(1831?–90). The Lakota Sioux chief Sitting Bull was among the proudest and bravest of the Native Americans who opposed U.S. expansion into Indian lands. His role in the great Indian victory over Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer's cavalry in 1876 won him lasting fame.

Early life

Sitting Bull was born into the Hunkpapa division of the Lakota (also called Teton) Sioux in about 1831. His birthplace was near the Grand River in what is now South Dakota. His Sioux name was Tatanka Iyotake. Starting at about age 14 he fought bravely in battles with enemy tribes. Soon he became a leader of the Strong Heart warrior society.

Sitting Bull first battled U.S. troops in 1863. At the time soldiers were moving into Sioux territory and disrupting the hunt for buffalo (bison). Over the course of several years of fighting, Sitting Bull earned respect for his courage and wisdom. In about 1867 he was named principal chief of the entire Sioux nation.

In 1868 a treaty between the Sioux and the U.S. government created a Sioux reservation in southwestern South Dakota. Some Sioux leaders signed the document, but Sitting Bull did not. He became leader of the Sioux bands that the Americans regarded as hostile.

War chief

In the mid-1870s gold was discovered in the Black Hills, which was part of the land reserved for the Sioux in the 1868 treaty. Thousands of white prospectors ignored the agreement and swarmed over the tribal lands. Resistance by the Sioux resulted in a U.S. Army campaign against them beginning in March 1876. At his camp in Montana Territory, Sitting Bull assembled a combined force of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. On June 17 the Indians drove back U.S. forces in the battle of the Rosebud (named after a nearby river). They then moved their camp to the valley of the Little Bighorn River. On June 25 Lieutenant Colonel Custer and a force of more than 200 men unwisely attacked the Indians. When the fighting ended, Custer and all of his soldiers were dead.

Custer's defeat in the battle of the Little Bighorn shocked the American public. The Army responded by stepping up its efforts to force the Indians onto reservations. To escape the pursuing Army, Sitting Bull led some of his people into Canada in 1877. They suffered from hunger, however, because the buffalo herds on which they depended for food were being destroyed by white hunters. In 1881 Sitting Bull and his band were forced to return to the United States and surrender.

Later life

In 1883 Sitting Bull settled on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota. Two years later he went on tour with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Thousands of Americans and Canadians got to see him, and his fame grew. After returning to the reservation, Sitting Bull continued to speak out against attempts by whites to take Sioux land. He also became associated with the Ghost Dance, a Native American religious movement that made whites fearful. On December 15, 1890, Sitting Bull was shot and killed by Indian police who were attempting to arrest him on the reservation. Two weeks later the Army massacred more than 200 Sioux at the battle of Wounded Knee, finally ending Sioux resistance to white domination.