And mounting, just as the shadows of night deepened, Lieutenant Carey rode away, with the muttered words:
"A close call that! but is Sitting Bull in earnest in his professions of friendship? I very much fear me not."
[1] Sitting Bull was a chief of the Dakota Sioux, both by his inheritance and by his deeds, for according to his own statement it was necessary in his tribe for a brave to "achieve greatness." His father was a chief named Jumping Bull. Two of his uncles, Four Horns and Hunting His Lodge, were also chiefs. He was born in 1837, near old Fort George, on Willow Creek, near the mouth of the Cheyenne River. Before he was ten years old, he won fame as a hunter of buffalo calves, which he gave to the poor, his father being a rich man. Until he was fourteen years old, he was known as Sacred Stand, but at that age, having slain an enemy, he became known by his later name, Tatanka Yotanke, or Sitting Bull. This is the man's early history, as outlined by himself when he was a prisoner after his return from Canada, whither he fled after the troubles in the Black Hills.
Sitting Bull imagined that the force of which the Custer command was part, had been sent out to exterminate his people. For eight days he retreated from the advancing white men, and then, being wearied, he set up a mock village, left his fires lighted, and arranged a number of effigy Indians so as to deceive the whites. He then gathered his braves, and, under cover of the hills to the south of the Rosebud, marched to intercept Custer's advance. He did not wish to fight, and so sent out a messenger with a flag of truce, who was shot down. After seeing this man fall from his horse, he called God to witness that he was not responsible for the blood that was to be shed. Custer galloped on toward the empty village and Sitting Bull closed in behind him, and to the right and left. The white men were exterminated.
When the Indians found they could no longer cope with the power of the Government, Sitting Bull fled to Canada with his band. There he remained until 1879, when, starvation staring him in the face, he and his followers surrendered to General Miles, amnesty having been guaranteed for all past offenses, conditional upon good behavior.
Sitting Bull has been a disturbing element among the Sioux ever since his surrender. He was influential in July and August, 1888, in causing the tribe to refuse to relinquish their lands. Since the campaign of 1876, the Sioux have behaved comparatively well until the "Messiah" craze started.
For some purpose, Sitting Bull had fomented the craze, and it was his activity in the exciting movement among the Indians that led to his arrest with its fatal consequences.
Sitting Bull had two wives living, and one other, who died. He was the father of nine children, including two pairs of twins. The older of his living wives is named Was-Seen-by-the-Nations, and the other is called The-One-That-Had-Four-Robes.