Letter from Sitting Bull

To the Great Father in Washington, What treaty that the whites have kept has the red man broken? Not one. What treaty that the whites ever made with us have they kept? Not one. When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set on their land. They sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them? What white man can say I ever stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet they say I am a thief. What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian. What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and unfed? Who has seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken? Is it wrong for me to love my own people? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country? You have taken our lands. You have killed our buffalo. You have driven us from our homes. And now you demand that we surrender our way of life. We will not do it. We prefer to die as free men than to live as prisoners on your reservations. Sitting Bull Hunkpapa Lakota Chief