After his death at Standing Rock in 1890, he was buried there.

In 1953, in an operation that was controversial at the time and remains contested, his purported remains were disinterred and reburied at a location near Mobridge, South Dakota, in what was then a different state’s jurisdiction.

The precise circumstances of that 1953 reinterment — including whether the remains actually recovered and moved were genuinely those of Sitting Bull — have been disputed, and there is uncertainty about what was actually moved and where.

The LaPointe family has maintained a position regarding the recognition of Sitting Bull’s burial that differs from positions taken by Standing Rock Sioux tribal officials and by South Dakota officials and institutions.