SIOUAN, soo'in, a designation derived ro the word and applied to the lin guistic stock or family to which the Sioux In dians belong. The Sioux call themselves Da kota, or Lakota, and the name uSioux,'' given to diem •by the whites, is said to be derived from an Algonquin word signifying the like ones,'" or enemies, a term which their crafty methods of warfare would seem to justify. The family of tribes, of which the Sioux are the best known to Americans of the present day, includes, as principal divisions. the Dako tas or Sioux in the United States, and the Assiniboins in British North America, although both Sioux and Assiniboins occasionally cross the border into adjoining territory. The Sioux division embraces the sub-tribes of Santee, Sisseton, Wahpeton, Yankton, Yanktonnai and Teton, and the last mentioned, whose name means on the prairie,) are again sub divided into the Brute Sioux, the Sans Arcs, Blackfeet, Ogalalla, Minneconjou, Onopaw and Unkpapa. To the Sioux nation also belong or belonged the sub-tribes of Omaha, Quapaw or Arkansa, Ponca, Osage and Kansa, Iowa, Oto and Missouri; also Winnebago, Mandan, Min netaree or Gros Ventres (which last named includes the Crow Indians), Tutelo, Biloxi, Catawba (or Flathead), Eutaw, Chickoree, Natchez and others, and the Mannahoak, Mon acan and other tribes, which came into contact with the pioneers of Virginia and North and South Carolina, and are now extinct or repre sented by insignificant remnants.
The Siouan tribes of the East which were not crushed out in conflict with the early set tlers retreated gradually to the Northwest, and made their final stand in that region against advancing civilization. The battle known as the Custer (q.v.) massacre (25 June 1876) was the last important military event of the long conflict, and it was followed by such energetic measures on the part of the United States that organiztd.resistance by, the Sioux to the Na tional authority was finally terminated. Sitting Bull (q.v.), the last of the great Indian chief tains who rose above the level of marauders, and were actuated by a sincerely patriotic spirit in their resistance to white aggression, was killed on 15 Dec. 1890 when his arrest by gov ernment agents was resisted with an attempted rescue. See INDIANS, AMERICAN.