Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull was a medicine man, chief, and warrior in the Hunkpapa clan of the Sioux Nation of Native Americans. He fought in battles against the U.S. government, which sought to remove Native Americans from valuable land wanted by Americans. In captivity Sitting Bull was forced to perform in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, a touring show that featured cowboys and Indians performing stunts and battles.

No one knows for sure where Sitting Bill was born, but he was probably born near Grand River in South Dakota in 1831. His name as a boy was Jumping Badger, and his nickname was Slow. After he fought bravely against other Native Americans at age fourteen, his father renamed him Sitting Bull.

Sitting Bull was married many times. His first wife died in 1853, and a four-year-old son died in 1857. That year he adopted two children. In 1872 he married two wives with whom he had five more children.

After the California gold rush of 1849, westward expansion by American settlers led to decades of conflict with Native American tribes. The federal government sent the military to remove Indians from land the settlers wanted. The Native Americans resisted, leading to many battles. Native Americans also had ongoing disputes with each other, such as between the Sioux, Crows, and Flatheads.

Sitting Bull and many clans of Sioux Indians fought the federal government in the 1860s. In 1868 the government negotiated a treaty to end the fighting. Sitting Bull refused to sign, so the government acquired signatures from other Indians. Sitting Bull's refusal to acknowledge the treaty drew criticism from the federal government.

The discovery of gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota led to another round of battles. Sitting Bull fought in the Battle of Rosebud with Crazy Horse against General George Crook's men on June 17, 1876. Eight days later, Crazy Horse led the Sioux to victory in the Battle of the Little Bighorn against General George Custer, also known as Custer's Last Stand . Native Americans called it the Battle of the Greasy Grass. Sitting Bull prepared medicine instead of fighting that day.

By May 1877 the federal government had defeated the Sioux, so Sitting Bull retreated into Canada with some of his people. After some of them left and the Canadian government declined to support him, Sitting Bull surrendered to the U.S. government in July 1881. He was confined at Fort Randall in South Dakota for two years, and then used as an attraction for two years in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

In 1890 a Paiute prophet introduced a ghost dance to the Sioux Indians. He said the dance would eventually eliminate white men and return land to the Native Americans. Fearing that Sitting Bull would use the ghost dance to inspire an uprising against the federal government, the government arrested him at his home on Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota on December 15, 1890. A fight ensued during the arrest, and Sitting Bull was killed by police.