Portrait of Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull (Sioux: Tatanka Iyotake or Tatanka Iyotanka or Ta-Tanka I-Yotank, later named Hunkesni, Slow), (c. 1831 – December 15, 1890). Native American medicine man and leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux (see Lakota) who led 1,200 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors against the US 7th Cavalry under George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. Though he did not participate personally in the battle, the chiefs were stunned by his premonition which revealed a group of American soldiers tumbled into his encampment.

Blamed for the ensuing battle, Sitting Bull led his tribe into Canada, where they lived until 1881, when on July 20 he led the last of his fugitive people to surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Dakota Territory, near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. The US government, however, granted him amnesty. His band was placed on the Standing Rock Agency (now the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation located in North and South Dakota on the west bank of the Missouri River).

In later life, Sitting Bull toured with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, where he was a popular attraction. Often asked to address the audience, he frequently cursed them in his native Lakota language to the wild applause of his listeners.

Toward the end of his life, Sitting Bull was drawn to the mystical Ghost Dance as a way of repelling the white invaders from his people's land. Although he himself was not a follower, this was perceived as a threat by the American government, and a group of Indian police was sent by Major James McLaughlin, Superintendent of the Standing Rock Reservation, to arrest him at his cabin near present day Bullhead, SD. In the ensuing scuffle, Sitting Bull and his son Crow Foot were killed. Sitting Bull's body was taken by the Indian police to Fort Yates (North Dakota) and buried in the military cemetery. Later his remains were transported to Mobridge in South Dakota.

Quotations

The earth has received the embrace of the sun and we shall see the results of that love. — Sitting Bull

In my early days, I was eager to learn and to do things, and therefore I learned quickly. — Sitting Bull

It is not necessary for eagles to be crows. — Sitting Bull

Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country? — Sitting Bull

If a man loses anything and goes back and looks carefully for it, he will find it.  — Sitting Bull

Source

Newson, T. M. 1827-1893. (Thomas McLean). "Thrilling scenes among the Indians. With a graphic description of Custer's last fight with Sitting Bull." Chicago and New York: Belford, Clarke and Co., 1884. 

Reno, Marcus A., 1835-1889, (Marcus Albert). "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." Pacific Palisades, Calif.: 1951.

Utley, Robert M. "The Lance and the Spear: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull." 1st ed. New York: Henry Holt and Company Inc., 1993.