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Mad Bear

Mad Bear was one of the Dakota chiefs who at Standing Rock Agency, through force of hunger, signed away the birthright of his tribe. The fateful council lasted but one day. The Black hills and the Powder River country were ceded to the government. The chiefs who signed this treaty had no alternative, as they were dying of starvation. Red Cloud welcomed the white commission with the words, "you have ocme to save us from death." Mad Bear later became a rival chief to Sitting Bull, induced by the intrigues of Major McLaughlin to oppose this great chief, but Sitting Bull's power was never broken until his death.