[RERUN] EPISODE 55 Sitting Bull (Part 2)

Feb 16, 2023

Explore the life of Sitting Bull, his defiance against American expansion, the devastating impact of buffalo population decline, and his daring escape to Canada amidst escalating tensions with the US Army. The podcast delves into leadership dynamics among the Lakota tribe, personal struggles of Sitting Bull, and his ultimate surrender symbolizing a new beginning.

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Introduction

00:00 • 3min

Exploring Post-Treaty Dynamics and Resistance Among the Lakota People

02:50 • 3min

Diverging Leadership Paths Among the Lakota

05:59 • 23min

Sitting Bull's Defiance and Strategy

29:10 • 23min

Tragic Loss, Sponsorship Intermission, and Tribal Struggles

52:32 • 3min

Devastation of the Buffalo Population

56:01 • 7min

Rising Tensions and Daring Escapes

01:02:48 • 13min

An Unexpected Bond Amidst Tragedy and Understanding

01:15:30 • 2min

Sittimbun's Struggles and Confrontations

01:17:04 • 28min

A Warrior's Surrender and New Beginnings

01:44:50 • 4min

“I don’t want to have anything to do with people who make one carry water on the shoulders and haul manure. You are fools to make yourselves slaves to a piece of fat bacon, some hardtack, and a little sugar and coffee. The whites may get me at last, but I will have good times till then.” Sitting Bull

“Let me live deep while I live.” Robert E. Howard

“Were I to run away from the enemy, no one will consider me a man.” Kit Fox warrior society song

“A warrior I have been. Now it is all over. A hard time I have.” Sitting Bull song

In historical terms, it was just a blink of an eye ago. In the mid-1800s, the Great Plains in the United States were still firmly in the hands of nomadic, buffalo hunting tribes. The looming threat of American expansion was still barely noticeable. But things changed quickly, and soon the tribes were locked in an existential struggle with the U.S. for control of the heartland of North America. One man rose among these tribes to lead his people to resisting the inevitable for over two decades. By the time he was 10 years old, the boy who would become the Lakota leader Sitting Bull, had killed his first bison by running him down and putting an arrow through its heart. In the opinion of his fellow tribesmen, his ability as a hunter and as a warrior was only second to his generosity in taking care of widows and orphans. In this second episode of this series, we’ll see Sitting Bull emerging as the main leader for the free Lakota, fighting in a brutal intertribal battle, challenging the expansion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, saving the Cheyenne from starvation, Sun Dancing and having premonitory visions of the Little Big Horn battle, leading his people to Canada, befriending a major for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, helping Nez Perce’ refugees across the border, fighting in a duel at 49 years of age, returning to the U.S. as a POW, and much, much more.

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