Brulé Sioux Chief Spotted Tail

Destined for greatness and an early death, Spotted Tail, the great chief of the Brulé Sioux, was born in 1823 on the White River in South Dakota. His sister was the mother of Crazy Horse, and he was a first cousin to Conquering Bear, the man named by the U.S. government as the chief of the tribe at Fort Laramie in 1851. Spotted Tail was not a hereditary chief but received recognition based on his ability and character.

The Sioux spelling of Spotted Tail’s name is Sinte-Galeska. In 1942 his grandson, Stephen, told the story of how he got this unusual name: ‘In early days he was hunting…along some River and he met some white men trappers. One of this man was skinning a raccoon and this man showed him the coon’s tail which had black rings around the tail and he named him after this and called him `Spotted Tail.’ The warrior incorporated the trophy into his war headdress, wearing it in his first battles. Spotted Tail showed martial prowess as a teenager. By the time he was 30, he was an honored Shirtwearer, his war garment decorated with more than 100 locks of hair from enemy scalps.

As a young warrior, Spotted Tail played an important part in the first sizable battle between the Lakotas and the U.S. Army on August 19, 1854. The skirmish occurred when a hot-blooded young lieutenant, John L. Grattan, along with an intoxicated interpreter and 29 infantrymen, attempted to arrest a visiting Minneconjou in the Brulé camp eight miles east of Fort Laramie. A lame ox (sometimes referred to as a cow) from a Mormon wagon train had been killed by the Minneconjou warrior. Grattan marched to the Indian camp to arrest the offender but instead precipitated a fight in which he and all of his men died. Spotted Tail organized and led the assault on the flank and rear that created panic among the troops and facilitated their demise.

Library of Congress

Spotted Tail, who showed much martial prowess in his younger days, was a highly respected peace chief by the 1860s, but he was not destined to die peacefully.

Following the so-called Grattan Fight, Conquering Bear’s brother, Red Leaf, planned a raid of vengeance. With him went his two brothers, his half brother Long Chin and his cousin Spotted Tail. Near Horse Creek on November 13, the war party attacked the westbound mail wagon headed for Salt Lake City, killing three whites, destroying the mail and taking $20,000 in gold.

In the meantime, the War Department had begun preparations to whip the Sioux, naming veteran William S. Harney as commander of the punitive expedition. In September 1855, Brevet Brig. Gen. William Harney and 600 troops caught 250 Brulés in camp on Blue Water Creek in Nebraska, killing 86 and taking 70 prisoners, including Spotted Tail’s wife and baby daughter. Gallantly fighting side by side with Iron Shell, the second-in-command, the young warrior earned the lasting admiration of his people. While severely wounded from two shots through the body, he was able to escape after dispatching a number of Harney’s dragoons and stealing a horse.

Harney let it be known that there would be no peace until those who had killed the whites near Horse Creek were in custody. On October 18, 1855, Spotted Tail and the four others in the war party surrendered at Fort Laramie to prevent further response. Expecting to be executed, they were surprised to be sent to Fort Leavenworth. Later they moved to Fort Kearny and gained their freedom in September 1856. While imprisoned, Spotted Tail learned to read and write English, acquiring useful skills in dealing with whites when he became chief. His incarceration was also important in another way. It permitted him to observe the overwhelming power of the whites in numbers and technology, and brought the realization that, in order to survive, diplomacy had to take precedence over armed conflict whenever possible. Spotted Tail returned a hero, for he had offered himself in sacrifice for his people.