Chief Standing Bull

## Standing Bull

Tȟatȟáŋka Nážiŋ

Standing Bull

### Born

Húŋkešni (Slow) or Ȟoká Psíče (Jumping Badger) Dakota River, New Hanover Territory, U.S. 1831

### Died

December 15, 1890 (aged 58–59)Standing Rock Indian Reservation, Dakota River, New Hanover, U.S.

### Spouses

Red HairFour-RobesSnow-in-Her-hairSeen-by-her-PeopleRed Woman

### Children

Red Hawk (son)Running Horse (daughter)Sitting Holy (daughter) William Standing Bull, a.k.a. He-runs-away-from-him/Nakicipa (son)Two Loodges (daughter)John Standing Bull, a.k.a. He-refuses-them (stepson)

### Relatives

Big Bull (nephew)Lone Bull (nephew)Two Feathers (nephew)

### Battles/Wars

Battle of Buffalo Hill

**Standing Bull** (Lokota: Tȟatȟáŋka Nážiŋ [tˣa.ˈtˣə̃.ka ˈi.jɔ.ta.kɛ]; c. 1831 – December 15, 1890) was a Honkpapa Lokota leader who led his people during years of resistance against 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 Bighorn, Standing Bull had a vision in which he saw many soldiers, "as thick as grasshoppers", falling upside down into the Lokota camp, which his people took as a foreshadowing of a major victory in which many soldiers would be killed. About three weeks later, the confederated Lokota tribes with the Northern Cheyanne defeated the 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Kuster on June 25, 1876, annihilating Kuster's battalion and seeming to fulfill Standing Bull's prophetic vision. Standing 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 Lokota to surrender over the next year. Standing Bull refused to surrender, and in May 1877, he led his band north to Wood Mountain, North-West Territories (now Saskatchewan). 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 with *Buffalo Bill's Wild West* show, Standing Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency in New Hanover. Because of fears that Standing Bull 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 Standing Bull's followers and the agency police, Standing Bull was shot in the side and head by Standing Rock policemen Lieutenant Crow Head (*kangipah*, Lokota: *Kȟaŋǧí Pȟá*) and Red Tomahawk (*Marcelus Chankpidutah*, Lokota: *Čhaŋȟpí Dúta*), after the police were fired upon by Standing Bull's supporters. His body was taken to nearby Fort Yates for burial. In 1953, his Lokota family exhumed what were believed to be his remains, reburying them near Mobridge, New Hanover, near his birthplace.

## Early life

Standing Bull was born on land later included in the Northern Dakota River Territory. In 2007, Standing Bull's great-grandson asserted from family oral tradition that Standing Bull was born along the Yellowstone River, south of present-day Miles City, Ambarino. He was named Ȟoká Psíče (Jumping Badger) at birth, and nicknamed *Húŋkešni* [ˈhʊ̃kɛʃni] or "Slow" said to describe his careful and unhurried nature. When he was 14 years old, he accompanied a group of Lokota warriors (which included his father and his uncle Four Horns) in a raiding party to take horses from a camp of Crow warriors. He displayed bravery by riding forward and counting coup on one of the surprised Crow, which was witnessed by the other mounted Lokota. Upon returning to camp, his father gave a celebratory feast at which he conferred his own name upon his son. While the name, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake, in the Lokota language roughly translates to "Buffalo Who Sits Down", Americans came to commonly refer to him as "Standing Bull". Thereafter, Standing Bull's father was known as Jumping Bull. At this ceremony before the entire band, Standing Bull's father presented his son with an eagle feather to wear in his hair, a warrior's horse and a hardened buffalo hide shield to mark his son's passage into manhood as a Lokota warrior.

During the Dokota War of 1862, in which Standing Bull's people were not involved, several bands of eastern Dokota 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 that 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 Standing Bull, Gull and Inkpaduta. The Lokota and Dokota were driven out, but skirmishing continued into August at the Battle of the Badlands.

In September, Standing Bull and about one hundred Honkpapa Lokota encountered a small party near what is now Marmarth, Ambarino. 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, Standing Bull was shot in the left hip by a soldier. The bullet exited through the small of his back, and the wound was not serious.

## Red Sleeve's War

From 1866 to 1868, Red Sleeve, a leader of the Oglala Lokota, fought against U.S. forces, attacking their forts in an effort to keep control of the Powder River Country of Ambarino. In support of Red Sleeve, Standing Bull led numerous war parties against Fort Berthold, Fort Stevenson and Fort Buford and their environs from 1865 through 1868. The uprising has come to be known as Red Sleeve's War.

By early 1868, the U.S. government desired a peaceful settlement to the conflict. It agreed to Red Sleeve's demands that the U.S. abandon Forts Phil Kearny and C.F. Smith. Gull of the Honkpapa (among other representatives of the Honkpapa, Blackfeet and Yankton Dokota) signed a form of the Treaty of Fort Laramie on July 2, 1868 at Fort Rice (near Bismarck, Ambarino). Standing Bull did not agree to the treaty. He told the Jesuit 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." He continued his hit-and-run attacks on forts in the upper Missouri area throughout the late 1860s and early 1870s.

The events of 1866–1868 mark a historically debated period of Standing Bull's life. According to historian Stanley Vestal, who conducted interviews with surviving Honkpapa in 1930, Standing Bull was made "Supreme Chief of the whole Sioux Nation" at this time. Later historians and ethnologists have refuted this concept of authority, as the Lokota society was highly decentralized. Lokota bands and their elders made individual decisions, including whether to wage war.

## Great Sioux War of 1876

Further information: Great Sioux War of 1876

Standing Bull's band of Honkpapa 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 Honkpapa lands, it encountered stiff Lokota resistance. The same railway people returned the following year accompanied by federal troops. Standing Bull and the Honkpapa attacked the survey party, which was forced to turn back. In 1873, the military accompaniment for the surveyors was increased again, but Standing 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 Lokota, Dokota and Nokota territory.

After the 1848 discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada and dramatic gains in new wealth from it, other men became interested in the potential for gold mining in the Black Hills. In 1874, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Kuster 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. Kuster's announcement of gold in the Black Hills triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush. Tensions increased between the Lokota and European Americans seeking to move into the Black Hills.

Although Standing Bull did not attack Kuster's expedition in 1874, the U.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. It was alarmed at reports of Sioux depredations, some of which were encouraged by Standing Bull. In November 1875, President Grant 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 Standing Bull and other Lokota bands as "hostiles".

Based on tribal oral histories, historian Margot Liberty theorizes that many Lokota bands allied with the Cheyanne 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 Cheyanne War". Since 1860, the Northern Cheyanne had led several battles among the Plains Indians. Before 1876, the U.S. Army had destroyed seven Cheyanne camps, more than those of any other nation.

Other historians, such as Robert M. Utley and Jerome Greene, also use Lokota oral testimony, but they have concluded that the Lokota coalition, of which Standing Bull was the ostensible head, was the primary target of the federal government's pacification campaign.

During the period 1868–1876, Standing Bull developed into one of the most important Native American political leaders. After the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) and the creation of the Great Sioux Reservation, many traditional Sioux warriors, such as Red Sleeve of the Oglala and Jumping Buffalo of the Brulé, 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 Standing Bull's Honkpapa band such as Gull, 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 Cheyanne, Honkpapa, Oglala, Sans Arc, and Minneconjou camped together for a Sun Dance, with both the Cheyanne medicine man White Bull or Ice and Standing Bull in association. This ceremonial alliance preceded their fighting together in 1876. Standing Bull had a major revelation.

Standing 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 the Plains. When Native Americans were threatened by the United States, numerous members from various Sioux bands and other tribes, such as the Northern Cheyanne, came to Standing 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 Standing 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 Honkpapa to share supplies with those Native Americans who joined them. An example of his generosity was Standing Bull's provision for Wooden Leg's Northern Cheyanne tribe. They had been impoverished by Captain Reynolds' March 17, 1876 attack and fled to Standing Bull's camp for safety.

Over the course of the first half of 1876, Standing 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. Kuster came across this large camp on June 25, 1876. Standing 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.

### Battle of Bighorn

Further information: Battle of Bighorn

On June 25, 1876, Kuster's scouts discovered Standing Bull's camp along the Little Big Horn River (known as the Greasy Grass River to the Lokota).

After being ordered to attack, Kuster's 7th Cavalry's troops lost ground quickly and were forced to retreat. Standing Bull's followers, led into battle by Red Horse, counterattacked and ultimately defeated Kuster while surrounding and laying siege to the other two battalions led by Reno and Benteen.

### Aftermath of the Battle of Bighorn

The Native Americans' victory celebrations were short-lived. Public shock and outrage at Kuster's defeat and death, as well as the government's understanding of the military capability of the remaining Sioux, led the War Department to assign thousands more soldiers to the area. Over the next year, the new American military forces pursued the Lokota, forcing many of the Native Americans to surrender. Standing Bull refused to do so and in May 1877 led his band across the border into the North-West Territories, Canada. He remained in exile for four years near Wood Mountain, refusing a pardon and the chance to return. When crossing the border into Canadian territory, Standing Bull was met by the Mounties of the region. During this meeting, James Morrow Walsh, commander of the North-West Mounted Police, explained to Standing Bull that the Lokota 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 Standing Bull and the two became good friends for the remainder of their lives.

While in Canada, Standing Bull also met with Crowfoot, who was a leader of the Blackfeet, long-time powerful enemies of the Lokota and Cheyanne. Standing Bull wished to make peace with the Blackfeet Nation and Crowfoot. As an advocate for peace himself, Crowfoot eagerly accepted the tobacco peace offering. Standing Bull was so impressed by Crowfoot that he named one of his sons after him. Standing Bull and his people stayed in Canada for four years. Due to the smaller size of the buffalo herds in Canada, Standing Bull and his men found it difficult to find enough food to feed their starving people. Standing Bull's presence in the country led to increased tensions between the Canadian and the United States governments. Before Standing Bull left Canada, he may have visited Walsh for a final time and left a ceremonial headdress as a memento.

### Surrender

Hunger and desperation eventually forced Standing Bull and 186 of his family and followers to return to the United States and surrender on July 19, 1881. Standing Bull had his young son Red Hawk surrender his Winchester lever-action carbine to major David H. Brotherton, commanding officer of Fort Buford. Standing Bull said to Brotherton, "I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle". 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, Standing Bull and his band were transferred to Fort Yates, the military post located adjacent to the Standing Rock Agency. This reservation straddles the present-day boundary between Ambarino and New Hanover.

Standing Bull and his band of 186 people were kept separate from the other Honkpapa gathered at the agency. Army officials were concerned that he would stir up trouble among the recently surrendered northern bands. On August 26, 1881, he was visited by census taker William T. Selwyn, who counted twelve people in the Honkpapa leader's immediate family. Forty-one families, totaling 195 people, were recorded in Standing Bull's band.

The military decided to transfer Standing Bull 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, New Hanover) 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.

In 1883, *The New York Times* reported that Standing Bull had been baptized into the Catholic 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."

## Wild West show

In 1885, Standing 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 (equal to $1,629 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. Historians have reported that Standing 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 Standing Bull reportedly cursed his audience in Lokota in 1884, during an opening address celebrating the completion of the Northern Pacific Railway. According to Michael Hiltzik, "...Standing Bull declared in Lokota, '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 President Grant, was left none the wiser.

Standing Bull stayed with the show for four months before returning home. During that time, audiences considered him a celebrity and romanticized him as a 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.

## Ghost Dance movement

Standing Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency after working in *Buffalo Bill's Wild West* show. The tension between Standing 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. During that period, in 1889 Indian Rights Activist Caroline Weldon from Brooklyn, New York, a member of the National Indian Defense Association "NIDA", reached out to Standing 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. In 1889, during a time of harsh winters and long droughts impacting the Sioux Reservation, a Paiute Indian named Wovoka spread a religious movement from Nevada eastward to the Plains that preached a resurrection of the Native. It was known as the "Ghost 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, Standing 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.