Born about 1851-52 near Fort Laramie, Short Bull was the son of a minor Oglala headman named Black Rock and his wife Scatter the Feather.

The Soreback Band, including Short Bull and He Dog, surrendered with Crazy Horse at the Red Cloud Agency on May 6, 1877.

Short Bull served in Company A Indian scouts that fall, but then left with the other northern bands when they fled the agency.

Short Bull surrendered with other Oglala at Fort Keogh in 1880-81 and was transferred to the Standing Rock Agency in the summer of 1881.

Grant made regular visits to the Agate Ranch in northwestern Nebraska, home of the frontiersman James Cook.

[7] Tragically, Grant Short Bull and his son Charlie were killed in an automobile accident north of Oglala, South Dakota, on August 20, 1935.