SLOW

As a young boy his father gave him the name “Slow”.  But during a raid against the Crow, at the age of 14, Slow raced ahead of his fellow warriors, and made the first kill.  His father immediately changed his name.  You may be surprised when you learn his new name.

His father gave him the name of “Slow”…not because he wasn’t bright…but because he was deliberate.  But his “deliberateness” never stood in the way of him taking action.  At the age of 14 he made his first kill, and his father changed his name to…Sitting Bull.

 Sitting Bull is best known for his victory at Little Big Horn against George Armstrong Custer.  As strange as it may seem, his victory directly resulted in his defeat.  But I get ahead of myself.

 Because of his braveness in battle Sitting Bull was soon made the leader of the Strong Hearts, a special society of warriors…and later he became the chief of his Hunkpapa division of the Sioux.

Sitting Bull had special abilities as a leader and organizer.  Even though the Federal Government had ordered the Indians to relocate to a reservation, Sitting Bull was able to convince more than 10,000 Sioux, Arapaho and Cheyenne to leave the reservation, and band together…and it was a part of this group that defeated General Custer.

Because of Little Big Horn, the government made an all out effort to defeat the Plains Indians.  Finally, with less than 200 followers Sitting Bull and his ragged band surrendered.

On December 15, 1890, Sitting Bull was living on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.  Because of fears of an Indian insurrection, about 40 Indian policemen rushed Sitting Bull’s home to arrest him while he was asleep.  In the confusion a fight broke out and the great Sioux Chief Sitting Bull was shot twice…by a Sioux Indian policeman.  Incidentally, the 59-year-old Sitting Bull had previously indicated he had no interest in the insurrection.