Ghost Dance and the Massacre at Wounded Knee
by Lauren K.
To fully understand the reason the Ghost Dance gained its popularity among the Lakota Sioux, it is necessary to first be familiar with the context in which it originated. The survival of the Sioux bands, living among the present-day states of Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, was being threatened by the increased population of others who were migrating onto the land which the Sioux and their ancestors had occupied for over one hundred years. Because of this problem, inevitable tensions were brewing between the Anglo and Indian populations.
The 1862 Homestead Act created one of the first problems between these two groups. (2) It offered free land to any Anglo who lived upon it for five years. Many decided to move onto the lands because of the financial advantage awarded to them. With expansion of railroads beginning in 1869, the land became more easily attainable to others coming from farther distances (2). The territory was also appealing to black populations wishing to escape the injustice of the South (2). In 1848 even more migration was encouraged to Hispanics because of the U.S. annexation of half of Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War (2). All of these events led to further frustrations and threatened the existence of the Sioux bands.
In 1790, the Lakota Sioux bands survived by means of hunting and gathering (6). Their survival, like that of their ancestors, heavily depended upon the buffalo (1). This creature provided the Sioux bands with essential necessities, as they made use of the animal in its entirety. Buffalos were increasingly becoming a commodity amongst the rapidly growing Anglo communities. Although they were quickly decreasing in number, the Lakota band continued to rely on the animal throughout the next century.
The decline in the population of American Indians was already well underway by the nineteenth century. One article estimates that as early as 1492, there were “more than five million Indians living on the continent.” However, “by 1900, their numbers had dwindled to less than 250,000” (6). With the decline in the numbers of buffalo, the future existence of the Sioux bands was gravely threatened. In the 1880’s, there were approximately sixty million buffalo in the United States. However, by 1890, the number of buffalo had declined to 750 (1). The Sioux bands couldn’t survive and were forced by government policy onto reservations.
During the period of the declining buffalo population, Wovoka, a crying infant Paiute, was calmed by his mothers dancing (7). When old enough to speak, Wovoka explained that, in a dream, Indians, and the buffalos had been rescued by thunderbirds and taken above the earth, while a flood cleared the earth of all of its inhabitants (1). When the flood waters were cleared, the Indians, their ancestors, and the buffalo would be returned to earth in its natural state.
One problem with Wovoka’s vision was its variable interpretations amongst different racial groups. According to Paul Saffo, a writer for the California Alumni Association at UC Berkeley, many of the Sioux interpreted Wovoka’s vision as a means to “accelerate the imminent destruction of the white man” (5). Government officials also took away this distorted impression of the vision and this led to further anger and increased need to eradicate the movement. However, Wovoka’s message was explained differently by Porcupine, a Cheyenne whose account is explored in the Journal of Political Ecology. Porcupine, who supported the Sioux during Wavoka’s teachings, explained that “Wavoka stated that fighting was bad, and that “we must all be friends with one another”” (3). According to Porcupine, Wovoka said that “the youth of all good people would be renewed,” white and Indian alike, and he encouraged the Indians “not to quarrel or fight or strike each other, or shoot one another; that whites and Indians were to be all one people” (3). Therefore, Wovoka didn’t wish to bring harm upon the whites exclusively, but only upon those who caused destruction to the earth and to its inhabitants. This finding was verified by Bill Wilson, Wavoka’s adopted white brother who assisted in Wovoka’s movement (3).
Wovoka’s vision revived an older form of prayer called the round dance which involved men holding hands in a circle while slowly stepping toward the left during song (7). While dancing, ghost dance shirts were worn with the belief that they would protect Indians from bullets of white men. Shirts were decorated with depictions of the eagle, buffalo, and morning-star as well as with symbols of personal medicines (4). It was believed that the medicine would “come through them when it was needed” (1).
Paul Saffo believes that the ghost dance has not been used exclusively by Native American groups. Rather, he believes that it functions more as a metaphorical concept that continues to exist today. Saffo explains the ghost dance as “a painful and contradictory accommodation that at once reaches back to grasp disappearing cultural norms while simultaneously rejecting and embracing disruptive alien novelties” (5). He compares the motives of the Sioux with those of other groups such as Islamic, Jewish, and Christian fundamentalists. Saffo also argues that ghost dance is embraced by those who wish to forget the past and move into the future. He states that “the Ghost Dance often exhibits itself as an utter rejection of the old in favor of leaping into appealing but unknown new worlds” (5). One example provided was the techno-theoretical “extropians” who desire a faster moving advancement in technology.
The resurrected use of this prayer form among the Sioux led to a spiritual movement in 1888 (7). Originally, the dance was simply called “round dance,” but “because of the belief that it enabled contact with spirits in the next life, it quickly became known as the ghost dance” (7). The dance lasted five days and four continual nights and concluded with river bathing on the morning of the fifth day. The dance was to take place once every six weeks and be accompanied by feasts and the absence of alcohol. The central idea of the round-dance was that its continual performance would result in transforming Wovoka’s dream into a reality. During a total eclipse of the sun in 1889, Wovoka claimed that the vision had repeated.
The increased popularity of the ghost dance frightened the U.S. government. Increased friction among the U.S. government and the Sioux bands had been underway, especially after the Indian’s victory against General George Cluster at the Battle of Little Bignhorn in 1876 (6). The battle resulted with the slaughter of the entire Anglo force. Because of previous conflicts between the United States government and the Indians, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was naturally threatened by the ghost-dance movement and its use among the Lakota Group (7). The threat also stemmed from misinterpretation of Wovoka’s vision.
On December 29, 1890, the U.S. 7th Calvary sent the tribal police to the Standing Rock Reservation with orders to arrest the chief, Sitting Bull, and deliver him to Omaha, Nebraska (7). The police frightened the Lakota ghost dancers who were outside of Sitting Bull’s house, begging for his safety and continued presence. Bull Head, a police officer, was shot by Catch the Bear, a Lakota. Shots broke out and Sitting Bull was killed as a result. The U.S. government then ordered for the arrest of chief Big Foot (4).
In response to the death of Sitting Bull, Big Foot led his followers to the Pine Ridge Reservation (4). They were discovered by 500 troops of the Seventh Calvary who were sent by the U.S. to disarm the Lakota. They were brought to Wounded Knee Creek. Big Foot met with army officers to discuss the last days’ happenings, but peaceful efforts quickly resulted in firing. Of the 350 Lakota, 153 were killed (including chief Big Foot), fifty were injured and 150 were reported missing (7). It is assumed by many that the missing Lakota had attempted to escape to a nearby ravine and later died from exposure. The only known surviving Lakota were the fifty who had been injured. This event became known as the Wounded Knee Massacre, due to the unwarranted attack of the Indians. There is conflicting evidence as to whether any of the Lakota were armed.
The Sioux’s performance of the ghost dance was quickly abandoned, especially when the Lakota found that Wovoka’s vision failed to become a reality and that their ghost dance shirts weren’t an effective means of protection against the whites (7).
Works Cited
1) “Ghost Dance Movement.” The Ghost Dance Movement.” 9 April 2006.
2) Greenwood, Janette, Thompson. he Gilded Age: A History in Documents. New York: Oxford UP, 2000.
3) Greymorning, Stephen. "Spirit Wars." 2001. Journal of Political Ecology. 14 April 2006.
4) "Massacre At Wounded Knee, 1890." Eye witness to history 1998. 9 April 2006.
5) Saffo, Paul. "Ghost Dance." 2006. California Alumno Association at UC Berkely. 14 April 2006.
6) “The Wounded Knee Massacre; December 29, 1890.”, Great Sioux Nation. 1998. 9 April 2006.
7) "Wounded Knee Massacre." Wikipedia 9 April. 2006.
To fully understand the reason the Ghost Dance gained its popularity among the Lakota Sioux, it is necessary to first be familiar with the context in which it originated. The survival of the Sioux bands, living among the present-day states of Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, was being threatened by the increased population of others who were migrating onto the land which the Sioux and their ancestors had occupied for over one hundred years. Because of this problem, inevitable tensions were brewing between the Anglo and Indian populations.
The 1862 Homestead Act created one of the first problems between these two groups. (2) It offered free land to any Anglo who lived upon it for five years. Many decided to move onto the lands because of the financial advantage awarded to them. With expansion of railroads beginning in 1869, the land became more easily attainable to others coming from farther distances (2). The territory was also appealing to black populations wishing to escape the injustice of the South (2). In 1848 even more migration was encouraged to Hispanics because of the U.S. annexation of half of Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War (2). All of these events led to further frustrations and threatened the existence of the Sioux bands.
In 1790, the Lakota Sioux bands survived by means of hunting and gathering (6). Their survival, like that of their ancestors, heavily depended upon the buffalo (1). This creature provided the Sioux bands with essential necessities, as they made use of the animal in its entirety. Buffalos were increasingly becoming a commodity amongst the rapidly growing Anglo communities. Although they were quickly decreasing in number, the Lakota band continued to rely on the animal throughout the next century.
The decline in the population of American Indians was already well underway by the nineteenth century. One article estimates that as early as 1492, there were “more than five million Indians living on the continent.” However, “by 1900, their numbers had dwindled to less than 250,000” (6). With the decline in the numbers of buffalo, the future existence of the Sioux bands was gravely threatened. In the 1880’s, there were approximately sixty million buffalo in the United States. However, by 1890, the number of buffalo had declined to 750 (1). The Sioux bands couldn’t survive and were forced by government policy onto reservations.
During the period of the declining buffalo population, Wovoka, a crying infant Paiute, was calmed by his mothers dancing (7). When old enough to speak, Wovoka explained that, in a dream, Indians, and the buffalos had been rescued by thunderbirds and taken above the earth, while a flood cleared the earth of all of its inhabitants (1). When the flood waters were cleared, the Indians, their ancestors, and the buffalo would be returned to earth in its natural state.
One problem with Wovoka’s vision was its variable interpretations amongst different racial groups. According to Paul Saffo, a writer for the California Alumni Association at UC Berkeley, many of the Sioux interpreted Wovoka’s vision as a means to “accelerate the imminent destruction of the white man” (5). Government officials also took away this distorted impression of the vision and this led to further anger and increased need to eradicate the movement. However, Wovoka’s message was explained differently by Porcupine, a Cheyenne whose account is explored in the Journal of Political Ecology. Porcupine, who supported the Sioux during Wavoka’s teachings, explained that “Wavoka stated that fighting was bad, and that “we must all be friends with one another”” (3). According to Porcupine, Wovoka said that “the youth of all good people would be renewed,” white and Indian alike, and he encouraged the Indians “not to quarrel or fight or strike each other, or shoot one another; that whites and Indians were to be all one people” (3). Therefore, Wovoka didn’t wish to bring harm upon the whites exclusively, but only upon those who caused destruction to the earth and to its inhabitants. This finding was verified by Bill Wilson, Wavoka’s adopted white brother who assisted in Wovoka’s movement (3).
Wovoka’s vision revived an older form of prayer called the round dance which involved men holding hands in a circle while slowly stepping toward the left during song (7). While dancing, ghost dance shirts were worn with the belief that they would protect Indians from bullets of white men. Shirts were decorated with depictions of the eagle, buffalo, and morning-star as well as with symbols of personal medicines (4). It was believed that the medicine would “come through them when it was needed” (1).
Paul Saffo believes that the ghost dance has not been used exclusively by Native American groups. Rather, he believes that it functions more as a metaphorical concept that continues to exist today. Saffo explains the ghost dance as “a painful and contradictory accommodation that at once reaches back to grasp disappearing cultural norms while simultaneously rejecting and embracing disruptive alien novelties” (5). He compares the motives of the Sioux with those of other groups such as Islamic, Jewish, and Christian fundamentalists. Saffo also argues that ghost dance is embraced by those who wish to forget the past and move into the future. He states that “the Ghost Dance often exhibits itself as an utter rejection of the old in favor of leaping into appealing but unknown new worlds” (5). One example provided was the techno-theoretical “extropians” who desire a faster moving advancement in technology.
The resurrected use of this prayer form among the Sioux led to a spiritual movement in 1888 (7). Originally, the dance was simply called “round dance,” but “because of the belief that it enabled contact with spirits in the next life, it quickly became known as the ghost dance” (7). The dance lasted five days and four continual nights and concluded with river bathing on the morning of the fifth day. The dance was to take place once every six weeks and be accompanied by feasts and the absence of alcohol. The central idea of the round-dance was that its continual performance would result in transforming Wovoka’s dream into a reality. During a total eclipse of the sun in 1889, Wovoka claimed that the vision had repeated.
The increased popularity of the ghost dance frightened the U.S. government. Increased friction among the U.S. government and the Sioux bands had been underway, especially after the Indian’s victory against General George Cluster at the Battle of Little Bignhorn in 1876 (6). The battle resulted with the slaughter of the entire Anglo force. Because of previous conflicts between the United States government and the Indians, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was naturally threatened by the ghost-dance movement and its use among the Lakota Group (7). The threat also stemmed from misinterpretation of Wovoka’s vision.
On December 29, 1890, the U.S. 7th Calvary sent the tribal police to the Standing Rock Reservation with orders to arrest the chief, Sitting Bull, and deliver him to Omaha, Nebraska (7). The police frightened the Lakota ghost dancers who were outside of Sitting Bull’s house, begging for his safety and continued presence. Bull Head, a police officer, was shot by Catch the Bear, a Lakota. Shots broke out and Sitting Bull was killed as a result. The U.S. government then ordered for the arrest of chief Big Foot (4).
In response to the death of Sitting Bull, Big Foot led his followers to the Pine Ridge Reservation (4). They were discovered by 500 troops of the Seventh Calvary who were sent by the U.S. to disarm the Lakota. They were brought to Wounded Knee Creek. Big Foot met with army officers to discuss the last days’ happenings, but peaceful efforts quickly resulted in firing. Of the 350 Lakota, 153 were killed (including chief Big Foot), fifty were injured and 150 were reported missing (7). It is assumed by many that the missing Lakota had attempted to escape to a nearby ravine and later died from exposure. The only known surviving Lakota were the fifty who had been injured. This event became known as the Wounded Knee Massacre, due to the unwarranted attack of the Indians. There is conflicting evidence as to whether any of the Lakota were armed.
The Sioux’s performance of the ghost dance was quickly abandoned, especially when the Lakota found that Wovoka’s vision failed to become a reality and that their ghost dance shirts weren’t an effective means of protection against the whites (7).
Works Cited
1) “Ghost Dance Movement.” The Ghost Dance Movement.” 9 April 2006.
2) Greenwood, Janette, Thompson. he Gilded Age: A History in Documents. New York: Oxford UP, 2000.
3) Greymorning, Stephen. "Spirit Wars." 2001. Journal of Political Ecology. 14 April 2006.
4) "Massacre At Wounded Knee, 1890." Eye witness to history 1998. 9 April 2006.
5) Saffo, Paul. "Ghost Dance." 2006. California Alumno Association at UC Berkely. 14 April 2006.
6) “The Wounded Knee Massacre; December 29, 1890.”, Great Sioux Nation. 1998. 9 April 2006.
7) "Wounded Knee Massacre." Wikipedia 9 April. 2006.
posted by Leslie Madsen-Brooks at 10:31 PM
6 Comments:
It is interesting how something as simple as a dance can be perceived as threatening to a government's control over a group of people. To a degree, this perceived threat demonstrates the effectiveness of nonviolent strategies. At the same time, it also exposes the weaknesses of nonviolent protest.
This post really amazed me, the pure fact of the dwindled numbers of Native Americans over such a short period of time really just goes to show how conflicting the American way of life was with those of the Lakota and other tribes. I think problems similar to this continue today where when peoples intentions are unknown people tend to misinterpret anothers actions as being more dangerous than they really are and taking completley unnecessary action to protect oneself. ironic since that is all the tribe was trying to do with their dance and shirt. i wonder what america would have become had there not been such an extinction of the Native American way of life in the 19th century.
I agree with the other comments posted. It is so interesting to see how a simple tribal dance would have such a great effect...not only causing controversy with the government, but it was a ritual that gave the Lakota Sioux a sense of security from the white people. The basic "extinction" of the Native American population is truly a disturbing part of history.
A very interesting post. I felt maybe the ghost dance may have been indirectly aimed at whites because those who invaded the land of Native Americans were predominatley white. This quote from the post leads me to believe this notion:
"Wovoka didn’t wish to bring harm upon the whites exclusively, but only upon those who caused destruction to the earth and to its inhabitants"
As history puts it, 'those' is obviously referring to the immigrants from the eastern part of America, which were mainly white. As not to discredit the ghost dance as a primitive battle defense, it seems it may have been an indirect response to a foreign invasion.
Good post. The quote that said "the Ghost Dance often exhibits itself as an utter rejection of the old in favor of leaping into appealing but unknown new worlds" struck me as sad in relation to the Native Americans, because they were being forced out of their old way of life, and were probably searching for anything that would be better than being massacered or put on reservations.
The Ghost Dance also points out to me just how polarized the Native Americans and the 'new' Americans were. The Americans felt so threatened by the dance, but if they had taken the time to really learns what it was about, they may not have been, and lives could have been spared.
The social misunderstandings that transpired to bring about this massacre are incredible. It is shocking to think that the known spirituality of the Native Americans would be regarded with such fear as to cause the death of over 150 Native Americans.
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