Sioux. An uneasy truce of six years ensued,
but it was broken in 1874 by the gold-hunting
expedition into the Black Hills led by Custer.
Sitting Bull, a medicine man, was so incensed
by this desecration of sacred ground that he
began gathering various bands into a coalition
to drive out the whites. By 1875, he had as-
sembled upward of 4,000 warriors from the
Sioux, Arapaho, and Cheyenne nations and
was chosen head of the war council. The
American government, disturbed by this un-
usual display of unity, summarily ordered the
nontreaty, or “hostile,” Sioux factions to
reservations by the end of January 1876. It
was announced that failure to do so would re-
sult in military action. However, Sitting Bull
functioned as a rallying point for Sioux na-
tionalism. When he and the others refused to
be intimidated, the army began marshaling its
strength against them. The result was the
Great Sioux War of 1876, the last attempt by
Plains Indians to preserve their traditions.
By June 1876, three army columns were
converging on the Indian confederation, but
Sitting Bull remained undeterred. That
month, he performed a Sun Dance lasting a
day and a half, during which he was smitten
by visions of army soldiers falling on the In-
dian camp like rain. This was interpreted as a
sign of victory, and it redoubled the warriors
courage. On June 17, Crazy Horse engaged a
column led by Gen. George Crook at Rosebud
Creek and forced its withdrawal. The Indians
soon regrouped along Greasy Grass Creek
near the Little Bighorn River to await devel-
opments, and on June 24 they were attacked
by a second column under Custer. As senior
warrior, Sitting Bull was not allowed to partic-
ipate in the fighting; his duty was to remain
behind and make “good medicine” to affect
the outcome of events. In his absence, war
bands under Crazy Horse and Gall defeated a
detachment of the Seventh U.S. Cavalry under
Maj. Marcus A. Reno and drove it off. The vic-
torious warriors then returned, surrounded
five companies of cavalry under Custer, and
wiped them out. This humiliating defeat elec-
trified the nation and stung the American gov-
ernment into prosecuting the war with
greater vigor. No sooner had the Indian coali-
tion beaten Custer than it broke up to forage,
continually harried by soldiers well into the
winter. At one point, Sitting Bull’s ravaged
band parleyed with Gen. Nelson A. Miles, but
when the chief refused to lay down his arms
and live on a reservation, fighting broke out.
The majority of cold, hungry Sioux laid down
their arms, but Sitting Bull rejected compro-
mise and fled to Canada with 2,000 followers
in May 1877. The Canadian government made
no effort to evict them, but it also refused to
supply them with food. Famine and disease
took its toll among the survivors, and in July
1881 Sitting Bull led the remaining 187 follow-
ers back to Fort Buford, North Dakota, under
a general amnesty.
Sitting Bull remained imprisoned for nearly
two years at Fort Randall, South Dakota, be-
fore rejoining his people. He then took up resi-
dence at the Standing Rock Reservation, re-
maining contemptuous of whites and resisting
all attempts at either religious or cultural con-
version. The Indian agency was uneasy about
his sullen defiance and, eager for him to leave,
encouraged Sitting Bull to tour the United
States as part of “Buffalo” Bill Cody’s Wild
West Show during 1885–1886. He apparently
enjoyed the attention of white audiences, au-
tographed hundreds of photographic portraits
of himself, and even met with President
Grover Cleveland in Washington, D.C., but the
old chief remained fixed in his opposition to
white intentions. By the time he returned to
Standing Rock in 1887, a new religious move-
ment had appeared among the Sioux, the so-
called Ghost Dance religion. This form of na-
tivistic worship was viewed as a source of
potential hostility by the Indian agency. Sitting
Bull encouraged the movement to counter
Christian missionaries sent among the Native
Americans. He also vigorously condemned the
land agreement of 1889, which split the Sioux
reservation in half and opened it to home-
steaders. Fearing a general uprising, the au-
thorities decided that it would be safer if Sit-
ting Bull was removed from the reservation,SITTINGBULL