Sitting Bull

Era: 19^th Century

Importance: Chief and warlord

Module: American West

Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull was the most prominent Indian chief of the 1870s, he was able to lead a large warrior force of Arapaho, Sioux and Cheyenne. They camped on the Little Bighorn River in response to the US authorities had permitted Miners to invade the Sioux’s sacred lands in the Black Hills.

Sitting Bull had always been clear about the Black Hills - ‘THE BLACK HILLS BELONG TO ME. IF THE WHITES TRY TO TAKE THEM I WILL FIGHT.’ More than 12,000 warriors had joined Sitting Bull in the Summer of 1876. The US Army was easily defeated at the Battles of the Rosebud and at Little Bighorn.

Sitting Bull left for Canada, he finally returned to the Indian reservation in Dakota, only to be shot in 1890 by a Sioux policeman for allegedly resisting arrest for promoting the Ghost Dance.