a warrior that when he
was but Is years old he and Shunkwilla
Little Fox, finding a dead eagle, stuck
its tail feathers in their scalp locks
this being the sign of counting coup,
that is, of having struck an enemy. The old
Indians laughed so much at them that the
boys swore they would make the sign good,
and started alone into the Crow country
Two months later they re-entered the village
with a war wboop, driving fifteen captured
ponies They had struck a Crow camp and
hung about it many days till they obtained
a chance to cut of two herders; these they
killed, and got away with the horses
According to Indian custom the boys were
given new names, Sitting Bull receiving his
because he had told Of sitting like bull in
the willows watching the Crow camp.
Thereafter he took part in all manly sports
and raids. At eighteen he married an ASSN
iboine girl, PatrazeezeeWeah yellow haired
woman, for whom he paid her father five
horses His first born was son, and to cele.
brste that good fortune he organized big
raid on the Crows, fought with great bravery
and showed rare strategy. After many en-
counters with the Crows and other Indian
enemies he and his compatriots Joined the
great league of 1S61-62 against the whites,
but his usual good fortune failed this time.
He and several other chiefs, with some zoe
warriors, made desperate attack upon Fort
Berthold, but were repulsed with loss Of
some fifty killed and twice as many wound
ed The war languished after that, and lit
tie was done by the Sioux till 1866.
SITTING BULL IN PEACE.
IL hGlD a lOL6 bbOI1 ~ 4G4dlS bIc JGITlDle
massacre of that year, the ever varying
fortunes Of the next nine years and the great
final disaster to the Custer command in 1876.
During the five years succeeding the civil
war the United States regular army was in
the worst condition it ever reached. Men
deserted by dozens in open day. Hundreds
enlisted simply to get transportation to the
mining regions, and then deserted without
fear or shame When something like regular
discipline was restored the Indians were soon
defeated and Sitting Bull went to Canada
In no long time there was a general amnesty
and he came back. Several Sioux who took
part in the Custer massacre are now good
indians" and not very bad farmers, living
quietly on the Devils lake reservation, D. T.
But old Sitting Bull could not stay quiet very
long; he stayed out with the wild bands, and
the late discussions at Standing Rock and
elsewhere, about selling their Dakota lands,
was a sweet opportunity to his Bullship
For months he kept the young Indians in
line against signing the treaty, and wherever
in the meantime trouble broke out among
the wild bands, the officials suspected the
hand of Sitting Bull After melting the
Crows tnow friendly to the Sioux and others,
he reached Standing Rock agency on the SOth
Of July of last year, and within a few hours
induced all the Indians to take the "oath by
the Great Spirit" that they would not ac-
cept the treaty as it then was Even John
Grass, Mad Bear and others who had been
favorable down to that time, backed squarely
out when they noted the effect of Sitting
Bulls address on the young Indians. Some
Of his remarks show great shrewdness-of
the savage kind. BE objected to work and
civilization for Indians generally, but wanted
them to keep few boys in the white schools
all the time, so that there might be some
warriors who could read and write and
therefore circumvent the white men and ras-
cally interpreters.
This was his last mischief. he was defeat
ed as to his main schemes, lost influence
among the Indians. retired to his home IN