All language subtitles for Sitting.Bull.S01E02.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[narrator] Previously
on "Sitting Bull".

In the mid-1800s

on the Great Plains
of North America,

the Lakota live largely unaware

of their neighbor to the east,

the United States.

But as a young leader
named Sitting Bull

rises to prominence
among his people,

everything changes.

[train rumbles]

In one of the great
migrations in American history,

people started
flooding the west.

White Americans saw
themselves as settlers

moving into virgin territory.

Native people see it
as invasion from the east.

[guns firing]

[narrator] But Sitting Bull
refuses to give in.

[Jeffrey] Sitting Bull
was tremendously confident

in his abilities to actually
resist the United States.

[narrator] And when
the US offers a treaty

restricting the Lakota
people to a reservation,

Sitting Bull refuses.

Sitting Bull was not able
to accept any alternative

other than complete freedom.

[narrator] With the famed
warrior Crazy Horse by his side,

Sitting Bull forms
a resistance movement

that soon swells in numbers.

People are flocking to
Sitting Bull and to Crazy Horse.

That's the life
they want to lead.

[narrator]
But as the US continues

its relentless push west,

the Lakota will soon meet
their greatest adversary.

[dramatic music builds]

[tools clanging]

[narrator] On the banks of
the Yellowstone River

in Eastern Montana,

the US Army's 7th Cavalry is
guarding a team of engineers

surveying a railroad line

that will cut across
the Great Plains.

Leading the expedition

is Lieutenant Colonel
George Armstrong Custer,

along with his trusted scout,

Bloody Knife.

[tense music plays]

You. You.

[warrior shouts]

[soldier screams in distance]

[warrior shouts]

[narrator] From the moment
Custer enters Lakota Territory,

he realizes he's facing
an enemy like no other.

In the nine years since
he lost his first major battle

against the United States Army
at Killdeer Mountain,

Sitting Bull has learned
how to fight the Americans.

And over the next few weeks,

he and his warriors

relentlessly harass
Custer's forces.

Lakota warriors chose
when to make war

upon Americans very carefully.

They wanted
an advantage in numbers.

They wanted the high ground.

It was very helpful if they had
the advantage of surprise.

[solder grunts]

[whoops]

[guns firing]

[narrator] Leading the battles

are Sitting Bull's
most trusted lieutenants,

Gall and Crow King,

along with the great
Oglala warrior, Crazy Horse.

[soldier] Regroup! Regroup!

[narrator]
After weeks of fighting,

the Yellowstone expedition ends.

For Custer, who'd hoped
to beat back the Lakota

and gain personal glory,

the mission is a failure.

[Megan Kate] Sitting Bull really
did get the better of Custer.

He had provided
such intense resistance

to the Northern Pacific
surveyors

that they were never able to
build the line in the 1870s.

[narrator] Sitting Bull's
resistance to the railroads

has even greater
consequences back east.

When the railroad
defaults on its loans,

the bank that
issued them collapses,

causing a financial panic
across Wall Street.

[Edward]
There is no stock in the world

that is more oversold
and speculative

than railroad stocks.

So, this great, big investment
firm overextends themselves

and when the company goes under,

they pull with them
many other banks,

many other investment houses.

So, there's this tremendous
implosion of the economy.

It's called the Panic of 1873.

55,000 businesses fold,
5,000 banks fail.

It triggers a five year,
five month period

of economic contraction.

And that's the longest
in US history.

It was the first
really huge economic turndown

in industrial American history

and it led to bankruptcies,

unemployment, and despair.

[narrator]
The economic crisis is so severe

that until the 1930s,

this will be known as
The Great Depression.

As President Ulysses S Grant
begins his second term,

he faces a problem
he has no idea how to solve.

Then, news reaches him
from the Black Hills

in the Dakota Territory

that could lift the country
out of its financial crisis.

[Edward] An expedition
head into the Black Hills

in the summer of 1874

and they discover
large deposits of gold.

Reporters send news
of this strike back to the east,

and within
just a matter of days,

the entire nation knows
of this great gold strike

that has taken place
in the Black Hills.

[narrator] The news
triggers a massive gold rush

and thousands of Americans
pour into the Black Hills.

[Clay]
Suddenly, there was going to be

this great infusion of gold

and that would not only
repair the treasury

but provide employment

for thousands and thousands
of good Americans.

[narrator]
But there's a problem.

The Black Hills are part
of the Great Sioux Reservation,

promised to the Lakota

in the 1868 Treaty
of Fort Laramie.

[Shane] The Black Hills'
cultural meaning

within the Lakota,
it's so sacred.

You know, the Black Hills are
considered to be

one of the sources of life,
a great resource

for any kind of food, water.

They were just an oasis in
the middle of the Great Plains.

[narrator] Grant knows
that a crisis is brewing.

Once gold was discovered,
there was no stopping

the amount of greed,
and prospectors,

and fortune seekers

that descended on
the Black Hills.

They weren't going to
honor laws

that said that parcel land
belonged to a particular tribe.

Forget any treaty,
forget any rights.

[Christy] You've got prospectors

intruding on the lands
that belong to the Lakota.

Grant is somebody who says you
should be a man of your word.

I mean, that was sacred to him.

And the word of
the nation's treaty

was stay out
of the Black Hills.

[narrator]
Desperate to avoid conflict,

Grant sends eight commissioners
to meet with tribal leaders

in June of 1875.

His goal, buy
the Black Hills from the Lakota

for $6,000.000.

[Shane] From Sitting Bull
and his people's perspective,

land like that cannot
be bought or sold.

This is beyond
the realm of money.

This is a spiritual connection

that can only be held
in the heart.

[narrator]
In response to the offer,

Sitting Bull dispatches
some of his warriors

to send a message
to the delegation.

From the north, from
Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull,

came the so-called northern
roamers, by the hundreds.

And they came down

and they just scared the hell
out of the commission.

The government officials
high-tailed it

back to the east and they said

"Oh, we can't reach
a deal with these people."

And so, the move becomes okay,
they won't trade,

so we'll have to take it.

[narrator]
On November 3rd, 1875,

Grant summons
his generals and advisors

for a secret meeting
at the White House.

[Mark Lee]
President Grant has decided

we've got to crush Sitting Bull,
we've got to crush Crazy Horse,

we have to crush all these
that are living out here

causing, you know,
supposed problems

for the miners
and other settlers.

And so, they issue an ultimatum.

[narrator] The ultimatum states
that all Native People

not living on reservations

must surrender to US forts

by the end of January 1876

or they'll be
considered hostile.

If Sitting Bull refuses to
surrender to the reservation,

he'll make every one
of his people

a target of the US Army.

But the Lakota
leader holds firm.

[water hisses]

The January deadline
comes and goes

with no sign
of Sitting Bull or his people.

[ominous music plays]

- At that point,
Grant takes on the role

he did in the Civil War,
which is we're gonna win this.

[Megan Kate]
Really what that meant

is that the US Army
had full rein

to engage in total war
against the Lakota people.

[narrator]
In the spring of 1876,

after Sitting Bull
and his followers

reject President Grant's
ultimatum,

the US Army unleashes
a brutal assault

on any Lakota people

living outside
the Great Sioux Reservation. -

[Edward] The US military

brings in a new set
of rules of war.

In the Civil War, the US Army

did not attack civilian
populations directly

in order to annihilate them.

But that is exactly
what happened

with Native settlements
in the American West.

Women and children became

the direct victim of US
aggression.

There were numerous massacres

and mass graves

of majority women and children.

[Megan Kate] This total warfare
strategy was brutal.

The US Army did not see
Indigenous Peoples

as their equals,
they saw them as inferiors,

and really ramped up
the violence.

[narrator] But Grant knows
the resistance won't end

until Sitting Bull
is captured or killed.

So, he dispatches a force

that includes a man
who has experience

fighting the Lakota leader,

Lieutenant Colonel
George Armstrong Custer.

[Edward] Custer has had
some significant failures,

but the people in Washington,
Sherman and Grant,

know that he is actually
an exceptional commander.

He's a great motivator
of his troops.

And he's a person that
they feel like they can trust.

[narrator] Three years after
failing to defeat

the Lakota during
the Yellowstone expedition,

Custer leads 600 soldiers
from the 7th Cavalry.

Determined to reclaim
his Civil War glory.

Custer's mission was not
a peacekeeping mission.

It was a seek
and destroy mission.

That was plain and simple.

[narrator] To help him
track down Sitting Bull,

Custer uses every
advantage he has,

including his scout,
Bloody Knife,

who has his own score
to settle with the Lakota.

[Bill] Bloody Knife lived,
in his youth,

in the Hunkpapa tribe.

And he was treated poorly
by the young boys,

Sitting Bull, Crow King,
Gall, especially,

and there was
quite an animosity.

[narrator] But as Custer's
troops close in on Sitting Bull,

the Lakotas numbers are growing.

In the aftermath
of the army's attacks,

thousands of Native People
from all over the Great Plains

flock to Sitting Bull's camp.

[Shane]
Sitting Bull's charisma,

combined with Crazy Horse's
legendary status

really created a juggernaut
of a community

in that spring and summer.

The Northern Cheyenne
and the Northern Arapaho

joined the Lakota people

and it was unprecedented to see

that many different types
of tribes and cultures

all under the same tent.

[narrator] By June of 1876,

Sitting Bull's camp
swells to nearly 7,000,

with over 1,500 warriors.

It's the largest gathering
of Plains Tribes in 25 years.

Then,
in the early summer of 1876,

Sitting Bull has a vision.

[invigorating whooping]

[Mark Lee]
It's a powerful vision.

And what greater moment
could there be than a vision

from Sitting Bull
of a great victory?

It spreads awe
through all the people.

They know that this is
a prophecy that will bear fruit.

It's coming from Sitting Bull,
who is closer

to the Great Spirit
than any of them.

[narrator] With Sitting Bull's
people united behind him

and Custer's 7th Cavalry
bearing down,

the stage is set

for one of the most
pivotal battles

the nation has ever known.

[whooping]

They're close.

[Custer] How many?

Thousands.

[narrator] Lieutenant Colonel
George Armstrong Custer

and his scout, Bloody Knife,

had been searching for
Sitting Bull and his followers

for over a month.

Now, they're within five miles
of his massive camp

situated along the banks of
the Little Bighorn River

in Montana.

The camp has grown
to nearly 7,000 followers

with over 1,500 warriors.

More than twice as many soldiers
as the 7th Cavalry.

But Custer is undeterred.

Custer felt that
to defeat a Lakota camp,

you had to surprise them.

If we find them
and we can surprise them,

the fighting will be
a secondary consideration.

The 7th Calvary
would have the capability

to deal with any size camp
they came up to.

[narrator]
Even though he's outnumbered,

he decides to move in.

[Edward] He sees this
as a moment to redeem himself,

to add greater glory
to his reputation,

to pull him to a new height
of fame and possibly fortune.

And so, that's going to
influence his decision making.

[narrator] Custer divides
his men into three groups.

He orders one column to
capture any fleeing villagers.

Then he orders
another battalion,

including Bloody Knife,

to attack
the village from the south.

Finally,
Custer will lead a third unit

to flank the village
and charge from the north,

crushing the Lakota camp.

[ominous music]

[hooves thundering in distance]

[gunshot cracks]

[horses neigh]

[soldiers shouting]

[gunshot]

[Paul] Sitting Bull began
to rally the young warriors

to put up a defense
and to push the soldiers back.

So, he was in
the heat of that fight,

of that early part
of the battle.

[narrator] On the other
side of the village,

Crazy Horse
is mobilizing his warriors.

[Bill] Crazy Horse
was an unbelievable warrior.

He was an instinctive leader
and he is incredibly talented

and charismatic
on the battlefield.

And his warriors
would follow him anywhere.

[warriors shouting]

[narrator]
As the battle unfolds,

Lakota warriors like Gall

look to exploit any advantage.

Gall played
a very prominent role

at the Battle of
the Little Bighorn.

Gall led a group of Lakotas
to confront US forces.

[shouting]

[arrow swishes, guns firing]

[Jim] The Lakota used the
gullies, the ravines,

to encroach on
the soldier position.

They understand the terrain

to a level that these
soldiers simply cannot.

[narrator] As US forces
battle the Lakota,

Custer's scout Bloody Knife

is determined to get his revenge

on the Lakota tribe
that shunned him.

[gun fires]

[indistinct shouting]

[gunshot cracks]

[Jeffery] Looking back
on Bloody Knife's life,

he's really kind of
a tragic figure.

He could never achieve the peace

or the happiness
that he could have had

if the Lakota had just fully
adopted him into the nation.

Very tragic figure.

[indistinct shouting]

[whoops]

[Paul] Sitting Bull
went up to the bluffs.

From that high position,
he could look back

and he could see the dust

and he could see that faint blue
in the dust clouds,

and he knew that Custer was
coming to attack the village.

[Jeffery] Custer believed that
his march through the village

was going to be
this glorious charge

that would annihilate
his enemy between

the hammer and the anvil.

[guns firing]

[indistinct shouting]

Hold the line!

Hold the line!

[Mark Lee] The critical mistake
Custer makes

is dividing his regiment
into three battalions,

then striking from
different positions.

This allows the Lakotas
under Crazy Horse and Gall

to attack those units
piecemeal and defeat them.

Hold the line! Hold the line!

[shouting]

[narrator] Custer
is outmanned and surrounded.

[foreboding music plays]

[gunshot cracks]

[warriors cheering]

[Courtney]
The Calvary came charging.

We charged right back
and overwhelmed them.

And there -- there
lied Pehin Hanska,

the Great Indian Killer,

laying on a hill there, dead.

History will tell us
that Custer's ego

and arrogance
sealed his fate.

Certainly, he was overconfident,

attacking a village that size.

And it was a cultural bias

against this idea
that one regiment

could defeat any number
of Native Americans.

Custer did not know
the confidence of the Lakota

both as a nation
and as warriors.

[whoops]

All of that confidence
came to fore

and ended up
in Custer's demise.

[narrator]
In less than an hour,

Sitting Bull's warriors wipe out
Custer's 7th Cavalry.

And celebrate
an unprecedented victory

against the United States.

[narrator] On the banks of
the Little Bighorn River,

Sitting Bull and his warriors

hand the US Army their largest
defeat since the Civil War,

263 soldiers are killed.

[Shane]
The Battle of the Little Bighorn

was probably
the greatest victory

ever achieved
by the Lakota people.

You're talking about
wiping out a fighting force

that had really haunted them

and killed
many communities over decades.

That victory at
the Little Bighorn avenged that.

You know, it was able
to really come full circle,

this cycle of trauma

that the US Army had
inflicted on these communities.

[narrator]
News of Custer's defeat

won't reach
the East Coast for a week.

In the meantime, America
celebrates its 100th birthday.

Commemorating the moment

with the country's
first world's fair.

[Paul] The Centennial
celebration in Philadelphia

was a celebration
of American greatness.

How we had emerged
as a major industrial power.

[narrator] The United States
is starting to recover

from the financial panic
of 1873,

and it uses
the Centennial Exhibition

to proudly highlight
its technological advancements.

10 million visitors
get the first look

at revolutionary inventions

like the telephone,

the typewriter,

and an early version
of a monorail.

Also on display
is the arm and torch

that will one day top
the Statue of Liberty.

Members of Congress are there.
The President is there.

Ultimately, millions
of Americans are there.

This great celebration
of American greatness,

of American progress,
of American strength.

[narrator] But the nation's
celebratory mood

is about to be broken.

Just as those great,
self-satisfying

national celebrations
were beginning,

the news came from the West.

Custer and his 7th Cavalry
had been wiped out.

When the country saw this,
they were shocked.

[Douglas] Even today,
people who don't even know

much about
Native American history,

most of them know about
the Battle of Little Bighorn,

and that's because it --
it shocked the --

the system of Americans.

At the time, nobody expected

that a soldier trained
at West Point, like Custer,

could have been given their
comeuppance by Sitting Bull.

[Edward]
It's greeted in the same way

that Lincoln's assassination
shocked the nation.

It has that same kind
of wait, what?

How could this possibly
be for this ascendant nation

that is finishing the job
of conquering the West

to have this major,
major setback?

[Paul]
Sitting Bull suddenly becomes

the most famous
Indian in America.

He's front page news
anywhere.

The New York Daily Graphic

had an incredible image
of Sitting Bull

as almost a centaur,
half man, half beast,

and he's prancing over
Custer's fallen corpse,

clutching an American flag.

Now indeed,
everyone was for war.

Custer must be avenged.

The country wanted
Sitting Bull's scalp.

[narrator] In July 1876,

just a week after news
of Custer's defeat

reaches Washington,

Congress approves
2,500 more troops

to move into Lakota Territory,

to crush
Sitting Bull's resistance

once and for all.

[Bill] There was no interest

in hearing about
Indian rights anymore.

The army is given a free hand.

They're allowed to do
a relentless winter campaign

to eradicate the hunting bands.

[Mark] The US military decides
to devote tremendous resources

to bring them to terms.

And they know
that the winter months

are the times
to go after these bands,

because they're most vulnerable.

[horse neighs]

[Paul]
Sitting Bull was cautious.

He knows that
it's going to be impossible

to defeat all of these soldiers.

He's taking the long view.

He's trying to do
what's best for the people.

[narrator] Sitting Bull knows

he'll have to
take his people on the run

to stay away from
the US soldiers.

But with the camp nearing
close to 7,000, men,

women, and children,

a tough decision
needs to be made.

[narrator] Each tribe in
a coalition will go its own way.

Crazy Horse will
take his people to the south,

while Sitting Bull will
lead his followers northeast.

[plaintive music plays]

The Lakota chief
leads his followers

toward Killdeer Mountain
in the Dakota Territory,

near the site
of his first battle

with the US Army
12 years earlier.

For months, they managed
to elude the US Army.

But it comes at a cost.

[Bill]
They're physically exhausted.

Their horses
have nothing to eat.

And if you're in those camps,

you're fearful every night

that there's another attack
coming at dawn.

Where will we move to next?
How will we eat?

And the army
just keeps on coming.

[narrator] To the south,
Crazy Horse and his people

are at a breaking point.

[Mark Lee]
By the spring of 1877,

the winter campaigns
have worked tremendously.

Crazy Horse's people
are starving.

They had to have
buffalo to survive

and the herds
were declining.

[narrator] It's been eight years

since the US began
exterminating the buffalo,

and now the Lakota's
primary source of food

is on the verge of extinction.

[Megan Kate] It became clear
that they were not going to

be able to survive much longer

with the bison herds
at their current numbers.

[narrator] As the situation
becomes desperate,

a figure from
Crazy Horse's past appears,

the Oglala leader
he parted ways with, Red Cloud,

offering a way out.

After signing
the Treaty of Fort Laramie,

Red Cloud has remained
a prominent leader

of the Lakota
living on the reservation.

But he's never forgotten
those who fought alongside him.

[Paul] Red Cloud was constantly
sending out peace feelers,

trying to bring Crazy Horse in.

Either you continue to fight

and the women and children
starve to death,

or you come in.

[narrator] On April 27th, 1877,

Crazy Horse surrenders,

vowing to never wage war
on the battlefield again.

[narrator]
Sitting Bull knows of a place

where the US soldiers
can't follow them,

Canada.

[Jeffery] His decision
to lead them to Canada

was based upon the idea that
there's literally gonna be

no safe place they can go

within the borders
of the United States,

that the United States Army
won't find them.

[narrator] His people have
called the Great Plains home

for generations.

But in order to keep them safe,

they must now leave it behind.

[narrator]
A year after their victory

at the Battle of Little Bighorn,

Sitting Bull and his followers

cross the US border into Canada,

where they know the US Army
can't reach them.

The Lakota term
for the 49th parallel,

the border between
the US and Canada,

was the medicine line,

and by medicine they meant
something of great power.

This invisible line that
actually only exists on maps

has power to prevent

the US military
from crossing it.

[narrator] Buffalo, the Lakotas
most important food source,

is still found
north of the border.

The herds migrate
from the US into Canada

when the spring rains
bring fresh grass,

allowing the Lakota
to continue to hunt them.

[Shane] Sitting Bull
led his people to Canada

because he believed that
that was the last place

where they could still
live the old way of life.

[narrator] But as Sitting Bull
settles into Canada,

disturbing news reaches him.

[narrator] After Crazy Horse
surrenders to the reservation,

to save his people
from starvation,

he is faced with new challenges.

[Mark] The US officials wanted
Crazy Horse and some of his men

to go help fight
other Native nations.

And Crazy Horse said
that's not what we agreed to do.

What he encountered were whites
who did not understand him.

They thought he was
just being belligerent.

On top of all this,

there were
all these rumors swirling

that Crazy Horse was
going to kill a famed general.

So, it was decided we're
gonna arrest Crazy Horse

and send him away.

A man who had lived free
his entire life,

he's going to be confined.

His worst fears are realized
and he struggles.

And finally an officer yells
to kill the son of a bitch.

[narrator]
On September 5th, 1877,

Crazy Horse,

the Lakota's greatest warrior,

is killed.

[Paul] Sitting Bull was,
of course, devastated

by the news of the death
of Crazy Horse.

It was a very clear sign
of the fate that awaited him

if he ever surrendered
to the blue coats.

[narrator] Sitting Bull
knows that fleeing to Canada

was the best choice
for his people.

But even here, he's not safe.

Back east, Ulysses S Grant

is succeeded by
the nation's 19th president,

Rutherford B. Hayes,

whose government is still intent
on punishing the Lakota

for their victory
at Little Bighorn.

[Douglas] Rutherford B Hayes,
in many ways,

is a very enlightened
president,

but he had the burden of
the Battle of Little Bighorn,

and Americans don't like losing.

So, the American people
were demanding

that he deal with a firm hand
on the Indian problem,

or else he would be seen
as weak on national security.

[narrator] President Hayes
needs to avenge Custer,

but he can't
send troops into Canada

without damaging
international relations,

so his government comes up
with another solution.

[ominous music plays]

[fire crackling in distance]

The US Army actually begins to
burn large swaths of grassland

on the Canadian border

in order to prevent buffalo,

that normally would migrate
up into that area from doing so,

so that there would be less
buffalo for the Natives

who were living
in Canada to hunt.

[narrator] While Canada seemed
like the ideal new home

for Sitting Bull
and his followers,

now it's only a matter of time

before they starve there.

[narrator] In the fall of 1880,

Sitting Bull sees
his peoples' situation

take a turn for the worse.

Canada was cold

and the buffalo
had been exterminated,

and Sitting Bull
was having a hard time

feeding his own people.

[narrator]
Throughout the winter,

sickness and starvation
threatened the entire village.

But Sitting Bull
refuses to surrender.

[Paul]
Dissension starts building.

And people start talking about
maybe we should go back.

[narrator] Even Sitting Bull's
closest ally, Gall,

begins to question his judgment.

Gall saw that
this was a problem

that wasn't going to go away.

Sitting Bull was still
of the mindset of resistance.

He wanted to be
the last Indian fighting.

[narrator]
Since they were children,

Gall has always been
by Sitting Bull's side,

a loyal brother and warrior.

But now he realizes
he must take a stand.

[William] Gall did not
think that Sitting Bull

was acting in the best
interests of all Lakotas.

He recognized that
their people were starving

and he was faced
with a difficult choice.

Would he remain kind of fighting
against the United States,

or would he think about those
people who were starving

and -- and how to
best provide for others?

[somber music plays]

[narrator] In November 1880,

Gall parts ways
with Sitting Bull

and returns to the US
to surrender.

Over 300 people follow him.

The exodus continues over
the next several months

as hundreds more Lakota
choose to surrender.

[Clay] During that time,
one after another

of his principal colleagues
and their people spin off

and go down across
the border and surrender.

The numbers of the resistance
keep dropping precipitously,

and from Sitting Bull's
point of view,

there are lots
of betrayals.

[Edward] One by one,
sometimes in large groups,

sometimes as individuals,

they cross back into
the United States,

surrender and take up
residence on reservations.

[narrator] Now, in the village
that was once home

to over 1,000,
fewer than 400 remain.

[Edward] Sitting Bull
is out of options.

His people are literally
starving to death,

they are dying of sickness,

and he has to make
a tough moral calculation.

Do I hold out on principle
and we all die,

or do we head back
and some of us survive,

and maybe we can find some way

to create a new life
that is at least somewhat noble

and sustaining for us
under new circumstances?

[narrator] On July 20th, 1881,

after four years in Canada,

Sitting Bull makes the hardest
decision of his life.

[somber music plays]

[narrator] With his
people facing starvation,

Sitting Bull finally
surrenders to US authorities.

[Clay] It took months for him
to finally decide

that the situation was hopeless

and that he had no choice
but to come in.

He's essentially
been reduced to this

and so, this is a period
of sadness and loss.

[William] The Lakota
people were starving.

There were few of them
remaining in Canada

and so, it made sense at this
time to kind of finally

surrender and come back
to the United States.

In order to survive.

[narrator] The Lakota leader

and close to 170
of his followers

are transported south
to Fort Randall

near the Nebraska-Dakota border

and held as prisoners of war.

[Edward]
Many US officials are vengeful.

They see him
as the slayer of Custer.

They also see
him as the great resistor,

the person who has inspired
sustained levels of resistance

among all Native peoples
on the Great Plains.

And so, they want to punish him.

[narrator] But while the
government views Sitting Bull

as a dangerous enemy,

the American public
is starting to feel differently.

[Paul] While Sitting Bull's
at Fort Randall,

he suddenly discovers that
he's something of a celebrity.

His surrender
has made headlines.

And all the country's
talking about him

and people are seeking him out.

Of course,
reporters are coming in.

Everyone wants to
interview him.

[Jeffery] For the people
on the East Coast

that were absolutely
under no threat of Sitting Bull,

he becomes kind of
a folk hero.

In the United States,
where freedom

is the foundation
of our society,

here is this man who fought
for freedom for his people.

[Edward] He's gone from being
public enemy number one

to an object of great
fascination, even admiration,

and Sitting Bull becomes
quite aware of that.

[narrator] As Sitting Bull's
celebrity grows,

many began petitioning
for his pardon.

In May 1883, federal officials
release Sitting Bull

and his followers
from captivity,

to join the Lakota people on
the Great Sioux Reservation.

He's transferred to
the Standing Rock Agency.

Established in 1873 as part
of the Great Sioux Reservation,

Standing Rock
straddles the border

of modern day
North and South Dakota.

When Sitting Bull arrives,
there are more than 4,000 Lakota

living on the reservation,

all of whom depend on
the US government

to provide shelter,
clothing, and food rations.

The man appointed by
the government to oversee it

is James McLaughlin.

[William] Indian agents like
McLaughlin saw themselves

at the top
of a leadership pyramid

that other people
should be following.

He wanted to assimilate
Indigenous peoples

into American society.

Teach Indigenous men
how to farm,

teach Indigenous women
how to take care of households,

and then to convert
them to Christianity.

I believe in two things,
God and discipline.

I find if you
nurture your faith,

you'll find that
a hard day's work

can help the soul.

Everyone here farms
the land they are assigned.

You eat when you grow.
There are no free rides.

Could you translate
that for him, dear?

[speaking Indigenous language]

[Jeffrey] When Sitting Bull
comes to Standing Rock,

he realizes the chiefs
no longer have any real power

or influence over the people
that follow them

because the Indian agent
has all of that power.

[Mark Lee] After Custer,

Sitting Bull's greatest
adversary in the white world

was James McLaughlin.

He refused to respect
who Sitting Bull was

and the reverence in which
he was held by his followers.

James McLaughlin
made it very clear,

you're just another Lakota
as far as I'm concerned,

and you'll do everything
else that the Lakotas do.

[narrator] Once the leader
of a proud and free people,

Sitting Bull struggles to
accept how much has changed

in the time he was in exile.

[Clay] In 1883,

he's been gone from his
home country for six years now.

When he gets back,

the Northern Pacific Railroad
isn't complete,

but it's soon going to
make its way through Montana.

It's just a matter of
completing the track.

And of course,
once gold had been discovered

in the Black Hills,
it was inevitable

that white America would simply
push anyone out of the way

who prevented us
from getting at those minerals.

And that's exactly
what happened.

[Bill] The changes
must have been so dramatic

and so disheartening to such
a proud leader of the Lakota.

I can only imagine
that's what Sitting Bull

is feeling in this new reality
that he has to confront.

[narrator] Even greater
changes are taking place

among Sitting Bull's people

as they increasingly
adopt white culture.

[melancholy music plays]

[gunshot cracks]

[whoops]

[Mark Lee] Gall starts out

as a lieutenant
under Sitting Bull

and he's a very prominent
warrior, a brave warrior,

but they diverge.

Gall sees a different path.

He sees that maybe
it's better to accommodate

and to work with the white man.

He becomes a real favorite
of Agent McLaughlin.

[narrator]
As he sees assimilation

destroying the traditions
he fought so hard to preserve,

Sitting Bull is determined
to remind his people

what it means to be Lakota.

[narrator] Sitting Bull has
now lived at Standing Rock

for three years,

but for the legendary chief,

a man who led the Lakota's
fierce resistance

against the US for decades,

the adjustment
has been a struggle.

Sitting Bull represents
in his soul, in his fiber,

in his whole being,
the old way of life.

And he was horrified to see
that folks were, in fact,

becoming assimilated
into the white world.

[Clay] Many are dressed now
in white man's clothing.

Their diet has changed.
There's no hunting.

They have to get release forms
to leave the reservation at all.

[narrator]
Many at Standing Rock

have never known true freedom
on the Great Plains,

so Sitting Bull
begins sharing his stories,

hoping to keep the history
of the Lakota alive.

Sitting Bull had such
a reputation as a great warrior,

as a great spiritual leader.

And more and more
young people began to flock

to hear his stories,
to embrace the oral tradition.

Just as Sitting Bull
had heard the stories

of the past glories of
the Lakota before he was born,

now he began
to tell these stories.

[narrator]
For James McLaughlin,

the Indian agent
at Standing Rock,

Sitting Bull's actions
are a direct threat

to his plan to
fully assimilate the Lakota.

[Jeffery] Sitting Bull
is talking about a time

when the Lakota
were free and sovereign,

and that is exactly the opposite

of what McLaughlin wants
the message to be.

[Paul] Sitting Bull
worried McLaughlin.

He worried him because he was
holding on to the old ways,

and most importantly,
because he was so influential.

And that was tough
for McLaughlin to battle.

Somehow he had to
shut Sitting Bull down.

Thank you.

[narrator] In May of 1885,

McLaughlin receives a message
from Buffalo Bill Cody.

[Paul] Buffalo Bill Cody
lived two very distinct lives.

He was a frontiersman
and a buffalo hunter.

He lived the Wild West,

and then he reinvented it
and he took it on the road.

[Edward] Buffalo Bill realizes

that there's an insatiable
appetite in the east

for stories, for lore,

for legends
coming out of the west,

and in 1883 he puts together

what is effectively
a circus about the West,

and he calls it
Buffalo Bill's Wild West.

He is going to present

authentic vignettes,
authentic stories,

authentic reenactments
of things in the west.

[narrator] By the mid-1880s,
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show

is a worldwide phenomenon,
with crowds as big as 20,000.

People are turning out to see
sharpshooting displays,

rodeo performances,

and reenactments of famous
battles of the west.

[William] There was this notion
that the viewers were seeing

kind of an authentic version
of what had happened.

So, if you're a person
attending a Wild West show

in New York City,
the odds are pretty good

that actual Lakotas

who had participated in
the Battle of Little Bighorn

would be on stage
performing the battle for you.

[narrator] Now, Buffalo Bill
wants to bring on

the most famous
Native leader in America.

[Edward] Given the tensions

between Sitting Bull
and McLaughlin,

you would think that McLaughlin
would block such a request.

But he has it in his mind

that sending Sitting Bull
on this tour

will expose him to the greater,
wider white world

and he will see the virtues

and the astonishing
accomplishments

of white civilization.

And this will somehow hasten
his acceptance of white ways.

And that will then trickle down

to the rest
of his -- his people.

[door slams shut]

Please have a seat.

I've received a letter

directing you to go on tour
across the United States,

with a man
named Buffalo Bill Cody.

It's a Wild West tour.

In it, you'll be able
to travel the country.

Tell your story.

Dear.

[speaking Indigenous language]

[narrator] While McLaughlin
sees this as a way

to get Sitting Bull
to assimilate...

[speaking Lakota]

He wants to know
when he leaves.

[narrator] Sitting Bull
sees an opportunity.

[train rumbling]

On June 6th, 1885,

Sitting Bull
leaves the reservation,

joining the Wild West show
for a four-month tour.

And just as
Buffalo Bill had hoped,

ticket sales skyrocket,

as curious audiences
turn out to see

the legendary warrior
who took Custer down.

Bill Cody knew

of the popularity
of Sitting Bull

because of the defeat of Custer.

He was a draw to the show.

[narrator]
Free from the constraints

of the reservation,
Sitting Bull seizes the moment.

[Jeffrey] For Sitting Bull,
it's an opportunity

not only to get paid

and send this money
back to the reservation,

but it's also a chance to get
out from McLaughlin's control.

[narrator] Most importantly,

it offers him the chance
to tell the story of his life

and his people
to the American public.

[Edward] Sitting Bull
thinks that he might have

some positive impact
to maybe tamp down the hostility

of the US military
and US officials

on the reservations.

He wasn't simply
going along for the show.

He was clearly trying
to accomplish something.

[crowd cheers]

[narrator]
Sitting Bull's appearances

catapult him into
the worldwide spotlight.

Here he was
in the center of things.

[Shane]
Even after losing the war,

even after having been
confined to the reservation,

he was able to
reinvent himself again.

The Wild West show

really helped his vision
come to fruition

that he would be known
throughout the world

amongst all nations as a leader,
as a man of great pride,

of great dignity,
of great vision.

And that he could
never really be defeated.

[crowd cheers]

[train whistle bellows]

[narrator] But the Wild West
Tour doesn't just raise

Sitting Bull's profile.

It opens his eyes.

[Edward] He was traveling
through an incredibly wealthy,

advanced society,

and yet, when he was
in New York City,

the city has hundreds of people
begging on the streets.

Homeless people,

people shuffling around
looking for handouts.

[Courtney]
Sitting Bull didn't understand

the wealth that
the Americans had,

that there would be homeless
people begging for food.

And he had compassion not
only for his -- his own people,

but compassion
for people in general,

that he gave his money away.

He gave it to these people
that are begging for food.

[Jeffery] Because of
the things that he's seen,

Sitting Bull has become
more and more entrenched

in the belief that
the Lakota need to live

by their traditional values
in order to survive successfully

on the reservation.

[narrator] As he ends
his tour with Buffalo Bill,

Sitting Bull is more
determined than ever

to ensure
Lakota culture survives.

[narrator] In January of 1887,

Sitting Bull is 56 years old.

He's now lived at Standing Rock
for nearly four years.

[Jeffery]
Agent McLaughlin's hope

that Sitting Bull's travels east

would actually soften him
for the United States

does not come to fruition.

[narrator] Sitting Bull
is more determined than ever

to preserve traditional Lakota
values on the reservation.

But developments back east

are about to change
the landscape once more.

[hammers clanging]

By 1887,

the American Industrial
Revolution is in full swing.

Fueled by the nation's
oil and steel industries,

the surge in manufacturing

attracts a wave
of new immigrants,

creating an even greater
hunger for land

in the American West.

But with over 100 million acres
allotted to reservations,

the US government looks for
a way to open up that land

to American settlement.

In February of 1887,

President Grover Cleveland
signs the Dawes Act into law.

Proposed as a way to further
assimilate tribal people

to American ways,

the law offers them
US citizenship

and an opportunity
to personally own

their own private plot of land
within the reservation.

[Clay] The Dawes Act said
that Native Americans

would be encouraged heavily
to choose plots

for individual family ownership,

and that whatever lands
then were left over,

that land would be
declared surplus

and would be available
to white homesteaders,

and that was going to
break up the reservation.

[Douglas] All the Dawes Act was,
in the end, was a land grab.

It was how do you take land
that was legally owned

by Native Americans
and give it to white settlers?

It's another disingenuous act

by the US government towards
Native American people.

[narrator]
On the Great Sioux Reservation,

the Lakota alone
lose 9 million acres of land,

nearly two-thirds
of their allotted territory.

In total, tribes across the west

will lose more than
90 million acres

as a result of the Dawes Act.

By 1890,

tribal people across the West

are desperate
for any sign of hope.

In the midst of this despair,

a new movement starts,

based around
a spiritual ceremony

called the Ghost Dance.

[Shane] The Ghost dance
was actually envisioned

by a Paiute medicine man
named Wovoka.

Wovoka believed if people
participated in this dance

that the bison would come back

and the white people would
all disappear from the land,

and that the Native people could
return to their old ways again.

It offered a new sense
of hope and aspiration

for Indigenous communities,

that they would succeed

and that they would outlast

these really devastating acts
of colonization,

and violence,
warfare, starvation.

[narrator] As the Ghost Dance
movement spreads

through reservations
across the country,

American officials
see a looming threat.

The Ghost Dance
is most troubling

to Americans living
near a reservation.

Their fear is always that
there's going to be an outbreak.

The Native Americans
will rise up

and come out and kill them all.

And for many
American citizens,

this fear is going to
be visceral and real.

[narrator] Newspapers
everywhere run stories

calling the Ghost Dance
a reign of terror.

[Paul]
The white people went berserk.

This seemed
completely insidious.

This was the forecast
of another Indian rebellion.

[narrator]
Soon the Ghost Dance movement

makes its way to
the Lakota at Standing Rock.

[Paul] At first, Sitting Bull
didn't care for it.

And in fact,
he didn't like it at all

because it was not
Lakota spiritualism.

[Lakota singing]

But he saw the power it was
having over the people,

and being a smart politician,
and that's what he was,

he began to slowly embrace it.

He started to give more and more
support to the Ghost Dance,

and this infuriated
and worried McLaughlin.

[Edward] So, as the Ghost Dance
movement is gaining momentum,

James McLaughlin is convinced

that this is a seditious,
rebellious movement

that is very dangerous,

and he's also convinced
Sitting Bull is going to

support the Ghost Dance
movement on his reservation,

and it's going to be a prelude
to a great big uprising.

[narrator] Determined to stop
any potential rebellion

dead in its tracks,

McLaughlin calls in
the reservation police,

made up of Lakota,

and issues an order
to arrest Sitting Bull.

[Guy] The relationship
between Gall and Sitting Bull

was very strained.

For a long time,
they did not talk to each other,

but once Gall
heard of the intent,

Gall knew they weren't going
there just to arrest him,

they were going there
to shut him up.

[McLaughlin]
That'll be all, gentlemen.

Have a seat.

Let me speak to Sitting Bull.

No need. It's being handled.

[Gall] I think I should
talk to Sitting Bull.

I'm the only one he trusts.

I said it's being taken care of.

You're dismissed.

Gall understood this perfectly.

He knew that McLaughlin
was setting up

a very volatile situation.

He warned against it.
McLaughlin dismissed it.

[horse whinnies]

[narrator]
On December 15th, 1890,

McLaughlin mobilizes his men

to bring Sitting Bull
in by force.

[narrator] On the morning
of December 15th, 1890,

at Standing Rock,

Indian agent James McLaughlin

mobilizes
the reservation police.

Their orders,
arrest Sitting Bull

for supporting
the Ghost Dance movement.

The Indian police force is
made up of Native Americans

who are set out to enforce
assimilationist policies.

And there's absolutely no proof
that the Ghost Dance

was any kind
of a threat to Americans,

and Sitting Bull
really has no active role in it.

Yet McLaughlin
wants him arrested.

So, you can see
how difficult this is.

[tense music plays]

[narrator]
As the tribal police close in,

word spreads among
Sitting Bull's supporters.

[Lakota shouting]

A crowd had assembled

and there was a lot
of tension at that moment,

and the anxiety was high.

[door crashes open]

[police and Sitting Bull
speaking Lakota]

[gunshot cracks]

[whoops]

[whoops]

[gunshot cracks]

[narrator]
In one horrifying instant,

Sitting Bull is dead.

[William]
There's a tense confrontation

between members
of the Indian Police

and Sitting Bull's followers.

A gunfight ensues

and Sitting Bull
dies in this skirmish.

[Mark Lee] Sitting Bull is
murdered in front of his people.

It's a despicable killing.

It didn't have to happen,
and it had its roots

in hatred for tradition
and in hatred for Sitting Bull.

[Courtney]
That was a resistance period,

the time of Sitting Bull.

So, when Sitting Bull
was murdered,

what once was a great fire

of our people
was now reduced to embers.

[narrator]
But the violence isn't over.

A gunfight ensues.

Several members of
the Indian police are killed.

Several members

of Sitting Bull's
followers are killed.

It causes chaos and panic.

[narrator]
Fearing they would be killed

if they remained
at Standing Rock,

close to 400
Ghost Dance supporters flee

to seek refuge
nearly 200 miles to the south,

on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

As they set out
on their journey,

US troops flood into the area.

On their trip south,
they were intercepted

by the 7th Cavalry

as kind of historical irony
has it, right,

Custer's old regiment.

[narrator]
The army orders the Lakota

to halt their march
to Pine Ridge

and to camp along a nearby
creek called Wounded Knee.

[Edward] The 7th Cavalry
announced

that they're going to disarm
the Native Americans

gathered there,
and in the process,

a gun goes off.

It's still disputed whose
gun went off,

but what we do know
for certain

is that from
that moment forward,

the 7th Cavalry goes berserk.

[narrator]
On December 29th, 1890,

one of American history's
most tragic events,

unfolds at Wounded Knee Creek.

290 Lakota men,
women, and children

are massacred by the US Army.

To kill women, children,
to kill them,

just to gun them down.

Wounded Knee
was the ultimate evil.

They're left out in the cold
for several days,

just out in the open,

exhibiting the kind of disregard
for their humanity.

And then eventually
buried in mass graves.

[Frank] To massacre hundreds
of Lakota in cold blood,

still, to this day, makes me
emotional thinking about it,

that such a thing
could be done to people

who were in such
a state of survival.

[Jeffrey] The Wounded Knee
massacre is what many consider

the end
of Native American history.

It's a tragedy that's
just so unfortunate,

so unnecessary.

But it's not the end
of Native culture.

[narrator] Today,

over a century after
the events at Wounded Knee,

the Lakota people
and their culture live on

thanks to the legacy
of Sitting Bull.

[Elizabeth]
Sitting Bull really exists

as a symbol of Indigenous
strength, hope, and inspiration.

This is not some distant
historic figure.

This is a real person who had
a transformative effect,

not only in
Native American history,

but in American history
as a whole.

-The thread that I see in
Sitting Bull's life is that

he was consistently
and adamantly

always in support
of protecting Lakota land

from the intrusion
of the United States.

[Paul] He's seen
as a heroic freedom fighter.

Someone who stood against
the American onslaught

and who defended
the rights of his people.

[Frank] For me,
as a young Lakota person,

Sitting Bull
represents resistance.

He never stopped being Lakota.

He said, I just wanted to be
known in history.

I was the last warrior
to give up his gun.

[whoops]

Sitting Bull is an inspiration
to keep fighting

for what you believe in.

And I think all Native people
try to emulate him

in some way, shape, or form.

To live a life without fear,
to inspire others.

[Courtney] He showed all these
virtues that made a warrior,

but also a leader.

He was a man, definitely
that stood above the rest.