The life of a sitting bull biography
Home / Historical Figures / The life of a sitting bull biography
There he came under the jurisdiction of Indian agent James McLaughlin, and a sustained clash of wills and philosophies ensued.
The life and tragic death of Sitting Bull
Perhaps most famous for his role in the Battle of Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull was a chief of the Lakota (Sioux) tribe in the 19th century.
The government – and in particular Major James McLaughlin – saw Sitting Bull as a potential exponent of the movement and ordered his arrest.
When more than 40 Lakota Indian Police officers arrived to apprehend Sitting Bull on 15th December 1890, he initially went peacefully. After this fight, the army systematically hunted Native peoples, and by the fall of 1876 Sitting Bull was one of the few leaders still resisting surrender and living outside his agency.
When George Armstrong Custer invaded the sacred Black Hills in 1874 Sitting Bull played a key role in gathering Lakota and Cheyenne warriors to defend their land. Sitting Bull’s camp was attacked by General George Armstrong Custer, who led some 200 men to their deaths as they were easily slaughtered by the much greater numbers of Native Americans.
By May of 1877 Sitting Bull and about 400 followers had sought refuge in Saskatchewan, settling between Wood Mountain and Fort Qu'Appelle. In July 1881, Sitting Bull found it impossible to go on and he surrendered to US forces.
After spending several years as a prisoner of war in Fort Randall on the Missouri River, Sitting Bull eventually fell in with the rodeo entertainer Buffalo Bill Cody.
Following the assassination a riot erupted and six policemen and eight of Sitting Bull’s followers, including his son Crow Foot, were killed. Starvation was never far away, and the Dominion of Canada would not provide food or other support, so after lengthy discussion with Canadian and American officials, on July 19, 1881, Sitting Bull and 200 followers crossed into the United States and handed over horses and weapons at Fort Buford.
He joined Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show in 1885 and 1886 and then returned to the Reservation. Nonetheless, the land was lost in 1889, and against this backdrop word of the Ghost Dance spread among the Sioux.
By daybreak on December 15, 1890, following an intense fight, Sitting Bull was dead, and eight of his followers and six Indian police lay dead or dying.
See also IMAGES AND ICONS: Wild West Shows / LAW: Indian Police / RELIGION: Ghost Dance / WAR: Little Bighorn, Battle of the.
Carole A. Barrett
University of MaryManzione, Joseph.
1831-1890)
Indian chief Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull (Tantanka Iyotanka) was born in the early 1830s along the Grand River at a place called Many Caches near present-day Bullhead, South Dakota. When the authorities came down on the side of the goldrush settlers and ordered the Oceti Sakowin to vacate the lands by 31st January 1876 (an impossible task even if they had wished to comply), the stage was set for violence.
Rosebud and Little Bighorn
On 17th June of the same year, General George Crook took to the battlefield against a force comprised of Oceti Sakowin, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors united under Sitting Bull’s leadership and fighting under Crazy Horse’s command.
Sitting Bull struggled to maintain a sense of nationhood and to preserve traditional Lakota values, while McLaughlin enforced federal policy. New York: Henry Holt, 1993.
Vestal, Stanley. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1932.
XML: egp.na.109.xml
.
Despite the U.S. government's assurances he would be repatriated with the Hunkpapa at Standing Rock Agency, Sitting Bull and about 100 of his people were held in detention at Fort Randall in southeastern Dakota Territory.In May 1883 Sitting Bull was permitted to join his people at Standing Rock.
On December 12, 1890, arrest orders for Sitting Bull were sent from Washington. On June 17th warriors under Sitting Bull engaged the forces of General George Crook in the Battle of the Rosebud and sent the U.S. troops into retreat. His leadership and bravery earned him the rank of chief of the Oklala Lakota tribe in 1866 and overall chief of the entire Oceti Sakowin people the following year, with Crazy Horse as his deputy.