On This Day

Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull surrenders to US federal troops at Fort Buford in the Territory of Montana [1] [2]

Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. Sitting Bull was killed by Indian agency police accompanied by U.S.

Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. Sitting Bull was killed by Indian agency police accompanied by U.S. officers and supported by U.S. troops on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation during an attempt to arrest him at a time when authorities feared that he would join the Ghost Dance movement.

Before the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull had a vision in which he saw many soldiers, "as thick as grasshoppers", falling upside down into the Lakota camp, which his people took as a foreshadowing of a major victory in which many soldiers would be killed. About three weeks later, the confederated Lakota tribes with the Northern Cheyenne defeated the 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col.

Historical Significance

Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies.

Key People

Sitting Bull

Hunkpapa Lakota leader

Hunkpapa Lakota leader

Events Before

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  2. Worcester Ruby Legs pitcher Lee Richmond throws the first perfect game in MLB history in a 1-0 win over the Cleveland Bl

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  3. First performance of "O Canada," the song that would become the national anthem of Canada, at the Congrès national des C

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  4. First Test cricket game in England begins with W. G. Grace scoring 152 on debut against Australia at The Oval

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  5. Theodore Roosevelt, later 26th US President marries Alice Hathaway Lee, on his 22nd birthday

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Events After

  1. German scientist Robert Koch discovers and describes the tubercle bacillus, which causes tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tub

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  3. Richard Wagner's opera "Parsifal" premieres in Bayreuth, Germany

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  4. US educational pioneer Booker T. Washington (26) weds Fanny Smith

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  5. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuts in Moscow

    The Year 1812, Solemn Overture, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture, is a concert overture in E♭ major written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

More from the 1880s

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on July 19, 1881?
Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. Sitting Bull was killed by Indian agency police accompanied by U.S. officers and supported by U.S.
Why is Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull surrenders to US federal troops at Fort Bufor... significant?
Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies.
Who was involved in Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull surrenders to US federal troops at Fort Bufor...?
Key figures include Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa Lakota leader).

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