There's no denying it - the Lakota, led by Chief (and Medicine Man) Sitting Bull, were a fierce group of people, and when the United States government first turned their back on them,t hey didn't necessarily know what they were in for. Enter the vain Civil War General George Armstrong Custer, who sought to either civilize or defeat this group of roving, savage Native Americans. He would do neither, and it would cost him his life.