John Sitting Bull, adopted deaf-mute son of the famed Hunkpapa Sioux Chief Sitting Bull, was 14 years of age in 1876 and fought bravely, if briefly, in the early phases of the battle. At Wounded Knee in 1890, his rifle fired accidentally before he could surrender it to soldiers, thus precipitating the deadly massacre. He died in 1954, aged 92.
“I saw a black man I knew, named Teat. He had a Sioux wife. He had guided Long Hair’s soldiers and was badly wounded. An old woman wanted to shoot him. Sitting Bull rode up and turned her away. My father gave him water from his own buffalo horn drinking cup. Teat drank, then died.” – Oglala, SD 1935
