Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull (Sitting Bull) - (around 1834 - December 15, 1890) was a tribal chief and shaman of the Sioux Hunkpapas, of whom he was the main resistance fighter against the American army. Its original name, Tatanka Iyotanka, means “seated male bison” in Sioux.

Sitting Bull in 1882

He was born in Grand River, South Dakota in 1834. He took an active part in the Plains Wars of the 1860s, including a raid on Fort Bufford in 1866.

He accepts the displacement of his people in 1868, provided for in the second treaty of Fort Laramie. After the breach of the treaty caused by the United States, he led the Sioux uprising. He was joined by Cheyenne tribesmen and together (1500 warriors and 4500 civilians) they annihilated under his leadership General Custer's 263 men at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876. Sitting Bull did not participate in the battle himself as a medicine man, but gave command to his warlords Crazy Horse, Gall and others.

Pursued by the American army, he was forced to flee to Canada (Lebret, Sask.). He agrees to surrender and is allowed to return to the United States in 1881.

He took part in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1885, then spent the last years of his life on a reservation in Dakota.

He and his son Crowfoot were murdered by members of the Indian police under the pretext of resistance when they came to arrest him for alleged participation in a protest movement.

Quotes

"Our people are like an island in the middle of a great lake of white men. We must join forces or we will all be wiped out one by one. These soldiers have opened fire; they want war. So as one people we will make war on them. A voice has been sent to me from above saying to me:I place them at your mercy, because they do not know how to hear."

"I would like to know the reasons why you travel on our tracks. You frighten the bison, and we need to hunt in these places. I want you to withdraw from this country. If you refuse, again I will fight you. I want you to leave the field with all your belongings and go back. I speak to you as a friend."