Bull
Bear was the ranking leader of the Oglala Kuhinyan
band, whose hunting range had shifted south of the North
Platte River. The Kuhinyan band probably counted
130 or more lodges in 1840-41, comprising a number of sub-bands;
e.g., Kiyuksa, Tasnahecha, Red
Water, and so on. The feud that resulted in the killing
of Bull Bear was within the Kuhinyan, dissension
focussing on the faction led by Smoke.
Bull Bear was killed probably in early December 1841. Smoke's
adherents fled north from the Kuhinyan winter camp
on Chugwater Creek and joined the Hunkpatila band
on the South Fork of Cheyenne River, trader David Adams
noting their arrival. Ultimately the Smoke faction, crystalising
as the Bad Face band, became part of the
greater Hunkpatila band. Growing in strength, by
the 1860s, the Bad Face name was often extended to cover
the whole of the larger grouping. —
Kingsley Bray