Sitting Bull

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:Cleanup-rewrite Image:Sitting-bull.jpg Image:SittingBullMonument.jpg Sitting Bull (Sioux: Tatanka Iyotake or Tatanka Iyotanka or Ta-Tanka I-Yotank, later named Hunkesni, Slow), (c. 1831 – December 15, 1890) was a Native American shaman and leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux (see Lakota) who led 1,200 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors against the US 7th Cavalry under George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. Though he did not participate personally in the battle, the chiefs were spurred on by a dream that Sitting Bull had in which a group of American soldiers tumbled into his encampment.

Blamed for the ensuing battle, Sitting Bull led his tribe into Canada, where they lived until 1881, when on July 20 he led the last of his fugitive people to surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Dakota Territory, near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. The US government, however, granted him amnesty. His band was placed on the Standing Rock Agency [now the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation located in North and South Dakota on the west bank of the Missouri River].

In later life, Sitting Bull toured with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, where he was a popular attraction. Often asked to address the audience, he frequently cursed them in his native Lakota language to the wild applause of his listeners.

Toward the end of his life, Sitting Bull was drawn to the mystical Ghost Dance as a way of repelling the white invaders from his people's land. Although he himself was not a follower, this was perceived as a threat by the American government, and a group of Indian police was sent by Major James McLaughlin, Superintendent of the Standing Rock Reservation, to arrest him at his cabin near present day Bullhead, SD. In the ensuing scuffle, Sitting Bull and his son Crow Foot were killed. Sitting Bull's body was taken by the Indian police to Fort Yates (North Dakota) and buried in the military cemetery.

1 Childhood
2 Involvement
3 References
4 External links

[edit]

Childhood

Sitting Bull was born around March 1831 in what is now South Dakota in the Northern Plains at a place named "Many catches for the number of pits dug there for food". He was a member of the Hunkpapa clan of the Lakota Sioux. Sitting Bull's mother was called Her-Holy-Door; his father was also called Sitting Bull. He had a brother called chicken dancer. When he was born Sitting Bull (Jr) was given the name Jumping Badger. The American Indians received many names in their lifetimes and rarely kept the name they were born with. Their names changed according to their personality, how they acted, what visions they saw, etc. Jumping Badger was soon given the name Slow as he did not act upon things straight away but often thought about things before he did them. When he was 14, Slow made his first 'coup' in a raid against a Crow Indian camp. To celebrate this success his father gave him his name - Sitting Bull. It was to represent a stubborn buffalo bull planted.

Sitting Bull's childhood would have been quite happy. He was free to explore, eat when he wanted and sleep when he wanted. Sitting Bull's father was quite 'rich' - he was also a chief and he owned many ponies. Some of his uncles were also chiefs. It was jokingly said of Sitting Bull that his legs were bowed like the ribs of the ponies that he rode constantly from childhood.

At age 10, Sitting Bull killed his first buffalo and gave the meat away to elders who were unable to hunt for themselves. After this he went on his first vision quest. Later on he would be known as a holy man who often communicated with the spirit world and became a Sioux shaman and medicine man.

Sitting Bull was 14 when he decided that he would join a mounting party in search of Crow horses and scalps. After nearing Crow territory they spotted a dozen mounted Crows gathered in conference. The Sioux war party quickly stormed down on the Crow who spread out to recive the attack. A lonesome Crow decided to make a run for it and Sitting Bull gave chase. After riding after the Crow, Sitting Bull struck his adversary with his tomahawk, knocking him to the ground and a fellow Sioux finished the Crow off. They had killed all but four of the Crows and after the ensuing conflict returned to camp in celebration. It was here that he was awarded, by his father, an Eagle feather and a shield for his first coup. His father also awarded his son his own name, Sitting Bull. His father was thereafter known as Jumping Bull.

At the age of 15, it is said that he received his first serious wound from a battle - an arrow through his left sole which left him with a limp (One source states it was a bullet). Sitting Bull became known as being fearless and a brave fighter. By the age of 25, he was leader of the Strong Heart Warrior Society and had increased the Sioux's hunting grounds.

[edit]

Involvement

This section especially needs a rewrite. It apparently has some major factual errors.

By the time Sitting Bull was born, settlement on the Great Plains by whites was well under way, especially with the passing of the Louisiana Purchase before his birth and the gratuitous land gained by the United States in its war with Mexico only ten years afterward. The settlers wanted:

Food
To convert the Indians to Christianity
Land for farming
Gold that was discovered on the Plains

The Sioux had met the white men before but had little trouble with them. But, as more of them moved west the disagreement between the two cultures became worse. Sitting Bull's first confrontation with the U.S. Army was in 1864. The Sioux lost 100 men while the Americans only lost 2. Sitting Bull was not used to the American way of battle but soon became more skilled at fighting them. In about 1867, Sitting Bull became the first principal chief of the entire Sioux nation.

The Sioux knew they would not be able to defeat the Americans themselves and out of necessity joined forces with the Cheyenne and the Arapaho tribes.

The railroad companies sought to build a line right through Sioux country in order to connect Bismark N.D. with the Pacific. The simplest and cheapest route was through the upper Missouri Valley, the very area that the Hunkpapa Sioux occupied in numbers. Custer was sent by the military to protect the railroad personnel during their survey. When the financial panic of the 1870's hit the railroad went bankrupt and pulled out of the venture. Custer, wanting an excuse to fight the Indians, led an expedition into the Black Hills of the Dakota's, where apparently there was an abundance of gold. They did not find much gold but they did violate an 1868 treaty that clearly placed the Black Hills within the Sioux reservation. In response to this apparent violation of the law the Sioux began to band together to fight off the white settlers that came in droves to mine for gold. The Grant Administration agreed with General Tecumseh Sherman that the best way to deal with the Siuox was to militarily evict them .The Americans told the Indians to 'report to a reservation, or be subject to military action.' Instead the Sioux ignored this, and the U.S. Army cornered the surprised indians at Little Bighorn, where the largest concentration of plains Indians just happened to be camping. Before the battle Sitting Bull performed the sun dance to the great spirit, Wakan Tanka. He

Slashed his arms 100 times
Danced for 1 day and 1 night
Became nearly unconscious
Had a vision that 'white soldiers, falling upside down from the sky, would make war upon his people, but the Great Spirit would care for his Indians'

His vision came true and in June 1876 Sitting Bull and another Sioux leader Crazy Horse fought General George Armstrong Custer at Little Bighorn. By the end of the battle Custer and his soldiers were all dead.

Sitting Bull thought that this would be the end of his troubles but there were many battles to come. Many of his followers gave up and retreated back to the reservations. Sitting Bull did not give up, he left a note to the soldiers saying: "You scare all the buffalo away. I want to hunt in this place. I want you to turn back from here. If you don't, I will fight you again."

Sitting Bull moved to Canada to avoid being captured but the shortage of buffalo for food and constant wandering forced him to surrender. He was held as a prisoner for about 2 years. He was then sent to join other Sioux in a reservation, The Standing Rock Agency. He sampled some of the whites' 'innovations,' he started to farm and he sent his children to Government schools. He had many wives and children; he was especially fond of 'Crow Foot' and 'Standing Holy'.

In 1885 Sitting Bull joined 'Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show'. He travelled with it around the US and Canada. They re-enacted some of the famous battles like Little Bighorn they also showed horse races etc.

When Sitting Bull returned to his reservation in about 1889 he found that the Indians were practicing a new religious practice, the Ghost Dance. They believed that the world would open up and swallow the white men or that they would be buried with soil. The Indians would be lifted up into the spirit world while the earth was restored to its natural state before the Europeans came. Then they would be replaced there, with the ghosts of all their ancestors. Sitting Bull didn't think this would happen but let the people believe what they wanted. The federal agencies were worried that the movement was becoming more militaristic and might escalate to rebellion, so they sent in extra troops to the reservations. Sitting Bull worried about this but Kicking Bear assured him that, 'if the dancers wore their Ghost Dance Shirts, painted with magic symbols, the soldiers bullets would not strike them.'

The Indian Police were sent to arrest Sitting Bull because the government saw his leadership as a possible threat, namely his connection to the Ghost Dance. They did not intend to kill him, but his bodyguard misunderstood and opened fire on the officers. Sitting Bull was fatally shot. Six of the Indian Police were killed [connects to 5 other ODMP memorials].

Sitting Bull was buried near the military cemetery in Fort Yates, North Dakota; his remains were moved to Mobridge in South Dakota. To this day, however, there is disagreement about where his remains are located. Some claim that he never was moved from Fort Yates to Mobridge, others argue that only part of his remains were moved.

A nephew of Sitting Bull was Chief White Bull. White Bull's grandson Chief Dave Bald Eagle served in 3rd & 4th Cavalry and the 82nd Airborne .

[edit]

References

Newson, T. M. 1827-1893. (Thomas McLean). Thrilling scenes among the Indians. With a graphic description of Custer's last fight with Sitting Bull. Chicago and New York: Belford, Clarke and Co., 1884. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History. Newson

Reno, Marcus A., 1835-1889, (Marcus Albert). The official record of a court of inquiry convened at Chicago, Illinois, January 13, 1879, by the President of the United States upon the request of Major Marcus A. Reno, 7th U.S. Cavalry, to investigate his conduct at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, June 25-26, 1876. Pacific Palisades, Calif.: 1951. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History. Reno