In the cold, dark hours before dawn on December 15, 1890, the final chapter of the life of Sitting Bull, a 58-year-old Hunkpapa Lakota male, began to unfold on the Grand River in South Dakota. Amid the rising tensions surrounding the Ghost Dance, a spiritual movement that promised a restoration of the Native American way of life, the U.S. Indian Agent at the Standing Rock Agency, James McLaughlin, grew fearful of the chief's influence.
Believing Sitting Bull would encourage a rebellion, McLaughlin ordered his arrest, dispatching a group of Lakota tribal police to bring him in.
A force of nearly 40 policemen arrived at Sitting Bull's cabin as he slept and entered to take him into custody. They roused him and led him outside, where a tense scene was developing as his supporters, awakened by the commotion, gathered in protest. Initially, Sitting Bull appeared willing to cooperate, but his son, Crowfoot, shamed him for yielding to the authorities, calling him a coward. The sharp rebuke caused Sitting Bull to resist, and the situation quickly escalated. A frantic struggle ensued as the police tried to force him onto a horse.
The fragile peace was shattered when one of Sitting Bull's followers, a man named Catch-the-Bear, fired a rifle, striking one of the police lieutenants, Bull Head. As Bull Head fell, he reflexively fired his pistol into Sitting Bull's chest. An instant later, another policeman, Red Tomahawk, shot the chief in the head. The killing of their leader enraged his followers, and a brutal, close-quarters gun battle erupted. When the shooting stopped minutes later, Sitting Bull lay dead, along with his son and several of his supporters. A number of the tribal police were also killed in the violent exchange. The individuals responsible for Sitting Bull's death were the tribal police officers, acting under the orders of the U.S. government agent, and as such, no arrests were made against them.
