Sitting Bull Surrenders

Sitting Bull Surrenders. .

"The life my people want is a life of freedom.... Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country?" , , Sitting Bull

, The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 acknowledged that the Black Hills belonged to the Lakota people, and promised the area would be off limits to settlers. But then gold was discovered there, and prospectors poured into the Black Hills., Tensions mounted, eventually leading to the defeat of Lieutenant Colonel George Custer's 7th Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The United States ordered all Native Americans onto reservations., To escape capture, Sitting Bull led his band into Canada, where they remained for several years. As buffalo became scarce, Sitting Bull's people suffered from cold and hunger., On July 19, 1881, Sitting Bull and his people returned to the United States and surrendered. They were sent to Fort Randall as prisoners. In 1883 they were allowed to move to the Standing Rock Reservation., Captions: , Sitting Bull at Fort Randall, 1882., By 1884, the American bison was hunted to near extinction by buffalo hunters. In this photo, a man stands upon a large pile of bison skulls.