Spotted Tail
Brule/Sicangu
Sioux, was born in 1823 or 1824 on the upper reaches of the White River. He
participated in the fight near Fort Laramie in August 1854, in which Lieutenant
John Grattan's command was annihilated. To save the tribe from punishment, Spotted
Tail and two other warriors voluntarily accepted imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth
for one year. In 1865, he led the attack on Julesburg, Colorado after which
he was made chief of the Brule Sioux.
Spotted
Tail was one of the signers of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, following which
his tribe was moved to Whetstone Agency on the Missouri River for two years.
During this time, he prohibited whiskey peddlers in his area and negotiated
with the government for a better reservation for his people on the upper White
River.
During
the Sioux War of 1876-77, Spotted Tail was successful in keeping most of his
followers on the reservation and in convincing the government that the proper
method in dealing with the Sioux was to assist them in making a slow, steady
and natural transition from a hunting culture to that of a settled society.
Spotted Tail was shot by Crow Dog in August 1881 as he was leaving a council. He lies buried on the hill just north of the Rosebud Agency.