SITTING BULLS LAST MEDICI Mi. 



21 I 



sleeping in the surrounding tepees, 

 and they dashed to the house as he 

 and the policemen were leaving it. 

 Crow Foot, a young man of 19, and 

 another of Bulls sons, taunted their 

 father with allowing himself to be 

 taken. They repeatedly asked him 

 if he would go. Sitting Bull, stung 

 to action, then refused to go, saying, 

 " I will die first." 



At this one of his band, named 

 Catch-the-Bear, fired at the police- 

 men, the bullet wounding Bull Head, 

 the first lieutenant of police, in the 

 leg. The hostiles had fired the first 

 shot, and the policemen, seeing that 

 nothing now could prevent a fight, 

 and fearful lest Sitting Bull should 

 escape, were ready for action. 

 Bull Head, who was on Sitting 

 Bull's left, and whose thigh was 

 broken, as well as Red Tomahawk, 

 the first sergeant, who was on his 

 right, fired at the medicine man 



ONE BULL, NEPHEW OF AND SUCCESSOR TO 

 SITTING BULL. 



simultaneously, and the old chieftain, 

 the hero of many wars, fell dead. 



Then a fearful fight followed be- 

 tween the 43 policemen and Sitting 

 Bull's band of about 125 warriors. 

 Both sides were poorly armed, and 



when the guns would fail to dis- 

 charge they used them for clubs. 

 Many guns were found broken, lying 

 about on the scene of battle in tin- 

 morning. 



The fight continued with terril 

 fierceness until the brave little bind 

 of policemen routed the I10M1 es and 

 drove them out of the village. So 

 intense was the feeling of hom 

 progressive Indians against Sitting 

 Bull that even his own relatives 

 showed no pity. Grey Eagle, who 

 was not a policeman, but a judge 

 the police court, and who had vol- 

 unteered to go on the expedition. 

 was a brother-in-law of Hull. He 

 was appealed to in the thick of the 

 fight by Crow Foot, his own nephew 

 and a bon of the chief, to save him; 

 but Grey Eagle would not intercede 

 for the young hostile and he was 

 killed. 



Meantime the cavalry had orders 

 to proceed to Oak Creek, a point 

 25 miles from Fort Yates, and it 

 quietly marched out of the post at 

 midnight of December 1 .). 1 

 There were two troops of the 8th 

 Cavalry officered by Captain 1 I r, 

 Fechet, First-Lieutenant E. 11. 

 Crowder, Second-Lieutenant I 

 Brooks, of " G, ' Troop, and First- 

 Lieutenant S. L. II. Slocum, Se< ond- 

 Lieutenant M. F. Steele, of " I 

 Troop, Assistant-Surgeon A. 1\. Cha- 

 pin and two agency guides, all under 

 the command of Captain Fechet. 

 Arriving at Oak Creek before day- 

 break and not finding the couriei 

 whom they had expected, reporting 

 the receipt of the orders carried by 

 the detachment of police who had 

 left the agency on the preceding twi- 

 light, the cavalry pushed on to w ithin 

 four miles of Sitting Bull's vill 

 fully expecting to be fired upon from 

 each clump of trees, or sin 

 rock, by hiding hostil 



Suddenly along the road, tl 

 fog and rain, appeared an In 

 policeman with pa and wild 



eyes, full of intense excitement, who 

 told of the killing of all the pol 

 men but himself. The command, 

 stopping only long enough to dis- 



