Editing Sitting Bull (section)

==Death==
[[File:Capture and Death of Sitting Bull by Kurz & Allison, 1890.jpg|thumb|''Capture and death of Sitting Bull'', an 1890 [[lithograph]]]]
[[File:Brooke Reports "wild scene" and Chaotic Conditions - NARA - 285042.tif|thumb|In this [[Western Union]] telegram sent on December 20, 1890, after killing Sitting Bull, authorities describe a "wild scene" and "squaws death chant heard in every direction."]]
[[File:Sitting Bull's grave.jpg|thumb|Sitting Bull's grave at [[Fort Yates]], {{Circa|1906}}]]
[[File:SittingBullPhilKonstantin.jpg|thumb|Monument at Sitting Bull's grave in [[Mobridge, South Dakota]] in May 2003]]
In 1890, [[James McLaughlin (Indian agent)|James McLaughlin]], the U.S. [[Indian agent]] at [[Fort Yates]] on Standing Rock Agency, feared that the Lakota leader was about to flee the reservation with the [[Ghost Dance]]rs, so he ordered the police to arrest him.<ref>{{cite news |first=Roger L. |last=Nichols |author2=University of Oklahoma |title=American Indians in U.S. History |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanindiansi0000nich/page/160 160] |url=https://archive.org/details/americanindiansi0000nich |url-access=registration |publisher=Norman Press |year=2003 }}</ref>

On December 14, 1890, McLaughlin drafted a letter to Lieutenant Henry Bullhead, an Indian agency policeman named as Bull Head in the letter's beginning, which included instructions and a plan to capture Sitting Bull. The plan called for the arrest to take place at dawn on December 15 and advised the use of a light spring wagon to facilitate removal before his followers could rally. Bullhead decided against using the wagon. He intended to have the police officers force Sitting Bull to mount a horse immediately after the arrest.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{cite news |first=Robert M. |last=Utley |title=The Last Days of the Sioux Nation, 2nd Edition |pages=155, 157 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2004 }}</ref><ref>Richardson, Heather Cox. ''Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre''. New York: Basic Books, 2010</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McLaughlin |first=James |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t00008872&view=1up&seq=11&skin=2021 |title=My friend the Indian |date=April 1910 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Company]] |location=Boston, MA and New York, NY |access-date=December 25, 2021 |archive-date=July 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719152218/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark%3A%2F13960%2Ft00008872&view=1up&seq=11&skin=2021 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Matteoni, Norman E. The Struggle between Sitting Bull and Indian Agent James McLaughlin. Guilford CT: 2015</ref>

Around 5:30&nbsp;a.m. on December 15, 39 police officers and four volunteers approached Sitting Bull's house. They surrounded the house, knocked, and entered. Bull Head told Sitting Bull that he was under arrest and led him outside.<ref>{{cite news |first=Robert M. |last=Utley |title=The Last Days of the Sioux Nation, 2nd Edition |page=158 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2004 }}</ref> Sitting Bull and his wife noisily stalled for time as the camp awakened and men converged at the house. As Bull Head ordered Sitting Bull to mount a horse, he said that the Indian Affairs agent wanted to see the chief, and that Sitting Bull could then return to his house. When Sitting Bull refused to comply, the police used force on him. The Sioux in the village were enraged. Catch-the-Bear, a Lakota, shouldered his rifle and shot Bull Head, who, in response, fired his revolver into the chest of Sitting Bull.<ref name="utleylast">{{cite news |first=Robert M. |last=Utley |title=The Last Days of the Sioux Nation, 2nd Edition |page=160 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2004 }}</ref> Another police officer, Red Tomahawk, shot Sitting Bull in the head, and Sitting Bull dropped to the ground. Sitting Bull died between 12 and 1 p.m.<ref name="utleylast"/>

A close quarters fight erupted and, within minutes, 14 men were dead and two others were fatally wounded. The Lakota killed six policemen immediately, and two more died shortly after the fight, including Bull Head. The police killed Sitting Bull and seven of his supporters at the site, along with two horses.<ref>Dippie, Brian W. ''The Vanishing American: White Attitudes and U.S. Indian Policy''. Middleton, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1982.</ref>

===Burial===
Sitting Bull's body was taken to present-day [[Fort Yates, North Dakota]], where it was placed in a coffin made by the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] carpenter there,<ref>Snider, G.L., ''A Maker of Shavings, the Life of Edward Forte, Formerly 1st Sergeant, Troop "D", 7th Cavalry,'' 1936</ref> and he was buried on the grounds of Fort Yates. A monument was installed to mark his burial site after his remains were reportedly taken to [[South Dakota]].

In 1953, Lakota family members exhumed what they believed to be Sitting Bull's remains, transporting them for reinterment near [[Mobridge, South Dakota]], his birthplace.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bones of Sitting Bull Go South From One Dakota to the Other. |url-access=subscription |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0D15F63E55107B93CBA9178FD85F478585F9 |publisher=[[Associated Press]] in [[The New York Times]] |date=April 9, 1953 |access-date=May 29, 2008 |archive-date=April 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412074149/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0D15F63E55107B93CBA9178FD85F478585F9 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Dan |last=Barry |title=Restoring Dignity to Sitting Bull, Wherever He Is |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/us/28thisland.html |quote=Then, in 1953, some Chamber of Commerce types from the small South Dakota city of Mobridge executed a startling plan. With the blessing of a few of Sitting Bull's descendants, they crossed into North Dakota after midnight and exhumed what they believed were Sitting Bull's remains. |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=January 28, 2007 |access-date=May 29, 2008 |archive-date=June 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130612054533/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/us/28thisland.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A monument to him was erected there.