today we're looking at sitting bull
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sitting bull was a native american leader that spent his life attempting to maintain the native
american way of life as more and more americans came into the western territories of north america
sitting bull was born in 1831 part of the hunk papa lakota which was included in the sioux nation
in what today would be northwestern south dakota on the grand river his father was a respected
sioux warrior named returns again his father named him jumping badger at birth and by the age of 10
he had killed his first buffalo in a buffalo hunt a few years later he joined his father in a raid
of a neighboring crow tribe camp in the fighting he showed great bravery and his father renamed him
to tonka yotanka which meant setting bull in the following years he became a leader among the sioux
helping to expand their hunting grounds and protecting their lands from rival tribes in
the region by the 1860s as the american civil war was occurring sitting bull began to have his
first conflicts with the american government in 1862 300 sioux were arrested in minnesota
after attacking american settlers when food was not distributed by the federal government
on the reservation 39 of the 300 arrested were put to death and despite the civil war taking
place at the same time in 1863 and 1864 american troops began to attack other sioux encampments
sitting bull would lead several of the defenses of native american lands and camps on july 28 of
1864 he led native americans at the battle of kill deer mountain in the battle the sioux were forced
to retreat and sitting bull resolved that he would never sign any treaty that forced his people onto
reservations by 1868 sitting bull became the chief of the entire lakota nation that same year in july
several other native american leaders but not sitting bull signed the treaty of fort laramie
with general william tecumseh sherman the treaty promised that the lakota would maintain control
of the black hills in south dakota and it would establish the great sioux reservation but just a
few years later in 1874 gold was discovered in the black hills and american prospectors began
to rush into the region now that gold had been found the federal government ignored the treaty
and began to forcibly remove native americans from the region the government issued an order
that all native americans must move west by the end of january 1876 or they would be considered
enemies of the us government sitting bull refused and united several tribes in resistance
on june 17th of 1876 he led native american forces to victory at the battle of the rosebud in what
today would be south central montana then barely a week later on june 25th of 1876 sitting bull along
with other leaders such as crazy horse overwhelmed american forces at the battle of little bighorn
in which american forces under general george armstrong custer were completely destroyed
the u.s government was outraged by what had happened at the battle of little bighorn and
doubled their forces and efforts to push sitting bull and native americans west by may of 1777
sitting bull was forced to retreat into canada where he would remain for the next four years
but by 1881 he was forced to surrender to american forces in return for amnesty or
basically forgiveness for his people sitting bull was a prisoner of war for the next two years at
fort randall in south dakota but then moved to the standing rock reservation which was on the
border between north and south dakota in 1884 he saw famed sharpshooter annie oakley perform
and the two became friends he then joined oakley in 1885 as part of wild bill cody's wild west show
sitting bull would sign autographs and would ride out during the show but he was met with primarily
booze and insults from the audiences he left the show and returned to the standing rock reservation
shortly after the ghost dance movement began in which many native americans performed the ceremony
that sought to eliminate white settlers from the west and restore native american culture
sitting bull became a supporter of the movement and fearing sitting bull's influence authorities
wanted to arrest sitting bull on december 15 of 1890 police entered sitting bull's cabin
to arrest him and gunfire broke out sitting bull was killed in the ensuing gun fight
to this day sitting bull is remembered as one of the great leaders of native american people
and his life is a reminder of the struggle that native americans have faced throughout
our nation's history so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you