Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-12-17
SITTING BULL.
His Early Days-Sketch of the Dead
Indian.

lndltn.
CHICAGO. December lG.-The death of
Sitting Bull removes crafty. brave,
ambitious and bloOdthirSty savage. He
was between 81 and IS years of age,
having made different statements as 10
the date of his birth. He was born be-
low the mouth of the Cheyenne river,
near old Fort George. His father was
Jumping Bull, warrior Of no particular
prominence, except for his position at
the head OF one OF the innumerable fac
tiOnS of the Sioux Nation.
In his boyhood and up to his four
teenth year Sitting Bull had been called
the Sacred Stand, but when he had
killed and Scalped young buck about
his own age his name was changed to
Tatanka-yan-tanka, or in English the
name which ne now bears. Before lie
reached his fifteenth year he began to
develop those traits which afterwards
made him terror 10 the white settlers
of the frontier. lie was lazy and vic
iouS, and never told the truth when 4
/ lie would serve better. But with all
these bad traits, ne was fearless under
all circumstances, magnificent rider,
an accurate shot, and capable OF endur-
ing an extraordinary amount of IA
tigue.
II was not until after the close of the
war of the rebellion that Sitting Bull
began to attract attention. In lS67 he
was known as n blanket warrior" by
lhe soldiers in Fort Buford, on the Mis-
souri, river, and one who deSpiSed the
whites. He was bold and impudent,
and TO show his utter contempt for the
white man and his ways he refused To
/ learn a word of English or even 10 hear
il spoken. Gen. Henry A. Morrow was
| in command Of the fort, and in 1865, or
| 1899, when numerous depredationS
were committed and stock stolen, Sit
ting Bull was accused because of his
general character, although he was then
| a chief. He denied the charge with
great vigOr. and not long after one of
his men was killed. He charged that
that the killing was unproyoked and
had been done by soldier. He made Il
demand for some sort of Il settlement,
and displayed such powers of argument
that Gen. Morrow piled up Blankets on
the dead Indian until the chief declared
himself satisfied.
His success in obtaining such con-
ceSSiOn drew around him some of the
bolder members of the tribe who had be-
fore held aloof, although they did not
dare t. dispute his authority.
Fran that day forward Sitting Bull
became 4 chief among his people. lie
was OF more than an ordinarily restless
nature, even from and Indian stand
point, and as soon as he felt that his
power was absolute he gave orders TO
strike camp and go to the Yellowstone
river. There the tepees were put up,
the stock tethered, and orders issued
that no white man should be permitted
To enter the camp. Sitting Bull set up
claim to all the land for 40 rods
on both sides of the Yellowstone
and all It's tributaries. Notwith-
standing this embargo several
white men did get into the camp and get
out again with whole skins and proper
quota of ScalpS. The big chief was
crafty enough TO impose upon these men
the strength of his mental make up. He
gave them exhibitions of his judicial
wisdom in determining disputes, OF the
fairness of his decisions, of the regard
in which he was held by his people, of
his skill Is 4 hunter and rider. When
these men returned to civilization their
praise for Sitting Bull was eXtravagant.
One of them went back and spent sew
eral days more in the Indian camp, and,
when the butchery of Custer and his
command took place some years later,
wrote an exhaustive and impaSSiOned
defense of Sitting Bulls work on the
bloody field.
In the latter part of 1873 party OF
fifty white men from Montana invaded
Sitting Bulls territory and built fort.
The Chief ordered them TO leave, and
some accounts are 10 the effect that he
enforced the demand by killing one OF
the party. The historians favorable to
the Indian side, however, assert that an
Indian was killed first, and that two
white men were killed in retaliation.
1t is certain, however, that there were
two deaths in the fort from bullets fired
by the Indians. Sitting Bull immedi-
atelv put the fort under fire and
there were deSultory attacks dali
ly. lasting through the months OF
December and January. Six white
men were killed and eight wounded.
Five hundred warriors surrounded the
fort. and their persistent patience soon
convinced the besieged that the inten-
tion was to starve them to death. Two
of the imprisoned men volunteered to
attempt TO reach the nearest point
where help could be obtained. They
got out safely at midnight and after
great hardship and suffering reached
Fort Ellis in the latter part OF
February, after having travelled
afoot for Il days, half starved and bad
ly frozen. -Four companies Of United
States cavalry, three companies oil Mon
tana militia and about IS friendly In
dams were put under marching orders