Mark Armstrong, writing in yesterdays Catholic Lane website, relates the more likely story. Consequently, I am deleting my previous column, which is lacking in historical source verification:
Was Chief Sitting Bull a Catholic convert? Did he convert William “Buffalo Bill” Cody? That was the scuttlebutt around Catholic circles this past week. From stories, to blogging, to Catholic radio shows, to postings from Facebook friends, I heard it multiple times. As a student of the Old West, having read numerous accounts of Sitting Bull and a resident of the once vast Dakota Territory, I thought it unlikely. But was it possible that Sitting Bull was a full member of the Catholic Church? To begin with, there are no baptismal records from Father Pierre De Smet, the most likely priest to have baptized him. And later, after Sitting Bull surrendered from Canada and then led a life as an autograph-seller, celebrity, and farmer on a shrunken reservation in Dakota Territory, it appears that even a bishop tried unsuccessfully to bring Chief Sitting Bull into the Catholic Church. Full article is here.
