Sitting Bull

Early life and rise to leadership

Sitting Bull was born between 1831 and 1837 along the Yellowstone River, south of present-day Miles City, Montana, according to family oral tradition recounted by a great-grandson in 2007. He was named Ȟoká Psíče, or Jumping Badger, at birth and was nicknamed Húŋkešni, meaning Slow, which reflected his careful and unhurried nature. His path to leadership was forged in his youth during a horse-raiding party against the Crow when he was 14 years old. After displaying bravery by riding forward and counting coup on a Crow warrior, an act witnessed by the mounted Lakota party that included his father and uncle, he was honoured in a celebratory feast. His father gave him his own name, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake, which translates roughly to Buffalo Bull Who Sits Down, and presented him with an eagle feather, a warrior's horse, and a hardened buffalo hide shield. This ceremony formally marked his passage into manhood as a Lakota warrior, after which his father was known as Jumping Bull.

His early experiences in conflict continued during the U.S. Army's retaliatory campaigns following the Dakota War of 1862, even though his people were not involved in that initial uprising. In 1864, two brigades of about 2,200 soldiers under Brigadier General Alfred Sully attacked a village defended by Sitting Bull, Gall, and Inkpaduta. The Lakota and Dakota were driven out, but skirmishing continued into August at the Battle of the Badlands. Later that September, Sitting Bull and about one hundred Hunkpapa Lakota encountered a small party left behind by a wagon train near present-day Marmarth, North Dakota. When he led an attack, Sitting Bull was shot in the left hip by a soldier, with the bullet exiting through the small of his back, though the wound was not serious.

Resistance during Red Cloud's War

From 1866 to 1868, Red Cloud, a leader of the Oglala Lakota, fought to keep control of the Powder River Country in present-day Montana. In support of this effort, known as Red Cloud's War, Sitting Bull led numerous war parties against Fort Berthold, Fort Stevenson, and Fort Buford and their allies from 1865 to 1868. By early 1868, the U.S. government sought a peaceful settlement and agreed to abandon Forts Phil Kearny and C.F. Smith. A form of the Treaty of Fort Laramie was signed at Fort Rice on July 2, 1868, by representatives including Gall of the Hunkpapa, but Sitting Bull did not agree to the treaty. He told the Jesuit missionary Pierre Jean De Smet, who sought him on behalf of the government, 'I wish all to know that I do not propose to sell any part of my country.' He continued his hit-and-run attacks on forts in the upper Missouri area throughout the late 1860s and early 1870s.

The events between 1866 and 1868 mark a historically debated period of Sitting Bull's life. According to historian Stanley Vestal, who conducted interviews with surviving Hunkpapa in 1930, Sitting Bull was made 'Supreme Chief of the whole Sioux Nation' at this time. However, later historians and ethnologists have refuted this claim, pointing out that Lakota society was highly decentralized. Lakota bands and their elders made individual decisions, including whether or not to wage war, which contradicts the notion of a single supreme chief with overarching authority.

The Great Sioux War of 1876 and the path to battle

In the late 1860s and early 1870s, Sitting Bull's band of Hunkpapa continued to attack migrating parties and forts. In 1871, the Northern Pacific Railway's survey for a route across the northern plains through Hunkpapa lands encountered stiff Lakota resistance. In 1873, the military accompaniment was increased again, but Sitting Bull's forces resisted the survey 'most vigorously.' The Panic of 1873 halted the railroad's construction after its backers went bankrupt. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills during Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's 1874 expedition triggered a gold rush and increased tensions.

The U.S. government, failing to negotiate a purchase or lease of the Black Hills, sought a way around the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. In November 1875, President Ulysses S. Grant ordered all Sioux bands outside the Great Sioux Reservation to move onto it. As of February 1, 1876, the Interior Department certified as hostile those bands who continued to live off the reservation, allowing the military to pursue them. During this period, Sitting Bull developed into one of the most important Native American political leaders. While many warriors like Red Cloud moved to agencies, Sitting Bull's refusal to depend on the U.S. government meant he and his band lived isolated on the Plains. When threatened, members from various Sioux bands and tribes like the Northern Cheyenne came to his camp, drawn by his reputation for 'strong medicine.'

In 1875, the Northern Cheyenne, Hunkpapa, Oglala, Sans Arc, and Minneconjou camped together for a Sun Dance, with Sitting Bull in alliance with the Cheyenne medicine man Ice. Sitting Bull had a major revelation during this ceremony. Historian Robert Utley records that Sitting Bull intoned, 'The Great Spirit has given our enemies to us. We are to destroy them. We do not know who they are. They may be soldiers.' After the January 1876 ultimatum, Native Americans gathered at Sitting Bull's camp for safety. He took an active role in encouraging this 'unity camp,' sending scouts to reservations to recruit warriors and telling the Hunkpapa to share supplies. His camp expanded to an extensive village estimated at more than 10,000 people by June 1876.

Battle of the Little Bighorn and its aftermath

On June 25, 1876, Custer's 7th Cavalry discovered Sitting Bull's large camp along the Little Bighorn River, known as the Greasy Grass River to the Lakota. A week prior, Sitting Bull had performed the Sun Dance, fasting and slashing his arms over 100 times as a sign of sacrifice. During the ensuing battle, Sitting Bull did not take a direct military role but acted as a spiritual leader. The Native American forces, led into battle by Crazy Horse, counterattacked and defeated Custer's battalion while also surrounding the other battalions led by Reno and Benteen. The victory celebrations were short-lived, as public outrage at Custer's defeat led the War Department to assign thousands more soldiers to the area.

Over the next year, the new American military forces pursued the Lakota, forcing many to surrender. Sitting Bull refused and in May 1877 led his band across the border into the North-West Territories, Canada. He remained in exile for four years near Wood Mountain, refusing a pardon and the chance to return. When crossing into Canadian territory, he was met by the North-West Mounted Police, specifically Inspector James Morrow Walsh. Walsh explained that the Lakota were now on British soil and must obey British law, emphasizing equal justice under the law. Walsh became an advocate for Sitting Bull and the two became good friends. While in Canada, Sitting Bull also met with Crowfoot, a leader of the Blackfeet, and made peace with him, naming one of his sons after him.

Surrender, captivity, and touring life

Hunger and desperation, due to the smaller size of the Canadian buffalo herds, eventually forced Sitting Bull and 186 of his family and followers to return to the United States. They surrendered on July 19, 1881, at Fort Buford. Sitting Bull had his young son Crow Foot surrender his Winchester Rifle to Major David H. Brotherton, stating, 'I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle.' In a ceremony the next day, he told soldiers and guests he wished to regard the white race as friends but wondered who would teach his son the new ways of the world. After two weeks, his band was transferred to Fort Yates, adjacent to the Standing Rock Agency, which straddles the present-day North and South Dakota border.

His band was kept separate from other Hunkpapa at the agency due to U.S. Army concerns he would stir up trouble. On August 26, 1881, census taker William T. Selwyn counted 12 people in Sitting Bull's immediate family and 41 families totaling 195 people in his band. The military decided to hold them as prisoners of war, transferring them via steamboat down the Missouri River to Fort Randall near Pickstown, South Dakota. They spent 20 months there before being allowed to return north to Standing Rock in May 1883. In 1884, show promoter Alvaren Allen asked Agent James McLaughlin to allow Sitting Bull to tour. The 'Sitting Bull Connection' tour took him to parts of Canada and the northern United States, where he met Annie Oakley in Minnesota.

He was so impressed with Oakley's skills that he offered $65 for a photographer to take a photo of them together. Oakley stated that Sitting Bull made a 'great pet' of her, and he felt she was 'gifted' by supernatural means to shoot accurately with both hands. He symbolically adopted her as a daughter in 1884, naming her 'Little Sure Shot,' a name she used professionally. In 1883, The New York Times had reported Sitting Bull was baptized into the Catholic Church, but Agent McLaughlin dismissed these reports as erroneous.

Death and the movement of his remains

In 1890, fears that Sitting Bull would use his influence to support the Ghost Dance movement led Indian Service agent James McLaughlin at Fort Yates to order his arrest. During an attempt to arrest him at his home on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation on December 15, a struggle erupted between his followers and agency police. Sitting Bull was shot in the chest and head by Standing Rock policemen Lieutenant Bull Head and Red Tomahawk after the police were fired upon by his supporters. His body was taken to nearby Fort Yates for burial. In 1953, his Lakota family exhumed what were believed to be his remains in a clandestine operation involving late-night grave-digging and decoy vehicles. They reburied them near Mobridge, South Dakota, on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River, closer to his birthplace.

The Sitting Bull Monument and related sites

The Sitting Bull Monument is located about seven miles southwest of Mobridge, South Dakota, marking the reburial site of the Lakota leader. The monument sits on the southern portion of the Standing Rock Reservation overlooking the Missouri River. The nearby town of Mobridge offers accommodations such as the Kountry Inn, which serves a continental breakfast and has barbecue grills, and the budget-friendly Wrangler Inn. For outdoor visitors, camping is available at Indian Creek Recreation Area, which has cabins and fishing access, and at Country Cabins and RV Park, which features log cabins and a game cleaning room. Other historical sites connected to Sitting Bull include the Site of Sitting Bull's Death, about 15 miles north of Timber Lake on a road called 'The Road to Bullhead.' The Sitting Bull Visitor Center and the Standing Rock Monument are also points of interest in the area.

A separate geological attraction, the Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns northeast of Rockerville, is home to the world's largest collection of dogtooth spar crystals and features a historic dance pavilion. These destinations form part of a broader historical and cultural landscape in South Dakota that includes the Crazy Horse Memorial, Wounded Knee, and Badlands National Park. Visitors to Mobridge can also enjoy local activities like fishing on the Missouri River, which the town is known for worldwide. The area holds significance as Sitting Bull's remains were reinterred near Mobridge, South Dakota, in 1953 by his Lakota family. This reburial site is located near his birthplace along the Yellowstone River.

Sitting Bull's historical significance in Canada

Sitting Bull's four-year residence in Canada is a notable chapter in Canadian history, highlighting cross-border Indigenous movements and early law enforcement relations. His arrival in May 1877 with his band presented a challenge for the nascent North-West Mounted Police, tasked with maintaining order in the territories. Inspector James Morrow Walsh's approach, emphasizing equal justice under British law, established a respectful, if complex, relationship. Walsh's advocacy for Sitting Bull, and their lasting friendship, is a unique element of this period. Sitting Bull's presence also fostered an unexpected diplomatic peace with the Blackfeet Nation through his meeting with Crowfoot.

His exile strained relations between the Canadian and United States governments, as American officials pressured Canada to return the Lakota leader. The scarcity of buffalo in the Canadian plains ultimately made the band's subsistence impossible, leading to their return. This period demonstrated the limitations of the Canadian government's ability to support large groups of Indigenous refugees and the interconnected nature of Plains ecology and politics. The story of his time near Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan, remains a subject of local history and reflects the transnational nature of Indigenous leadership and resistance in the late 19th century. Before his departure, he may have visited Walsh for a final time and left a ceremonial headdress as a memento.

Questions about Sitting Bull

Where is Sitting Bull buried?

Sitting Bull was originally buried at Fort Yates, North Dakota, after his death in 1890. In 1953, in a covert operation involving late-night grave-digging and decoy vehicles, his Lakota family exhumed his remains. They were reburied at a site near Mobridge, South Dakota, on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. This location, approximately seven miles southwest of Mobridge, is now marked by the Sitting Bull Monument and is on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

Why did Sitting Bull go to Canada?

Following the U.S. victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, the American government sent thousands more soldiers to subdue the Lakota. Sitting Bull, refusing to surrender, led his band north to the North-West Territories, now Saskatchewan, in May 1877 to seek refuge beyond U.S. authority. He lived near Wood Mountain for four years under the oversight of the North-West Mounted Police. The primary reason for his eventual return in 1881 was the scarcity of buffalo in Canada, which led to starvation among his people.

What was Sitting Bull's role at the Battle of the Little Bighorn?

During the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull served as a spiritual leader for the large allied camp of Lakota and Northern Cheyenne. A week before the battle, he performed a Sun Dance, offering sacrifices and receiving a vision of soldiers falling into the camp, which was interpreted as a prophecy of victory. The tactical leadership in the battle was provided by war leaders like Crazy Horse. Sitting Bull's primary contributions were his spiritual guidance and his earlier work in uniting various bands into a large defensive village.

What is the Sitting Bull Monument?

The Sitting Bull Monument is a memorial site located on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River near Mobridge, South Dakota. It marks the 1953 reburial site of the Lakota leader Sitting Bull. The monument is situated about seven miles southwest of Mobridge on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. It is a key destination for those interested in Lakota history and serves as a gravesite and commemorative landmark.

How is Annie Oakley connected to Sitting Bull?

Sitting Bull met the sharpshooter Annie Oakley in 1884 during a performance tour called the Sitting Bull Connection. He was profoundly impressed by her firearm skills and offered $65 for a photograph with her. Out of mutual respect, he symbolically adopted her as a daughter in 1884. He gave her the Lakota name 'Little Sure Shot,' which she used throughout her career as a performer in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.

Sources: Wikipedia and current public reporting, checked by the Novello Desserts desk. Last updated 2026-10-18.