Career
White Bull participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. For years it was rumored that White Bull boasted of killing Lt. George Armstrong Custer at the infamous battle.
Although, others that knew White Bull himself claim that he never made that statement but admitted to struggling with Custer. Born in the Black Hills in South Dakota, White Bull came from a prominent Sioux family. Also, young Chief Solomon "Smoke" and Chief No Neck (Lakota: Tȟahú Waníče) (these two chiefs were the sons of the old Chief Smoke 1774–1864), fled with White Bull and Sitting Bull and their bands to Canada.
White Bull surrendered to government troops in 1876. He eventually became a chief, replacing his father Chief Makes Room upon his death. He acted as a judge of the Court of Indian Offenses, and was a proponent of Lakota land claims in the Black Hills.
White Bull and Wendell Smoke (Wendell was the son of Chief Solomon "Smoke") took over as the main headmen of Bald people and Short Bald people bands of the Bad Faces after Chief Solomon "Smoke" had died in 1895 at the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota. Chief White Bull died in South Dakota in 1947. White Bull, played by Sal Mineo, was used as a character in the 1958 Disney Western adventure film Tonka.