Spotted Tail

Spotted Tail (Siŋté Glešká, Lakota: [sɪ̃ˈtɛ ɡlɛʃˈka]; birth name T'at'aŋka Napsíca [tʼaˈtʼə̃ka napˈsɪtʃa], 'Jumping Buffalo'; c. 1823 – August 5, 1881) was a Sichangu Lakota tribal chief. Famed as a great warrior since his youth, warring on Ute, Pawnee and Absaroke ('Crow'), and having taken a leading part in the Grattan Massacre, he led his warriors in the Colorado and Platte River uprising (Spotted Tail's War) after the massacre perpetrated by John M. Chivington's Colorado Volunteers on the peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho camping on Sand Creek (November 29, 1864), but declined to participate in Red Cloud's War. After spending almost two years as a prisoner in Fort Leavenworth following the Grattan affair, Spotted Tail was able to speak the English language well, and to deal with the "Wasichu" (white men) without an interpreter, whom he did not trust. He had become convinced of the futility of making war to oppose the white incursions into his homeland; he became a statesman, speaking for peace and defending the rights of his tribe by using his knowledge of “wasichu” language and system to increase his political capability to hinder their tricks and deceptions. He made several trips to Washington, D.C. in the 1870s to represent his people, and was noted for his interest in bringing education to the Sioux. General Anson Mills, who knew Spotted Tail well, called him "a fine-looking man, with engaging manners, perfectly loyal to the government, a lover of peace, knowing no good could come to his people from war," a man who had both a high respect for and confidence in U.S. Army officers as well as a good sense of humor. He was shot in the back and killed by Crow Dog, a Sichangu Lakota subchief, in 1881 for reasons which have been disputed.