Sitting Bull
Chief Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotake)
Hunkpapa Sioux (1831-1890)
Lakota Medicine Man and Chief was considered the last Sioux to surrender to the U.S. Government.
Sitting Bull, or Tatanka Iyotake, was a great leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota group who helped defeat Gen. George Custer at the Little Bighorn.
Born on Grand River, S.Dak., from his early adulthood Sitting Bull fought hostile tribes and white intruders on Sioux lands. He excelled in the virtues most admired by the Sioux: bravery, fortitude, generosity, and wisdom. With chiefs Crazy Horse and Gall, he stood fast against surrendering land or mining rights in the Black Hills after gold was discovered there in the mid-1870s.
In the early 1850s, the Lakota (Sioux) had begun to feel the pressure of the white expansion into the Western United States. Sitting Bull did not participate in the resistance until 1863 when the settlers threatened the Hunkpapa hunting grounds. He had distinguished himself from an early age as a leader, killing his first buffalo at ten and "counting coup" (hitting their enemie with a stick that usually had a rock, buffalo horn or something else that would hurt their enemie. The coup was more brave than killing their enemie. After they would count their coup the enemie would be scalped) at fourteen. Because of his leadership during these times he was named principle chief of the Teton Sioux Nation in 1867.
Although the war with the whites ended with the treaty of Ft. Laramie in 1868, the discovery of gold in the Black Hills which was sacred to the tribe caused continued tensions.
After participating in the Sun Dance Ceremony, Sitting Bull had a vision in which he saw his people victorious over the white soldiers who had been sent to protect the gold prospectors. Just weeks later, General George Armstrong Custer and a regiment of the seventh cavalry attacked the seven bands of the Lakota Nation along with several families of the Cheyenne and Arapaho.
Gall, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull successfully attacked Custer at the Little Bighorn (1876), after which Sitting Bull and other Sioux fled to Canada. The attack was clearly in violation of their treaty. Precisely as Sitting Bull had seen in his vision, every white soldier was killed that day at Big Horn along with a few Native Americans. Following the success of the battle, Sitting Bull and his followers headed for Canada.
Returning in 1881, he was imprisoned for 2 years before going back to Standing Rock Reservation. After the paticularly harsh winter of 1881, Sitting Bull, and those of his group who were still with him, finally gave themselves up to the American army. Sitting Bull was held prisoner for two years before he was moved to the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota.
In 1885, officials released him and he joined the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and toured throughout Europe. Some observers have said that the reason he was allowed to travel with Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show was to keep Sitting Bull away from the reservation.
Sitting Bull remained a powerful force among his people, and upon his return to the U.S. would counsel the tribal chiefs who greatly valued his wisdom.
Shortly after his return, the federal government again wanted to break up the tribal lands. They persuaded several "government appointed chiefs" to sign an agreement, whereby the reservation was to be divided up and subsequently distributed among the tribal members. Missing from the list of recipients was Sitting Bull's name. Jealousy and fighting among the Lakota eventually led to his death.
In 1890, shortly before the massacre of the Sioux at Wounded Knee, Sitting Bull permitted Grand River people to join the antiwhite ghost dance cult and was therefore arrested. In the fracas that followed he was killed by Indian police. His remains are buried near Mobridge, S.Dak. He is still revered at Standing Rock Reservation.
Sitting Bull predicted that he would die by the hands his own kind not a white man. Also he predicted a massacre by the white man and a victory that the Native Americans would have. His predictions came true. In 1890 he was accidentally shot by an Native American police officer, the massacre at Wounded knee by the white man, and the victory by the Sioux, Arapahoe, Cheyenne nations at Little Big Horn.
Sitting Bull was one of the most famous person of the West during this time. Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and Custer were probably the most famous people of the west during this time.
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