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{{For|the western film|Sitting Bull (film)}}
{{Infobox American Indian chief
|name            = Sitting Bull
|image           = En-chief-sitting-bull.jpg
|caption         = Sitting Bull in 1885
|tribe           = [[Hunkpapa]] [[Lakota people|Lakota]]
|lead            =
|birth_date      = c. 1831<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopædia Britannica|year=1955|volume=20|page=723}}</ref>
|birth_place     =  [[Grand River (South Dakota)|Grand River]], [[South Dakota]]
|death_date      = {{death date|1890|12|15}} (aged 58–59)
|death_cause     = Shot by Indian police
|death_place     = [[Grand River (South Dakota)|Grand River, South Dakota]], [[Standing Rock Indian Reservation]]
|predecessor     =
|successor       =
|native_name     = Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotȟake (born Hoka Psice)
|nicknames       =
|known_for       = [[Battle of Little Big Horn]], resistance to USA
|death_cause     = Shot by Indian Police
|resting_place   = Mobridge, South Dakota
|rp_coordinates  = {{Coord|45|31|0|N|100|29|7|W|region:US-SD_type:landmark|display=inline|name=Probable grave of Sitting Bull}}
|religion        = Lakota
|party           =
|education       =
|spouse          =Light Hair<br/>Four Robes<br/>Snow-on-Her<br/>Seen-by-her-Nation<br/>Scarlet Woman
|partner         =
|children        =[[One Bull]] (adopted son)<br/>[[Crow Foot]] (son)<br/>Many Horses (daughter)<br/>Walks Looking (adopted daughter) <br/>[[Annie Oakley]] (adopted daughter)
|parents         =Jumping Bull (father)<br/>Her-Holy-Door (mother)
|relations       =[[Spotted Elk|Big Foot]] (half brother)<br/>[[White Bull]] (nephew)
|signature       =Sitting Bull Signature.svg
|footnotes       =
}}

'''Sitting Bull''' ([[Lakota language|Lakota]]: ''Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake'' in Standard Lakota Orthography,<ref>[[#Reference-idNLD|New Lakota Dictionary, 2008]]</ref> also nicknamed ''Slon-he'' or "Slow"; c. 1831&nbsp;– December 15, 1890) was a [[Hunkpapa]] [[Lakota people|Lakota]] holy man who led his people as a [[tribal chief]] during years of resistance to United States government policies. He was killed by [[Indian agency police]] on the [[Standing Rock Indian Reservation]] during an attempt to arrest him at a time when authorities feared that he would join the [[Ghost Dance]] movement.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kehoe|first=Alice|title=The Ghost Dance|year=2006|publisher=Waveland Press, Inc.|location=Long Grove, IL|isbn=1577664531}}</ref>

Before the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]], Sitting Bull had a vision in which he saw the defeat of the [[7th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|7th Cavalry]] under Lt. Col. [[George Armstrong Custer]] on June 25, 1876.  Sitting Bull's leadership motivated his people to a major victory. Months after their victory at the battle, Sitting Bull and his group left the United States for [[Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan]], where he remained until 1881, at which time he surrendered to U.S. forces. A small remnant of his band under Chief Waŋblí Ǧí decided to stay at Wood Mountain.

After working as a performer, Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency in [[South Dakota]]. Because of fears that he would use his influence to support the [[Ghost Dance]] movement, [[Bureau of Indian Affairs|Indian Service]] agent [[James McLaughlin (Indian agent)|James McLaughlin]] at [[Fort Yates]] ordered his arrest. During an ensuing struggle between Sitting Bull's followers and the agency police, Sitting Bull was shot in the side and head by Standing Rock policemen Lieutenant Bull Head (''Tatankapah'') and Red Tomahawk (''Marcelus Chankpidutah'') after the police were fired upon by Sitting Bull's supporters. His body was taken to nearby [[Fort Yates]] for burial, but in 1953, his remains were possibly [[exhume]]d and reburied near [[Mobridge, South Dakota]], by his [[Lakota people|Lakota]] family, who wanted his body to be nearer to his birthplace.

==Early life==

[[File:Toro Sentado.JPG|thumb|Sitting Bull]]
Sitting Bull was born in [[Dakota Territory]].<ref name= pbs >{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/sittingbull.htm|title=PBS: The West: Sitting Bull}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Utley |first=Robert |title=Sitting Bull: The Life and Times of an American Patriot|year=2008 |publisher=Holt Paperbacks|isbn=978-0805088304 |page=22}}</ref> In 2007, Sitting Bull's great-grandson asserted from family oral tradition that Sitting Bull was born along the [[Yellowstone River]], south of present-day [[Miles City, Montana]].<ref name= birth >{{cite magazine|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/specialsections/heritage/200711-sittingbull.html?c=y&page=3 |author=Blumberg, Jess|title="Sitting Bull's Legacy"|publisher= ''Smithsonian''|date=2007-10-31|accessdate=2011-10-04}}</ref> He was named Jumping Badger at birth.<ref>[http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3771.html United States History: Sitting Bull.]</ref> In traditional Lakota fashion, he was later given one of his father's names, ''Tȟatȟaŋka Iyotȟaŋka'', translated as "Sitting Bull", due to a leadership role in a battle between the [[Lakota people|Lakota]] and [[Crow Nation|Crow]] people.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}

During the [[Dakota War of 1862]], in which Sitting Bull's people were not involved,<ref name= pbs /> several bands of eastern [[Dakota people]] killed an estimated 300 to 800 settlers and soldiers in south-central [[Minnesota]] in response to poor treatment by the government and in an effort to drive the whites away. Despite being embroiled in the [[American Civil War]], the [[United States Army]] retaliated in 1863 and 1864, even against bands which had not been involved in the hostilities.<ref name="NPS">{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/thro/historyculture/the-us-army-and-the-sioux.htm |title=The US Army and the Sioux |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |accessdate=February 19, 2011}}</ref> In 1864, two brigades of about 2200 soldiers under Brigadier General [[Alfred Sully]] [[Battle of Killdeer Mountain|attacked a village]]. The defenders were led by Sitting Bull, [[Chief Gall|Gall]] and [[Inkpaduta]].<ref name="NPS"/> The Lakota and Dakota were driven out, but skirmishing continued into August.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}

In September, Sitting Bull and about 100 [[Hunkpapa Lakota]] came across a small party near what is now [[Marmarth, North Dakota]]. They had been left behind by a [[wagon train]] commanded by Captain [[James L. Fisk]] to effect some repairs to an overturned wagon. When he led an attack, Sitting Bull was shot in the left hip by a soldier.<ref name="NPS"/> The bullet exited out through the small of his back, and the wound was not too serious.<ref>{{cite book |title=Sitting Bull, Champion of the Sioux: A Biography |last=Vestal |first=Stanley |year=1989 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=0-8061-2219-6 |page=63 |url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=QvrzJJcUNsUC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=Sitting+Bull+1864#v=onepage&q=Sitting%20Bull%201864&f=false |accessdate=February 19, 2011}}</ref>

==Red Cloud's War==

Sitting Bull led numerous war parties against [[Fort Berthold]], [[Fort Stevenson]], and [[Fort Buford]] and their environs from 1865 through 1868.<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1993|Utley 1993]], pp. 66–72.</ref> Although [[Red Cloud]] was a leader of the [[Oglala Lakota]], his leadership and attacks against forts in the [[Powder River Country]] of Montana were supported by Sitting Bull's [[guerrilla]] attacks on emigrant parties and smaller forts throughout the upper Missouri River region.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}

By early 1868, the U.S. government desired a peaceful settlement to [[Red Cloud's War]]. It agreed to Red Cloud's demands that Forts [[Fort Phil Kearny|Phil Kearny]] and [[Fort C. F. Smith (Fort Smith, Montana)|C.F. Smith]] be abandoned. Chief Gall of the Hunkpapas (among other representatives of the Hunkpapas, [[Sihasapa|Blackfeet]], and [[Yankton Dakota]]) signed a form of the [[Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868]] on July 2, 1868 at [[Fort Rice]] (near [[Bismarck, North Dakota|Bismarck]], [[North Dakota]]).<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1993|Utley 1993]], p. 80.</ref> Sitting Bull did not agree to the treaty. He continued his hit-and-run attacks on forts in the upper Missouri area throughout the late 1860s and early 1870s.<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1993|Utley 1993]], p. 82.</ref>

The events of –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. Later historians and [[ethnologist]]s have refuted this concept of authority, as the Lakota society was highly decentralised. Lakota bands and their elders made individual decisions.<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1993|Utley 1993]], p. 88-89.</ref>

==The Great Sioux War of 1876==
{{details|Great Sioux War of 1876}}
[[File:Sitting Bull by Goff, 1881.png|thumb|Early [[Cabinet card]] of Sitting Bull, 1881.]]
Sitting Bull's band of Hunkpapa continued to attack migrating parties and forts in the late 1860s. When in 1871 the [[Northern Pacific Railway]] conducted a [[surveying|survey]] for a route across the northern plains directly through Hunkpapa lands, it encountered stiff Lakota resistance.<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1973|Utley, ''Frontier Regulars'' 1973]], p. 242.</ref> The same railway people returned the following year accompanied by federal troops. Sitting Bull and the Hunkpapa attacked the survey party, which was forced to turn back.<ref>[[#Reference-idBailey1979|Bailey 1979]], pp. 84–5.</ref> In 1873, the military accompaniment for the surveyors was increased again, but Sitting Bull's forces resisted the survey "most vigorously."<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1973|Utley ''Frontier Regulars'' 1973]], p. 242.</ref>

The [[Panic of 1873]] forced the Northern Pacific Railway's backers (such as [[Jay Cooke]]) into [[bankruptcy]]. This halted construction of the railroad through Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota territory. After the discovery and new wealth from gold in California, other men became interested in the potential for [[gold mining]] in the [[Black Hills]]. In 1874, Lt. Col. [[George Armstrong Custer]] led a military expedition from [[Fort Abraham Lincoln]] near [[Bismarck, North Dakota|Bismarck]], to explore the Black Hills for gold and to determine a suitable location for a military fort in the Hills.<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1973|Utley ''Frontier Regulars'' 1973]], p. 244.</ref> Custer's announcement of gold in the Black Hills triggered the [[Black Hills Gold Rush]]. Tensions increased between the Lakota and European Americans' seeking to move into the Black Hills.<ref>[[#Reference-idBailey1979|Bailey 1979]], pp. 106–7.</ref>

Although Sitting Bull did not attack Custer's expedition in 1874, the US government was increasingly pressured to open the Black Hills to mining and settlement. It was alarmed at reports of Sioux depredations (encouraged by Sitting Bull). In November 1875, the government ordered all Sioux bands outside the [[Great Sioux Reservation]] to move onto the reservation, knowing full well that not all would comply. As of February 1, 1876, the [[Interior Department]] certified as "hostile" those bands who continued to live off the reservation.<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1973|Utley ''Frontier Regulars'' 1973]], p. 248.</ref> This certification allowed the military to pursue Sitting Bull and other Lakota bands as "hostiles".

According to the historian Margot Liberty, many Lakota bands allied with the [[Cheyenne]] during the Plains Wars because they thought the other nation was under attack by the US. Given this connection, she suggests the major war should have been called "The Great Cheyenne War". Since 1860, the Northern Cheyenne had led several battles among the Plains Indians. Before 1876, the US Army had destroyed seven Cheyenne camps, more than those of any other nation.<ref name="cheyenne">{{cite web |last=Liberty |first=Dr. Margot |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= |url=http://www.friendslittlebighorn.com/cheyenneprimacy.htm |title=Cheyenne Primacy: The Tribes' Perspective As Opposed To That Of The United States Army; A Possible Alternative To "The Great Sioux War Of 1876" |work= |publisher=Friends of the Little Bighorn |accessdate=13 January 2008}}</ref>

However, other historians such as [[Robert M. Utley]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Sitting Bull: The Life and Times of an American Patriot |last= Utley |first= Robert M.|authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1993|publisher=Henry Holt&Co. |location=New York, New York |isbn=0-8050-8830-X |pages=88, 122 |url= }}</ref> and Jerome Greene<ref>{{cite book |title=Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–77: The Military View |last=Greene |first=Jerome |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1993|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman, OK |isbn=0-8061-2535-7 |pages=xvi, xvii |url= }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877 |last=Greene |first= Jerome |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1994 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman, OK |isbn=0-8061-3245-0 |page=xv |url= }}</ref> also use Lakota oral testimony as the basis for their conclusions that the Lakota coalition, of which Sitting Bull was the ostensible head, was the primary target of the federal government's pacification campaign.

===Battle of the Little Bighorn===

{{details|Battle of the Little Bighorn}}
[[Image:little bighorn memorial overview with clouds.jpg|thumb|Little Bighorn battlefield]]
During the period 1868–1876, Sitting Bull developed into the most important of Native American [[tribal chief|chief]]s. After the [[Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868]] and the creation of the Great Sioux Reservation, many traditional Sioux warriors, such as Red Cloud of the Oglala and Spotted Tail of the [[Brulé]], moved to reside permanently on the reservations. They were largely dependent for subsistence on the US Indian agencies. Many other chiefs, including members of Sitting Bull's Hunkpapa band such as Gall, at times lived temporarily at the agencies. They needed the supplies at a time when white encroachment and the depletion of buffalo herds reduced their resources and challenged Native American independence.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}

In 1875, the Northern Cheyenne, Hunkpapa, Oglala, Sans Arc, and Minneconjou camped together for a Sun Dance, with both the Cheyenne [[medicine man]] White Bull or Ice and Sitting Bull in association. This ceremonial alliance preceded their fighting together in 1876.<ref name="cheyenne">{{cite web |last=Liberty |first=Dr. Margot |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= |url=http://www.friendslittlebighorn.com/cheyenneprimacy.htm |title=Cheyenne Primacy: The Tribes' Perspective As Opposed To That Of The United States Army; A Possible Alternative To "The Great Sioux War Of 1876 |work= |publisher=Friends of the Little Bighorn |accessdate=13 January 2008}}</ref> Sitting Bull had a major revelation.
<blockquote>At the climactic moment, "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.' Ice too observed, 'No one then knew who the enemy were – of what tribe.'...They were soon to find out."(Utley 1992: 122–24)</blockquote>

Sitting Bull's refusal to adopt any dependence on the white man meant that at times he and his small band of warriors lived isolated on the [[Great Plains|Plains]]. When Native Americans were threatened by the United States, numerous members from various Sioux bands and other tribes, such as the North Cheyenne, came to Sitting Bull's camp. His reputation for "strong medicine" developed as he continued to evade the European Americans.
[[Image:Sittingbullharpersweekly.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Sketch of Sitting Bull; ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'', December 8, 1877 issue.]]
After the January 1st ultimatum of 1876, when the US Army began to track down Sioux and others living off the reservation as hostiles, Native Americans gathered at Sitting Bull's camp. The chief took an active role in encouraging this "unity camp". He sent scouts to the reservations to recruit warriors, and told the Hunkpapa to share supplies with those Native Americans who joined them. An example of his generosity was Sitting Bull's taking care of [[Wooden Leg]]'s Northern Cheyenne tribe. They had been impoverished by Captain Reynold's March 17, 1876 attack and fled to Sitting Bull's camp for safety.<ref name="cheyenne"/>

The Hunkpapa chief provided resources to sustain the new recruits. Over the course of the first half of 1876, Sitting Bull's camp continually expanded, as natives joined him for safety in numbers. His leadership had attracted the warriors and families of an extensive village, estimated at more than 10,000 people. Lt. Col. Custer came across this large camp on June 25, 1876. Sitting Bull did not take a direct military role in the ensuing battle; instead he acted as a spiritual chief and had performed the Sun Dance, in which he fasted and sacrificed over 100 pieces of flesh from his arms, a week prior to the attack.<ref name= pbs />

Custer’s 7th Cavalry advance party attacked Cheyenne and Lakota tribes at their camp on the Little Big Horn River (known as the Greasy Grass River to the Lakota) on June 25, 1876. The U.S. Army did not realize how large the camp was. More than 2,000 Native American warriors had left their reservations to follow Sitting Bull. Inspired by a vision of Sitting Bull’s, in which he saw U.S. soldiers being killed as they entered the tribe’s camp, the Cheyenne and Lakota fought back. Custer's badly outnumbered troops lost ground quickly and were forced to retreat. The tribes led a [[counter-attack]] against the soldiers on a nearby ridge, ultimately annihilating them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/How-the-Battle-of-Little-Bighorn-Was-Won.html|title=How the Battle of Little Bighorn Was Won |publisher=Smithsonian.com|author=Powers, Thomas}}</ref>

The Native Americans' victory celebrations were short-lived. Public shock and outrage at Custer's death and defeat, and the government's knowledge about the remaining Sioux, led them to assign thousands more soldiers to the area. Over the next year, the new American military forces pursued the Lakota, forcing many of the Native Americans to surrender. Sitting Bull refused to surrender and in May 1877 led his band across the border into [[Saskatchewan]], Canada. He remained in exile for four years near [[Wood Mountain Regional Park|Wood Mountain]], refusing a pardon and the chance to return.<ref>[http://woodmountain.ca/ Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan] official site.</ref> When crossing the border into Saskatchewan, Sitting Bull was met by the Canadian Mounties of the region. During this meeting, James Morrow Walsh, commander of the North-West Mounted Police, explained to Sitting Bull that the Lakota were now on British soil and must obey British law. Walsh emphasized that he enforced the law equally and that every person in the territory had a right to justice. Walsh became an advocate for Sitting Bull and the two became good friends for the remainder of their lives.<ref>Bobby Bridger, Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull: Inventing the Wild West,(University of Texas Press, 2002), p. 270-288</ref>

Also while in Canada Sitting Bull met with chief [[Crowfoot]], who was a chief of the [[Blackfoot Confederacy|Blackfeet]], long-time powerful enemies of the Lakota and Cheyenne. Sitting Bull wished to make peace with the Blackfeet Nation and Crowfoot. Being an advocate for peace himself, Crowfoot eagerly accepted the tobacco peace offering. Sitting Bull was so impressed by the Blackfeet chief that he named one of his sons after him.<ref>Dempsey, H. A. (1972). Crowfoot, chief of the Blackfeet, (1st ed.). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, P. 91</ref>
Sitting Bull and his men only stayed in Canada for 4 years. Due to the smaller size of the buffalo herds in Canada, Sitting Bull and his men found it difficult to find enough food to feed his people, who were starving and exhausted. Furthermore, due to Sitting Bull’s presence in the country, there had been a growth in tension between the Canadian and the United States governments.<ref>Ronald A. Reis, Legends of the Wild West: Sitting Bull, (Infobase Publishing, 2010), p. 81-82</ref> Before Sitting Bull left Saskatchewan, he may have visited Walsh for a final time and left a ceremonial headdress as a memento.<ref>Kensington, Museums Secrets: The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, (History TV, 2012)</ref>

===Surrender===
[[Image:Fort Buford 2010.jpg|left|thumb|[[Fort Buford]]'s original 1872 Commanding Officer's Quarters where Sitting Bull's surrender ceremony was held]]
Hunger and desperation eventually forced Sitting Bull, and 186 of his family and followers to return to the United States and surrender on July 19, 1881. Sitting Bull had his young son [[Crow Foot]] surrender his [[Winchester Rifle|Winchester]] [[lever-action]] [[carbine]] to Major David H. Brotherton, commanding officer of [[Fort Buford]] in the parlor of the Commanding Officer's Quarters in a ceremony the next day. He told the 4 soldiers, 20 warriors and other guests in the small room, that he wished to regard the soldiers and the white race as friends but he wanted to know who would teach his son the new ways of the world. Two weeks later, after waiting in vain for other members of his tribe to follow him from Canada, the Army transferred Sitting Bull and his band to [[Fort Yates]], the military post located adjacent to the [[Standing Rock Agency]], which straddles the present-day boundary of North and South Dakota.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}

Sitting Bull and his band of 186 people were kept separate from the other [[Hunkpapa]] gathered at the agency. Army officials were concerned that the famed chief would stir up trouble among the recently surrendered northern bands. On August 26, 1881, he was visited by the [[census]] taker William T. Selwyn, who counted twelve people in the Hunkpapa leader's immediate family. Forty-one families, totaling 195 people, were recorded in Sitting Bull's band.<ref>Ephriam D. Dickson III, [http://www.sdshspress.com/index.php?&id=220&action=912 ''The Sitting Bull Surrender Census: The Lakotas at Standing Rock Agency, 1881''], Pierre: South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2010, pp. 23–33.</ref>

The military decided to transfer him and his band to [[Fort Randall]], to be held as prisoners of war. Loaded onto a [[steamboat]], the band of 172 people was sent down the [[Missouri River]] to Fort Randall (near present-day [[Pickstown, South Dakota]] on the southern border of the state). There they spent the next 20 months. They were allowed to return north to the Standing Rock Agency in May 1883.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}

==Wild West Show participation==
In 1885, Sitting Bull was allowed to leave the reservation to go [[Wild Westing]] with [[Buffalo Bill|Buffalo Bill Cody’s]] [[Buffalo Bill's Wild West]]. He earned about $50 a week for riding once around the arena, where he was a popular attraction. Although it is rumored that he cursed his audiences in his native tongue during the show, the historian Utley contends that he did not.<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1993|Utley 1993]], p. 263.</ref> Historians have reported that Sitting Bull gave speeches about his desire for education for the young, and reconciling relations between the Sioux and whites.<ref>[[#Reference-idStandingBear|Standing Bear 1975]], p. 185.</ref> The historian Edward Lazarus wrote that Sitting Bull reportedly cursed his audience in ''Lakota'' in 1884, during an opening address celebrating the completion of the [[Northern Pacific Railway]].<ref>[[#Reference-idLazarus|Lazarus 1991]], p. 106.</ref>

During his participation with the Wild West show, Sitting Bull met [[Annie Oakley]].  He was so impressed with Oakley's skills with firearms that he offered $65 for a photographer to take a photo of the two together.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/oakley-sitting-bull/</ref>  The admiration and respect of was mutual.  Oakley stated that Sitting Bull made a "great pet" of her.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/oakley-sitting-bull/</ref>  Over time, Sitting Bull's respect for the young [[sharpshooter]] grew.  Oakley was quite modest in her attire, deeply respectful of others and had a remarkable stage persona despite being a woman who stood only five feet in height. Sitting Bull felt that she was "gifted" by supernatural means in order to shoot so accurately with both hands. As a result of his esteem, he adopted her as a daughter in 1884. He named her "Little Sure Shot" -- a name that Oakley used throughout her career.<ref>http://www.dorchesterlibrary.org/library/aoakley.html</ref> 

Sitting Bull stayed with the show for four months before returning home. During that time, audiences began to consider him a [[celebrity]] and a romanticized [[warrior]]. He earned a small fortune by charging for his autograph and picture, although he often gave his money away to the homeless and beggars.<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1993|Utley 1993]], p. 264.</ref>

==Conversion==
In 1883, rumors surfaced that Sitting Bull had been baptized into the Catholic Church. James McLaughlin, Indian agent at Standing Rock Agency, dismissed these reports, saying that "The reported baptism of Sitting-Bull is erroneous. There is no immediate prospect of such ceremony so far as I am aware." <ref>Whittaker, ''A Complete Life of General Custer,'' Volume 2, p. 535.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F10811F83E5411738DDDAA0994DC405B8384F0D3 |title=Sitting Bull becomes a Catholic |publisher=New York Times |date=1883-04-13 |accessdate=2011-04-11}}</ref><ref>'' Chicago Daily Tribune'', May 26, 1883, 8.</ref>

==Death and burial==
[[File:Brooke Reports "wild scene" and Chaotic Conditions - NARA - 285042.tif|thumb|"Wild scene", "Squaws death chant heard in every direction"]]
[[Image:SittingBullPhilKonstantin.jpg|thumb|right|Monument at Sitting Bull's grave, [[Mobridge, South Dakota]], 2003]]

Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency after working in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. In 1890, [[James McLaughlin (Indian agent)|James McLaughlin]], the U.S. Indian Agent at Fort Yates on Standing Rock Agency, feared that the Lakota leader was about to flee the reservation with the [[Ghost dance|Ghost Dancers]], so he ordered the police to arrest him.<ref>{{cite news |first=Roger L. |last=Nichols |authorlink= |coauthors=University of Oklahoma |title=American Indians in U.S. History |page=160 |url= |publisher=Norman Press |year=2003}}</ref> On December 14, 1890, McLaughlin drafted a letter to Lt. Henry Bullhead that included instructions and a plan to capture the chief. The plan called for the arrest to take place at dawn on December 15, and advised the use of a light spring wagon to facilitate the chief's removal before his followers could rally. Bullhead decided against using the wagon. He intended to have the police officers force Sitting Bull to mount a horse immediately after the arrest.<ref>{{cite news |first=Robert M. |last=Utley |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Last Days of the Sioux Nation, 2nd Edition |page=155,157 |url= |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2004}}</ref>

Around 5:30 a.m. on December 15, 39 police officers and four volunteers approached Sitting Bull's house. They surrounded the house, knocked and entered. Bullhead told Sitting Bull that he was under arrest and led him outside.<ref>{{cite news |first=Robert M. |last=Utley |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Last Days of the Sioux Nation, 2nd Edition |page=158 |url= |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2004 }}</ref> The camp awakened and men converged at the house of their chief. As Bullhead ordered Sitting Bull to mount a horse, he explained that the Indian Affairs agent needed to see him and then he could return to his house. Sitting Bull refused to comply and the police used force on him. The Sioux in the village were enraged. Catch-the-Bear, a Lakota, shouldered his rifle and shot Bullhead who, in return, fired his revolver into the chest of Sitting Bull.<ref>{{cite news |first=Robert M. |last=Utley |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Last Days of the Sioux Nation, 2nd Edition |page=160 |url= |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2004 }}</ref> Another police officer, Red Tomahawk, shot Sitting Bull in the head, and the chief dropped to the ground. He died between 12 and 1 p.m.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}

A close-quarters fight erupted, and within minutes several men were dead. Six policemen were killed immediately and two more died shortly after the fight. Sitting Bull and seven of his supporters lay dead, along with two horses.<ref>Dippie, Brian W. ''The Vanishing American: White Attitudes and U.S. Indian Policy.'' Middleton, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1982.</ref>

Sitting Bull's body was taken to [[Fort Yates]] to be placed in a coffin (made by the Army carpenter)<ref>Snider, G.L., ''A Maker of Shavings, the life of Edward Forte, formerly 1st Sergeant, troop "D", 7th Cavalry'' 1936.</ref> and for burial. In 1953 Lakota family members exhumed what they believed to be his remains, to be reinterred near [[Mobridge, South Dakota]], his birthplace.<ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Bones of Sitting Bull Go South From One Dakota to the Other. |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0D15F63E55107B93CBA9178FD85F478585F9 |quote=A group of South Dakotans today lifted the bones of Sitting Bull, famed Sioux Indian medicine man, from the North Dakota burial ground in which they had been buried sixty-three years and reburied them across the state line in South Dakota near the Chief's boyhood home. |publisher=[[Associated Press]] in [[The New York Times]] |date=April 9, 1953 |accessdate=2008-05-29 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first= Dan |last= Barry |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Restoring Dignity to Sitting Bull, Wherever He Is |url=http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/us/28thisland.html |quote=Then, in 1953, some Chamber of Commerce types from the small South Dakota city of Mobridge executed a startling plan. With the blessing of a few of Sitting Bull’s descendants, they crossed into North Dakota after midnight and exhumed what they believed were Sitting Bull’s remains. |publisher=[[New York Times]] |date=January 28, 2007 |accessdate=2008-05-29}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Tatanka Lyotake.jpg|thumb|right|Sitting Bull, 1882]]
Following Sitting Bull's death, his cabin on the Grand River was taken to [[Chicago]] to become an exhibit at the 1893 [[World's Columbian Exposition]]. Native American dancers also performed at the Exposition.<ref>[[#Reference-idBarker1994|Barker 1994]], p. 165.</ref>

Sitting Bull was the subject of, or a featured character in, several [[Hollywood]] [[motion pictures]] and documentaries. Among them are:

*''Sitting Bull: The Hostile Sioux Indian Chief'' (1914)
*''Sitting Bull at the Spirit Lake Massacre'' (1927)
*''[[Annie Get Your Gun (film)|Annie Get Your Gun]]'' (1950)
*[[Sitting Bull (film)|''Sitting Bull'']] (1954)
*''[[Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson]]'' (1976)
*''[[Into the West (TV miniseries)|Into the West]]'' (2005)
*[[Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film)|''Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee'']] (2007)
*''Sitting Bull: A Stone in My Heart'' (2008) Documentary <ref>[http://www.lillimar.com/Site/SITTING_BULL__A_STONE_IN_MY_HEART_DOCUMENTARY_FILM_AND_DVD_ON_LAKOTA_AMERICAN_INDIAN_CHIEF.html SITTING BULL: A Stone in my Heart], Lillimar Pictures</ref>

As time passed, Sitting Bull became a symbol and archetype of Native American resistance movements as well as a figure celebrated by his former enemies:
*On September 14, 1989, the [[United States Postal Service]] released a [[Great Americans series]] 28¢ [[postage stamp]] featuring a likeness of Sitting Bull.<ref>[[#Reference-idUSPS|United States Postal Service, Postal History Web site]].</ref>
*On March 6, 1996, Standing Rock College was renamed [[Sitting Bull College]] in his honor. Sitting Bull College serves as an institution of higher education on Sitting Bull's home of Standing Rock in North Dakota and South Dakota.
*The American historian [[Gary Clayton Anderson]] of the [[University of Oklahoma]] published ''Sitting Bull and the Paradox of Lakota Nationhood'' a revisionist examination of the Lakota medicine man. Anderson stresses the Little Big Horn not so much as a mishap by Custer but in light of past succeses the Lakota Nation and the merits of Sitting Bull himself.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.indiaplaza.in/sitting-bull-paradox-of-lakota-nationhood-anderson-gary-clayton/books/9780321421920.htm |title=Sitting Bull and the Paradox of Lakota Nationhood|publisher=[[Prentice Hall]], ISBN 978-0-321-42192-0 |accessdate=October 23, 2010}}</ref>
*[[Legoland Billund]], the first [[Legoland]] park, contains a [[Lego]] sculpture of Sitting Bull, the largest sculpture in the park.
*Sitting Bull is featured as the leader for the Native American Civilization in the [[Computer and video games|computer game]] ''[[Civilization IV]]''.<ref>{{citation |title=Sid Meier's Civilization IV |publisher=IGN Entertainment |url= http://pc.ign.com/articles/654/654463p1.html}}.</ref>
*Sitting Bull is lionized as one of 13 great Americans in President Barack Obama's children's book, [[Of Thee I Sing (book)|''Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters'']].<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1330188/Barack-Obama-names-Sitting-Bull-inspirational-American-new-childrens-book.html James White. Barack Obama names Sitting Bull as inspirational American in new children's book. Mail Online (Posted: November 17, 2010)].</ref>
*In August 2010, a research team led by Eske Willerslev, an ancient DNA expert at the University of Copenhagen, announced their intention to sequence the genome of Sitting Bull, with the approval of his descendents using a hair sample obtained during his lifetime.<ref>[http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/62315/title/Genome_of_a_chief Genome of a chief, Science News, Web edition: Tuesday, August 17th, 2010].</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Sitting Bull's grave.jpg|Sitting Bull's grave at Fort Yates, ca. 1906
File:William Notman studios - Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill (1895) edit.jpg|Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill in 1885
File:sittingbull1883.jpg|Sitting Bull in [[Pierre, South Dakota]] on his way to Standing Rock Agency from [[Fort Randall]]
File:Sitting Bull (Tatonka-I-Yatanka), a Hunkpapa Sioux, 1885 - NARA - 530896 edit.tif|Sitting Bull (Tatonka-I-Yatanka), a Hunkpapa Sioux, 1885
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Black Elk]]
*[[Henry Mabb]]
*[[Catherine Weldon]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* Documentary: Sitting Bull: A Stone in My Heart [http://www.lillimar.com/Site/SITTING_BULL__A_STONE_IN_MY_HEART_DOCUMENTARY_FILM_AND_DVD_ON_LAKOTA_AMERICAN_INDIAN_CHIEF.html], 82 minutes
*{{wikicite|id=idBailey1979|reference=Bailey, John W. ''Pacifying the Plains: General Alfred Terry and the Decline of the Sioux, 1866–1890.'' Westport, Conn.: [[Greenwood Press]], 1979.}}
*{{wikicite|id=idBarker1994|reference=Barker, Barbara. "Imre Kiralfy's Patriotic Spectacles: "Columbus, and the Discovery of America" (1892–1893) and "America" (1893)." ''Dance Chronicle.'' Vol. 17, no. 2 (1994).}}
*{{wikicite|id=idLazarus|reference=[[Edward Lazarus|Lazarus, Edward]]. ''Black Hills White Justice: The Sioux Nation versus the United States, 1775 to the Present.'' New York: [[HarperCollins]], 1991.}}
*McLaughlin, James. ''[http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/eight/sbarrest.htm Account of the Death of Sitting Bull and of the Circumstances Attending It].'' Philadelphia, 1891.
*{{wikicite|id=idMooney|reference=[[James Mooney|Mooney, James]]. (Abridged version) ''The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890.'' Originally published as Part 2 of the ''Fourteenth Annual Report of the [[Bureau of Ethnology]] to the Secretary of the [[Smithsonian Institution]], 1892–93,'' Washington: [[United States Government Printing Office|GPO]], 1896. Abridged version publication information: Edited by [[Anthony F. C. Wallace]]. Chicago: [[University of Chicago Press]], 1965.}}
*"[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40614FC395A107B93CBA81789D95F478585F9 Sitting Bull Rises Again – Two Indians Deny Bones of Chief Were Taken to South Dakota.]" ''[[The New York Times]].'' December 19, 1953.
*{{wikicite|id=idPrairiePublic|reference=[[Prairie Public Radio]]. ''[http://www.pol.org/programs/datebook/bydate/04/0904/090304.jsp Dakota Datebook].'' September 3, 2004.}}
*{{wikicite|id=idUSPS|reference=[[United States Postal Service]], [http://www.usps.com/postalhistory/_rtf/AmerInd.rtf Postal Service Listing of American Indian Stamps].}}
*{{wikicite|id=idUtley1993|reference=[[Robert Utley|Utley, Robert M.]] ''The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull.'' 1st ed. New York: [[Henry Holt and Company]], 1993.}}
*{{wikicite|id=idUtley1973|reference=Utley, Robert M. ''Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866–1891.'' New York: [[Macmillan Publishers]], 1973.}}
*{{wikicite|id=idStandingBear|reference=[[Luther Standing Bear|Standing Bear, Luther.]] (Reprint) ''My People the Sioux.'' Lincoln: [[University of Nebraska Press]], 1975.}}
*{{wikicite|id=idNLD|reference=[[Jan Ullrich|Ullrich, Jan]] ''New Lakota Dictionary.'' Lakota Language Consortium, 2008.}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
<div class="references-small">
*Nelson, Paul D., '''A shady Pair' and an 'attempt on his life'- Sitting Bull and His 1884 visit to St. Paul'', Ramsey County History Quarterly V38 #1, [http://www.rchs.com/index.htm Ramsey County Historical Society], St Paul, MN, 2003.
*Adams, Alexander B. ''Sitting Bull: An Epic of the Plains.'' New York: [[G. P. Putnam's Sons]], 1973.
*[[Dee Brown (writer)|Brown, Dee]]. ''[[Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee]]: An Indian History of the American West.'' New York: [[Henry Holt and Company|Holt, Rinehart and Winston]], 1970.
*DeWall, Robb. ''The Saga of Sitting Bull's Bones: The Unusual Story Behind Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski's Memorial to Chief Sitting Bull.'' Crazy Horse, S.D.: Korczak's Heritage, 1984.
*Greene, Jerome A., ed. ''Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877.'' Norman, Okla.: [[University of Oklahoma Press]], 1994.
*Manzione, Joseph. ''"I Am Looking to the North for My Life": Sitting Bull: 1876–1881.'' Salt Lake City: [[University of Utah Press]], 1991.
*Newson, Thomas McLean. ''[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History Thrilling scenes among the Indians, with a graphic description of Custer's last fight with Sitting Bull].'' Chicago: Belford, Clarke and Co., 1884.
*"[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B02E3DC143FE23BBC4F53DFB166838D669FDE Confirmation of the Disaster]." ''[[The New York Times]].'' July 7, 1876.
*"[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B07E0D91E3BE533A25754C1A9649D94619ED7CF The Death of Sitting Bull]." ''The New York Times.'' December 17, 1890.
*"[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9906E5DA1239E033A25755C1A9649D94619ED7CF The Last of Sitting Bull]." ''The New York Times.'' December 16, 1890.
*[[Marcus Albert Reno|Reno, Marcus Albert]]. ''[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History The official record of a court of inquiry convened at Chicago, Illinois, January 13, 1879, by the President of the United States upon the request of Major Marcus A. Reno, 7th U.S. Cavalry, to investigate his conduct at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, June 25–26, 1876].'' (Reprint online) Pacific Palisades, Calif.: 1951.
*Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who's Who In The Civil War.'' New York: Facts on File Publishing, 1988.
*Urwin, Gregory. ''Custer Victorious: The Civil War Battles of General George Armstrong Custer.'' Lincoln, Neb.: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1990.
*Utley, Robert M. ''The Last Days of the Sioux Nation.'' New Haven, Conn.: [[Yale University Press]], 1963.
*Yenne, Bill. "Sitting Bull." Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2008.
*[[Stanley Vestal|Vestal, Stanley]]. ''Sitting Bull: Champion of the Sioux, a Biography.'' New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1932.
</div>

==External links==
{{commons|Sitting Bull}}
{{Wikiquote|Sitting Bull}}
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Sitting Bull}}
*[http://collections.si.edu/search/results.jsp?view=&dsort=&date.slider=&q=Sitting+Bull+drawing+-%22Four+Horns%22&fq=online_visual_material%3Atrue Sitting Bull's ledger drawings], Smithsonian Institution
*[http://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/anth/?irn=8419240 Sitting Bull's Winchester], Catalogue No. E384119, Department of Anthropology, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution
*[http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/sitting-bull/ American Public Media ''Speaking of Faith'' interview of Ernie LaPointe entitled "Tatanaka Iyotake: Reimagining Sitting Bull"]
*[http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/sittingbull.htm PBS ''The West'' article on Sitting Bull]
*[http://www.sittingbullmonument.com The Sitting Bull Monument Foundation in Mobridge, South Dakota]
*[http://www.sittingbullfilm.com/LILLIMAR_WEBSITE/Sitting_Bull_film_biography_DVD_Documentary,_Lakota_chief_story.html "Sitting Bull: A Stone in My Heart"], feature length documentary film on the life of Sitting Bull
*[http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10174 Historica’s Heritage Minute video docudrama about Sitting Bull.] ([[Adobe Flash Player]])
*{{Find a Grave|955|Sitting Bull|work=Sioux Indian Leader|author=Kuzriel Meir|date=Jan 01, 2001|accessdate=Aug 18, 2011}}
* {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Sitting Bull|year=1900 |short=x |notaref=x}}

{{Wild West}}

{{Good article}}

{{Authority control|VIAF=96623890|LCCN=n/50/025199|GND=118614835}}

{{Persondata
| NAME              = Sitting Bull
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Tatanka Iyotake or Tatanka Iyotanka or Ta-Tanka I-Yotank
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = [[Hunkpapa]] [[Lakota people|Lakota]] medicine man and holy man
| DATE OF BIRTH     = ca. 1831
| PLACE OF BIRTH    =[[Grand River (South Dakota)|Grand River]], [[South Dakota]]
| DATE OF DEATH     = December 15, 1890
| PLACE OF DEATH    = United States
|
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sitting Bull}}
[[Category:1831 births]]
[[Category:1890 deaths]]
[[Category:1890 crimes]]
[[Category:Religious figures of the indigenous peoples of North America]]
[[Category:Murdered Native American people]]
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[[Category:Native American people of the Indian Wars]]
[[Category:Native American leaders]]
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[[Category:Wild West shows]]
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