“design a watch guide for students to fill out as they watch the following video: ntroduction: Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny 0:02 [Narrator] At the dawn of the 19th century, 0:04 the continent of North America 0:07 is about to experience a massive change. 0:11 In the east, the newly formed United States of America 0:15 is eager to expand its territory. 0:17 But in its path lie hundreds of tribal nations 0:21 who've called these lands home for millennia. 0:27 [Edward] White Americans in the mid-19th century 0:29 who were heading into the west saw themselves 0:32 as pioneers, as settlers moving 0:34 into what they would call virgin territory. 0:38 Native peoples see it as an invasion from the east. 0:42 [Narrator] As the US begins its quest for more territory, 0:45 settlers displace and decimate these Indigenous populations. 0:49 [fire crackling] 0:51 [tense music plays] 0:53 And by 1840, the US has settled 0:55 as far west as the Mississippi River. 1:03 But beyond that, a vast stretch of land 1:07 remains unaffected by American expansion, 1:11 the Great Plains. 1:15 Covering more than a million square miles 1:17 from the western edge of Iowa to the Rocky Mountains, 1:21 the area is home to dozens of tribal nations. 1:26 And it's here that one of the greatest leaders 1:29 the world has ever known comes of age. 1:47 [serene music plays] 1:54 The man we now remember as Sitting Bull 1:57 grows up with a different name, 2:01 Jumping Badger. 2:06 [moose grunts] 2:12 [twig breaks in distance] 2:28 [Jumping Badger chuckles] 2:37 [majestic music] 2:39 [all whooping] 2:44 [Narrator] Growing up alongside Jumping Badger 2:47 are his two friends, 2:49 the quiet but loyal Crow King, 2:52 and the brave and impulsive Gall. 2:58 [Terry] They were all one group. They all grew up together. 3:01 They learned the same things, they played the same games, 3:05 learned how to ride horse together. 3:08 [Jeffery] They are gonna be fast friends all through their lives. 3:13 They had a bond that was a lifetime bond. The Rise of Sitting Bull and the Lakota Nation 3:28 [Narrator] The boys are part of the Hunkpapa tribe, 3:31 one of seven bands that make up the Lakota Nation. 3:37 Since the 18th century, 3:39 the Lakota have inhabited the Northern Plains, 3:42 including parts of modern day Nebraska, 3:45 Montana, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota. 3:52 [narrator] As the Lakota flourish on the Great Plains, 3:55 2,000 miles away, 3:58 the United States government 3:59 is mounting a new effort to expand west. 4:04 By 1845, the US is less than 100 years old 4:09 but its population has exploded to 17 million. 4:14 Now, newly elected president James K. Polk 4:18 wants to gain control of the rest of the continent, 4:21 capitalizing on a new philosophy sweeping the country 4:25 called "Manifest Destiny". 4:29 [Edward] And this is a phrase that says 4:31 it is our manifest destiny to seize the continent 4:35 that provenance has provided us. 4:37 So, this is not only a national endeavor, 4:39 this is an endeavor that's blessed by God, 4:41 and we must carry this out, we have no choice. 4:46 [narrator] In his first year in office, 4:48 Polk brings Texas into the Union, 4:50 secures possession of the Oregon Territory, 4:53 and prepares for war with Mexico 4:55 to seize the vast lands of the southwest and California. 5:03 His actions will open up over 1,000,000 square miles of land 5:06 to American settlers. 5:10 People started flooding the West 5:12 in one of the great migrations in American history, 5:15 and they did it, believing the Indigenous people 5:17 were simply obstacles to be overcome. 5:21 That definitely set the stage for increased conflict 5:25 between tribal nations and settlers, 5:29 as well as the federal government. 5:33 [narrator] But while the Lakota's power is growing, 5:37 a new threat is making its way west. 5:43 One far greater than the Lakota have ever known, 5:46 On the Great Plains of North America, 5:49 30 year old Sitting Bull 5:51 has emerged as a force on the battlefield. 5:56 As he and his Hunkpapa warriors 5:58 clash with their fierce rivals, 6:00 the Crow, 6:02 for control of buffalo hunting grounds. 6:05 [grunting] 6:07 At his side are childhood friends Crow King. 6:12 [warrior grunts] 6:14 A fiercely loyal and level-headed warrior. 6:16 And Gall. 6:18 [warrior grunts] 6:20 Who displays an intensity in war 6:23 that inspires fear in all his enemies. 6:27 [Bill] All three were seen as very successful warriors 6:30 and the only way you survive 6:33 multiple hunts and war parties 6:36 is to be excellent at your craft. 6:38 You had to lead by example. 6:40 You had to be out in front. 6:44 [narrator] As northerners began heading west 6:46 by the hundreds of thousands, conflict erupts. The Dakota Uprising and its Brutal Aftermath 6:53 One area that's overrun with settlers is Minnesota, 6:57 home to the Dakota Nation. 7:00 A people with close ties to the Lakota. 7:08 Along with the Nakota, the Lakota and Dakota 7:13 make up a powerful alliance called the Oceti Sakowin, 7:16 the "Seven Council Fires". 7:19 Known to European settlers as the Sioux. 7:25 [William] Each spoke the same kind of Siouan language, 7:27 but they had slightly different dialects. 7:30 They were allies, even though they may have been 7:32 separated by a good distance. 7:35 [narrator] Because the Dakota lived furthest east, 7:38 they'd been dealing with America's westward 7:41 expansion for decades. 7:43 [William] The process by which Dakotas become pushed 7:45 out of their homelands begins in the mid-1800s 7:48 with the Treaty of Mendota. 7:50 In this treaty, Dakotas ceded 7:52 close to 30 million acres of land to the United States 7:55 in exchange for rations and other annuities. 7:59 [narrator] The promised supplies are to be distributed 8:01 on small, government run plots of land, 8:04 called reservations. 8:09 [narrator] Though the government honors the treaties at first, 8:11 as the Civil War rages back east, 8:15 most of the money and food they have promised the Dakota 8:18 is redirected to the war effort. 8:23 The Dakota people had come to rely 8:26 on that food and those supplies, 8:28 and when they no longer had them, 8:31 this created some really dire conditions. 8:36 [narrator] Many Dakotas see no option but to fight back. 8:42 [Edward] In August of 1862, 8:44 four Native American men 8:46 kill five white settlers. 8:48 [gunshot cracks] 8:49 And then the next day, one of the Dakota leaders 8:51 launches a much, much larger assault on white settlements, 8:55 killing over the next few weeks, hundreds of white settlers, 8:57 and this is known as the Dakota War. 8:59 It's also known as the Dakota Uprising. 9:08 [narrator] Within a month, 9:11 American troops crushed the uprising 9:13 and imprisoned nearly 2,000 Dakota. 9:17 President Lincoln personally orders 38 of them 9:21 to be sent to the gallows. 9:24 It remains the largest mass execution in American history. 9:30 When a lot of us celebrate Abraham Lincoln 9:33 as the Great Emancipator, 9:34 there are many Native tribes 9:36 that see Lincoln as the great betrayer. 9:38 Many had done nothing wrong. 9:41 They were misidentified 9:43 and just simply got tangled up in paperwork. 9:47 It was grizzly and ghastly, 9:49 and it's deep wound 9:51 in the psyche of Indigenous America. 9:58 [narrator] But the United States isn't done seeking retribution. 10:02 After the executions, 10:05 the army pushes west 10:07 pursuing and killing thousands of fleeing Dakota. 10:20 But one Dakota leader manages to elude capture, 10:24 retreating further west into lands occupied by the Lakota. Alliance and War: The Battle of Killdeer Mountain 10:32 His name is Inkpaduta. 10:36 [Jeffery] Inkpaduta was a well-respected war leader 10:39 and warrior of the Dakota Nation 10:42 who led many successful combat raids 10:44 against the United States in Minnesota. 10:47 The United States government 10:49 is looking to catch him and hang him. 10:52 Inkpaduta knows he can't win this fight alone. 10:56 So he turns to the one man he believes can protect him. 11:05 Sitting Bull. 11:11 [Jeffery] You have to remember, Sitting Bull at the time 11:12 is a leader in a nation 11:14 that has dominated other Native nations 11:16 in this region for decades. 11:20 So, Inkpaduta is going to meet with Sitting Bull 11:24 and he is going to ask for their assistance in this combat. 11:38 [hooves thundering] 11:42 [tense music plays] 11:59 [narrator] The stage is set for the first major battle 12:01 between the US Army 12:03 and the most formidable warriors on the Great Plains. 12:08 [Jeffery] The Lakota Nation is at the height of its power 12:11 and Sitting Bull was tremendously confident 12:13 in his abilities as a warrior 12:16 and a war leader to actually resist the United States. 12:18 [whoops] 12:22 [narrator] Sitting Bull's 1,500 warriors 12:23 are about to come face to face 12:27 with Sully's 2,000 soldiers 12:30 who are armed with state-of-the-art rifles 12:35 plus two artillery batteries. 12:56 [William] When the Battle of Killdeer Mountain began, 12:58 the Lakotas relied on customary tactics that they had used 13:01 against other Indigenous nations, 13:03 but it became quickly clear in this battle 13:07 that the typical attacks 13:08 weren't going to be very effective. 13:12 [Bill] In the Sully fight, 13:14 the Lakota were mostly armed with bow and arrow and lance. 13:17 They had a few old trade muskets, not many, 13:20 that had very poor range and accuracy. 13:23 They were greatly outclassed. 13:28 [narrator] In a matter of hours, 13:30 General Sully and his soldiers overwhelmed the tribal warriors, 13:38 leaving them with one option. 13:48 - The United States' superior firepower forced the Lakotas 13:52 and their Dakota allies to withdraw, 13:55 and it was a rather hasty withdrawal at that. 13:58 They left behind food, 14:01 lodges, clothing at their campsite, and fled. Defeat and a New Strategy 14:18 [narrator] But Sully isn't finished. 14:22 He orders his men to burn the village to the ground. 14:33 [Edward] Plains warriors bring their whole world with them. 14:35 They bring their tents, their people, 14:38 their women and children, their elderly, all their tools. 14:40 Everything is with them 14:42 very proximate to the place of battle. 14:44 And US military figures understand 14:46 that this is a vulnerability. 14:48 This is a weak spot. 15:01 [narrator] For Sitting Bull, 15:02 the Battle of Killdeer Mountain is a devastating defeat. 15:06 Thousands of his people have been left without food, 15:10 clothing, and shelter. 15:12 And he's lost more warriors in a single day of battle 15:16 than the tribe has lost in the previous 10 years. 15:22 [Clay] The man-to-man combat 15:24 that Sitting Bull preferred all of his life, 15:27 where an individual stakes his life against another individual, 15:31 was not the way of war of modern Europeans. 15:40 And it struck the Natives as, 15:42 in a sense, a war crime. 15:45 And it didn't square with their idea 15:48 of what honor and war should mean. 15:52 [narrator] Sitting Bull realizes 15:54 he is in a fight for his people's survival, 15:59 and vows that he won't rest 16:01 until they are avenged. 16:27 [ominous music] 17:07 [indistinct shouting] 17:21 [whooping] Guerrilla Warfare in the Badlands 17:25 [narrator] Less than a month after suffering defeat 17:28 at the Battle of Killdeer Mountain, 17:32 Sitting Bull finds a way to fight General Sully 17:34 and the US Army on his terms, 17:38 by luring them into a part of the Great Plains 17:41 called the Badlands. 17:44 [Edward] The rough terrain of the Badlands, 17:46 there are hard ravines, gullies. 17:48 It's very, very difficult to traverse this territory. 17:53 [Mark Lee] The famed Badlands 17:56 is an excellent area for the Lakota 17:59 to attack from surprised vantage points. 18:02 Pick off stragglers and to harass this column. 18:07 [Jeffery] They basically go for guerrilla warfare. 18:10 It is a new strategy that Sitting Bull 18:12 is going to incorporate into his dossier, if you will. 18:17 [Edward] So Sully has his work cut out for him. 18:20 All along that journey through the Badlands, 18:22 he's being harassed, shot at, ambushed 18:24 by the forces of the Lakota. 18:29 For Sully and his forces, 18:30 the terrain was a huge impediment. 18:34 For the Native forces that he was up against, 18:36 it was a great asset. 18:43 [narrator] Over the next two weeks, 18:44 Lakota warriors relentlessly assault Sully's troops. 18:56 With the mounting death toll 18:58 and his men in constant fear of attack, 19:01 General Sully's only goal is to escape the Badlands. 19:11 His plan to defeat the Lakota is a failure. 19:16 [Mark Lee] Sully did move his column through, 19:21 but he did not defeat Sitting Bull's people. 19:23 They lived to fight another day. 19:33 [narrator] For the moment, Sitting Bull has secured peace 19:36 for his people 19:38 and shown them that they can hold their own 19:40 against this powerful new enemy.”