Sitting Bull

c. 1831 – 15 December 1890

Sitting Bull (c. 1831-1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader and holy man who led resistance to United States government policies on the northern Great Plains. He is most associated with the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn, where forces of the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho annihilated Custer's Seventh Cavalry detachment. After years of exile in Canada and later reservation life, he was killed by Indian agency police during an attempted arrest in 1890.

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Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Sitting Bull.

Life events

Born near the Grand River in present-day South Dakota
c. 1831

Sitting Bull (Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake) was born into the Hunkpapa Lakota, probably around 1831, in the region of the Grand River.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Counted his first coup in battle as a boy
c. 1845

At about fourteen he joined a war party against the Crow and counted his first coup, after which he received the name Sitting Bull from his father.

Personal ?
Fought U.S. forces at the Battle of Killdeer Mountain
28 July 1864

Sitting Bull took part in the fighting against General Alfred Sully's expedition at Killdeer Mountain during the Dakota War campaigns.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Other ✓
Emerged as a principal leader of Lakota resistance
c. 1869

Refusing to accept the treaty system, Sitting Bull became a leading figure among the non-treaty Lakota bands resisting U.S. encroachment; accounts describe him being made a supreme leader of the alliance around 1869.

Career ?
Sun Dance vision and victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn
25 June 1876 – 26 June 1876

Weeks after a Sun Dance vision of soldiers falling into camp, the coalition of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors gathered around Sitting Bull destroyed Lieutenant Colonel George Custer's immediate command at the Little Bighorn.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Led his followers into exile in Canada
May 1877

Pursued by the U.S. Army after the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull led his band across the border into the Saskatchewan region of Canada.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relocation ✓
Surrendered at Fort Buford
19 July 1881

Facing starvation in Canada, Sitting Bull returned with his remaining followers and surrendered to U.S. authorities at Fort Buford in Dakota Territory.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Other ✓
Toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show
1885

Sitting Bull spent a season touring with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show, where he became acquainted with the sharpshooter Annie Oakley.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Killed during an arrest attempt at Standing Rock
15 December 1890

Amid official fears over the Ghost Dance movement, Sitting Bull was shot and killed by Indian agency police attempting to arrest him at his cabin on the Grand River, Standing Rock Reservation.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓