Sitting Bull, Medicine Man
Lives in Canada from 1876 to 1881
The Sioux had been trading with British and Canadian traders from 1767, and had sided with them during the American Revolution and the War of 1812 to protect their interests.
Sitting Bull Enters Canada
In 1876, Sitting Bull and the Sioux crossed the Medicine Line (49th Parallel) into Canada after annihilating Custer’s army at the Little Big Horn when the U.S. government had failed to keep miners out of their reservation, driving buffalo before them with soldiers on their trail. They made camp in the Wood Mountain area in what is now southern Saskatchewan.
Inspector James Walsh
Inspector James M. Walsh, of the North West Mounted Police, rode with half a dozen men into the camp which now contained over 5,000 Sioux. He passed a large herd of horses and mules with the brand of the U.S. Army, and lodges where American scalps hung drying in the smoke, to meet with the Sioux leaders of surly warriors.
Inspector Walsh told them how they would behave in the Great White Mother’s land. The conditions were: they would harm no man, woman, child; steal nothing, not so much as a horse; they would not fight, even amongst themselves, or with the Canadian Indians; they would not hide behind the Medicine Line for the winter and then go raiding down south as soon as the prairies dried; they would not hunt beyond the Medicine Line, nor would they smuggle ammunition over it to their friends. The police were outnumbered thirty to forty to one, with no help for several hundred miles, and yet Walsh told them the rules and they said they would obey.
Sitting Bull assured Inspector Walsh he was tired of war, desired peace and would obey the laws of the Great White Mother, and promised not to cross the Medicine Line to conduct raids.
Once news of Sitting Bull’s arrival in Canada became known to other branches of Sioux who had remained in the United States, whether they were already living on reservations or the remainder of the hostile natives who had taken part in the battle against Custer or those natives harbouring grudges against the United States government, they made the trek north.
During the summer of 1877 minor incidents and disagreements between the different native tribes threatened to erupt into war. The Sioux and Blackfoot had always been enemies, with tension mounting over hunting parties on Blackfoot land.
Sitting Bull Refuses to Leave Canada
The United States government wanted Sitting Bull and his Sioux to either return to American territory or to settle permanently in Canada. Canadian officials, with no desire to adopt them, arranged a meeting with General Alfred H. Terry of the U.S. Army and Sitting Bull on October 17, 1877 at Fort Walsh (Saskatchewan). Sitting Bull distrusted the Americans due to their broken promises and ill treatment in the past, and refused to return to the United States.
Commissioner James F. Macleod and Inspector Walsh continued to urge Sitting Bull to surrender by stressing that he would never be recognized as a British Indian or granted a reservation, while warning him that the buffalo would disappear soon.
Inspector Walsh’s Replacement
A strong friendship developed between Inspector Walsh and Sitting Bull which seemed to be the reason for the lack of trouble with the Sioux in western Canada. Walsh was criticized for this friendship and blamed for his failure in persuading Sitting Bull to return to the United States, resulting in Walsh’s transfer to FortQu’Appelle in the summer of 1880, and later to Brockville, Ontario to get him out of the way according to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography . Walsh’s replacement, Superintendent Leif N. F. Crozier, was unable to develop the same rapport with Sitting Bull.
With the lack of buffalo and cold winters combined by the refusal of the Canadian government to provide a reservation or food, many Sioux returned to the United States where they had been promised provisions.
Sitting Bull Surrenders
In the winter of 1880-81 Sitting Bull found food had grown scarce for his followers, resulted in his inquiries about the reception of those who had surrendered earlier. When spring arrived, he met at FortQu’Appelle with Colonel Samuel B. Steele and Edgar Dewdney, the commissioner of Indian Affairs, who encouraged him to cross the border. After receiving a wire from Inspector Walsh in the east stating it was safe for him to return, on July 11, 1881 Sitting Bull accompanied his remaining followers from Willow Bunch with Louis Legaré to surrender at Fort Buford, North Dakota on July 11, 1881.
Sources:
Sergeant 331 by F.J.E. Fitzpatrick (1921)
Royal North West Mounted Police by Captain Ernst J. Chambers (1906)
Sitting Bull
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