Yeah...his death lead to the massacre at Wounded Knee. Just horrible.
I will say this though...the idea seems to be that the Native Americans all got along and they didn't do evil things to each other like white men and that just isn't so. I know it was a movie, but remember the scene in "Dances With Wolves" when John Dunbar helps to defend the village against an attack by the Indian played by Wes Studi? At the end of it the narrator opines that this wasn't a battle over some dark political objective or for land, but to protect the food stores for the winter. So you are sitting there in the theatre...oh, man, we white people suck, we fight over political things and land.
But if you think on it a little, first of all, what's the difference? It's still a battle and death. I'm sure as you lay dying you are saying well at least I'm not dying over some political objective. That's a relief. But if you look at the scene, the attacking group drew the warriors out of the village so they could attack women, children and old men. Had they been successful, most of the women, children and old men would have been killed. Those that survived and perhaps were not taken away into some type of servitude would have been left to starve to death. How the hell is that more noble?
