Sitting Bull and the Battle of Little Big Horn

Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota Chief and Holy Man. He is notable in American and Native American History largely due to his major victory at the Battle of The Little Big Horn against General George C. Custer's 7th U. S. Calvary in 1876. Sioux and Cheyenne Indians defiantly left their reservations, outraged at the continued intrusions of whites into their sacred lands in the Black Hills of the South Dakota. They gathered in Montana with the great warrior Sitting Bull to fight for their lands. In the battle, numerous 7th U. S. Calvary troops were lost, including General Custer himself. Little Big Horn is often referred to as "Custer's Last Stand".

Little Big Horn was the pinnacle of American Indian power. Outraged over the loss of a popular Civil War hero on the eve of the nation's Centennial, the nation demanded and received harsh retribution. The Black Hills dispute was quickly settled by redrawing the boundary lines placing the Black Hills outside of the reservation and open to white settlement. Little Big Horn was an important chapter in the plight of the Native American.

Sitting Bull, years later, toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Defiant to the end, it is said that he frequently cursed audiences in his native tongue as they applauded him.