Sitting Bull: Biographical Essay
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Early, Cultural Life and Achievements
Sitting Bull was an Indian chief who united Sioux’s tribe to fight against Americans who invaded their land intending to displace them in North America’s Great Plains. He was born at a location near Grand River in 1831, the present-day South Dakota. His father, popularly known by people as Returns-Again, was a renowned warrior who led his fellow tribesmen in various conquest against the neighboring tribes such as Pawnee, who owned the lands at Republican Richer Valley which was favorable for hunting. At birth, he named his son “Jumping Badger.” When growing up, Sitting Bull was nicknamed “Slow” due to his inability to show his interest and warfare skills (Johnson, 2000). His ambition to be like his father, a highly respected warrior at a younger age, came true; it was ten years when he hunted and killed a buffalo alone.
When he attained the age of fourteen, Sitting Bull accompanied his father and other tribe’s warrior in a clash with a rival clan. He fought bravely during the battle, and his tribesmen praised him. His father named him Tatanka-Iyotanka, a title that implies a Sitting Bull in Lakota (LaPointe, 2009). He was recruited into the Strong Heart, a society of warriors and another group called Silent Eaters that upheld and protected the tribe’s well-being. He oversaw the enlargement of the tribe’s hunting territories by grabbing lands of people living on their west side. The grabbed land belonged to the tribes of Shoshone, Assiniboine, and Crow.
In 1876 Sitting Bull fought the United States Army led by General George Crook in an attempt by the federal government to push the native Indians further north to the colder regions. He led a troop of the Sioux tribe and Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes in a battle with the US army in Rosebud. They thrashed and defeated the Crook directed force.
After Rosebud’s victory Sitting Bull, together with his men, relocated to Bighorn River, where they faced off in another clash with another federal government’s troop (LaPointe, 2009). During the same month of June 25th, in 1876, Sitting Bull fought an army led by General George Custer hat amounted to 600 men. He led around 3000 and above men, overpowered George’s troop, and killed everyone in a battle that came to be famously called Custer’s Last Stand.
Sitting Bull’s Significance in History
Sitting Bull helped shape the history of Sioux’s people during their struggle against the Americans’ expansion into the North American Great Plains. His first clash was in 1863 with the United States Army, who was avenging the massacre in Minnesota by the Native Americans, Indian; however, the involved Indians were not from Bull’s tribe. After the Americans’ battle, Lakota maintained peace long after being declared chief to his people in 1868. In the same year, they agreed with the United States to give them land in South Dakota.
Sitting Bull became the first person to head the Lakota Sioux nation in the capacity of a chief. He remained up to date the harshest person in opposing the American invasion into their tribal land. He foresaw most of his big victory, such as the one in Little Bighorn over Custer’s men. After coming from Canada, he was held as a prisoner but later released and given a parcel of land in Standing Rock Agency. The reservation became his home together with his tribesmen. Sitting Bull died from a gunshot wound on the morning of December 15, 1890
References
Johnson, W. F. (2000). Life of Sitting Bull. Digital Scanning, Inc.
LaPointe, E. (2009). Sitting Bull. Gibbs Smith.
LAKOTA CULTURE. (n.d.). In The Spirit and the Sky (pp. 41–56). UNP – Nebraska. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1pc5g92.8