Sitting Bull Sitting Bull ( Lakota : " Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake " in Standard Lakota Orthography , also nicknamed " Slon - he " or " Slow " ; c . 1831 – December 15 , 1890 ) was a Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux holy man who led his people as a tribal chief during years of resistance to 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 . Before the Battle of the Little Bighorn , Sitting Bull had a vision in which he saw the defeat of the 7th Cavalry under Lt . Col . George Armstrong Custer on June 25 , 1876 . Sitting Bull ' s leadership motivated his people to a major victory . Months after their victory at the battle , Sitting Bull and his group left the United States for Wood Mountain , Saskatchewan , where he remained until 1881 , at which time he surrendered to U . S . forces . A small remnant of his band under Chief Waŋblí Ǧí decided to stay at Wood Mountain . After working as a performer , Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency in South Dakota . Because of fears that he would use his influence to support the Ghost Dance movement , Indian Service agent James McLaughlin at Fort Yates ordered his arrest . During an ensuing struggle between Sitting Bull ' s followers and the agency police , Sitting Bull was shot in the side and head by Standing Rock policemen Lieutenant Bull Head ( " Tatankapah " ) and Red Tomahawk ( " Marcelus Chankpidutah " ) after the police were fired upon by Sitting Bull ' s supporters . His body was taken to nearby Fort Yates for burial , but in 1953 , his remains were possibly exhume d and reburied near Mobridge , South Dakota , by his Lakota family , who wanted his body to be nearer to his birthplace . Early life . Sitting Bull was born in Dakota Territory . In 2007 , Sitting Bull ' s great - grandson asserted from family oral tradition that Sitting Bull was born along the Yellowstone River , south of present - day Miles City , Montana . He was named Jumping Badger at birth . In traditional Lakota fashion , he was later given one of his father ' s names , " Tȟatȟaŋka Iyotȟaŋka " , translated as " Sitting Bull " , due to a leadership role in a battle between the Lakota and Crow people . During the Dakota War of 1862 , in which Sitting Bull ' s people were not involved , several bands of eastern Dakota ( eastern Sioux ) killed an estimated 300 to 800 settlers and soldiers in south - central Minnesota in response to poor treatment by the government and in an effort to drive the whites away . Despite being embroiled in the American Civil War , the United States Army retaliated in 1863 and 1864 , even against bands which had not been involved in the hostilities . In 1864 , two brigades of about 2200 soldiers under Brigadier General Alfred Sully attacked a village . The defenders were led by Sitting Bull , Gall and Inkpaduta . The Sioux were driven out , but skirmishing continued into August . In September , Sitting Bull and about 100 Hunkpapa Sioux came across a small party near what is now Marmarth , North Dakota . They had been left behind by a wagon train commanded by Captain James 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 . The bullet exited out through the small of his back , and the wound was not too serious . Red Cloud ' s War . Sitting Bull led numerous war parties against Fort Berthold , Fort Stevenson , and Fort Buford and their environs from 1865 through 1868 . Although Red Cloud was a leader of the Oglala Sioux , his leadership and attacks against forts in the Powder River Country of Montana were supported by Sitting Bull ' s guerrilla attacks on emigrant parties and smaller forts throughout the upper Missouri River region . By early 1868 , the U . S . government desired a peaceful settlement to Red Cloud ' s War . It agreed to Red Cloud ' s demands that Forts Phil Kearny and C . F . Smith be abandoned . Chief Gall of the Hunkpapas ( among other representatives of the Hunkpapas , Blackfeet , and Yankton Sioux ) signed a form of the Treaty of Fort Laramie on July 2 , 1868 at Fort Rice ( near Bismarck , North Dakota ) . Sitting Bull did not agree to the treaty . He continued his hit - and - run attacks on forts in the upper Missouri area throughout the late 1860s and early 1870s . The events of – 1868 mark a historically debated period of Sitting Bull ' s life . According to historian Stanley Vestal , who conducted interviews with surviving Hunkpapa in 1930 , Sitting Bull was made " Supreme Chief of the whole Sioux Nation " at this time . Later historians and ethnologist s have refuted this concept of authority , as the Lakota society was highly decentralised . Lakota bands and their chiefs made individual decisions . The Great Sioux War of 1876 . Sitting Bull ' s band of Hunkpapa continued to attack migrating parties and forts in the late 1860s . When in 1871 the Northern Pacific Railway conducted a survey for a route across the northern plains directly through Hunkpapa lands , it encountered stiff Sioux resistance . 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 . In 1873 , the military accompaniment for the surveyors was increased again , but Sitting Bull ' s forces resisted the survey " most vigorously . " The Panic of 1873 forced the Northern Pacific Railway ' s backers ( such as Jay Cooke ) into bankruptcy . This halted construction of the railroad through Sioux territory . After the discovery and new wealth from gold in California , other men became interested in the potential for gold mining in the Black Hills . In 1874 , Lt . Col . George Armstrong Custer led a military expedition from Fort Abraham Lincoln near Bismarck , to explore the Black Hills for gold and to determine a suitable location for a military fort in the Hills . Custer ' s announcement of gold in the Black Hills triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush . Tensions increased between the Sioux and European Americans ' seeking to move into the Black Hills . Although Sitting Bull did not attack Custer ' s expedition in 1874 , the US government was increasingly pressured to open the Black Hills to mining and settlement . It was alarmed at reports of Sioux depredations ( encouraged by Sitting Bull ) . In November 1875 , the government ordered all Sioux bands outside the Great Sioux Reservation to move onto the reservation , knowing full well that not all would comply . As of February 1 , 1876 , the Interior Department certified as " hostile " those bands who continued to live off the reservation . This certification allowed the military to pursue Sitting Bull and other Lakota bands as " hostiles " . According to the historian Margot Liberty , many Lakota bands allied with the Cheyenne during the Plains Wars because they thought the other nation was under attack by the US . 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 US Army had destroyed seven Cheyenne camps , more than those of any other nation . However , other historians such as Robert M . Utley and Jerome Greene also use Lakota oral testimony as the basis for their conclusions that the Lakota coalition , of which Sitting Bull was the ostensible head , was the primary target of the federal government ' s pacification campaign . Battle of the Little Bighorn . During the period 1868 – 1876 , Sitting Bull developed into the most important of Native American chiefs . After the Treaty of Fort Laramie ( 1868 ) and the creation of the Great Sioux Reservation , many traditional Sioux warriors , such as Red Cloud of the Oglala and Spotted Tail of the Brulé , moved to reside permanently on the reservations . They were largely dependent for subsistence on the US 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 . In 1875 , the Northern Cheyenne , Hunkpapa , Oglala , Sans Arc , and Minneconjou camped together for a Sun Dance , with both the Cheyenne medicine man White Bull or Ice and Sitting Bull in association . This ceremonial alliance preceded their fighting together in 1876 . 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 white man meant that at times he and his small band of warriors lived isolated on the Plains . When Native Americans were threatened by the United States , numerous members from various Sioux bands and other tribes , such as the North Cheyenne , came to Sitting Bull ' s camp . His reputation for " strong medicine " developed as he continued to evade the European Americans . After the January 1st ultimatum of 1876 , when the US Army began to track down Sioux and others living off the reservation as hostiles , Native Americans gathered at Sitting Bull ' s camp . The chief 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 taking care of Wooden Leg ' s Northern Cheyenne tribe . They had been impoverished by Captain Reynold ' s March 17 , 1876 attack and fled to Sitting Bull ' s camp for safety . The Hunkpapa chief provided resources to sustain the new recruits . 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 the warriors and families of 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 chief and had performed the Sun Dance , in which he fasted and sacrificed over 100 pieces of flesh from his arms , a week prior to the attack . Custer ’ s 7th Cavalry advance party attacked Cheyenne and Lakota tribes at their camp on the Little Big Horn River ( known as the Greasy Grass River to the Lakota ) on June 25 , 1876 . The U . S . Army did not realize how large the camp was . More than 2 , 000 Native American warriors had left their reservations to follow Sitting Bull . Inspired by a vision of Sitting Bull ’ s , in which he saw U . S . soldiers being killed as they entered the tribe ’ s camp , the Cheyenne and Lakota fought back . Custer ' s badly outnumbered troops lost ground quickly and were forced to retreat . The tribes led a counter - attack against the soldiers on a nearby ridge , ultimately annihilating them . The Native Americans ' victory celebrations were short - lived . Public shock and outrage at Custer ' s death and defeat , and the government ' s knowledge about the remaining Sioux , led them 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 surrender and in May 1877 led his band across the border into Saskatchewan , Canada . He remained in exile for four years near Wood Mountain , refusing a pardon and the chance to return . When crossing the border into Saskatchewan , Sitting Bull was met by the Canadian Mounties 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 . Also while in Canada Sitting Bull met with chief Crowfoot , who was a chief of the Blackfeet , long - time powerful enemies of the Lakota and Cheyenne . Sitting Bull wished to make peace with the Blackfeet Nation and Crowfoot . Being an advocate for peace himself , Crowfoot eagerly accepted the tobacco peace offering . Sitting Bull was so impressed by the Blackfeet chief that he named one of his sons after him . Sitting Bull and his men only stayed in Canada for 4 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 his people , who were starving and exhausted . Furthermore , due to Sitting Bull ’ s presence in the country , there had been a growth in tension between the Canadian and the United States governments . Before Sitting Bull left Saskatchewan , he may have visited Walsh for a final time and left a ceremonial headdress as a memento . Surrender . 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 son Crow Foot surrender his Winchester lever - action carbine to Major David H . Brotherton , commanding officer of Fort Buford in the parlor of the Commanding Officer ' s Quarters in a ceremony the next day . He told the 4 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 , the Army transferred Sitting Bull and his band to Fort Yates , the military post located adjacent to the Standing Rock Agency , which straddles the present - day boundary of North and South Dakota . Sitting Bull and his band of 186 people were kept separate from the other Hunkpapa gathered at the agency . Army officials were concerned that the famed chief would stir up trouble among the recently surrendered northern bands . On August 26 , 1881 , he was visited by the census taker William T . Selwyn , who counted twelve people in the Hunkpapa leader ' s immediate family . Forty - one families , totaling 195 people , were recorded in Sitting Bull ' s band . The military decided to transfer him and his band to Fort Randall , to be held as prisoners of war . Loaded onto a steamboat , the band of 172 people was sent down the Missouri River to Fort Randall ( near present - day Pickstown , South Dakota on the southern border of the state ) . There they spent the next 20 months . They were allowed to return north to the Standing Rock Agency in May 1883 . Wild West Show participation . In 1885 , Sitting Bull was allowed to leave the reservation to go Wild Westing with Buffalo Bill Cody ’ s Buffalo Bill ' s Wild West . He earned about $ 50 a week 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 . Historians have reported that Sitting Bull gave speeches about his desire for education for the young , and reconciling relations between the Sioux and whites . The historian Edward Lazarus wrote that Sitting Bull reportedly cursed his audience in " Lakota " in 1884 , during an opening address celebrating the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway . During his participation with the Wild West show , Sitting Bull met Annie Oakley . He was so impressed with Oakley ' s skills with firearms that he offered $ 65 for a photographer to take a photo of the two together . The admiration and respect of was mutual . Oakley stated that Sitting Bull made a " great pet " of her . Over time , Sitting Bull ' s respect for the young sharpshooter 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 adopted her as a daughter in 1884 . He named her " Little Sure Shot " — a name that Oakley used throughout her career . Sitting Bull stayed with the show for four months before returning home . During that time , audiences began to consider him a celebrity and a romanticized warrior . He earned a small fortune by charging for his autograph and picture , although he often gave his money away to the homeless and beggars . Conversion . In 1883 , rumors floated that Sitting Bull had been baptized into the Catholic Church . James McLaughlin , Indian agent at Standing Rock Agency , dismissed these reports , saying that " The reported baptism of Sitting - Bull is erroneous . There is no immediate prospect of such ceremony so far as I am aware . " Death and burial . Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency after working in Buffalo Bill ' s Wild West Show . In 1890 , James McLaughlin , the U . S . Indian Agent at Fort Yates on Standing Rock Agency , feared that the Lakota leader was about to flee the reservation with the Ghost Dancers , so he ordered the police to arrest him . On December 14 , 1890 , McLaughlin drafted a letter to Lt . Henry Bullhead that included instructions and a plan to capture the chief . 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 the chief ' s 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 . 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 . Bullhead told Sitting Bull that he was under arrest and led him outside . The camp awakened and men converged at the house of their chief . As Bullhead ordered Sitting Bull to mount a horse , he explained that the Indian Affairs agent needed to see him and then he could return to his house . Sitting Bull refused to comply and the police used force on him . The Sioux in the village were enraged . A Sioux known as Catch - the - Bear shouldered his rifle and shot Bullhead who , in return , fired his revolver into the chest of Sitting Bull . Another police officer , Red Tomahawk , shot Sitting Bull in the head , and the chief dropped to the ground . He died between 12 and 1 p . m . A close - quarters fight erupted , and within minutes several men were dead . Six policemen were killed immediately and two more died shortly after the fight . Sitting Bull and seven of his supporters lay dead , along with two horses . Sitting Bull ' s body was taken to Fort Yates to be placed in a coffin ( made by the Army carpenter ) and for burial . In 1953 Lakota family members exhumed what they believed to be his remains , to be reinterred near Mobridge , South Dakota , his birthplace . Legacy . Following Sitting Bull ' s death , his cabin on the Grand River was taken to Chicago to become an exhibit at the 1893 World ' s Columbian Exposition . Native American dancers also performed at the Exposition . Sitting Bull was the subject of , or a featured character in , several Hollywood motion pictures and documentaries . Among them are : As time passed , Sitting Bull became a symbol and archetype of Native American resistance movements as well as a figure celebrated by his former enemies :