Sitting Bull: The Lakota Chief Who Took On the US Army

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native american tribes to himself sitting   ball was a man looking to preserve the  past completely defiant when it came to   his refusal to abandon the old ways of his  people even if this meant war and even death right off the bat we have a bit of controversy  regarding sitting bull's birthplace as there's   some disagreement between the official version and  the information passed down through oral tradition   according to the history books sitting bull was  born circa 1831 in modern-day south dakota on   the bank of the grand river however some of  his descendants assert that the tribal leader   was actually born in montana near modern-day  mars city on the bank of the yellowstone river   sitting bull was part of the hunk papa lakota  tribe themselves a subdivision of the sioux people   his name in the lakota language was tatanka  leotarko which literally translates as   buffalo bull who sits down but that was not the  name that he had as a child when he was born he   was given the name jumping badger and later  acquired the nickname slow for his restrained   and calculated demeanor his father and his uncles  were all tribal chiefs there was a lot of pressure   for jumping badger following their footsteps  fortunately the young lakota seemed determined   to cast off the moniker slow which he wasn't  too fond of and display the four virtues which   were considered fundamental to the lakota bravery  wisdom fortitude and generosity from an early age   he took part in many games and competitions that  tested his skills and he showed his mettle when   he took down his first buffalo when he was only 10  years old when he turned 14 years of age jumping   badger was given his first opportunity to count  coup this meant striking an enemy up close and was   the most common way of gaining war honours among  the native american tribes of the great plains   it could have been done with the hand a weapon  or a whip but it was most commonly done with a   coup stick a long peeled wand with a feather on  the end the challenge was getting close enough   to the enemy to touch him and then escape without  getting injured or killed it was generally seen as   more honorable than killing or scalping the enemy  but at the same time it was a great humiliation   for the target so most native warriors would have  gone to great lengths to avoid being the ones that   someone else counted kuan anyway when he  was 14 jumping badger was presented with   a coup stick and joined a lakota war  party on a raid against the crow who   were their greatest enemy at the time during the  fight the young man was successful in counting   coup against a crow warrior this filled his  father with pride and when they returned home   the tribe had a ceremony to honor the young  warrior and mark his passage into adulthood he   also received a new name that was more worthy  of him and jumping badger became sitting bull at 14 sitting ball was already regarded as a  warrior and he continued his meteoric rise through   the ranks of the lakota tribe he was a member of  several groups most notably of the strong heart   society which was made up of the bravest and most  elite warriors he was then given the prestigious   title of sash wearer and became the leader of the  group in 1856. sitting ball proved himself to be   a natural leader and it was only fitting that he  became one of the people who shaped their tribe's   relationships with the outside world particularly  after his father was killed in a fight with a crow   warrior at first he was indifferent to the u.s  government and white settlers he said i have seen   nothing that the white man has which is as good as  our right to roam and live on the open plains as   we choose that being said he wasn't hostile either  growing up most of the interactions with white   people that he experienced were positive since  most of them involved fur traders who were eager   to stay on friendly terms with the lakota but as  settlers and prospectors kept expanding westward   animosity developed on both sides that inevitably  turned violent this resulted in the dakota war of   1862 also known by many other names such as the  sioux uprising or little crows war the conflict   started in minnesota which had only become a  state a few years earlier to help colonize the   territory the u.s government passed the homestead  act in 1862 which promised 160 acres of land to   any person or family who claimed that land and  then lived and cultivated it for five years   most of that territory originally belonged  to native american groups such as the dakota   and ojibwe people on paper the american government  obtained all the land fair and square by either   buying it directly or setting up reservations  where the native tribes were supposed to receive   regular payments and supply shipments but the  government regularly broke the treaties which   were heavily in their favor to begin with payments  were missed supplies were late and contracts were   renegotiated to get more and more concessions  by 1858 the dakota people from minnesota lived   on a small strip of land and many of them were  starving due to the lack of food shipments and   their inability to hunt frustration turned to  anger which turned to violence in 1862 a faction   of dakota warriors led by chief little crow  began raiding settlements and stores launching a   six-week long war that saw the deaths of over 350  settlers the civil war slowed down the government   response but the dakota eventually fought an  army consisting mainly of volunteers they were   decisively defeated at the battle of wood lake  and littlecrow was later killed during a raiding   party afterwards dozens of dakota warriors  were hanged for their role in the war and   the government voided all treaties with the dakota  people forcing them to leave minnesota altogether sitting bull had no role in this war but his  people and many other tribes suffered the   consequences all the same as the government  decided to punish all the sioux by sending   military expeditions into their territory to  push them back even further it was in june   1863 that sitting bull first fought the united  states army but this was just a minor skirmish   a real fight occurred a year later on july 28 1864  at the battle of kildare mountain this conflict   involved around 4 000 soldiers in total which may  have been the largest single battle between the   u.s army and the plains tribes larger than the  more famous battle of little bighorn that we'll   cover in a bit on one side there were two brigades  led by brigadier general alfred sully around   2200 soldiers their mission usually referred  to as sully's expedition was to weaken the   sioux however possible and get them to relocate  further west best way to do this was to destroy   their villages they had already done it once back  at white stone hill back in september 1863 and now   they had their sights set on a new target an even  larger sioux encampment near the little missouri   river in present-day dunn county north dakota on  the other side were around 1 600 warriors most   of them belonging to various lakota tribes sitting  bull was there as the leader of the papa alongside   another famed warrior named gaul sally was  expecting an enemy force double even triple   what he actually encountered but he had superior  firepower which also included two cannons the   fight was fairly one-sided that lakota tried a  few times to charge into the ranks of the army   soldiers but their guns kept the warriors at  bay until they finally reached within cannon   range once that happened the battle was pretty  much over sully batted the village with cannon   fire until the inhabitants had no choice but to  abandon it the following day his men marched into   the settlement and destroyed everything including  food and supplies so that the lakota would have no   reason to return for many warriors like sitting  bull it was the first time that they encountered   artillery in battle and were finally realizing  the strength that they were up against even so   they did not retreat completely and instead kept  harassing sully's troops with small raids as   the army made its way through the rugged hills  and the steep ravines west of kildare mountain   this eventually culminated in the battle of  the badlands almost two weeks after their first   conflict once again superior firepower won the  day and sully ended his military campaign once   the lakota had been driven into montana during  this time sitting bull was hardly the only lakota   leader who fought the united states army in  1866 another violent conflict emerged known   as red cloud's war which was led by chief  red clown leader of the oglala lakota people   for two years he fought the u.s army for control  of the powder river country region in wyoming   strictly speaking when a treaty had been  signed that land belonged to the crow people   however the oglala fought them over it the same  way that they had done for centuries and they won   so they considered the territory rightfully theirs  then the u.s government tried taking advantage of   the situation to drive them away since that was an  important piece of land that territory contained   part of the bozeman trail which at that time  was the shortest route that took settlers and   prospectors from the oregon trail in wyoming to  the gold rush region of montana it was a route   that the government desperately wanted to control  so they tried building several new forts to gain   a foothold in the area what made this conflict  notable was that it ended in a victory for the   lakota for most of the war red cloud and his  allies which included sitting bull resorted to   raids and other blitz attacks that being said  there were a few large-scale battles such as   the fetterman fight which ended in decisive  victories for the dakota eventually the u.s   government sought peace and signed the treaty  of fort laramie in 1868 the military agreed to   abandon the forts and retreat from the area  more importantly the treaty established the   gracie reservation a large swath of land  that was reserved for native people it   also recognized the black hills in the dakota  territory as being unseated territory that was   sacred to the lakota as their place of  origin and granted them exclusive use of it   around 130 tribal leaders signed the treaty of  fort laramie but sitting bull was not one of them   he didn't do it because he didn't want to move  his people or change their way of life but his   actions proved somewhat prophetic because it took  the united states government less than a decade   to break the treaty once they discovered  that there was gold in those hills throughout the late 1860s and early 1870s  sitting bull continued to carry out minor   skirmishes against various parties that entered  lakota territory most notable of all being a   group working for the northern pacific railway who  wanted to lay down track over land which sitting   bull considered to belong to the hong papa some  sources claim that during this time sitting bull   became the supreme chief of sioux nation but  others strongly contend that no such position   existed at most sitting bull came to be regarded  as the unofficial leader of the non-treaty lakota   meaning all the native americans who refused to  sign and adhere to the treaty of fort laramie   and lived outside the great sioux reservation  in 1874 the united states government dispatched   the seventh cavalry to the black hills inside  the dakota territory their mission was to scout   for a suitable location for a new fort but also to  search the area for natural resources specifically   they were to investigate a rumor that there might  be gold in the black hills this was a time when   america was firmly gripped with gold fever the  california gold rush had a massive effect on the   country's economy and its migration toward the  west so the possibility of a similar scenario   in dakota was just too good to ignore therefore  on july the 2nd 1874 a thousand soldiers and 110   wagons set off on the black hills expedition led  by lieutenant colonel george armstrong custer the   california gold rush also had a devastating effect  on the native american population and in august   1874 the worst thing possible for them happened  custer found gold in the black hills he described   as an extensive area rich in gold deposit and  in just a week the new york tribune proclaimed   the black hills to be new gold country nowhere in  custer's report or the newspapers was it mentioned   that the land was the gold was legally the lakotas  by autumn over 15 000 miners have already made   their way to the dakota territory at first  the army was there to arrest and evacuate the   prospectors who snuck into lakota land although  it was mainly saving them from being killed by the   native americans the government made an offer of  six million dollars to purchase the black hills an   offer which was firmly rejected by sitting bull at  that point president ulysses s grant pretty much   said screwed the treaty and pulled the army from  the region allowing people to travel unimpeded   to the black hills in december 1875 grant gave  a deadline of january 31 1876 by which point all   the sioux people had to relocate inside the great  sioux reservation those who failed to do so would   be considered and treated as hostiles even if  sitting bull would have been willing to move which   he wasn't it would have been almost impossible  to do it in such a short time and during the   middle of winter therefore he saw no other choice  the deadline passed and the great sioux war began word of sitting bull's refusal to accept any kind  of deal with the american government reached other   tribes that were living outside the great zoo  reservation the first half of 1876 or many of   them make their way to sitting bull's camp which  soon turned into a village with around 10 000   people on the bank of the little bighorn river  these were mainly lakota and dakota sioux but   also some northern cheyenne and arapaho the  exact number of warriors remains disputed to   this day but it's generally estimated to  be around 2 000 and besides sitting bull   other prominent leaders included garl and the  famed warrior crazy horse the opening skirmish   of the conflict which was also known as the black  hills war occurred in may 1876 when six cavalry   troops led by colonel joseph j reynolds attacked a  native american village in montana's powder river   valley reynolds split his army into four groups  but due to a miscalculation from the colonel   only one reached the village in time although they  managed to destroy the village they also sustained   casualties and ultimately were forced to retreat  for his actions reynolds was later charged with   dereliction of duty and court-martialed another  notable fight was the battle of rosebud on june   17 named after montana's rosebud creek this was  a bigger affair that included around a thousand   soldiers on each side but like the first one  sitting bull was not involved rather this one   saw general george crook go against crazy horse  and his oglala lakota warriors crook also had   assistance from the crow and the shoshone who had  allied themselves with the u.s government in this   war but he still narrowly avoided a bloody  crushing defeat that would have seen most   of his troops wiped out technically he won the  battle because he had control of the battlefield   when it was said and done but this is usually  regarded as a strategic victory for the sioux   and the cheyenne they inflicted a lot of damage  and they retreated from the battlefield of their   own accord emboldened by their success against the  american army but most importantly they completely   immobilized crooks unit left with little supplies  and plenty of wounded crook soldiers would play   no part in the bigger battle that was about  to take place just a days later came the famed   battle of little bighorn known as the battle of  the greasy grass to the dakota originally the   army planned a three-pronged approach involving  three military columns coming from different   directions that would have culminated in one  big attack against sitting bull's village one   of those three columns was the one led by general  crook and that one had been eliminated by crazy   horse another one was led by colonel john gibbon  who had been delayed and was not in the area at   the time of the battle that left the third column  by general alfred terry on june 22nd terry sent a   scouting party ahead which consisted of the same  seventh cavalry regiment that first discovered   gold in the black hills once again commanded by  lieutenant colonel george armstrong custer on   the morning of june 25th custer found sitting  bull's camp and in a very fool-hearty move   decided not to wait for reinforcements he had  between 600 and 700 soldiers with him and he   thought that would be enough to defeat the lakota  even though he was uncertain of how many warriors   awaited him of course the lakota had their  own scout since sitting bull was aware of   the impending attack and was ready to strike back  we should mention that although sitting bull is   generally the native american closest associated  with this battle many sources claim that he didn't   actually fight by this point he would have been  in his mid to late 40s so his role was more of a   spiritual leader whereas the young braves  were led in battle by crazy horse and gall   it was around mid-afternoon that custard decided  to launch his attack and almost immediately it   became clear that he'd made a big mistake his 700  cavalry men were up against a force numbering in   the thousands and they were quickly overwhelmed  after just 20 minutes of fighting the lakota had   already gained the upper hand and had forced the  u.s soldiers to fall back kustra divided his army   into five groups and although they all sustained  heavy losses the brunt end was felt by the   detachment led by kuster himself they retreated to  higher ground where they were surrounded by their   enemies and killed the very last man this final  resistance became known as custer's last stand and   the place where it happened is now a memorial  called lost stand hill the battle had been a   disaster for the us army as it gave it its worst  defeat in all of its many wars against the sioux   however looking back at it it can also be regarded  as the beginning of the end for the dakota for   starters they had to go on the march immediately  since they knew that a stronger army would have   followed but this also forced the government to  increase its efforts against the zoo dramatically   besides bringing in thousands of extra soldiers it  also applied great pressure on the native tribes   within the reservation to meet the non-treaty  leaders and convince them to surrender even   cutting off their rations until they succeeded  chief red cloud was the one who led this   delegation and he convinced many of the people  led by crazy horse to surrender on may 5 1877. once again sitting ball had no interest in a  treaty with the government so when the others   surrendered he took his group of a few hundred  hunk papa lakota across the northern border but   life in canada proved very difficult the winters  were cold and the buffalo were scarce more and   more people were leaving sitting bull's  tribe and returning to the reservation   ultimately after four years of harsh living  the lakota leader omitted defeat in 1881 he   returned to the united states and surrendered  to the american government at first sitting   bull was placed under arrest and sent to stay  in an army fort but in 1883 he was released   and allowed to live on the standing rock  reservation there he still resisted change   particularly in his refusal to learn how to  farm to the annoyance of agents in charge of   the reservation sitting bull discovered that he  didn't need to learn in order to survive following   the battle of little bighorn the lakota chief had  become quite notorious in the country and people   were eager to meet him he began charging for  photographs and autographs and was able to live   off his newfound fame in 1884 sitting ball met  annie oakley the performing sharpshooter and the   two struck up a friendship as the lakota leader  was greatly impressed with her shooting skills   he even gave her the nickname little shoreshot a  moniker she adopted and began using in a stage act   soon afterwards sitting bull met another notable  figure of that era buffalo bill cody the man   who brought the wild west experience to people  all over the country and even in europe with   his touring show he convinced sitting ball to join  him a move that made the former warrior even more   famous it was pretty easy living sitting bull  made 50 a week plus another 1 per autograph and   all he had to do was ride around in a circle and  talk even so he only lasted for 4 months before it   decided to return to the reservation even though  sitting bull no longer had any official authority   he was still revered by the lakota something the  reservation agents greatly resented in the late   1880s a paiute religious leader named oavoka began  travelling from tribe to tribe and prophesizing a   resurgence of the native people something which  became known as the ghost dance movement this   worried the government because they feared that it  might cause the native americans to rise up again   and begin a new war they were particularly  concerned about the ghost dance movement gaining   support from prominent leaders and at the time  there was no living leader greater than sitting   bull on december 15 1890 reservation agent james  mclaughlin sent indian police to arrest sitting   bull they burst into his cabin early in the  morning and took him outside despite being close   to 60 years old the former warrior was as stubborn  and defiant as ever and refused to cooperate in   a short while the police were surrounded  by angry lakota men with guns and rifles   one of them took the first shot and in retaliation  the indian police opened fire on sitting bull   shooting him in the head and the chest killing  him almost instantly another dozen men also   died in the gunfight that ensued as for the ghost  dance movement the government took care of it just   two weeks later when it orchestrated the  wounded knee massacre killing between 150   and 250 lakota people many of them women and  children to show that it was prepared to crush   even the slightest into rebellion caused  by anger over the murder of sitting bull so i really hope you enjoyed this video thank  you again to conflict of nations for sponsoring   remember 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Channel: Biographics

Views: 203,425

Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler

Id: sMZ7ppSqg6c

Length: 22min 7sec (1327 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 02 2021