Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull, originally named Tatanka Iyotanka, was a prominent leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota tribe and a key figure in Native American resistance to U.S. expansion during the 19th century. Born in what is now South Dakota, he grew up in a nomadic hunter-warrior society, developing skills in hunting and warfare from an early age. By the age of fourteen, he had already earned the name "Sitting Bull," symbolizing strength and resilience. As chief, he demonstrated remarkable leadership during conflicts with white settlers, particularly during the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn, where his forces achieved a significant victory against General Custer's troops.
Sitting Bull refused to sign treaties that ceded Lakota lands, believing fiercely in the protection of his people’s hunting grounds and way of life. Following the battle, he led his people to Canada to escape U.S. military pressure, returning only when resources dwindled. In his later years, Sitting Bull became involved in entertainment, participating in tours and performances that portrayed his legacy, yet he remained a symbol of resistance for the Lakota. His life ended tragically in 1890 during an encounter with U.S. officials, marking a poignant chapter in the narrative of Native American history and the struggle against colonization.
Subject Terms
Sitting Bull
Holy Man
- Born: March 1, 1831
- Birthplace: Near the Grand River, Dakota Territory (now in South Dakota)
- Died: December 15, 1890
- Place of death: Standing Rock Agency, South Dakota
Native American leader
One of the outstanding icons of nineteenth century Indian defiance of American expansion, Sitting Bull led his Lakota (Sioux) people from their zenith in the middle of the nineteenth century to the decline of their culture in the face of superior technology and numbers of the whites.
Areas of achievement Government and politics, warfare and conquest
Early Life
Sitting Bull was born Tatanka Iyotanka in a village a few miles below where Bullhead, South Dakota, now stands. During his first fourteen years, his Lakota (Sioux) friends called him Slow, a name he earned because of his deliberate manner and the awkward movement of his sturdy body. The youth grew to manhood as a member of the Hunkpapa tribe, one of seven among the Teton Lakota, the westernmost division of the Sioux Confederation. His people thrived as a nomadic hunter-warrior society. As an infant strapped to a baby-board, he was carried by his mother as the tribe roamed the northern Plains hunting buffalo. At five years, he rode behind his mother on her horse and helped as best he could around the camp. By the age of ten, he rode his own pony, wrapping his legs around the curved belly of the animal (a practice that caused him to be slightly bowlegged for the remainder of his years). He learned to hunt small game with bow and arrows and to gather berries. He reveled in the games and races, swimming and wrestling with the other boys. His was an active and vigorous life, and he loved it.
The warrior dimension of Lakota male life came more into focus as the boy grew. The Tetons concentrated most of their wrath on the Crow and Assiniboin Indians at first, and the whites at a later time. The hub of Lakota society centered on gaining prestige through heroic acts in battle. Counting coups by touching an enemy with a highly decorated stick was top priority. The Lakota lad learned his lessons well, and, at the age of fourteen, he joined a mounted war party. He picked out one of the enemy, and, with a burst of enthusiasm and courage, he charged the rival warrior and struck him with his coup stick. After the battle, word of this heroic deed spread throughout the Hunkpapa village. The boy had reached a milestone in his development; for the remainder of his life, he enjoyed telling the story of his first coup. Around the campfire that night, his proud father, Jumping Bull, gave his son a new name. He called him Sitting Bull after the beast that the Lakota respected so much for its tenacity. A buffalo bull was the essence of strength, and a “sitting bull” was one that held his ground and could not be pushed aside.
In 1857, Sitting Bull became a chief of the Hunkpapa. He had ably demonstrated his abilities as a warrior, and his common sense and his leadership traits showed promise of a bright future for him. Although his physical appearance was commonplace, he was convincing in argument, stubborn, and quick to grasp a situation. These traits gained for him the respect of his people as a warrior and as a statesman.
Life’s Work
Sitting Bull’s leadership qualities were often put to the test in his dealings with the whites. During the 1860’s, he skirmished with the whites along the Powder River in Wyoming. He learned of their method of fighting, and he was impressed with their weapons. In 1867, white commissioners journeyed to Lakota country to forge a peace treaty. They also hoped to gain Lakota agreement to limit their living area to present-day western South Dakota. While his Jesuit friend Father Pierre De Smet worked to gain peace, Sitting Bull refused to give up his cherished hunting lands to the west and south and declined to sign the Treaty of 1868. Other Lakota, however, made their marks on the “white man’s paper,” and the treaty became official.
Developments during the 1870’s confirmed Sitting Bull’s distrust of the white men’s motives. Railroad officials surveyed the northern Plains during the early 1870’s in preparation for building a transcontinental railroad that would disrupt Lakota hunting lands. In 1874, the army surveyed the Black Hills, part of the Great Sioux Reservation as set up by the treaty, and, in the next year, thousands of miners invaded this sacred part of the Sioux reserve when they learned of the discovery of gold there. The tree-covered hills and sparkling streams and lakes were the home of Lakota gods and a sacred place in their scheme of life. The whites had violated the treaty and disregarded the rights of the Lakota. Sitting Bull refused to remain on the assigned reservation any longer and led his followers west, into Montana, where there were still buffalo to hunt and the opportunity remained to live by the old traditions.
As many other Lakota became disgruntled with white treatment, they, too, looked to Sitting Bull’s camp to the west as a haven from the greedy whites. In this sense, he became the symbol of Lakota freedom and resistance to the whites, and his camp grew with increasing numbers of angry Lakota.
The showdown between Lakota and whites came in 1876. The U.S. government had ordered the Lakota to return to their reservations by February of 1876, but few Indians abided by this order. The government thus turned the “Sioux problem” over to the army with instructions to force the Indians back to the agencies. In the summer of 1876, General Alfred H. Terry led a strong expedition against Sitting Bull’s camp. The Indian chief had a premonition of things to come when he dreamed of blue-clad men falling into his camp. Soon, he would learn the significance of this portent. A detachment of cavalry from Terry’s column under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer attacked Sitting Bull’s camp. The forty-five-year-old chief rallied his men, and they defeated Custer, killing more than three hundred soldiers, including their leader.
Although the Lakota had won the Battle of the Little Bighorn, they decided that it was time to leave the area and divide up into smaller groups in order to avoid capture. Many additional soldiers were ordered into the northern Plains, and they spent the remainder of the summer and fall chasing and harassing the fleeing Lakota. While other groups of Lakota eventually returned to their agencies, Sitting Bull led his people to Canada, where they resided until 1881. Even though the Canadian officials refused to feed the Lakota, the latter were able to subsist in their usual manner of hunting and gathering until 1881, when the buffalo were almost gone. Because of homesickness and a lack of food, Sitting Bull finally surrendered to United States officials, who kept him prisoner at Fort Randall for two years.
By 1883, Sitting Bull had returned to his people at Standing Rock Agency in Dakota Territory and soon became involved in unexpected activities. In that same year, the Northern Pacific Railroad sponsored a last great buffalo hunt for various dignitaries, and Sitting Bull participated. In the next year, he agreed to tour fifteen cities with Colonel Alvaren Allen’s Western show. Sitting Bull was portrayed as the Slayer of General Custer, but the stubborn Indian chief found this label inaccurate and distasteful. In 1885, Sitting Bull signed with Buffalo Bill Cody’sWild West Show and traveled in the eastern United States and Canada during the summer. He sold autographed photographs of himself and eventually gave away most of the money he made to poor white children who begged for money in order to eat. At the end of the season, the popular Buffalo Bill gave his Indian friend a gray circus horse and large white sombrero as a remembrance of their summer together.
During the latter part of the decade, Sitting Bull returned to Standing Rock, where he settled into reservation life. The Hunkpapa still cherished him as their leader, much to the dismay of agent James McLaughlin, who sought to break the old chief’s hold over his people.
In 1890, Wovoka, a Paiute Indian prophet from Nevada, began to preach a message that most Indians prayed was true. He dreamed that he had died and gone to Heaven. There, he found all the deceased Indians, thousands of buffalo, and no whites. The Indian prophet taught that, in order to achieve a return to the old ways of life, the Indians had only to dance the Ghost Dance regularly until the second coming of the Messiah, who would be in the form of an Indian. The Ghost Dance spread rapidly throughout much of the West, and soon Lakota were following Wovoka’s teachings. Sitting Bull had his doubts about the new religion, but he realized that it disturbed the whites and in particular agent McLaughlin, and so he encouraged his people to dance.
The events that followed brought about the death of Sitting Bull as well as the military and psychological defeat of the Lakota. Cautious Indian officials deplored the fact that the Lakota were dancing again. Sitting Bull, the symbol of the old culture, was still their leader, and they decided to arrest him. McLaughlin chose Lakota Indians who served in the Agency Police Force to apprehend Sitting Bull. They came to his hut to seize him during the night of December 15, 1890, and a scuffle broke out. The fifty-nine-year-old chief was one of the first to be killed. In the dust and confusion of the struggle, fourteen others died. Several days later, other Lakota who had left their reservation were stopped at Wounded Knee Creek, and a scuffle again broke out with the white soldiers, who were trying to disarm them and to force them back to the agency. When the fighting was over on that cold December day, 153 Lakota had died and the dream of a return to the old way of life was lost forever.
Significance
Sitting Bull, the proud leader of the Hunkpapa, had died along with many of his people. He had served his people well as a feared warrior and respected chief. He had fought against Indians and whites, including sixty-three coups against unfortunate Indians. The whites had suffered their worst defeat when they attacked his village. Although the old chief was unable to fight, he proved his inspirational mettle to the people. During his last years, he continued to serve as a model for his followers, although in a losing cause.
Technology and the overwhelming white population were forces that even the stubborn Lakota leader could not subdue. Gone were the days of nomadic camp life, horseback riding, and buffalo hunting. Also gone were the memories of courtships and polygamous marriages: White Americans hoped to convert the Lakota tribesmen into Christian yeoman farmers. By 1890, the frontier phase of American history had passed, and citizens confronted the problems of immigration from southern and eastern Europe, the growing urbanization, and the massive industrialization that would make the United States a world leader. The Lakota life that was so well adapted to the Plains environment was gone forever.
Further Reading
Adams, Alexander B. Sitting Bull: An Epic of the Plains. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1973. A richly detailed popular account of Sitting Bull’s life, with a good description of the various divisions and tribes of the Lakota.
Anderson, Gary Clayton. Sitting Bull and the Paradox of Lakota Nationhood. New York: Longman, Addison Wesley, 1996. Biography focusing on the challenges Sitting Bull faced in leading the Lakota people.
Bailey, John W. Pacifying the Plains: General Alfred Terry and the Decline of the Sioux, 1866-1890. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1979. Follows Sitting Bull’s career in the period after the Civil War, with particular emphasis on his role as the leader of the nonreservation Lakota and their conflict with the military during the 1870’s.
Johnson, Dorothy M. Warrior for a Lost Nation: A Biography of Sitting Bull. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1969. A readable book based upon limited research. Includes Sitting Bull’s pictographs or calendar of winter counts that recorded his feats in battle.
Utley, Robert M. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. New York: Ballantine Books, 1994. A definitive biography that portrays Sitting Bull as a complex leader.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Last Days of the Sioux Nation. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1963. An excellent book that focuses on the death of Sitting Bull and the Wounded Knee battle of 1890. The author illustrates how the Lakota suffered a military and psychological conquest that saw their demise after the failure of the Ghost Dance.
Vestal, Stanley. Sitting Bull: Champion of the Sioux, a Biography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1932. Rev. ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957. The most reliable biography of Sitting Bull, based upon oral and documentary research. The author was closely associated with the Plains Indians since his boyhood and proved to be a careful student of their culture.