This report is on a very famous Indian chief, Sitting Bull. It will tell you about how he got his name, about what his tribe did, about his family, and about the rest of his life. I think Sitting Bull was a wonderful man because of the problems he solved, battles he fought, his great courage, generosity, strength, and wisdom. Sitting Bull was born in what is now South Dakota near the Grand River in 1831. His family was part of the Hunkpapa tribe in the Sioux Nation. His fathers name was Jumping Bull and his mothers name was Mixed Day, and at the time his name was Slow, not Sitting Bull, because he thought things through before he answered questions or made decisions.
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One day, when Slow was 14, his father would not let him fight in a battle. So he came in secret to where his father and his men were staying. In the morning he met his father before the battle. Jumping Bull was afraid that his son might get hurt, but he also didn�t want his son to be ashamed in front of the other warriors. So he let Slow stay to fight. Slow was the first to touch one of the enemy. When they got back to the village Slow�s father announced that his son was a hero and named him Sitting Bull.
As time passed, Sitting Bull fought in many battles and joined the Hunkpapa warrior society. They were called the Strong Hearts because each of the men there had proved himself brave and strong in battle. Sitting Bull was quickly accepted chief of the Strong Hearts. One day, in the winter, the Strong Hearts attacked the enemy tribe, the Assiniboines. Most either got away or were killed except one small boy, who stood up without fear, raised his bow and arrow, and then saw Sitting Bull. The boy could see the great friendliness behind the mans frown and said two words, �Big brother.� Sitting Bull knew he couldn�t kill the boy and he had always wanted a brother. Some men thought when the boy would grow up he would take revenge for his parent�s death, but most said that they should trust Sitting Bulls wisdom like they did in battle. Soon the boy became one of the best hunters in the village and was named Kills-Often.
As the years passed, Sitting Bull got married and had three children. Kills-Often became his children�s uncle. Sitting Bull became very famous and he was friendly to almost everyone. He became the chief of his tribe and tried very hard to keep peace in the village and he was always gentle and kind. He drew pictures, told jokes and stories, and made up songs, but he still thought things through before answering, and when he did answer it was almost always wisely spoken.
But soon the peace was broken. The white men were coming to settle on the plains. They were taking away land and scaring off the buffalo. All the tribes of the Sioux Nation were worried. They decided that they needed to come together and form a group to fight off the white men. Sitting Bull was chosen to be the I-tan-chan, or head chief, even though he was only 35 years old. From then on it was his job to make sure his people were fed, and they were to obey anything he said. The first thing he decided was to keep peace with the whites for as long as he could. Later on, Sitting Bull signed a peace treaty from the government saying that the Sioux Nation would get to keep the Black Hills and the whites got to keep the rest.
One day in fall, Chief Sitting Bull asked twenty of his Hunkpapa warriors to help get their stolen pony herds back from the Canadian Indians. Kills-Often rode beside his brother. When they got to the group that were stealing their ponies they started to drive them off, but a large group had been hiding in the bushes and attacked. When it didn�t look as if the Hunkpapas would last much longer, another tribe came to fight. Sitting Bull was lucky he had spared Kills-Often because this was an Assiniboine tribe. They had heard about Sitting Bull�s kindness and were glad to help. The battle was over quickly. The men who had doubted Sitting Bull�s decision to save Kills-Often, apologized. The Hunkpapas never fought Assiniboines again.
Several years passed and white men started coming on the land the Indians got to keep in the treaty. They said they�d found gold! Soon hundreds of white men were coming to the Black Hills to make a fortune. Sitting Bull�s men attacked wagon trains and camps, so the government tried to buy the land from the Sioux to stop the trouble, but the Indians didn�t want to live on a reservation or even leave the Black Hills. They just wanted the treaty to stay the same. But the white men just wanted the gold.
The government had forgotten about the treaty and wanted them to go to the reservation again, and was mad the Sioux wouldn�t. They wouldn�t go get them because it was to cold for the soldiers to go all that way through the snow. In the spring Chief Sitting Bull sent out word to all of the Sioux Nation, the Cheyenne, the Arapaho, and the Blackfoot that this was war and he wanted them all to come and fight the white men with them.
It was June 25, 1876. Some of Sitting Bull�s scouts saw a long line of soldiers coming into the valley with Colonel George A. Custer as their leader. He was the officer who had lead his men into the Black Hills and had found gold. They hated him. He had 225 men and hoped to attack the Hunkpapas from two sides, but he did not know that Sitting Bull had 2,500 men already aware they were there, and were planning to attack. The large band of Indians soon attacked and not a soldier was alive by the time half an hour had passed. This was called Custer�s Last Stand. Sitting Bull knew his tribe must leave, for the government would be angry. So the Hunkpapas went to live in Canada. The other Indians did not want to go, so they scattered around the plains and were soon forced to live on reservations. The Black Hills were no longer the property of the Indians.
After a few long years, the Hunkpapas grew homesick. So Sitting Bull led them back. One summers day he surrendered to men from Ft. Buford. He was the last man to put down his gun. Then, they were taken to Standing Rock Reservation where they had been told to go all along.
On the reservation, they lived in huts and did a little corn farming. The government gave them a little food, also. Most of the time they were hungry. The government gave them a small amount of clothing. Even so they were almost always cold. Sitting Bull was very sad that his people were getting treated in such horrible ways and did all he could to help.
One summer, he was told that he could join Buffalo Bill�s Wild West Show. He rode a big, gray trick performing, horse. Sitting Bull wore his beaded deerskin clothes and his beautifully feathered war-bonnet while he rode round and round a rink doing tricks as the white people stared at him. Many recognized him as the leader of the Indians who killed Custer. He performed for the money and he didn�t like it. Soon Buffalo Bill�s Show was asked to go to England. Sitting Bull did not want to go and he got to keep the gray horse when he went back to the reservation.
Sitting Bull settled down in a log cabin near where he was born. Word had started about a new religion with sacred songs and a dance called the Ghost Dance. The dance and the songs were supposed to bring the ghosts of the past. Then the white men would leave and the buffalo would come back. The Indians heard about this and decided to try it. The Indian police didn�t like it and thought Sitting Bull was one of the leaders in this. One of the police, Lieutenant Bullhead, was shot. As he died, he shot Sitting Bull.
I think Sitting Bull was one of the most amazing Indians in the history of the United States. He was 59 years old when he died and had lead a great band of Indians against the whites for freedom. I think he is very important in our history.