Oglala Lakota - History

History

The Oglala Lakota, along with the six other groups of Lakota, had separated from each other by the early 19th century. By 1830, the Oglala had around 3,000 members. In the 1820s and 1830s, the Oglala, along with the Brulé, another Lakota band, and three other Sioux bands, formed the Sioux Alliance. This Alliance attacked surrounding tribes for territorial and hunting reasons.

Surrounded By the Enemy, who was six feet tall, performed horse-riding and gun-slinging stunts in London, England while touring with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. He acquired the name "Surrounded" because his parents' settlement was attacked by rival Native Americans. His father managed to escape with him through fire and smoke when he was an infant. Surrounded died in December of 1887 from a lung infection at age twenty-two in Salford. His corpse was taken to Hope Hospital. Black Elk and Red Shirt officiated Surrounded's funeral in a traditional Sioux ceremony. It was followed by an interment at Brompton Cemetery without a headstone. Paul Eagle Star, a Brulé tribesman, was buried in the same section as Surrounded in 1891. Eagle Star's remains were repatriated to the Rosebud Reservation for a reinterment in March of 1999.