This Lakota Sioux Chief was known to his people as Spotted Elk / Uŋpȟáŋ Glešká .He is thought to have been born in about 1826, the son of Chief Lone Horn, and became chief of the Cheyenne River Reservation upon his father’s death. A much-respected warrior and a negotiator, he received the name “Big Foot” / Si Tanka from the white men, a derogatory name to him and his people. During the 1870s, he aligned himself with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse but saw no significant action during the war of 1876-77.

Following the Sioux War, he and his band were placed on the Cheyenne River Reservation, where he encouraged his people to adapt. However, short on rations and living in poor conditions, he then encouraged his people to join the “Ghost Dance” movement. Alarmed by this unknown religion, the government outlawed the practice, but it quickly spread through several Indian camps, including the Cheyenne River Reservation.

After Sitting Bull was killed on the Standing Rock Reservation in 1890, his followers fled to seek refuge with Chief Spotted Elk. In December 1890, fearing reprisals against his band, Spotted Elk led some 300 men, women, and children from the reservation, intending to join other bands in the Badlands.

Having no intention of fighting and flying a white flag, the group was intercepted by troops on Wounded Knee Creek and surrendered. However, in an attempt to disarm the Indians, a conflict occurred, which resulted in the killing of almost the entire band by U.S. Troops. Spotted Elk and hundreds of others died on December 29, 1890, in what has become known as the Wounded Knee Massacre.

 

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated June 2026.

Also See:

Great Sioux War

Native Americans – First Owners of America

Native American Photo Galleries

Notable Native Americans on the Frontier

Wounded Knee Massacre

See Sources.