Sitting Bull Biography

Sitting Bull was a Teton Dakota Indian chief who led Sioux tribes in their struggle for survival on the North American Great Plains. He was a Hunkpapa Lakota holy man who had a lifelong distrust of white men and actively resisted the United States government policies as a tribal chief. Born into the Hunkpapa division of the Teton Sioux, he grew up to be a fearless and brave young man. He was barely in his teens when he first joined a war party and became a leader of the powerful Strong Heart warrior society. He was also involved with tribal welfare and emerged as a valiant tribal chief who helped extend the Sioux hunting grounds westward into what had been the territory of the Shoshone, Crow, Assiniboin, and other Indian tribes. He developed hostilities with the United States army when it started invading the Sioux hunting grounds and confrontations with the army escalated when gold was discovered in the Black Hills—a region sacred to the Native Americans—in the mid-1870s. Sitting Bull was highly distrustful of the white men who violated the rights of the Native Americans time and again, and led fierce battles resisting the United States government policies. He fought for the natives’ rights till the very end and was killed by policemen hired by United States Indian agents because the authorities were beginning to fear him.