Editing Sitting Bull (section)

==Red Cloud's War==
{{Further|Red Cloud}}
From 1866 to 1868, [[Red Cloud]], a leader of the [[Oglala Lakota]], fought against U.S. forces, attacking their forts in an effort to keep control of the [[Powder River Country]] in present-day [[Montana]]. In support of Red Cloud, Sitting Bull led numerous war parties against [[Fort Berthold]], [[Fort Stevenson]], and [[Fort Buford]] and their allies from 1865 through 1868.<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1993|Utley 1993]], pp. 66–72.</ref> The uprising has come to be known as [[Red Cloud's War]].

By early 1868, the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]] desired a peaceful settlement to the conflict. It agreed to Red Cloud's demands that the U.S. abandon Forts [[Fort Phil Kearny|Phil Kearny]] and [[Fort C. F. Smith (Fort Smith, Montana)|C.F. Smith]]. Gall of the Hunkpapa and other representatives of the Hunkpapa, [[Sihasapa|Blackfeet]] and [[Yankton Dakota]], signed a form of the [[Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)|Treaty of Fort Laramie]] on July 2, 1868, at [[Fort Rice]] (near [[Bismarck, North Dakota|Bismarck]], North Dakota).<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1993|Utley 1993]], p. 80.</ref> Sitting Bull did not agree to the treaty. He told the [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] missionary Pierre Jean De Smet, who sought him on behalf of the government: "I wish all to know that I do not propose to sell any part of my country."<ref>Matteoni, Norman E.(2015) ''Prairie Man'', The Struggle between Sitting Bull and Indian Agent James McLaughlin, TwoDot. p. 41. {{ISBN|9781442244757 }}</ref> He continued his hit-and-run attacks on forts in the upper Missouri area throughout the late 1860s and early 1870s.<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1993|Utley 1993]], p. 82.</ref>

The events between 1866 and 1868 mark a historically debated period of Sitting Bull's life. According to historian [[Stanley Vestal]], who conducted interviews with surviving Hunkpapa in 1930, Sitting Bull was made "Supreme Chief of the whole Sioux Nation" at this time, but historians and [[ethnologist]]s later refuted this, since Lakota society was highly decentralized. Lakota bands and their elders made individual decisions, including whether or not to wage war.<ref>[[#Reference-idUtley1993|Utley 1993]], pp. 88–89.</ref>