July 17, 2006

The 125th anniversary of Chief Sitting Bull's surrender is an opportune time to learn about one of our nation's Native heroes.

Sitting Bull was one of the most determined of warriors during the height of the Indian Wars in the late 19th century -- so much, that even after his surrender on July 19, 1881, the U.S. government considered him a serious threat until the day of his death.

The great Lakota chief was a warrior since his youth on the Dakota plains. He devoted his life to defending his people and their lands from a government that forced Indians off their homelands in the name of taming the West.

Sitting Bull was a major force of resistance, along with Crazy Horse and Geronimo. He led successful raids and battles against the U.S. Calvary. He was not driven by ego, greed or wealth. He wanted only to protect his people's right to live and be Lakota.

Sitting Bull was more than a revered, courageous leader. He was a spiritual man who had visions of glorious victories against the white man, including Lt. Col. George Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.

The Battle of Little Bighorn ignited a greater U.S. military commitment to subdue the Indian fighters. Sitting Bull and his band fled into Canada, where they lived in exile. The Indian Wars were nearing an end.

Finally, four years later, after his people were facing starvation and death, the great Lakota chief turned himself in to the U.S. military. He surrendered his rifle, but he remained at war with the white man in his heart.

Chief Sitting Bull had to accept the permanent presence of the white man. He had to accept the realty that the future of Indian people meant life on restricted reservation lands. He witnessed the erosion of an Indian way of life for a younger generation of Lakota -- a loss of language and customs in exchange for the white man's ways.

Ironically, the great chief even tried living within white society. He joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. However, after a few months, he returned to the Standing Rock reservation to live the ways of his Lakota forefathers.

By 1890, the U.S. government had all but eliminated any serious Indian threat. However, there were concerns about a growing spiritual movement that foretold of a day when the Indians would run the white man off their lands. Sitting Bull was feared to be a big part of a renewed uprising. Before he could be arrested, his final vision came to pass. The warrior chief was shot by one of his own -- a Lakota police officer.

Looking back on Sitting Bull, we see how the West was truly won -- not gloriously but shamefully.

Mark Anthony Rolo is a member of the Lake Superior Band of Ojibwe. He can be reached at pmproj [at] progressive [dot] org.