One bull.
Whoo! Whoo!
"My dear Charles...
the great Sioux reservation is no longer great in size alone.
It is now home to a great celebrity.
Sitting Bull has arrived.
But the sorrow in his eyes...
it is the image of all I have seen,
and not only at Standing Rock,
but at all the agencies.
At Pine Ridge,
a drought destroyed the late summer crops
and made for underweight cattle.
And then there are the epidemics...
measles, influenza,
whooping cough.
Have you seen a dying child with whooping cough?
There is little that can be done
except to prepare the families for the inevitable.
This has become my avocation.
Sincerely, Elaine."
There's a fine line between incentive and coercion.
And if we have to cross that line
in pursuit of the Indians' betterment,
- then so be it. - Hear, hear.
Charles?
May I speak with you a moment, sir?
Yes... I want to introduce you to a few new people.
- Come on. - Yes, wait.
I received this letter from Miss Goodale.
Yes, that can wait. Charles, with this resolution,
the Senate will authorize a new offering for the Sioux. One...
do you know about this measles epidemic?
And whooping cough and influenza?
The agent's official reports are... somewhat different.
I haven't known Elaine to exaggerate.
She's an inspector of schools, Charles. She's not a physician.
She's an advocate for their cause, as you are.
And now you speak of coercion. I don't understand.
If we don't put that land into the hands of individual Indians
in five years... less...
homesteaders and ranchers will demand it all...
for nothing.
The Indian must own his own piece of earth, Charles.
Did you know that there is no word
in the Sioux language for that, sir?
- For what? - To "own the earth."
Not in any native language.
Well, then perhaps you should invent one.
Come on.
I am sorry. The road is not good for wheels.
It's all right. I'll get some help.
Oh, I' your assistant, doctor.
- I'll take your things. - No no, please.
Take care of your son. And watch over our things.
Little Hawk, keep an eye on your father.
There.
Good morning.
He wants to mend the wagon.
You must be dr. Eastman.
I' Agent Royer.
- Welcome to Pine Ridge. - A pleasure.
- Right this way. - All right.
Here it is.
Where's the examination table?
Last fellow managed with a chair.
What is that, Mr. Royer?
That's how you dispense your medicines, of course.
Without examination?
- Well, l... - I' sick.
I need a brown bottle. A brown bottle, please.
Me too, a brown bottle.
Cod liver oil. Shipment's late.
When you're ready, I'll show you around.
I' sorry, but there's none left.
If you men are sick, please, come in.
Elaine.
You wrote you'd be inspecting the schools at Rosebud.
I doubt I'll be missed.
Not by the teachers, in any event.
- I' so happy you're here. - Me too.
What do you think? Needs a lot of work.
It's going to be great.
All right, sir, we're just going to shift the shoulders just a little bit.
And chin up, please. Okay.
Wonderful, Chief Sitting Bull.
Very still now, please.
Very still.
Thank you. $2.50.
It would also be an honor for me to have your autograph.
Turn around.
It would be an honor for me to take more of your money.
Thank you.
Morning.
Nice hat.
- Wild West Show? - Mm.
And the horse...
you must be looking forward to joining Bill Cody again.
What is that you're making?
When I am finished, I will know.
If we get enough rain, you could still raise corn.
Grasshoppers eat corn.
Let them plant it.
I will live as I please.
No, you will not.
Do you understand?
I' told you squandered Cody's pay on friends and fancy dinners.
And you come back with tall tales.
You did not meet President Cleveland, yet you go around boasting
that he called you "the greatest living Indian."
These things do not advance your people's cause.
Nor does posing for portraits,
autographs for money.
Now I have had very good compliance here at Standing Rock...
the best of all the agencies...
farming, school enrollment, church.
And I will not see that jeopardized
by the poor example of a respected man like yourself.
You will farm,
and you will enroll your son here in school
and see that he attends church.
Now I am finished.
- And what is that? - To my ears,
your words seem to come out of your rear end.
This is to silence you.
This is what is left of the great tree that was my people.
Take it and you would have it all.
I' allowing 12 Standing Rock Sioux to go with Cody again this fall.
You will not be among them.
"My dear Senator dawes,
as I believed you sincere
in asking me to keep you informed,
I write you again in an appeal for your assistance.
With no medical equipment here won'thy of the name
and understocked in medicines,
there has been little reason
for the sick to risk the journey to the agency for treatment.
I bought a horse and a wagon with my own salary
and have just now returned from the several weeks in the villages."
Take a seat.
"It is a mistake to trust the official reports.
Measles, influenza and whooping cough
have ascended from hell all at once.
My own assistant's child has been taken."
"The agent here, Royer, has no experience
and even less inclination to help these people.
Of equal concern is the epidemic of hopelessness
that has overtaken the reservation..."
I' sick, doctor. Brown bottle, please.
"That the Sioux would bear the wretched taste of cod-liver oil
for the ounce of spirits contained in the bottle
is, to me, the whole of their experience in a nutshell."
Thank you, doctor.
"I no longer deny them.
Many here fear a return to the old ways.
The prophesy of a Paiute shaman called Wovoka
has spread from tribe to tribe
faster than a telegraph signal.
Rekindling old superstitions among the Sioux
and old apprehensions among the whites
who are sure to mistake desperation for hostility.
As conditions worsen,
the church can provide little solace beyond a Christian burial.
Sincerely yours,
Charles Eastman."
A vision came to me
when the sun... went into shadow,
and I lay dying.
And in my death,
I saw the Heavens
of the white robes.
And yes,
it is as they describe it.
But also there, my children,
all the Indians that ever roamed
this earth...
all your beloved ancestors, and mine...
and those young ones
who were taken by the white mars diseases.
Do not grieve for them.
They want you to know
that they are happy.
Yes.
And you should not grieve for yourselves,
because here is what the white robes
did not tell you...
the white man,
my children,
will soon... be no more.
Now you must not hate the white man.
This will only delay his end.
But if you will do the dance
that I will teach you...
all the ancestors will return.
And the buffalo...
will be renewed.
And you shall all live...
forever.
Forever...
in the freedom...
that we as Indian people once knew.
Lone Wolf!
I called to the trader, "Give me a red shirt to wear
so the soldiers will know me."
Though there were hundreds of soldiers,
not one bullet touched me because of my strong medicine.
And not one bullet found you on the Little Bighorn.
Yes, this is so. But I wore no red shirt that day.
There was no time to dress.
I mean... it is said that you were hiding under your blanket
the entire fight.
That's not true. Who says this?
We all heard it. Everyone knows it.
- Sitting Bull! - Don't believe this.
My father saved many lives.
He is a great leader.
- Oh. - Great leader, hiding in his tepee.
- Sitting Bull. - Go on...
"Greatest Living Indian."
Get your meat.
- Hey, little brother. - Hey.
- Where is the old man? - He's inside.
Hello, Father.
Men from Washington are coming for a big council soon.
Will you go?
No one has ears for my words,
and I have no ears for theirs.
If you go, you can have your say like any other man.
Then let any other man take my place,
since one man is as important as another here.
Father...
I know who started speaking the lies against you.
The last time I came before you,
it was with an offer of 50 cents an acre for your excess lands.
It has been very difficult
to renegotiate in Washington on your behalf
with men who believe that to have been a very generous offer.
But I have done so
in your interest.
And I return to you...
today,
with what I must tell you
is a final offer.
If refused, the government may take these lands
for whatever they wish to pay,
which may be less than what you were first offered.
In fact, it may be nothing.
I return, however,
with authorization to offer you
$1.25 an acre.
If these lands are sold
by this agreement, my friends,
this would put more than $12 million
in your pockets.
$12 million.
And remember,
each head of the household will still receive
the 160-acre parcel to do with what he wishes.
We give you this,
and we take nothing more away.
You will continue to receive the same rations and annuities
that you do at present
until you have achieved full self-sufficiency.
Now...
as we discuss this over the next couple of days,
let us not retread old trails.
The mistakes of the past
are in the past...
on both sides.
We have a chance now to correct them.
For we believe in your very wise saying...
"We will be known forever
by the tracks we leave behind."
Senator...
are you threatening to take their land if they don't sign?
That is no threat, Charles. That is the reality.
Would you permit this land to be stolen from them,
to see your plan succeed?
My plan? You mean "our plan."
You played no small hand.
One I've come to question.
Don't worry, Charles.
They will vote for it.
There were no early crops.
Now there will be no late crops.
Does it seem to you that our coffee rations are smaller?
Why do you tell lies about my part
in the fight at the Little Bighorn?
It was Agent McLaughlin.
You angered him.
He made me say these things against you.
How can this be?
All our lives, we were like brothers,
sharing meat when we had it.
When we had no meat,
and when food was but a day's ride to an agency,
we could not be made to take from the whites!
I will go and speak straight...
and set things right.
These words cannot be put back.
- I have said all I have to say. - My brother,
listen to me.
Many would have taken from the whites for all those years,
but they did not because you did not.
I did not because you did not.
Before you came,
I was Big Man here.
But now you've come and you do nothing.
You sit and tell stories while I work my fields.
You go with Cody, you write your name on a piece of paper
and you take money... money that I must sweat for.
I do not understand why you feel so honored by these things.
I do not understand why you've come,
because to me you are Sitting Bull,
our leader who would never surrender.
That is all I have to say.
Hush...
Because of confusion in the past,
you will put your marks on one of the two papers here.
You will sign the red paper if you agree...
which we hope that you do...
and the black if you don't.
So they will know who is a friend and who is not.
So they will know who to take rations from.
What is this?
Sir, this is not your agency.
The council at Standing Rock is next week.
You have no place here.
Do you not recognize who this man is?
I know... he is Sitting Bull.
But I do not recognize him as having any more a voice
than any other Indian here.
Hear me, then...
for one last time.
They mean to take our land away from us.
You may say, "They wish to give us land.
This patch to you, this patch to you."
But here is the truth...
each patch is for a man
and all generations that follow him.
And they know that this land cannot feed but one generation,
not even so much as that.
All right, you've had your say.
Do not interrupt.
You teach our children the words of your God,
"Be fruitful and multiply."
But it seems these words are not meant for the Indian.
For what kind of man would take a wife
and have children he cannot feed?
No Indian man.
Not a Lakota, not an Arikara,
not a Crow.
You would have us cut off our balls
and end our race right here
on a patch of land on which nothing can live,
and that will not happen!
I have spoken.
We did not put you on this land.
Red Cloud surrendered...
he made peace with the government.
Have you forgotten the bloodshed that came before?
Sitting Bull is a great leader.
I believe this, no matter that the whites
see us men all as the same.
But he did not sit with us in the council
those many snows ago when our reservation was made.
He did not sit with us in the next council
when these borders that we were told
were like marks in stone were moved.
And the Black Hills
and our hunting lands were taken from us.
Sitting Bull might have had his say,
but such was his suspicion of the whites,
such was his pride.
I say today...
for all ears within hearing...
that if Sitting Bull had spoken
the way he speaks today,
I would not have touched that pen.
I will not touch your pen
to your paper.
I will not touch it to your red paper,
I will not touch it to your black paper.
The white man...
will not see my mark again on his paper
for the rest of my days on this earth.
We cannot allow a return to incivility.
Incivility?
And what has civility earned them, might I ask?
Trained nurses? Even one hospital?
All things the Sioux will provide for themselves, Charles,
once this plan has passed.
As you yourself agreed...
they must adapt.
Must they adapt, sir, to the point of their own extermination?
Extermination?
I suppose you say we've exterminated your Indian heritage
rather than provided to you the benefits
of an entire civilization?
Senator, please sit.
Sir, if every individual were taken personally under your care,
as was my good fortune,
I admit, the outcome might be what you seek.
But I am not the example you held up to The Friends of the Indian.
I am the example...
of nothing.
I simply do not see how placing each Indian man
on a desolate, 160-acre parcel of land
is going to lead his children to medical school.
It will, in time.
But first, this must pass.
Or I guarantee you,
destitution is all the Sioux will ever know.
I have many opponents, Charles...
in the press, in Congress...
You have an opponent before you, sir.
Yes.
I see that clearly now.
This explains the tone of your letters.
"Drought, disease, hunger...
year in and year out."
You think you are the first one to decry these things?
This looks all very grim to you, of course,
having been spared all this yourself.
Children have died in my arms.
I have not been spared!
I devoted the larger part of my career
to the betterment of your race,
with you as the principal beneficiary.
Is this your gratitude?
I am acting in the interest of my people,
following the example you set for me.
Do you really think you know better than I
what is in the interest of these people?
Yes.
I am one of them, Senator.
You're no more a Sioux Indian
than I am.
Charles...?
Did you know there was a moment
on the train to Illinois where I was sent away to school...
when I might have returned home to my old land?
I nearly jumped.
Jumped? What do you mean?
From that train.
I nearly did, Elaine.
I very nearly jumped.
Charles! Charles, you have to wake up.
Ah... what?
It's Royer. He's ordered all the Sioux to the agency.
- He wants them all here. - Why?
There's been trouble. They heard about the ration cuts.
He says they have guns at the dance camp. He's wired for troops.
Just read it for yourself.
"Uprising of the whole Indian race is imminent."
"Lmminent." I've got people to protect.
You're damn right I' getting troops here.
It's a stupid prophecy. It'll pass if you let it.
I've been to these camps. It's harmless dancing.
Harmless? Preaching death to all whites is harmless?
If soldiers come to this reservation,
you'll have more dead Indians than any disease has ever taken.
You'd better leave like the others.
With the threat of troops, maybe the holdouts in those camps
will be frightened enough to see reason.
Why should they see reason? The land deal was shoved down their throats,
and still they're punished with ration cuts.
A million pounds of beef, Elaine... a million.
It has to have been a mistake. They were promised by the commission.
You've been here longer than I.
You know these are never mistakes.
To provoke the Sioux further in this panic...
- does that make sense? - Yes. Knowing the whites.
I think you should go.
We're still needed here.
As what, witnesses?
It won't come to that.
What are you doing here? What do you want?
Why haven't you brought these people in?
For what? Another council?
More rotten meat?
This is nonsense.
You're a Christian.
You don't believe in this.
Then tell me what to believe.
Tell me what to believe in, white medicine man.
I ordered you to shut down these dance camps.
- I can't. - Why not?
Sitting Bull permits the dancing.
The people listen to him again.
- Bring him in. - What if there's trouble?
There is already trouble. Soldiers are riding for Pine Ridge
and I'll be damned if they'll ride in here.
The agent has sent for you. Dress.
I said, dress.
Your eyes are getting worse.
Quick, somebody get dr. Eastman!
Hurry!
- Easy, easy. Careful. - This way.
- Where do you want her? - Right here!
Here.
Behind you.
Charles! Charles, hurry!
- What happened? - She's been shot.
Help! Somebody help!
Where are my children?
Help me!
What happened?
Where are my children...?
Tell me what happened.
They came for my father-in-law.
They came to arrest Sitting Bull.
They came to take him away.
What is going on?
We tried to stop them.
Where are you taking him?
Father, don't let them take you without a fight.
- Be quiet! - I won't go, I won't go!
Stay back! Stay back, or we will arrest you all.
Oh, I got it.
The horse...
The white horse...
it danced.
We all turned to look at it.
And he fired!
No.
They killed him!
They killed Sitting Bull!
No!
His boy's over here!
They shot Crow Foot!
He was just a boy.
They killed him too.
We ran away,
but the soldiers found us.
They took us to Wounded Knee Creek.
Oh no! No!
Where are my children?
Doctor! Doctor!
It was at Wounded Knee, near where we were dancing.
Elaine, bag!
They tried to take our weapons.
You had more than this.
You had Winchesters and Henrys.
I know you had Winchesters and Henrys.
- Where are your weapons? - "Where are your weapons?" he shouted.
Search the tepees.
Have heart, men.
The messiah's promise will come true.
The bullets will not harm you.
Their bullets...
will not harm you.
Search all of them!
He tried to take a gun from a deaf man!
- He could hear, they didn't care. - Give me that gun.
- Leave him alone! He can't hear you! - Let go of it.
Let go!
And then the cannons came.
Go after them!
Go! Fast!
I cannot mend the leg.
No.
You will not take it.
Please.
You have no choice.
There is a choice.
We didn't fire first.
I swear to Almighty God, we did not fire first.
Blue coat...
you whites use many weapons against us.
Do not have such a bad heart about it.
We have always feared your guns the least.
For two days, the snow prevented
a search for survivors...
and the burial of the dead.
From that day on,
nothing would be the same...
not for the Sioux as a people,
and not for Charles.
Tell me what you see.
I' the one who told our people to stay.
Tell me straight. I have the ears for it.
Witnesses.
It's not what we set out to be.
But in the end, it's what we were.
Charles would practice medicine again only briefly.
A succession of positions always seemed to end
in voluntary resignation or dismissal
and eventually, financial hardship.
Charles?
Soon he had nowhere to turn.
Charles?
And we needed money.
Well, how are you?
I' fine.
I' sorry to hear about your resignation... and your wife's.
Great loss to the reservation.
You're awaiting the commissioner?
Yes.
Well, we would be very grateful to have your services again
for the renaming project.
- Renaming project? - Yes.
I only know there's a position available.
Yes, I put you up for it myself,
knowing your... circumstances.
It's the individual deeds to the land.
They've been impossible to assign
with each Indian going by so many tribal names,
so much confusion.
So what we need is a single name...
a Christian name... for each Sioux,
assigned by you, randomly or at your discretion,
working from the last census.
Doctor? Dr. Eastman?
We're ready for you now.
- Good luck. - Senator.
Charles...?
Give my best to your wife.
I won't do this!
Charles?
Should have jumped.
What?
Should have jumped from the train.
Might have got off...
Might have got off in Sioux City.
Yes, that's...
what I would have done.
I would have walked
till I reached the Red River...
which I would have followed to the North Woods.
That's how I will find my way home.
By the Red River.