PBS - THE WEST - Sitting Bull Sitting Bull Tatanka-Iyotanka (1831-1890) A Hunkpapa Lakota chief and holy man under whom the Lakota tribes united in their struggle for survival on the northern plains, Sitting Bull remained defiant toward American military power and contemptuous of American promises to the end. Born around 1831 on the Grand River in present-day South Dakota, at a place the Lakota called "Many Caches" for the number of food storage pits they had dug there, Sitting Bull was given the name Tatanka-Iyotanka, which describes a buffalo bull sitting intractably on its haunches. It was a name he would live up to throughout his life. As a young man, Sitting Bull became a leader of the Strong Heart warrior society and, later, a distinguished member of the Silent Eaters, a group concerned with tribal welfare. He first went to battle at age 14, in a raid on the Crow, and saw 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 played no part.

The next year Sitting Bull fought U.S. troops again, at the Battle of Killdeer Mountain, and 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 head chief of the Lakota nation about 1868. Sitting Bull's courage was legendary. Once, in 1872, during a battle with soldiers protecting railroad workers on the Yellowstone River , Sitting Bull led four other warriors out between the lines, sat calmly sharing a pipe with them as bullets buzzed around, carefully reamed the pipe out when they were finished, and then casually walked away. The stage was set for war between Sitting Bull and the U.S. Army in 1874 , when an expedition led by General George Armstrong Custer confirmed that gold had been discovered in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory, an area sacred to many tribes and placed off-limits to white settlement by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 . Despite this ban, prospectors began a rush to the Black Hills, provoking the Lakota to defend their land.

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. Sitting Bull and his people held their ground. In March, as three columns of federal troops under General George Crook , General Alfred Terry and Colonel John Gibbon moved into the area, Sitting Bull summoned the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho to his camp on Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory. There he led them in the sun dance ritual, offering prayers to Wakan Tanka, their Great Spirit, and slashing his arms one hundred times as a sign of sacrifice. During this ceremony, Sitting Bull had a vision in which he saw soldiers falling into the Lakota camp like grasshoppers falling from the sky. Inspired by this vision, the Oglala Lakota war chief, Crazy Horse , set out for battle with a band of 500 warriors, and on June 17 he surprised Crook's troops and forced them to retreat at the Battle of the Rosebud.

To celebrate this victory, the Lakota moved their camp to the valley of the Little Bighorn River , where they were joined by 3,000 more Indians who had left the reservations to follow Sitting Bull. Here they were attacked on June 25 by the Seventh Cavalry under George Armstrong Custer, whose badly outnumbered troops first rushed the encampment, as if in fulfillment of Sitting Bull's vision, and then made a stand on a nearby ridge, where they were destroyed. Public outrage at this military catastrophe brought thousands more cavalrymen to the area, and over the next year they relentlessly pursued the Lakota, who had split up after the Custer fight, forcing chief after chief to surrender. But Sitting Bull remained defiant. In May 1877 he led his band across the border into Canada, beyond the reach of the U.S. Army, and 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 hand his rifle to the commanding officer of Fort Buford in Montana, explaining that in this way he hoped to teach the boy "that he has become a friend of the Americans." Yet at the same time, Sitting Bull said, "I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle." He 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 , and when his reception there raised fears that he might inspire a fresh uprising, sent further down the Missouri River to Fort Randall, where he and his followers were held for nearly two years as prisoners of war. Finally, on May 10, 1883, Sitting Bull rejoined his tribe at Standing Rock. The Indian agent in charge of the reservation, James McLaughlin, was determined to deny the great chief any special privileges, even forcing him to work in the fields, hoe in hand. But 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, 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, though in that time he did manage to shake hands with President Grover Cleveland, which he took as evidence that he was still regarded as a great chief. 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, though 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 had another mystical vision, like the one that had foretold Custer's defeat.

This time he saw a meadowlark alight on a hillock beside him, and heard it say, "Your own people, Lakotas, will kill you." Nearly five years later, this vision also proved true. 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. Lakota had already adopted the ceremony at the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations, and Indian agents there had already called for troops to bring the growing movement under control. At Standing Rock, the authorities feared that Sitting Bull, still revered as a spiritual leader, would join the Ghost Dancers as well, and they sent 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, where his followers were gathering to protect him. In the gunfight that followed, one of the Lakota policemen put a bullet through Sitting Bull's head.

Sitting Bull was buried at Fort Yates in North Dakota, and in 1953 his remains were moved to Mobridge, South Dakota, where a granite shaft marks his grave. He was 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 | Sioux chief | Britannica.com Sitting Bull Spotted Tail Sitting Bull, Indian name Tatanka Iyotake (born c. 1831, near Grand River, Dakota Territory [now in South Dakota], U.S.—died December 15, 1890, on the Grand River in South Dakota ), Teton Dakota Indian chief under whom the Sioux tribes united in their struggle for survival on the North American Great Plains . He is remembered for his lifelong distrust of white men and his stubborn determination to resist their domination. Sitting Bull. O.S. Goff—Hulton Archive/Getty Images Sitting Bull was born into the Hunkpapa division of the Teton Sioux.

He joined his first war party at age 14 and soon gained a reputation for fearlessness in battle. He became a leader of the powerful Strong Heart warrior society and, later, was a participant in the Silent Eaters, a select group concerned with tribal welfare. As a tribal leader Sitting Bull helped extend the Sioux hunting grounds westward into what had been the territory of the Shoshone, Crow , Assiniboin , and other Indian tribes. His first skirmish with white soldiers occurred in June 1863 during the U.S. Army’s retaliation against the Santee Sioux after the “Minnesota Massacre,” in which the Teton Sioux had no part. For the next five years he was in frequent hostile contact with the army, which was invading the Sioux hunting grounds and bringing ruin to the Indian economy. In 1866 he became principal chief of the northern hunting Sioux, with Crazy Horse , leader of the Oglala Sioux, as his vice-chief. Respected for his courage and wisdom, Sitting Bull was made principal chief of the entire Sioux nation about 1867. In 1868 the Sioux accepted peace with the U.S.

government on the basis of the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie, which guaranteed the Sioux a reservation in what is now southwestern South Dakota. But when gold was discovered in the Black Hills in the mid-1870s, a rush of white prospectors invaded lands guaranteed to the Indians by the treaty. Late in 1875 those Sioux who had been resisting the whites’ incursions were ordered to return to their reservations by January 31, 1876, or be considered hostile to the United States . Even had Sitting Bull been willing to comply, he could not possibly have moved his village 240 miles (390 km) in the bitter cold by the specified time. In March General George Crook took the field against the hostiles, and Sitting Bull responded by summoning the Sioux, Cheyenne , and certain Arapaho to his camp in Montana Territory. There on June 17 Crook’s troops were forced to retreat in the Battle of the Rosebud. The Indian chiefs then moved their encampment into the valley of the Little Bighorn River.

At this point Sitting Bull performed the Sun Dance , and when he emerged from a trance induced by self-torture, he reported that he had seen soldiers falling into his camp like grasshoppers from the sky. His prophecy was fulfilled on June 25, when Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer rode into the valley and he and all the men under his immediate command were annihilated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn . Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent Strong public reaction among whites to the Battle of the Little Bighorn resulted in stepped-up military action. The Sioux emerged the victors in their battles with U.S. troops, but though they might win battle after battle, they could never win the war. They depended on the buffalo for their livelihood, and the buffalo, under the steady encroachment of whites, were rapidly becoming extinct. Hunger led more and more Sioux to surrender, and in May 1877 Sitting Bull led his remaining followers across the border into Canada. But the Canadian government could not acknowledge responsibility for feeding a people whose reservation was south of the border, and after four years, during which his following dwindled steadily, famine forced Sitting Bull to surrender.

After 1883 he lived at the Standing Rock Agency, where he vainly opposed the sale of tribal lands. In 1885, partly to get rid of him, the Indian agent allowed him to join Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show , in which he gained international fame. Sitting Bull - Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) Sitting Bull Chief Sitting Bull Sitting Bull, named Jumping Badger as a child, was born into a prominent Hunkpapa Lakota family between the years of 1831-1837, near the confluence of the Grand and Missouri Rivers in present day South Dakota, or perhaps along the Yellowstone River. Sitting Bull's father and two of his uncles were chiefs within the tribe. In boyhood, Sitting bull engaged in traditional games and contests like other young men of the village that tested one's agility, stamina, intelligence, and bravery. He soon became an accomplished hunter and warrior.By the time he killed his first buffalo at the age of ten, he was already emerging as a standout by demonstrating the four cardinal Lakota virtues of bravery, fortitude, generosity, and wisdom.

At age 14, he counted his first coup, an honor earned in immediate proximity to the enemy. From that day on he would bear his father's name and was known as Tatanka-Iyotanka (Sitting Bull). Soon, Sitting Bull became a member of the Kit Fox Warrior Society, and the legendary Midnight Strong Heart Society among others.The Strong Hearts were an elite group of warriors who had earned entry into this prestigious society by repeatedly demonstrating their bravery and prowess against their enemies.His meteoric rise continued, and soon he emerged as one of two Sash Wearers of the group. It was not long before Sitting Bull was made leader of the entire society. As a leader, Sitting Bull was heavily involved in the Lakota's struggle for identity during the 1850's.While some members of the community were open to engaging in relationships of commerce and diplomacy with the encroaching white world, others insisted the best position was to avoid such activities altogether. Sitting Bull was a vocal member of the latter camp."I have seen nothing that the white man has…which is as good as our right to roam and live on the open plains as we choose." Sitting Bull avoided white settlements and forts nearly altogether until the 1880's.

His leadership of the Lakotas extended beyond policy and into the spiritual realm as well.Through Sundances and Vision-Quests, many Plains Indian people sought guidance.On several occasions, the visions given to Sitting Bull by Wakan-Tanka (the Everywhere Spirit) came true according to many of his followers. He soon became known as a spiritual leader in addition to his many other roles. In 1866, Chief Red Cloud and the Lakotas unleashed a massive campaign against travelers and forts along the Bozeman Trail.Within two years, they emerged victoriously and in 1868 Red Cloud and others would sign the famous 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty.In it, the Lakotas who attended agreed to withdraw their aggressions and live within the boundaries of a reservation comprised mostly of the western half of modern-day South Dakota. However, Sitting Bull refused to be a part of these treaty negotiations.As a result, he and others who did not agree to the conditions of the treaty felt no obligation to them. In Sitting Bull's view, those that agreed to the treaty represented themselves alone.These events began the fracturing of the massive Lakota nation into two ideological camps.

Some would follow Red Cloud and Spotted Tail onto the reservation, while others followed Sitting Bull and continued to live as they always had. Sitting Bull would soon emerge as a leader of what came to be known as the non-treaty Indians. The following winter, the United States decreed that the Unceded Territory, an area many non-treaty Lakotas inhabited, was now deemed closed. Those not on their respective reservation by January 31st of 1876 were considered hostile.In the spring, Sitting Bull and his followers remained outside the reservation and expressed no wish to comply with the January 31st deadline. In fact, Sitting Bull sent word to his reservation Lakotas that while they were anemic on very few rations, he and his people were setting about the Powder River country to feast on buffalo meat. Word spread across the allied tribes that Sitting Bull intended to seek another vision. Many began to leave the reservation for a summer hunt and headed to find Sitting Bull and others. Lakotas and Cheyennes held a Sundance in mid June. In his ceremony, Sitting Bull had 50 pieces of flesh sliced away from each arm. He went without water for two days and two nights.

It is said that near the end of the second day, he collapsed. Sitting Bull said he saw soldiers on horseback falling into their camp upside down.Their hats were falling off as they fell like grasshoppers. A voice told him: "I give these to you because they have no ears." Lakotas translated this to mean that they were soon to have a great victory against the bluecoats. Many have speculated that this was an eerily similar vision to what would take place just a few short weeks later at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. On June 25th, while camped along the Little Bighorn River, Sitting Bull's village with approximately 8000 Lakotas and Cheyennes was attacked by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry. Sitting Bull, beyond fighting age, did not participate in the combat, though he did send his nephews White Bull and One Bull into battle with his own personal medicine to protect them.The battle resulted in the deaths of approximately 80 Lakotas and Cheyennes and the complete annihilation of five companies of soldiers under Custer's immediate command among others. News quickly spread back east of Custer's defeat.

People were in disbelief that Plains Indians were intellectually or otherwise capable of defeating such a sophisticated military outfit.Wild theories and speculation grew rampant. Rumors even spread that Sitting Bull, then thought of as the great architect of victory at Little Bighorn, had attended West Point Military Academy incognito where he mastered military tactics.Some even speculated that he was fluent in French. Sitting Bull had become a household name back east. While the battle was over, the war continued. Expeditionary forces led by Generals George Crook and Nelson Miles continued to pursue the non-treaty Indians for the next year and a half. In the fall of 1877, Sitting Bull and his followers determined that they could not live in the Dakotas or the Powder River country without being under constant harassment from the US Army, so they headed north to the White Grandmother (Canada). Life in Canada was tough.The buffalo were scarce, his people were plagued with sickness, and the winters were harsh.Through the next few years, Sitting Bull's followers would again fracture. Gradually more and more left Sitting Bull's Canadian band and returned to reservation life back in the United States.

By 1881, even Sitting Bull's closest relatives, friends and advisors were beginning to leave. Soon, Sitting Bull himself knew that there was no other way, and on July 20th, 1881 he surrendered to the United States at Fort Buford. Sitting Bull was eventually sent to the Standing Rock Agency. Soon, life on the reservation grew difficult for Sitting Bull. Having led his people in the 1860's and 1870's, he garnered much power, acclaim, and respect. On the reservation, however, Indian agents recognized no chiefs. Many Lakotas, including Sitting Bull's protégé Gall, had already taken up the plow and were working diligently at learning to farm. But now, internationally famous as the great architect of Custer's defeat (whether accurate or not), Sitting Bull's name garnered enormous fame amongs whites as well. Along with this notoriety came opportunity. To the chagrin of Standing Rock Agent James McLaughlin, Sitting Bull was able to make sufficient money on his fame alone. He would charge people to take his picture.

Soon, he learned how to write his name in cursive and began to sell it for up to two dollars per autograph. Indian Agents on the reservation were looking for leaders of the tribe who would model the work of a farmer. Sitting Bull again waged resistance now by refusing to farm. Since his initial detention at Fort Randall, Sitting Bull was being courted by Buffalo Bill Cody to join his already enormously famous Wild West Show. Eventually, Cody convinced Sitting Bull to join, and the chief was granted permission to travel with Cody's show in 1885. Sitting Bull was the instant headliner, performing in sold out venues wherever they stopped. Sitting Bull and Cody soon became friends. Cody even gifted Sitting Bull a grey horse that had been specially trained for the circus.After one season with Cody, Agent McLaughlin refused to allow Sitting Bull to return to the show.

According to McLaughlin, "but for the good of the other Indians and the best interests of the Service I am forced to the conclusion that it would be unwise to have him go out this season." Now, back on the reservation and considerable clout still lingering, Sitting Bull and Agent McLaughlin continued a contentious relationship for the next several years.While Sitting Bull likely never again wielded the same political power he had in the previous decade, he certainly demonstrated some residual influence, a fact which Agent McGlaughlin reviled. On December 15th, 1890, Lakota Indian Police were sent to Sitting Bull's cabin to apprehend him for questioning regarding an emerging Ghost Dance movement. A force of over 40 men was sent for the job. At six in the morning, Indian Police kicked in his front door and escorted him outside. Sitting Bull's family members quickly exited the cabin, and some of his relatives and friends living next door were soon alerted to the commotion. As the crowd gathered they became infuriated and began to shout desperately at the Indian Police. Soon, the scene burst into gunfire, and by the time the guns went silent, Sitting Bull lay dead. He sustained a fatal gunshot to the chest.

In life, few had Sitting Bull's unique set of talents. Not only was he a brave and daring warrior, but he was an eloquent spokesman and statesman, as well as a powerful spiritual leader. In the history of Indian peoples, few if any, held the same unilateral power of that of Sitting Bull. In death, his resistance to white encroachment and abilities to lead have become legendary. . Sitting Bull and the Mounties By Ian Anderson The Canadian Mounties, originally called the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), were less than 3 years old when Sitting Bull’s Sioux killed or wounded more than half of Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer’s 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment near Montana Territory’s Little Bighorn River on June 25, 1876. Sitting Bull had not played a significant role in the actual fighting—it was not his place to fight like one of the young braves, and chiefs did not direct the movements of warriors—but the defiant Hunkpapa chief was well-known as a wise and powerful leader who wanted to be free to roam and hunt buffalo.

By the following summer, Sitting Bull was lodged in Canada, where the scarlet-clad lawmen would have a close and occasionally dangerous association with him for about four years. On May 7, 1877, some 11 months after Custer’s bloody disaster, 34-year-old NWMP Major James M. Walsh, a sergeant and three troopers followed an Indian trail to the dun-colored hills and ravines of Pinto Horse Butte, some 280 miles north of the Little Bighorn. The trail led up from the Montana border, about 50 miles to the south. A good-sized band had passed over this ground. The Indians had crossed into Canada’s North-West Territories close to where the White Mud—or Frenchman’s—River flowed down into Montana. According to Walsh’s two Métis (mixed-blood) scouts, this was Sitting Bull’s trail. If so, the NWMP, especially the 90-odd men Walsh commanded at Fort Walsh, would have no small task preserving law and order in the border country south and east of the Cypress Hills, in what would become the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Even before the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Walsh and the other Mounties had realized that the U.S. military operations against the Sioux and Cheyenne were likely to drive hostile Indians north across the border. It had only been a matter of time before Sitting Bull and his followers crossed into Canada. Still, it was one thing to expect their arrival but another to actually deal with them. Read More in Wild West Magazine Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!! Around noon on the 7th, Walsh’s scouts spotted mounted Indians sitting motionless on hilltops, watching them—a sign that an Indian camp was nearby. As they rode on, they saw more and more Indians on the hills, until the small patrol was surrounded. None of the Indians, however, made any attempt to stop the scouts. Moments later, Walsh and his men rounded a hill to find a large camp spread before them. Reining in, they sat in their saddles while a group of Indians rode toward them. Spotted Eagle, war chief of the Sans Arc Sioux, told them they were the first white men to dare approach Sitting Bull’s camp so unconcernedly. Walsh asked to meet Sitting Bull.

Shortly, the Hunkpapa chief, at the head of a retinue of lesser chiefs, approached. Walsh studied the chief, who was in his 40s (his exact birthdate in the 1830s is not certain), about 5 feet 10, with a muscular build. He had alert, crow-like eyes, a broad, pockmarked face, a prominent, hooked nose and a firm mouth; two long black braids hung down over his shoulders. He was bowlegged and walked with a limp. Sitting Bull must have been just as curious about Walsh and his Mounties. Walsh, almost as tall as Sitting Bull, held himself straight as a lance. Wiry as a mountain lion, he had intense brown eyes set in a weathered face, a full mustache, whiskers below his bottom lip and wavy brown hair beneath a blue and gold cap. Walsh and Sitting Bull shook hands. At first Sitting Bull treated the redcoats with cautious reserve, but he gradually warmed up to them. They all retired to the camp and sat down for a conference that lasted the remainder of the day.

Walsh asked them why they had come to the White Mother’s (Queen Victoria’s) country. To find peace, they replied. The Sioux claimed they had suffered greatly at the hands of the blue-clad Long Knives, that they had been fighting on the defensive for years. They hoped the White Mother, or Grandmother (the term preferred by the Sioux), would give them sanctuary in her land. Spotted Eagle said they had been forced to cross the medicine line (the border—the Sioux also called it ‘the big road’) to protect their women and children from the Long Knives. John Peter Turner, historian for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (that name didn’t come until 1920), wrote in Volume 1 of The North-West Mounted Police 1873­-1893: "Sitting Bull said, in effect, ‘Yesterday I was fleeing from white men, cursing them as I went. Today they erect their lodges by the side of mine and defy me. The White Forehead Chief (Walsh) walks to my lodge alone and unarmed. He gives me the hand of peace. Have I fallen?

Am I at the end?’ ” Walsh explained that the purpose of his visit was to find out their intentions and to tell the Sioux about the White Mother’s laws, which everyone, white men and red men alike, must obey. They must not make war against other tribes and must not steal horses or anything else. They must not kill or injure any other person. They must not use the White Mother’s country as a refuge from which to strike back across the border at the American soldiers. They could not remain in her country if they would not obey her laws, Walsh told them. Sitting Bull said he and his people would obey the laws, adding that he had ‘buried’ his weapons before crossing into the White Mother’s land. Sitting Bull liked what Walsh told him about the White Mother’s laws, especially the principle of justice for all, regardless of race. He showed Walsh medals King George III had given his grandfather for service to the British Crown during the War of 1812. His grandfather had fought alongside the red-coated soldiers of the Shaganosh (British) king.

They were good men, Sitting Bull’s grandfather had said, adding, "If you should ever wish to find peace, go north to the land of redcoats." Sitting Bull asked for ammunition for his people to hunt buffalo. He said they had used up all their bullets fighting off the Long Knives. Walsh agreed to allow them enough bullets to hunt meat, but he warned that no bullets were to be used for warfare across the border. Walsh and his men spent the night in the Sioux camp. The next morning, May 8, they were preparing to leave when three Assiniboines from below the border rode into camp herding five horses. One of Walsh’s scouts recognized three of the horses as the property of a Roman Catholic priest who had been in the Cypress Hills a short time before. Walsh stepped over to White Dog, leader of the three Assiniboines, and arrested him for theft. White Dog looked around at the Sioux warriors who had gathered about him, confident they wouldn’t allow these red-coated wasichus (white men) to take him. But Walsh was undeterred. The law had been broken.

Dangling a pair of leg irons in front of White Dog, Walsh said, "Tell me where you got these horses, how you got them, and what you intend doing with them, or I’ll clap these irons on you and take you away." Silence fell over the camp. All eyes were on the redcoat and White Dog. The Sioux were dumbfounded by the Mountie’s courage. Some were ready to fight for their Assiniboine brother, some stood confused, others waited to see if the redcoat would carry out his threat. Seeing the hesitation on the surrounding Sioux faces, White Dog mumbled that when traveling across the prairie east of the Cypress Hills, he saw the horses wandering loose and took them. He added that he hadn’t known it was wrong to do so, as south of the medicine line it was customary to take any horses wandering loose and return them only if their owner called upon the Indians to do so. Walsh didn’t believe him, but he gave him the benefit of the doubt. The law was explicit, but in instances where ignorance of the law was a factor, the Mounties exercised leniency. Stealing horses was, as R.C.

Macleod of the Department of History, University of Alberta, wrote in his book The North-West Mounted Police and Law Enforcement 1873-1905, "in the nature of a sport among the plains tribes. The police only gradually introduced the idea that it was a crime, preferring to return them [the horses] with a warning to the thieves rather than make arrests." Walsh released White Dog, but he seized the horses so he could return them on his way back to Fort Walsh, 110 miles to the west. He then gave White Dog a lecture on obeying the law in the White Mother’s country. Sitting Bull and the Sioux, or Lakotas, had witnessed an example of the enforcement of Canadian law. It was the sort of example Walsh wanted to set. He had not backed down. That was the way the 300 Mounties enforced the law among their own Indians–two or three scarlet-coated men riding calmly into large camps of armed Indians and making arrests or letting offenders off with stern warnings. Not backing down and never showing fear was perhaps the reason they—a mere handful of resolute men—were so successful in their dealings with the Indians. The Indians admired courage, perhaps above all else.

Walsh had given Sitting Bull something to think about. Read More in Wild West Magazine Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!! Sitting Bull and his 1,000 or so followers were not the only Sioux to have crossed into Canada. The previous December, Black Moon, a Hunkpapa chief and cousin of Sitting Bull, had arrived with 52 lodges and settled with many other Hunkpapas, Minneconjous, Ogalalas, Sans Arcs and Two Kettles. In March 1877, Sitting Bull’s uncle Chief Four Horns had led another large band across the medicine line. Now, in May, with the arrival of Sitting Bull’s band, the Sioux in Canada numbered about 4,000. The Sioux all promised to obey Canadian law, but no one knew whether they really meant it. Ottawa wasn’t taking any chances; the Canadian government wanted the Sioux out of its territory. At Ottawa’s request, in August 1877, some three months after Sitting Bull’s arrival up north, the U.S. government appointed a peace commission to meet with the Sioux.

The commission’s mission supposedly was to persuade the Indians to return to the United States and surrender to the Army in exchange for a full pardon. Brigadier General Alfred H. Terry, commander of the military force that had marched on the Sioux at the Little Bighorn the previous year, headed the commission. At first Sitting Bull refused to meet with Terry, but Walsh convinced the chief to journey from the Sioux village near Pine Horse Butte to Fort Walsh and hear out the Americans. The meeting took place October 17, with predictable results. Sitting Bull did not trust Terry, the man who had sent Custer, and the Sioux refused to go back. Sitting Bull biographer Robert Utley has suggested that the United States did not really want Sitting Bull back, and that it put pressure on Canada to adopt Sitting Bull and his people as ‘Canadian Indians.’ Sitting Bull’s distrust was intensified by his awareness that Colonel Nelson A. ‘Bear Coat’ Miles was hovering just below the border, having defeated Chief Joseph and other Nez Perces at Montana’s Bear Paw Mountains two weeks earlier.

One of the Nez Perce chiefs, White Bird, and 98 Nez Perce men, 50 women and about 50 children had escaped Miles’ forces at the Bear Paws and reached Sitting Bull’s camp on October 8. Even before the U.S. peace commission meeting at Fort Walsh, newspapers on both sides of the border warned their readers of troubles to come from the Sioux, as detailed by Canadian historian Grant MacEwan in his 1973 book Sitting Bull: The Years in Canada. The Montreal Witness of August 16, 1877, reported that Sitting Bull had asked his hereditary enemies the Canadian Blackfeet "to join him in the conflict with the hated American Government, after which he would help them with any conflict they might have with the Canadian Government." The Fort Benton Record (Montana) ran a story headlined ‘Sitting Bull Preparing For Spring Campaign’ that said the Assiniboines, Gros Ventres, Crows and Piegans would join the Sioux chief.

The Toronto Globe of September 25, 1877, warned its readers that Wood Mountain, a Métis settlement near Pinto Horse Butte, "could erupt at any time." The Globe said a report from Helena, Mont., alleged that Sitting Bull was on the verge of leading all the northern tribes against the U.S. forces, adding that "Sitting Bull is amply supplied with ammunition." The stories persisted, especially after the failure of the peace commission meeting in October. The Fort Benton Record of April 5, 1878, reported that Bloods, Northern Blackfeet, Crees, North Assiniboines, Piegans, Kootenais, Sarcees (all Canadian tribes) and Gros Ventres had been approached by Sitting Bull, who was "sparing no effort to form a league among these congregated tribes….He appeared with 30 of his best warriors dressed in the clothing of soldiers killed in the Custer Massacre, and called upon assembled Indians to witness how he had treated the soldiers and how easy [it would be] to clean out all the whites and have the country among ourselves….Mr.

Thomas O’Halloran, in charge of Fort Belknap [on the Milk River in northern Montana, near the Bear Paw Mountains], considers the situation critical." Two weeks later, on April 19, the Fort Benton Record reported that residents of the Canadian settlement of Battleford, on the North Saskatchewan River, were "greatly excited" over an account that Sitting Bull had formed an alliance of Sioux, Blackfoot and Stoney tribes and had made overtures to the Cree. The alliance’s apparent intentions were to carry out widespread raiding. "A camp of seven hundred lodges of Sioux at the Sand Hills, sixty-five miles from Fort Walsh, [was] growing with new arrivals hourly…four wagon loads of cartridges arrived at camp [in one day]….The Nez Perce [and] the Blackfeet have all formed a treaty with Sitting Bull [and] the Blackfeet are on the Belly River [near Fort Macleod] in force….It is supposed that the attack is to be made on the Cypress Hills [Fort Walsh] and Fort Macleod." The Mounties investigated these stories but found they had little real substance. Powerful Blackfoot Chief Crow Foot confirmed that Sitting Bull had made overtures to him.

Crow Foot said that in the spring of 1876, before the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull had asked him to join the Sioux in a mighty war against the Americans, but he had refused. Sitting Bull had been in contact with him again in the summer of 1877, when they met during a buffalo hunt, but the subject of an alliance had not been mentioned. When Walsh traveled to and from Ottawa by rail via the northern United States in early 1878 and in the latter part of May (Canada’s nation-spanning railroad—the Canadian Pacific—wasn’t completed until November 1885), he often was questioned by journalists. The man the American press dubbed ‘Sitting Bull’s Boss’ dismissed rumors of a grand alliance under Sitting Bull. He stated emphatically that Sitting Bull’s Sioux—now numbering about 5,000, including some of the followers of Oglala Sioux Chief Crazy Horse, who had been killed by a soldier’s bayonet on September 5, 1877—were not part of any such plan. In his opinion, traders often passed on such stories to Army scouts hungry for news to report to their superiors.

When, in May 1878, Walsh was asked by a journalist of the Chicago Times about the possibility of a confederation of all the tribes north of the border, he answered, "It is not natural to suppose that the Sioux and the Blackfoot could become allies." As for stories of the Sioux having ample supplies of ammunition, Walsh pointed out that his men rigidly enforced government restrictions allowing the Sioux only enough bullets for hunting. He added that the Mounties regularly patrolled all smugglers’ routes into the country occupied by the Sioux. Rumors that Louis Riel, exiled leader of a Métis insurrection in Manitoba in 1869-70, was attempting to form an Indian-Métis alliance were, however, another matter. Riel, living in Montana, tried throughout 1878 to form an alliance of all the "Indian blood…between the Saskatchewan and the Missouri" to rise up against the whites and reclaim the prairies, which he maintained rightly belonged to them. His actual objectives were vaguely stated.

He was capitalizing on Indian unrest over their changing way of life, especially the growing shortage of buffalo, but he was really more concerned with seizing control of Canada’s North-West Territories than he was with the American side of the border, as was evidenced by his part in the abortive North-West Rebellion of Métis and some Indians in 1885. The Assiniboines of northern Montana were the first to join Riel. As soon as Walsh learned of Riel’s activities, he rode down to Wolf Point, along the Missouri River, where the Assiniboine camp was located, and talked them out of Riel’s alliance. Then he rode back north across the border and into the camps of Sitting Bull and the other Sioux chiefs, reminding them of their promises to obey the Queen’s law and to keep the peace. Walsh placed great store in a man’s word, as did Sitting Bull and the Sioux. He sent word to the Indian agents in Montana on whose agencies Riel and his Métis agitators and allies camped. The agents, in turn, informed the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Army was ordered to take action.

Before winter snows swept across the northern Plains in 1878, soldiers, U.S. marshals and customs officers swooped onto the reserves and dispersed the Métis, seizing their weapons and ammunition, moving those who admitted to being Canadian back across the border and the others to more southerly regions of Montana. This action effectively broke up Riel’s alliance. In the fall of 1878, Sitting Bull warned Walsh of the impending arrival of a group of Cheyennes in Canada. He had similarly warned Walsh of the coming of the Nez Perce the previous year. But this time he was wrong; the U.S. Army stopped the Cheyennes from getting that far north. Although Sitting Bull might well have dreamed of welding the Cheyennes and other northern tribes into a mighty confederation and striking back at the Americans, he constantly expressed hope that the White Mother would give him a reservation in Canada, as she had given the Sioux who fled north following the Minnesota Uprising in 1862. The presence of 5,000 Sioux in Canada was making drastic inroads into the numbers of buffalo–the Plains Indians’ principal food source–and each year there were fewer and fewer of them.

In 1876, the Canadian government had estimated that there were enough buffalo to feed its western Indians for at least another five years. But since the arrival of the Sioux, the government had had to drastically revise that estimate. The Canadian tribes realized the buffalo were becoming fewer, and they blamed the Sioux. The danger of inter-tribal conflicts grew, calling for greater vigilance by the North-West Mounted Police. The government did not want to burden itself with the cost of feeding the Sioux. Canada’s fundamental policy remained unchanged. The Sioux would have to eventually go back to their own country. Some of Sitting Bull’s young warriors became restive. If no food or reserve were forthcoming, they would simply take what they wanted. Inhabitants of the Wood Mountain region–the Métis–began to lose horses. That Sioux indulgence in one of the Plains tribes’ most cherished activities tried the patience of Walsh and his men. It caused them no end of additional police work, patrolling and hours in the saddle. Early in the summer of 1879, a party of young Sioux warriors ran off 50 or more horses belonging to a Métis named Poitras, who went to their camp and demanded them back.

The Sioux laughed at him. He was perhaps fortunate they did nothing more than laugh. He then rode to the NWMP post at the Métis settlement at Wood Mountain, where Walsh had relocated his headquarters to be closer to the Sioux camps, and complained. Walsh, one of his men and a Métis scout set out with Poitras to look for the horses. Unsuccessful, Walsh called on Sitting Bull, bluntly telling him he wanted the horses, that if he didn’t get them he’d invite Nelson Miles–for whom he had a great admiration–to cross the border and force the Sioux back to their own country. Sitting Bull bristled, but the bluff worked. He felt the stakes were too high to allow defiance by his young men. The horses were turned over. "A few weeks later," wrote John Peter Turner, "Sitting Bull returned to [the Wood Mountain settlement] with a big retinue, including the chiefs Four Horns and Black Moon." Buffalo hunting hadn’t been very good, and they were feeling the pangs of hunger. They rode up in front of Walsh’s quarters, one of several log cabins comprising the Mounted Police post.

Sliding down from their ponies, they stepped into the cabin and shook hands solemnly with the Mountie officer. Walsh sent for his Métis interpreter, Cajou Morin. After talking with them, Morin turned to Walsh: "They want provisions, Major, especially tea and tobacco." Sitting Bull had more to say. He complained about the White Mother’s lack of compassion for the Sioux, the Canadian government’s niggardly attitude toward providing food, even though the Mounties often gave them food from their own supplies. Walsh listened to Sitting Bull’s thinly veiled threats of what would happen if provisions were not forthcoming. This was too much for Walsh, who was well known for his blunt language. "Who do you think you are? Have you forgotten that you’re American Indians? You haven’t any right to be in Canada. You’ve caused us police any amount of trouble. You’ve stolen horses. You’ve been a goddamn nuisance. You seem to think all white men are afraid of you. Well, you’re wrong. Get your goddamn provisions at the trading post.

If you keep on making trouble, I’ll put the whole damn lot of you in jail!" "Be careful, Wahonkeza [Walsh’s Sioux name]," Sitting Bull replied. "You’re talking to the head of the mighty Sioux Nation." "I know who I’m talking to. What I said still stands. And if there’s any more horse stealing, I’ll put irons on you, too!" Read More in Wild West Magazine Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!! Sitting Bull fumed. Shaking a finger at Walsh, he said, "No man can talk to me like that!" He reached for a revolver on his belt, but Walsh grabbed him and threw him out of the cabin. Sitting Bull landed on the ground. When he tried to get up, Walsh kicked him in the buttocks. Furious, Sitting Bull climbed to his feet, again reaching for his revolver, but one of the other chiefs grabbed and restrained him. After a struggle, Sitting Bull tired and slumped to the ground, and the other chief released him. A moment later the Hunkpapa chief got up and stalked away. Walsh ran over to the adjacent barracks. "Get ready, men," he shouted.

"There may be trouble." Mounties tumbled out of the barracks, holding their rifles at the ready, and formed themselves into a line behind him. Up the street, the Indians gathered in a noisy mob in front of the trading post. A few minutes later they headed toward the Mounted Police post, Sitting Bull leading them on his cream-colored pony. Walsh ordered Morin to pull out two long poles from the hay corral and lay them on the ground out in front of the post. "Tell them not to cross those poles. The first one who does will be sorry." When the oncoming Sioux got closer, Morin shouted Walsh’s warning to them. Sitting Bull’s smoldering eyes were locked onto Walsh as he rode toward him. Walsh stood in front of his men, staring back at the Sioux chief. Then, just before he reached the poles on the ground, Sitting Bull yanked on his pony’s reins. The pony stopped suddenly. Sitting Bull’s Sioux bunched up behind him. Walsh and Sitting Bull continued staring back at each other. Finally, Sitting Bull wheeled his pony and rode off. In small bunches the others did the same, heading toward their camp.

Sitting Bull had been poised to stab his dagger into the hearts of the White Mother’s redcoats, but in the end he could not do it. Walsh was the only white man to stand before him—practically alone—and defy him, but Walsh was also the only white man he could trust, the only white man he could rely on. The Sioux slipped back across the border from time to time, not to make war on the Americans but to hunt buffalo. On July 17, 1879, a hunting party that included Sitting Bull ventured south of the Milk River and exchanged shots with Bear Coat Miles’ soldiers and Crow scouts. Sitting Bull was said to have bested Magpie, one of the Crows, after being challenged to personal combat during the battle. Miles’ howitzers eventually forced the Sioux to withdraw to defensive positions north of the border. This skirmish near the Milk River strengthened Sitting Bull’s resolve not to surrender to the Army. He was convinced they were waiting for him to do so and would then punish him for what had happened at the Little Bighorn. But empty bellies rumbled loudly, and many Sioux eyes turned southward.

In early August, Sitting Bull told Walsh that he would take his warriors back across the line to meet Miles’ soldiers in battle, adding that none of his soldiers would live to tell the tale. Walsh took this to be a mere boast, but he told Sitting Bull that such an action would be unwise, for eventually he must return to his own country, that the Americans would not forgive any more casualties among their soldiers. Continuing slaughter of the buffalo herds in the United States by both Indians and whites had reduced their numbers to such an extent by 1878 that the large herds were no longer migrating north; only small scattered herds crossed the border. Not only the Sioux but also Canadian Indians were close to starving. The Canadian government was obliged by various treaties to feed its own Indians, but it had no such obligation to the Sioux. Despite the reluctance of most Sioux to put themselves at the mercy of the American government, the thought that food might be more readily obtainable drove small bands of them (about 200 to 300 lodges) back over the medicine line in July 1879 to surrender to military authorities at Fort Keogh, at the mouth of the Tongue River on the Yellowstone.

In November, 25 more lodges returned. Others watched from the safety of Canadian soil and followed when they were assured their brothers were being treated reasonably. By the summer of 1880, an estimated 3,700 Sioux had returned to their own country. Sitting Bull, though, was a holdout, still refusing to trust the Americans. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, who had launched the Mounted Police in 1873 and played a major role in the development of the Canadian West, had become convinced that Walsh was being too sympathetic to Sitting Bull, that his sympathy was encouraging the Sioux chief to remain in Canada. According to R.C. Macleod, Macdonald believed "Walsh was deliberately keeping the Sioux in Canada because he enjoyed the publicity his association with Sitting Bull brought him. In November 1879, Macdonald confided his suspicion to the Governor General." The following year, Macdonald had Walsh transferred from Wood Mountain to Fort Qu’Appelle, a longtime Hudson’s Bay Company trading post and a growing farming community 160 trail miles northeast. Sitting Bull was devastated when he learned that Walsh would be leaving.

The chief presented him with his eagle feather war bonnet, telling him: "Take this, my friend. I hope I never need it again. Every feather symbolizes a deed of courage when the Lakota were strong." Walsh was deeply touched. He and Sitting Bull had had a few differences, but, despite these, a deep friendship existed between them. Before Walsh left Wood Mountain in July 1880, Sitting Bull asked him if he would plead with the White Mother to give him and his people a reserve in Canada. Walsh replied that it would be useless for him to do this, that "Bull" and his people would have to eventually return to the United States. Sitting Bull then asked Walsh if he would go to Washington to speak to the White House on his behalf. Walsh had some leave coming, and he told Sitting Bull that if the prime minister permitted him, he would go to Washington. Sitting Bull wanted to be assured that he and his people would be treated fairly if they went back, that they would not be singled out for punishment for their victory over Custer. After taking command of the enlarged Mountie post at Fort Qu’Appelle, Walsh went on leave to Ontario via Winnipeg, St. Paul and Chicago.

After reaching his hometown of Brockville, Ontario, not far from Ottawa, he obtained an interview with Prime Minister Macdonald. They discussed the Sitting Bull matter, but Macdonald refused to give Walsh permission to go to Washington. Walsh’s successor at Wood Mountain was Inspector Lief N.F. (‘Paddy’) Crozier, whose instructions were to persuade Sitting Bull and the remaining Sioux to return to their own country. Although an experienced and capable officer, Crozier had an officious manner, and he was unable to gain Sitting Bull’s confidence. Besides, Sitting Bull still had his mind set on obtaining a reservation in Canada, and he hoped that his old friend might still be able to do something for him. At the end of April 1881, Sitting Bull took the remnants of his band—about 200 to 400 people—and went to Fort Qu’Appelle looking for Walsh. Macdonald, foreseeing the possibility of something like this, had given Walsh extra leave to keep him in Ontario. Although Macdonald had forbidden Walsh to go to Washington, the prime minister apparently hadn’t said anything about Chicago. Walsh had a senior Indian Bureau friend there who was familiar with the Sioux situation.

Walsh went to see him, and his friend promised he would contact influential friends in cabinet positions in Washington who would intercede on Sitting Bull’s behalf. "Walsh resolved to send a message to [Sitting Bull]," wrote Grant MacEwan. "He wanted to avoid official channels." Walsh sent word to Sitting Bull through a trusted Métis, Louis Daniels, who had served as a scout under him. "Daniels carried out his instructions faithfully,’ MacEwan added. "Sitting Bull had heard similar assurances from other people but was not convinced. If Walsh said it, however, it was all the Sioux leader needed. He would take his remaining followers to Fort Buford [Dakota Territory]." Jean Louis Legaré, a French-Canadian trader who operated a trading store at Wood Mountain, had befriended many Sioux in Canada. He had already assisted some Sioux with provisions and accompanied them to Fort Buford—at the mouth of the Yellowstone River on the Missouri—where they had surrendered. He decided to do the same for Sitting Bull. Accompanied by Legaré and Inspector Alexander A.

Macdonnell of the Mounted Police, Sitting Bull and his followers surrendered to military authorities at Fort Buford on July 19, 1881 (a formal surrender was held the next day). Sitting Bull became a prisoner of war and was held at Fort Randall, Dakota Territory. In May 1883, he was transferred to the Standing Rock Agency, near Fort Yates on the Missouri River (present-day North Dakota). The next year he took up residence along the Grand River (present-day South Dakota). The famous chief was killed there in a fight with tribal police on December 15, 1890. According to Grant MacEwan, Major Walsh wrote of Sitting Bull the day after the chief’s death: "I am glad to hear that Bull is relieved of his miseries, even if it took the bullet to do it. A man who wielded such power as Bull once did, that of a King, and over a wild spirited people, cannot endure abject poverty…without suffering great mental pain, and death is a relief. I regret now that I had not gone to Standing Rock and seen him. Bull had been misrepresented. He was not the bloodthirsty man reports made him out to be.

He asked for nothing but justice. He was not a cruel man. He was kind of heart. He was not dishonest. He was truthful. He loved his people and was glad to give his hand in friendship to any man who was honest with him." As for James Walsh, his service with the NWMP did not last much longer. "By 1881, Macdonald had convinced himself that Walsh was wholly responsible for the Canadian government’s embarrassment over Sitting Bull," R.C. Macleod wrote. "Walsh was given extended leave to remove him from the scene…Macdonald had found a scapegoat and Walsh…was forced to resign in 1883." Upon leaving the North-West Mounted Police, Walsh established the Dominion Coal, Coke and Transportation Company and helped open coal mining in the Souris District of Manitoba. He died at Brockville, Ontario, July 25, 1905, at age 62. This article was written by Ian Anderson and originally appeared in the February 1998 issue of Wild West. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Wild West magazine today!

Sitting Bull Sitting Bull Chief Sitting Bull SITTING BULL (1837ï¿½1890), was a beloved medicine man and chief of the Sioux Indian Tribe. Chief Sitting Bull was born in about 1837 in what is now North Dakota. He was the son of Sioux chief Jumping Bull. He gained significant influence among the restless and dissatisfied young Indians. During the Civil War he orchestrated raids on white settlers in Iowa and Minnesota. Though he had agreed to peace in 1866, from 1869 to 1876 he frequently attacked whites that had encroached on the traditional territories of the Sioux Nation. His refusal to return to the reservation in 1876 led to the campaign in which General George Armstrong Custer , and his 7th Cavalry, were wiped out at the Battle of Little Big Horn, also knows as " Custer's Last Stand ". Fearing retribution for his participation in the stunning victory of the Sioux Nation, and Allied Indian tribes, Sitting Bull with a large band moved into Canada. He returned to the US in 1881, and after 1883 lived at the Standing Rock Agency.

In 1889 a treaty was made reducing Sioux territory. Difficulties in the working of this, and religious excitement in connection with the Ghost Dance craze, led to an outbreak in 1890. Rumors of a coming Indian Messiah who would defeat the whites, and Indian dissatisfaction at the disposition of their territory, created such great turmoil in 1889ï¿½1890 that the US Army decided to arrest Sitting Bull as a precaution. Indian Affairs officials became concerned that would give support to the movement and decided to arrest him. Attempting to preempt the army, 43 Indian police tried to arrest him at his home on December 15, 1890, at the Standing Rock Agency. Sitting Bull did not try to resist, but some of his followers came to his support. As Sitting Bull came out of his house, a large group of supporters had assembled. One of the men, Catch the Bear, fired his gun. Sitting Bull was then shot by the police, killing him.

- - - - - - - Footnote: The name "Sioux" is an abbreviation of the French corruption Nadaouesioux of the Algonquian name Nadowesiwug, which means " little snakes. " The Sioux referred to themselves as Dakotas, which means allies. The Sioux were divided into seven clans, and the name they often used was, Otceti Cakowin, which means " the seven council-fires. " There was a further division into eastern and western groups. The former were generally agricultural, and the latter skilled horsemen. The Sioux were ever conspicuous, even among Indians, for their courage and strength. The Sioux fought on the British side in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. In 1815 a treaty was made with the United States which granted the Sioux a huge parcel of land, including much of Minnesota, most of the Dakotas, and a large part of Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Wyoming. In 1837 the tribe sold all their territory east of the Mississippi.

In 1851 the majority of their Minnesota territory was sold, but a glitch in the carrying out of the agreement led to an uprising and massacre of whites in 1857 at Spirit Lake on the Minnesota-Iowa border. There was peace again till 1862, when once again the tribe revolted and attacked the white settlers. A terrible massacre ensued, and the punitive measures adopted were severe. Thirty-nine of the Indian leaders were hanged from the same scaffold, and all the Minnesota Sioux were moved to reservations in Dakota. These conflicts and hostilities led to the most famed battle of the old west, The Battle of Little Big Horn, where the Sioux defeated Custer. Sitting Bull - Native American History - HISTORY.com Google Born in the Grand River Valley in what is now South Dakota , Sitting Bull, or Tatanka Yotanka, received early recognition from his tribe as a warrior and man of vision. During his youth he joined in the usual tribal raids for horses against traditional enemies such as the Crow and Assiniboin. Did You Know? The Lakota Sioux often used several names over the course of their lifetime.

In his youth, Sitting Bull was known as "Jumping Badger." Because the Hunkpapa lived and hunted north of the early routes of western travel, Sitting Bull had little contact with whites until the Santee Sioux uprising in Minnesota in 1862. When the defeated Indians were driven west to the plains, he heard from them what life was like on a reservation. In July 1864, he was one of the defenders when Gen. Alfred Sully used artillery against a Teton encampment at Killdeer Mountain. It was during this period that Sitting Bull formed his resolve to keep his people away from the white man’s world and never to sign a treaty that would force them to live on a reservation. With other Sioux leaders he soon took his followers to the pristine valleys of the Powder and Yellowstone rivers where buffalo and other game were abundant. He continually warned his followers that their survival as free Indians depended upon the buffalo. During this time, Red Cloud of the Oglala subtribe was the leader of the Tetons, but Sitting Bull’s influence as a holy man was steadily growing. Beginning in the summer of 1865 columns of U.S. soldiers repeatedly invaded the Powder River country.

Sitting Bull had occasional encounters with them, learning their ways of fighting, their strengths and weaknesses. After Red Cloud signed the Fort Laramie treaty of 1868, and then agreed to live on a reservation, his influence waned. Sitting Bull’s disdain for treaties and reservation life soon attracted a large following not only from the Sioux but from the Cheyenne and Arapaho. In 1873, he and Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer skirmished briefly while Custer was guarding surveyors for the Northern Pacific Railroad in Montana Territory. Three years later they met again on the Little Bighorn in the battle that made both men famous. Sitting Bull was not a war leader in that fight, but he had predicted that many soldiers would fall, and his followers believed that his magical powers had brought the victory. Although Sitting Bull survived, an aroused and vengeful army forced him to flee to Canada. In 1881 he returned to the United States, surrendered, and was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Randall, South Dakota Territory. After two years he was permitted to live on Standing Rock Reservation where he continued to use his influence to keep Sioux lands from being taken by the government.

In 1885 he traveled for a season with Buffalo Bill Cody’s wild west show. The rise of the Ghost Dance, a tribal religion that proclaimed that all whites would disappear and dead Indians and buffalo would return, brought him into disfavor with government officials in 1890 because he made no effort to stop the dancing at Standing Rock. When Indian police were sent to arrest him on December 15, 1890, Sitting Bull was killed in a melee outside his cabin. The Reader’s Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors. Copyright © 1991 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Tags Chief Sitting Bull | Little Big Horn Chief Sitting Bull Chief Sitting Bull Sitting Bull was born in what is now known as South Dakota in 1831 and joined his first war party at the age of 14. His father was a revered Sioux warrior named Returns-Again and from childhood Sitting Bull sought to live up to his father’s reputation.

While he was considered “slow” at a young age, Sitting Bull killed his first buffalo at only 10-years-old and fought bravely in a war against a rival clan at the age of 14. Sitting-Bull grew into adulthood in a world where his very way of life was being threatened by encroaching American settlement. In 1863, Sitting Bull fought American soldiers for the first time. One year later, he would lead another campaign against U.S. troops and his attack on Fort Rice in 1865 led to his being named Chief Sitting Bull of the Lakota nation in 1868. To this day he is arguably the most revered of all Native American Chiefs in recorded history. When gold was discovered on Sioux land, the U.S. government tabled a treaty with the tribe and allowed settlers to rush into Sioux territory. To make matters worse for the tribe, the government declared war on any Sioux who tried to prevent prospectors from taking over the land. Chief Sitting Bull refused to abide by the conditions, vowing to protect his land as well as his people.

During a Sun Dance Ceremony on the Little Bighorn River, it is said Sitting Bull danced for 36 hours straight and had a vision of his people defeating the American army. He shared the vision with his people. Just a week later Chief Sitting Bull went up against General Custer in the epic Battle at Little Bighorn, laying waste to the general and more than 200 of his men. Humiliated by the defeat, the American government went after Sitting Bull with renowned vigor, and larger numbers. Chief Sitting Bull was forced to lead his people to Canada, where they laid low for four years.He returned to Dakota territory in 1881 and was held as a prisoner for about two years. In 1885, Sitting Bull joined Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show on the recommendation of his friend, sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The Sioux leader made a lot of money traveling with the show, but didn’t enjoy the performances or the way he was treated by some audience members. Sitting Bull decided to return to Dakota Territory and live among his people. He moved to a cabin by the Grand River near the place of his birth and lived his life on his own terms, rejecting Christianity and honoring Sioux traditions.

In 1890, authorities ordered a group of police officers to arrest Sitting Bull based on his involvement with a group of Native Americans known as Ghost Dancers, who they believed were going to flee the reservation. Roughly 39 police officers and a few volunteers surrounded the chief’s cabin. Sitting bull was arrested and led outside his cabin – but refused to mount a horse as ordered. When police used force, the other Sioux in the village grew enraged and one opened fire on police, who in turn shot Sitting Bull in the chest and head. Sitting Bull for the camera: Fascinating pictures of Native Americans show an ancient culture on the edge of a new world | Daily Mail Online Next Sitting (Bull) for the camera: Fascinating pictures of Native Americans capture an ancient culture on the edge of a new world They are among 127 images collected by English adventurer Charles Alston Messiter at the end of the 19th century They include Sioux chief Sitting Bull, famous for his legendary victory over General Custer at Little Bighorn The pictures are to go under the hammer at Special Auction Services on October 23 for between £100 and £5,000

Question: Sitting Bull was chief of what group?
Answer: Sioux