The Death of Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull return to Standing Rock after the time with the Wild West Show, He moved to the area where he was born along the Grand River.  Sitting Bull had another mystical vision, like the one that had foretold Custer's defeat. This time he saw a meadowlark alight on a hillock beside him, and heard it say, "Your own people, Lakotas, will kill you." Nearly five years later, this vision also proved true.

In the fall of 1890, a Miniconjou Lakota named Kicking Bear came to Sitting Bull with news of the Ghost Dance, a ceremony that promised to rid the land of white people and restore the Indians' way of life. Lakota had already adopted the ceremony at the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations, and Indian agents there had already called for troops to bring the growing movement under control. At Standing Rock, the authorities feared that Sitting Bull, still revered as a spiritual leader, would join the Ghost Dancers as well, and they sent 43 Lakota policemen to bring him in. Before dawn on December 15, 1890, the Indian policemen burst into Sitting Bull's cabin and dragged him outside, where his followers were gathering to protect him. In the gunfight that followed, one of the Lakota policemen put a bullet through Sitting Bull's head.

Sitting Bull was buried near the military cemetery in Fort Yates, North Dakota where a small monument marks his original gravesite. In 1953 his remains were moved to a burial site near Mobridge, South Dakota. This grave is located South of the Grand River Casino where a large monument has been created as his memorial. The citizen of Mobridge with the consent of some of Sitting Bull’s relatives said they removed his remains in the middle of night and placed a granite shaft marks his grave. The State of North Dakota claimed that Mobridge removed the bone of a woman and not Sitting Bull. The controversy of where Sitting Bull bones lies is still in debate today.

Sitting Bull’s life has been one of controversy and legend. His people will remember him as an inspirational leader, fearless warrior, a loving father, a gifted singer, spiritual man who loved his people and his land. The world will remember him as a great warrior and a man who stood up for his people.

We remember our great leader by commemorating his death on December 15 as a tribal remembrance.