SITTING BULL ......................... 1831 - 1890
(HUNKESNI, TATANKA IYOTAKE)

TRIBE: HUNKPAPAS (A SMALL TRIBE OF THE SIOUX CONFEDERACY)

Sitting Bull was elected Supreme Chief of the Sioux nation. He was a holy man and a spiritual leader of his people. He was a brave warrior who fought his first battle at the age of 14 (against the Crow Indians). He became a tribal war chief in 1857. In 1869, several tribes decided to unite under one leader to deal with the repeated encroachment of American settlers on their land. The tribes elected Sitting Bull to lead them in their fight for sovereignty and freedom. In the Battle of Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull led his people to their greatest victory against the U.S. army. Sitting Bull was described as a loyal friend, an honorable family man, and a peacemaker. He demonstrated religious devotion and an uncanny ability to see the future.

 

CHIEF GALL ................................. 1840 - 1894

TRIBE: LAKOTA HUNKPAPA SIOUX

Chief Gall, who received his unusual name because he ate the gall bladder of an animal as an starving orphan when he was a child, was one of Sitting Bull's main lieutenants at Little Bighorn. He turned his main attention to the 7th Cavalry under General Custer - some say it was Gall himself who actually killed Custer. After an eventually quarrel with Sitting Bull they parted and Chief Gall surrendered to the U.S. with half of the Hunkpapa band. He and his band were sent to the Standing Rock Reservation, where he lived as a farmer until his death.

 

CRAZY HORSE ......................... 1842 - 1877
(TASUNKA WITHO)

TRIBE: OGLALA LAKOTA SIOUX

Crazy Horse was called "Curly" because of his light, wavy hair. He was known as a born warrior and charismatic leader by his people - a legendary war chief and military strategist, he also earned a reputation as a visionary. Crazy Horse led the resistance against the U.S. War Department after it ordered all Lakota bands onto reservations. He rallied together 1,200 warriors of the Oglala and Cheyenne Sioux against the U.S. army in the Battle of Rosebud. Later he joined Sitting Bull and Chief Gall in their legendary attack against Custer's 7th Cavalry. In spring 1877 he surrendered in Fort Robinson after constant military harassment - but the promise of his reservation fell through. He was shot by a soldier in Fort Robinson during an escape attempt.

 

RED CLOUD ............................... 1822 - 1909
(MAKHPIYA LUTA)

TRIBE: OGLALA LAKOTA

Red Cloud was head of the Oglala Lakota. He gained enormous prominence within the Lakota nation for his leadership in territorial wars against the Pawnees, Crows, Utes and Shoshones. He was a statesman and also a successful warrior against the U.S. government. He attacked white immigrants encroaching on Indian territory along the North Platte River and he led the 1866 massacre of 80 troops from Fort Kearney. In 1886 he signed a peace treaty. After he visited Washington D.C., he agreed to settle down as a reservation chief. Like many of his contemporaries he sold out to the whites, permitting corrupt and deplorable conditions on Sioux reservations. He lost his status as head chief in 1881. After the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890 he lived quietly on Pine Ridge Reservation.

 

CHIEF SI TANKA 1815 - 1890
(CHIEF SPOTTED ELK OR BIG FOOT)

TRIBE: MINECONJOU SIOUX

Si Tanka and his followers were known as believers in the Ghost Dance ritual, which they thought would resurrect their dead loved ones and bring back the buffalo. He and his followers had also participated in the battle of Little Bighorn. After Sitting Bull's death many of Sitting Bull's followers joined him. In fear of the Cavalry's reaction they fled, but they were overtaken by the U.S. army in 1890 at Wounded Knee Creek.

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