Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull (c.1831–90), chief of the Teton Sioux who led the last major Native American resistance in the United States. Born in South Dakota, he became head of the Sioux nation and inspired the 1876 campaign that resulted in the massacre of Gen. George Custer and his troops at Little Bighorn. Escaping to Canada, he was pardoned and returned to the Standing Rock reservation, N.D. (1881). He continued to support his people's causes, including their practice of the messianic Ghost Dance religion. At a performance of it he was killed by Native American police who were attempting to arrest him.