The victory was stunning and immediately catastrophic in its political consequences. The United States, humiliated by the defeat and outraged by the press coverage that followed, sent additional troops to the northern plains and pursued the Lakota relentlessly through the winter of 1876–77. Food became scarce. Families who had followed Sitting Bull into the free life of the plains began to drift back to the agencies, seeking the annuity beef that was now their only reliable food source.
LaPointe has noted in interviews that Sitting Bull is often portrayed in ways that are inaccurate or incomplete. He says many sources claim Sitting Bull was born on the Grand River — where he died — rather than near Miles City, Montana, where LaPointe says family accounts place his birth. He says Sitting Bull is sometimes inaccurately described as the man who “killed Custer,” when Sitting Bull’s role was that of a holy man and leader, not a battle commander. And he says Sitting Bull wanted to be known above all as a Sun Dancer — as a man whose primary commitment was to the spiritual health and survival of his people, not to war.
These corrections matter because they reflect the difference between the Sitting Bull of popular mythology and the Sitting Bull that his descendants carry in their family memory.
—
## Exile, Surrender, and the Years on the Reservation
After the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull led his remaining followers north into Canada — specifically into the territory that is now Saskatchewan — in 1877. The Canadian government would not provide food or recognize them as subjects, and the northern winters were harsh. Over four years, as his people suffered, families drifted back to the United States. In July 1881, Sitting Bull surrendered at Fort Buford in what is now North Dakota. His son — not Crow Foot, but an unnamed child — handed the commanding officer Sitting Bull’s rifle at the surrender ceremony.