Character Analysis
Sitting Bull
Hunkpapa Sioux Chief Sitting Bull was a holy man who journeyed to exile in Canada in a last-ditch effort to resist the movement to reservation life but surrendered when his people were starving. His offering of 100 pieces of his flesh at the sun dance just before the Battle of the Rosebud reveals his bravery and deep spirituality. He was an important proponent of the ghost dance; the U.S. Government regarded his great personal authority among the Sioux as a threat. Two weeks before the Wounded Knee Massacre, the U.S. Cavalry killed him, supposedly for resisting arrest. Black Elk mentions his death only briefly and does not describe the circumstances.