Sitting Bull Surrenders: End of Sioux Resistance
Sitting Bull led the last band of free Sioux across the Canadian border in 1877 after the Battle of the Little Bighorn made him the most wanted man in the American West. He spent four years in exile in Saskatchewan, but dwindling buffalo herds and Canadian indifference to his people's suffering forced his hand. On July 20, 1881, he surrendered at Fort Buford with 186 followers, the last significant group of Sioux to submit to reservation life. The U.S. government imprisoned him at Fort Randall for two years before sending him to the Standing Rock Reservation. He was killed by Indian police during the Ghost Dance movement in 1890, nine years after his surrender.
July 20, 1881
145 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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