Reservation police attempted to arrest Sitting Bull, fearing his influence over the Ghost Dance movement sweeping Lakota communities. A scuffle broke out, and both the Hunkpapa Lakota leader and his son Crow Foot were shot dead, along with several police and supporters. His death heightened tensions that culminated in the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29.
Sitting Bull had spent the 1880s as a reservation prisoner of sorts, having surrendered years after his decisive role in the 1876 defeat of Custer at Little Bighorn. He briefly toured with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show, earning a modest income and observing white America up close, before returning to Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota.
By 1890 the Ghost Dance movement, a spiritual revival promising the return of buffalo and the removal of white settlers, had spread rapidly among Plains tribes. Indian agents, alarmed and misunderstanding the movement's largely nonviolent nature, ordered Sitting Bull's arrest, believing him a dangerous instigator. Before dawn on December 15, 39 tribal police surrounded his cabin.
A supporter named Catch-the-Bear fired first, wounding a lieutenant; police responded by shooting Sitting Bull point-blank in the chest and back. The ensuing firefight killed fourteen people. His death removed the last great Lakota leader of his generation and, within two weeks, the panic surrounding it culminated in the massacre of over 250 Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee Creek.
Key people: Sitting Bull, Crow Foot