Sitting Bull — Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake — was born around 1831 near the confluence of the Grand and Missouri rivers in what is now South Dakota. He was a Hunkpapa Lakota holy man, war chief, and the leader of the largest confederation of Native peoples to resist the United States government in the nineteenth century. [1]
In the 1860s and 1870s, the United States wanted the Black Hills — Pahá Sápa, sacred to the Lakota — because gold had been found there. The government offered to buy the land. Sitting Bull’s response: “I want to tell you that if the Great Spirit has chosen anyone to be the chief of this country, it is myself.” [1]
In June 1876, Sitting Bull performed a Sun Dance near the Little Bighorn River and had a vision: soldiers falling into the Lakota camp like grasshoppers falling from the sky. Days later, on June 25, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer led the 7th Cavalry into the valley of the Greasy Grass against a combined force of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. Custer’s entire command of over 260 men was annihilated. [1][2]
It was the most complete defeat of the U.S. Army by Native forces in American history. The United States responded by deploying thousands more troops. Sitting Bull led his people into Canada rather than surrender. [1]
He returned in 1881 and surrendered, was held as a prisoner of war for two years, joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show briefly, and returned to the Standing Rock Reservation. On December 15, 1890, Indian police sent to arrest him — on suspicion he would support the Ghost Dance movement — shot and killed him in front of his cabin. [1]
His great-grandson Ernie LaPointe has fought to protect Sitting Bull’s remains and legacy. In 2007, LaPointe confirmed through DNA testing that he is a direct descendant. [1]
They took the Black Hills. They took his freedom. They took his life. They could not take what he showed the world: that the most powerful army on the continent could be beaten by people fighting for what was theirs.
Bibliography
[1] Wikipedia. “Sitting Bull.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitting_Bull [2] Wikipedia. “Battle of the Little Bighorn.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Little_Bighorn