Sitting Bull

Native American Leader

Sitting Bull (also known as Tatanka-Iyotanka) was a Hunkpapa Lakota tribal leader in the mid-western plains of the United States during the 19th century westward expansion of American settlers. In the 1860s he fought efforts by U.S. troops to move the Lakota tribes west onto reservations. He earned a reputation as a fearless warrior and by 1868 was the chief of a united Lakota Nation. On June 25, 1876 he fought U.S. general George Armstrong Custer in a battle at Little Big Horn. Sitting Bull led thousands of warriors from different tribes to a resounding victory over Custer, and the battle was dubbed "Custer's Last Stand" (the only survivor on the U.S. side was a horse, Comanche). Pursued by U.S. troops, Sitting Bull fled to Canada, but he returned to Montana in 1881 and surrendered. After two years in prison, he was an attraction for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, but left after a few months to live on a reservation in South Dakota. In 1890 Lakota policemen were sent to arrest him to head off another uprising, and he ended up getting shot in a struggle between the tribal police and his supporters.

Sitting Bull joins Jesse James and Oliver Cromwell in our loop Exhumation Celebration.