Sitting Bull : Sitting Bull, A Courageous Sioux Chief

Sitting Bull was born in Dakota Territory. He was named Jumping Badger at birth, when he was fourteen years old he accompanied a group of Lakota warriors (which included his father and his uncle Four Horns) in a raiding party to take horses from a camp of Crow warriors. Jumping Badger displayed bravery by riding forward and counting coup on one of the surprised Crow, which was witnessed by the other mounted Lakota. Upon returning to camp his father gave a celebratory feast at which he conferred his own name upon his son.

In 1851 the Fort Laramie Treaty was formed, over eight thousand men, women and children came together and formed an alliance. Enemies, relatives and families came together to form nearly three hundred of their soldiers. Man was beginning to intrude on the land of the Indians and the Indians knew they had to do something. Many enemies became friends, which would also help their future as tribes.

Many were driven from their homes to reservations, or forced to bend a knee to the "white man 's" ways. One tribe, the Cherokee, was compelled to leave their lands in Oklahoma by the United States Government. Compelled to march with the provisions and belongings they could carry upon their back or horse, many died of exposure, starvation, or disease. (Trail) This event came to be known as “The Trail of Tears”. These people were forced from their lands, homes, worship sites, and ancestral burial grounds in the name of progress. Foreign progress, to them, if I may add. They, at their core, did not care that Continental America was flourishing. They only wanted to be left alone in their ancestral homeland. Now, in their eyes, they were being persecuted for their faith and culture. One group of Sioux stood up against the tide of imperialism. They were victorious at the Battle of Little Bighorn, but were defeated at the massacre of Wounded Knee. Wounded Knee was the final major conflict that put the majority of the Native Americans in their “place”. The Sioux under Big Foot were ordered to give up their fire arms. They responded with a reply, saying they had none. The medicine man began to dance the “Ghost Dance” frantically, while wearing paint. The soldiers, fearing an outbreak of violence was about to occur, opened fire. When the haze of smoke had cleared, the bodies of men,

Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa Lakota chief (Robertson par. 5) was decided a threat by the government, even though he was not a Ghost Dance leader (Koster 25). On December 15, 1890 (Robertson par. 5), Indian police came to arrest Sitting Bull. He agreed to go with the police peacefully (Flood 34), but the other Indians in his tribe did not and tried to stop the arrest. Catch-the-Bear shouted, “Let us protect our chief!” He then proceeded to fire his gun at Bull Head, an Indian police, hitting him in the side. Bull Head’s weapon discharged while he was turned around and hit Sitting Bull in the chest. Then Red Tomahawk finished the struggle by shooting Sitting Bull in the back of the head (Phillips 18). The Indian police even shot Sitting Bull’s as he begged for his life. It isn’t recalled who shot the son since many officers fired at once (Flood 35).

George Washington and Henry Knox decided that the only way the Indians would survive was for them to become civilized instead of savages. They made a treaty where the Indians could live on land purchased

#Black Hawk War the last native conflict in Northern Illinois and SouthWestern Wisconsin an unsuccessful attempt to take their homeland back

The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 was to bring peace between the whites and the Sioux who agreed to settle within the Black Hills reservation in the Dakota Territory.

In 1868 the “Treaty of Fort Laramie” was signed, It was an agreement between many Native American nations and the United States guaranteeing the Lakota ownership of the Black Hills. However it didn’t take long for the treaty to be violated. In 1876 migrant workers seeking gold crossed over the reservation borders which led to the “Black Hills War”.

“A Treaty of Peace and; Friendship made and concluded between the President of the United States of America, on the Part and Behalf of the said States, and the undersigned Chiefs and Warriors, of the Cherokee Nation of Indians, on the part aide Behalf of the said Nation.” The Treaty of 1791 took a turn when President Jackson enforced the Indian Removal Act. The Treaty of 1791 was a treaty meant for the Cherokees residing in Georgia, allowing them to live peacefully with white settlers. Lives were well until Jackson thought it would be better to implement the Indian Removal Act. This new act would force all Native Americans to resettle west of the Mississippi River, where there were no other settlements and, in President Jackson’s mind, would allow the economy and white settlements to prosper. The natives were forced to leave their lands in order to please the president and other settlers disregarding what would prosper for the Indians.

On June 25, 1876 the “Battle Of Little Bighorn” took place.  The battle it self took place by Little Bighorn River in Montana.  Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse along with the Sioux, and the Cheyenne were all there at Little Bighorn not wanting to return to the reservations without a fight.  When George Armstrong Custer went down to the area he was unaware of how many Indians were actually there.  So due to that Custer underestimating

Sitting Bull was born in 1831 in the Hunkapapas tribe. (Estco PBS, 1) The tribe is in South Dakota. (Black1) He was mentally slow when he was born. (Fleischer, 1) His dad’s name was Jumping Bull, and his mom was Her Holy Door. (Garst14) Although some People say his dads name was Returns-Again, his mom was Mixed Days. (Black11) His tribe relied on the buffalo for food and clothes.

It didn’t help that just a few weeks earlier, Sitting Bull, a Sioux Chief, was killed when reservation officers falsely accused and attempted to arrest him for being a “Ghost Dancer”.

Colonisation changed the lives of many native Indigenous people and many indigenous communities. Sitting Bull and Truganini were both native Indigenous and they were extremely strong mentally and physically. There are some similarities between these two as well as many differences between them. Some of the similarities between Sitting Bull and Truganini are that they are both Indigenous people who's country was invaded by European settlers.

During the days of sitting bull there were three boys, and the chief and all the men had left to go hunt, but the three boys had stayed behind because sitting bull had said the boy weren’t men yet so they had to stay back and watch the village.The three boys had decided that they were gonna go and prove they were man enough to hunt so the boy’s had left when the tribe was sleeping so they tried to go hunt and prove to their tribes chief sitting bull that they were men.

Winning the war over the Powder River Country proved the strength of the Native Americans and helped provide better Native American rights in the future. In order to put an end to Red Cloud’s War, the Treaty of Fort Laramie was signed on November 6, 1868. The treaty provided the Sioux with land, education, farming supplies, clothes, money, doctors, carpenters, and teachers, and stated that no white men could reside on the reservation without permission, Indians could hunt outside the reservation, treaties taking land away could not be made, the Indians could not settle anywhere else, and the Bozeman trail would be abandoned, but only if the war ended, Native Americans stopped raiding, and they ceased opposing the building of forts and railroads.