How did Lakota Culture change over the 19th century? What effect did the white culture have on that culture through the century? What was the traditional Lakota manner of fighting, and what values did it highlight? Why did this style of warfare not work against white troops, what lessons does Utley think Sitting Bull should have learned from this? Describe Sitting Bull’s three “personalities”. Discuss the stance he took on whites, and compare it to Red Cloud. Which one did you think was right, why? What were the principal interests of the US government with the Sioux territory? How did America generally react to Sitting Bull’s resistance? How did the US government deal with him, and what eventually breaks his resistance? What is the significance of the Ghost Dance religion, and the death of Sitting Bull? What do you think of Utley’s opinion that Sitting Bull lost because of cause beyond his control?

The Lakotas were one of the many tribes that belonged to the Sioux Nation. Originally they lived in the upper portions of the Mississipi river but after time they ended up settling in the Great Plains and after conflicts with the U. S government, they were put in reservations around the Dakotas, mostly.

1, 2, 3 and 4. Lakota culture changed greatly once they came into contact with white people because they were forced to assume and change their lifestyles to be able to live in peace. At first they refused any contact with white settlers and there were many conflicts that arose from this, but in the end, through military force, the Lakota, and all the Sioux tribes, were defeated and forced to adapt to a more Westernized lifestyle. This can be seen, for example, in the language. They had to learn the English language to adapt, even though they persisted in maintaining their own dialects. In fighting aspects the Latoka also found a lot of changes. They were great believers in the use of the horse and their hands to fight, which showed a respect for the other person and a belief in fair fighting, but when the white settlers came with guns and weaponry, the Lakotas found themselves vastly overtaken. Also, white people brought with them lots of disease, which decimated their numbers. This meant that in the end, the number of white settlers and even the army that was stationed near the Lakota establishments, overwhelmed the Lakota people until they became a part of the U. S.

5, 6, 7 ... Sitting Bull and Red Cloud were two leaders of the Lakota who had very similar ways of seeing on how to handle white people. However, while Sitting Bull never accepted contact with white settlers and killed them until he was himself killed by his own people, Red Cloud understood that it was impossible to stop white settlement and that peaceful living was better than an extended war. This is why, Red Cloud signed the famous Fort Laramie Treaty as an end to his Red Cloud War in 1868. Now, Robert M. Utley wrote about Sitting Bull in a book called The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull and although not very historical and given to judgement, he was one of the few people who actually wrote about this character. In general, Utley believed in Sitting Bull as a true hero but in the end does not understand why Sitting Bull insisted on persuing freedom and resistance against the Army instead of just peacefully accepting life in a reservation in the U. S. Sitting Bull was known for his great love for his people and especially for the Lakota way of living. He staunchly and until the end, rejected white settlement or any peace with the U. S Army. In the end, he has to be murdered when his own police chase him down because he will not give up on his attempts and keeps fighting in a guerrilla-like warfare.

Finally, the Ghost Dance religion is a way of thinking that overtook a lot of the Native American peoples when white settlement descended in mass because of the gold fever. Literally, it was a ritual that sought to bring together the forces of the living and the dead to fight back against white settlers and the army. It became a problem because it fed Sitting Bull's raging hate against the inevitable white settlement and led him to create the attack-and-run guerrilla style of war. Once Sitting Bull died at the hands of his own people, adaptation on the part of the Sioux people in general and the Lakota, in particular, took place.