FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY
TO THE
SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
1892–93
BY
J. W. POWELL
DIRECTOR
PART 2
[Illustration]
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1896
THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION
AND THE
SIOUX OUTBREAK OF 1890
BY
JAMES MOONEY
Say, shall not I at last attain
Some height, from whence the Past is clear,
In whose immortal atmosphere
I shall behold my dead again?
_Bayard Taylor._
For the fires grow cold and the dances fail,
And the songs in their echoes die;
And what have we left but the graves beneath,
And, above, the waiting sky?
_The Song of the Ancient People._
My Father, have pity on me!
I have nothing to eat,
I am dying of thirst—
Everything is gone!
_Arapaho Ghost Song._
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 653
The narrative 657
Chapter I—Paradise lost 657
II—The Delaware prophet and Pontiac 662
III—Tenskwatawa the Shawano prophet 670
IV—Tecumtha and Tippecanoe 681
V—Känakûk and minor prophets 692
Känakûk 692
Pa′thĕskĕ 700
Tä′vibo 701
Nakai′-doklĭ′ni 704
The Potawatomi prophet 705
Cheez-tah-paezh the Sword-bearer 706
VI—The Smohalla religion of the Columbia region 708
Smohalla 708
Joseph and the Nez Percé war 711
VII—Smohalla and his doctrine 716
VIII—The Shakers of Puget sound 746
IX—Wovoka the messiah 764
X—The doctrine of the Ghost dance 777
Appendix:
The Mormons and the Indians 792
Porcupine’s account of the messiah 793
The Ghost dance among the Sioux 796
Selwyn’s interview with Kuwapi 798
XI—The Ghost dance west of the Rockies 802
XII—The Ghost dance east of the Rockies—among the Sioux 816
Appendix: Causes of the outbreak 829
Commissioner Morgan’s statement 829
Ex-Agent McGillycuddy’s statement 831
Statement of General Miles 833
Report of Captain Hurst 836
Statement of American Horse 839
Statement of Bishop Hare 840
XIII—The Sioux outbreak—Sitting Bull and Wounded Knee 843
Appendix: The Indian story of Wounded Knee 884
XIV—Close of the outbreak—The Ghost dance in the south 887
XV—The ceremony of the Ghost dance 915
Among the northern Cheyenne 915
Among the Sioux 915
Song rehearsals 918
Preparations for the dance 918
Giving the feather 919
The painting of the dancers 919
The ceremony 920
The crow dance 921
The hypnotic process 922
The area covered by the dance 926
Present condition of the dance 927
XVI—Parallels in other systems 928
The Biblical period 928
Mohammedanism 930
Joan of Arc 932
Dance of Saint John 935
The Flagellants 935
Ranters, Quakers, and Fifth-Monarchy men 936
French prophets 938
Jumpers 939
Methodists 939
Shakers 941
Kentucky revival 942
Adventists 944
Other parallels 945
Beekmanites 945
Patterson and Brown’s mission 946
Wilderness worshipers 946
Heavenly recruits 947
Appendix: Hypnotism and the dance among the Dervishes 948
The songs 953
Introductory 953
The Arapaho 953
Tribal synonymy 953
Tribal signs 954
Sketch of the tribe 954
Songs of the Arapaho 958
1. Opening song: _Eyehe′! nä′nisa′na_—O, my children! 958
2. _Sĕ′icha′ hei′ta′wuni′na_—The sacred pipe tells me 959
3. _Ate′bĕ tiăwu′nănu′_—When at first I liked the whites 961
4. _A′bä′ni′hi′_—My partner 962
5. _A′-nisûna′a′hu_—My father 962
6. _E′yehe′! Wû′nayu′uhu′—E′yehe′!_—They are new 963
7. _Hi′sähi′hi_—My partner! My partner 964
8. _Ä′-nani′ni′bi′nä′si waku′na_—The wind makes the
head-feathers sing 965
9. _He′! Näne′th bi′shiqa′wă_—When I met him approaching 965
10. _Häna′na′wunănu_—I take pity on those 966
11. _A-ni′qu wa′wanä′nibä′tia′_—Father, now I am singing it 966
12. _Ha′yana′-usi′ya′_—How bright is the moonlight! 966
13. _Ha′ti ni′bät_—The cottonwood song 967
14. _Eyehe′! A′nie′sa′na′_—The young Thunderbirds 968
15. _A′he′sûna′nini năya′qûti′hi_—Our father, the Whirlwind 970
16. _A′he′sûna′nini năya′qûti′_—Our father, the Whirlwind 970
17. _Ninaä′niahu′na_—I circle around 970
18. _Ha′nahawu′nĕn bĕni′ni′na_—The _Hanahawunĕn_ gave it to me 971
19. _Ate′be′ tana′-ise′ti_—When first our father came 971
20. _A-ni′änĕ′thăhi′nani′na_—My father did not recognize me 972
21. _Ni′-athu′-a-u′ ă′hakä′nith′iĭ_—The whites are crazy 972
22. _Na′ha′ta bi′taa′wu_—The earth is about to move 973
23. _Ahe′sûna′nini ächiqa′hă′wa-ŭ′_—I am looking at my father 973
24. _Ha′ănake′i_—The rock 973
25. _Wa′wa′na′danä′diă′_—I am about to hum 974
26. _A-te′bĕ dii′nĕtita′niĕg_—At the beginning of existence 975
27. _Tahu′na′änä′nia′huna_—It is I who make the thunder 976
28. _Ani′qu ne′chawu′nani′_—Father, have pity on me 977
29. _A-ni′niha′niahu′na_—I fly around yellow 977
30. _Niha′nata′yeche′ti_—The yellow hide 978
31. _A-bää′thina′hu_—The cedar tree 978
32. _Wa′wa nû′nanû′naku′ti_—Now I am waving an eagle feather 979
33. _A-ni′qana′ga_—There is a solitary bull 980
34. _A-nĕä′thibiwă′hană_—The place where crying begins 981
35. _Thi′äya′ he′năă′awă_—When I see the _thi′äya_ 981
36. _A-hu′hu ha′geni′sti′ti_—The crow is making a road 982
37. _Bi′taa′wu hu′hu′_—The crow brought the earth 983
38. _Ni′nini′tubi′na hu′hu′_ (I)—The crow has called me 983
39. _Nû′nanû′naa′tăni′na hu′hu′_ (I)—The crow is circling
above me 984
40. _I′yu hä′thäbĕ′nawa′_—Here it is, I hand it to you 984
41. _Ha′naě′hi ya′ga′ahi′na_—Little boy, the coyote gun 984
42. _He′sûna′ na′nahatha′hi_—The father showed me 985
43. _Nänisa′tăqu′thi Chĭnachi′chibä′iha′_—The seven venerable
priests 986
44. _Nä′nisa′tăqi Chĭ′năchi′chibä′iha′_—The seven venerable
priests 990
45. _Nû′nanû′naa′tani′na hu′hu′_ (II) 990
46. _Na′tănu′ya chĕ′bi′nh_—The pemmican that I am using 991
47. _Häĭ′nawa′ hä′ni′ta′quna′ni_—I know, in the pitfall 991
48. _Bä′hinä′nina′tä ni′tabä′na_—I hear everything 993
49. _A-bä′qati′ hä′nichä′bi′hinä′na_—With the wheel I am
gambling 994
50. _Ani′äsa′kua′na_—I am watching 995
51. _Ni′chī′ă i′theti′hi_—(There) is a good river 995
52. _Ni′nini′tubi′na hu′hu′_ (II) 996
53. _Anihä′ya atani′tă′nu′nawa′_—I use the yellow (paint) 997
54. _Ni′naä′niahu′tawa bi′taa′wu_—I am flying about the earth 997
55. _I′nita′ta′-usä′na_—Stand ready 998
56. _Wa′wäthä′bi_—I have given you magpie feathers 998
57. _Ani′qa hĕ′tabi′nuhu′ni′na_—My father, I am poor 999
58. _Nä′nisa′taqu′thi hu′na_—The seven crows 999
59. _Ahu′nä he′sûna′nĭn_—There is our father 1000
60. _Ga′awa′hu_—The ball, the ball 1000
61. _Ahu′ ni′higa′hu_—The Crow is running 1000
62. _Ya′thä-yû′na_—He put me in five places 1001
63. _Ni′naä′qa′wa chibä′ti_—I am going around the
sweat-house 1001
64. _Hise′hi_—My comrade 1002
65. _Na′tu′wani′sa_—My top, my top 1005
66. _He′nä′ga′nawa′nen_—When we dance until daylight 1006
67. _Ni′nä′nina′ti′naku′ni′na_—I wear the morning star 1006
68. _A-ne′na′ tabi′ni′na_—My mother gave it to me 1007
69. _Yĭ′hä′ä′ä′hi′hĭ′_—Gambling song (Paiute gambling songs) 1008
70. _Ni′qa-hu′hu′_—My father, my father 1010
71. _A′hu′nawu′hu′_—With red paint 1010
72. _Ani′qa naga′qu_—Father, the Morning Star 1010
73. _Ahu′yu häthi′na_—Closing song 1011
Arapaho glossary 1012
The Cheyenne 1023
Tribal synonymy 1023
Tribal sign 1024
Sketch of the tribe 1024
Songs of the Cheyenne 1028
1. _O′tä nä′nisĭ′näsists_—Well, my children 1028
2. _Ehä′n esho′ini′_—Our father has come 1028
3. _Nä′niso′näsĭ′stsihi′_—My children 1029
4. _Nä′see′nehe′ ehe′yowo′mi_—I waded into the yellow river 1030
5. _Wosi′vä-ă′ă′_—The mountain is circling 1030
6. _Ni′ha-i′hi′hi′_—My father, I come 1031
7. _Hi′awu′hi_—We have put the devil aside 1031
8. _Ni′ha e′yehe′!_—My father, my father 1031
9. _Ä′minû′qi_—My comrade 1032
10. _He′stutu′ai_—The buffalo head 1032
11. _Nä′mio′ts_—I am coming in sight 1034
12. _A′gachi′hi_—The crow is circling 1034
13. _Nä′nise′näsĕ′stse_—My children, I am now humming 1034
14. _Ogo′ch ehe′eye′!_—The crow, the crow 1035
15. _Tsĭso′soyo′tsĭto′ho_—While I was going about 1035
16. _Ni′ha e′yehe′e′yeye′!_—My father, my father 1036
17. _A′ga′ch ehe′e′ye′!_—The crow, the crow 1037
18. _Nä′niso′näsĭ′stsi he′e′ye′!_—My children, my children 1037
19. _A′guga-ihi_—The crow woman 1038
Cheyenne glossary 1039
The Comanche 1043
Tribal synonymy 1043
Tribal sign 1043
Sketch of the tribe 1043
Songs of the Comanche 1046
1. _Heyo′hänä häe′yo_ 1046
2. _Ya′hi′yû′niva′hu_ 1047
3. _Yani′tsini′hawa′na_ 1047
4. _Ni′nini′tuwi′na_ 1047
The Paiute, Washo, and Pit River tribes 1048
Paiute tribal synonymy 1048
Sketch of the Paiute 1048
Characteristics 1048
Genesis myth 1050
The Washo 1051
The Pit River Indians 1052
Songs of the Paiute 1052
1. _Nüvä ka ro′răni′_—The snow lies there 1052
2. _Dĕna′ gayo′n_—A slender antelope 1053
3. _Do tĭ′mbi_—The black rock 1053
4. _Päsü′ wĭ′noghän_—The wind stirs the willows 1053
5. _Pägü′nävä′_—Fog! Fog! 1054
6. _Wûmbĭ′ndomä′n_—The whirlwind 1054
7. _Kosi′ wûmbi′ndomä′_—There is dust from the whirlwind 1054
8. _Dombi′na so′wina′_—The rocks are ringing 1055
9. _Sû′ng-ä ro′yonji′_—The cottonwoods are growing tall 1055
Paiute glossary 1056
The Sioux 1057
Tribal synonymy 1057
Tribal sign 1057
Sketch of the tribe 1058
Songs of the Sioux 1061
1. Opening song: _A′te he′ye e′yayo_—The father says so 1061
2. _Michĭ′nkshi nañpe_—My son, let me grasp your hand 1061
3. _He tuwe′cha he_—Who think you comes there? 1064
4. _Wana′yañ ma′niye_—Now he is walking 1064
5. _Lechel miyo′qañ-kte_—This is to be my work 1065
6. _Michinkshi′yi tewa′qila che_—I love my children 1065
7. _Mila kiñ hiyu′michi′chiyana_—Give me my knife 1065
8. _Le he′yahe′_—This one says 1068
9. _Niya′te-ye′ he′u′we_—It is your father coming 1068
10. _Miyo′qañ kiñ wañla′ki_—You see what I can do 1068
11. _Michĭ′nkshi mita′waye_—It is my own child 1069
12. _A′te he′ u-we_—There is the father coming 1069
13. _Wa′sna wa′tiñ-kta_—I shall eat pemmican 1069
14. _A′te lena ma′qu-we_—The father gave us these 1069
15. _Ina′ he′kuwo′_—Mother, come home 1070
16. _Wa′na wanasa′pi-kta_—Now they are about to chase the
buffalo 1070
17. _He! kii′ñyañka a′gali′-ye_—He! They have come back
racing 1071
18. _Mī′ye wañma′yañka-yo!_—Look at me! 1071
19. _Maka′ sito′maniyañ_—The whole world is coming 1072
20. _Le′na wa′kañ_—These sacred things 1072
21. _Miyo′qañ kiñ chichu′-che_—I have given you my strength 1072
22. _Michĭ′nkshi take′na_—My child, come this way 1073
23. _Wana wichĕ′shka_—Now set up the tipi 1073
24. _A′te mi′chuye_—Father, give them to me 1074
25. _Hañpa wecha′ghe_—I made moccasins for him 1074
26. _Waka′ñyañ iñya′ñkiñ-kte_—The holy (hoop) shall run 1075
Sioux glossary 1075
The Kiowa and Kiowa Apache 1078
Kiowa tribal synonymy 1078
Kiowa tribal sign 1078
Sketch of the Kiowa 1078
The Kiowa Apache 1081
Songs of the Kiowa 1081
1. _Da′ta-i so′da′te_—The father will descend 1081
2. _Da′k̔i′ñago (ĭm) zä′nteähe′dal_—The spirit army is
approaching 1082
3. _Gu′ato ädâ′ga_—I scream because I am a bird 1082
4. _Da′ta-i nyä′hoănga′mo_—The father shows me the road 1083
5. _Dak̔iñ′a bate′yä_—The spirit (God) is approaching 1083
6. _Na′da′g äka′na_—Because I am poor 1084
7. _Ze′bät-gâ′ga igu′ănpa′-ima′_—He makes me dance with
arrows 1084
8. _Be′ta! To′ngyä-gu′adăl_—Red Tail has been sent 1085
9. _Da′ta-i änka′ñgo′na_—My father has much pity for us 1085
10. _Da′ta-i iñka′ñtähe′dal_—My father has had pity on me 1085
11. _Dak̔iñ′ago äho′ähe′dal_—The spirit host is advancing 1086
12. _E′hyu′ñi degi′ăta_—I am mashing the berries 1087
13. _Go′mgyä-da′ga_—That wind shakes my tipi 1087
14. _Dak̔iñ′a daka′ñtähe′dal_—God has had pity on us 1087
15. _Anso′ gyätä′to_—I shall cut off his feet 1088
Kiowa glossary 1088
The Caddo and associated tribes 1092
Caddo tribal synonymy 1092
Caddo tribal sign 1092
Sketch of the Caddo 1092
The Wichita, Kichai, and Delaware 1095
Songs of the Caddo 1096
1. _Ha′yo ta′ia′ ă′ă′_—Our father dwells above 1096
2. _Wû′nti ha′yano′ di′witi′a_—All our people are going up 1096
3. _Nûna ĭ′tsiya′_—I have come 1097
4. _Na′tsiwa′ya_—I am coming 1097
5. _Na′-iye′ ino′ ga′nio′sĭt_—My sister above 1097
6. _Na′a ha′yo ha′wano_—Our father above (has) paint 1098
7. _Wû′nti ha′yano ka′ka′na′_—All the people cried 1098
8. _Na′wi i′na_—We have our mother below 1098
9. _Ni′ ika′ na′a_—Our grandmother and our father above 1099
10. _Hi′na ha′natobi′na_—The eagle feather headdress 1099
11. _Na′ aa′ o′wi′ta′_—The father comes from above 1099
12. _Na′ iwi′ o′wi′ta′_—See! the eagle comes 1100
13. _A′nana′ hana′nito′_—The feather has come back 1101
14. _Na′ iwi′ ha′naa′_—There is an eagle above 1101
15. _Wi′tŭ′ Ha′sini′_—Come on, Caddo 1101
Caddo glossary 1102
Authorities cited 1104
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
+Plate+ LXXXV. Map of the Indian reservations of the United States
showing the approximate area of the Ghost dance 653
LXXXVI. The prayer-stick 698
LXXXVII. Chief Joseph 712
LXXXVIII. Map showing the distribution of the tribes of the
upper Columbia 716
LXXXIX. Smohalla and his priests 721
XC. Smohalla church on Yakima reservation 723
XCI. Interior of Smohalla church 727
XCII. Winter view in Mason valley showing snow-covered
sagebrush 769
XCIII. Sioux ghost shirts from Wounded Knee battlefield 789
XCIV. Sioux sweat-house and sacrifice pole 823
XCV. Map of the country embraced in the campaign against
the Sioux 850
XCVI. Map of Standing Rock agency and vicinity 855
XCVII. Map of Wounded Knee battlefield 869
XCVIII. After the battle 873
XCIX. Battlefield of Wounded Knee 875
C. Burying the dead 877
CI. Grave of the dead at Wounded Knee 879
CII. Battlefield after the blizzard 881
CIII. Arapaho ghost shirt, showing coloring 895
CIV. Arapaho ghost shirt—reverse 897
CV. Black Coyote 898
CVI. Biäñk̔i, the Kiowa dreamer 908
CVII. Biäñk̔i’s vision 910
CVIII. Kiowa summer shelter 913
CIX. The Ghost dance (buckskin painting) 915
CX. Sacred objects from the Sioux Ghost dance 916
CXI. Sacred objects from the Sioux Ghost dance 918
CXII. The Ghost dance—small circle 921
CXIII. The Ghost dance—larger circle 923
CXIV. The Ghost dance—large circle 925
CXV. The Ghost dance—praying 927
CXVI. The Ghost dance—inspiration 929
CXVII. The Ghost dance—rigid 931
CXVIII. The Ghost dance—unconscious 933
CXIX. The crow dance 935
CXX. Arapaho bed 962
CXXI. The sweat-lodge: Kiowa camp on the Washita 981
CXXII. Dog-soldier insignia 988
+Figure+ 56. Tenskwatawa the Shawano prophet, 1808 and 1831 670
57. Greenville treaty medal 671
58. Tecumtha 682
59. Harrison treaty pipe 688
60. Känakûk the Kickapoo prophet 693
61. Känakûk’s heaven 694
62. Onsawkie 698
63. Nakai′-doklĭ′ni’s dance-wheel 704
64. Smohalla’s flag 726
65. Charles Ike, Smohalla interpreter 728
66. Diagram showing arrangement of worshipers at Smohalla
service 729
67. John Slocum and Louis Yowaluch 746
68. Shaker church at Mud bay 758
69. Wovoka 764
70. Navaho Indians 810
71. Vista in the Hopi pueblo of Walpi 812
72. A Sioux warrior—Weasel Bear 844
73. Red Cloud 846
74. Short Bull 851
75. Kicking Bear 853
76. Red Tomahawk 856
77. Sitting Bull the Sioux medicine-man 858
78. Sketch of the country of the Sitting Bull fight,
December 15, 1890 859
79. Survivors of Wounded Knee—Blue Whirlwind and children 877
80. Survivors of Wounded Knee—Marguerite Zitkala-noni 878
81. Survivors of Wounded Knee—Jennie Sword 879
82. Survivors of Wounded Knee—Herbert Zitkalazi 880
83. Sitting Bull the Arapaho apostle 896
84. Two Kiowa prophecies (from a Kiowa calendar) 907
85. Poor Buffalo 908
86. Sitting Bull comes down (from a Kiowa calendar) 909
87. Ā′piatañ 912
88. Arapaho tipi and windbreak 957
89. Bed of the prairie tribes 963
90. Shinny stick and ball 964
91. Wakuna or head-feathers 964
92. The Thunderbird 969
93. Hummer and bull-roarer 974
94. Dog-soldier insignia—rattle and quirt 987
95. Diagram of awl game 1002
96. Sticks used in awl game 1003
97. Trump sticks used in awl game 1003
98. Baskets used in dice game 1004
99. Dice used in dice game 1005
100. Cheyenne camping circle 1026
101. Paiute wikiup 1049
102. Native drawings of Ghost dance—A, Comanche; B, Sioux 1060
103. Jerking beef 1066
104. Kiowa camping circle 1080
[Illustration: PL. LXXXV
INDIAN RESERVATIONS
OF THE
UNITED STATES
IN 1890
Showing approximate area
of the Ghost Dance
]
THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION
By +James Mooney+
INTRODUCTION
In the fall of 1890 the author was preparing to go to Indian Territory,
under the auspices of the Bureau of Ethnology, to continue researches
among the Cherokee, when the Ghost dance began to attract attention,
and permission was asked and received to investigate that subject
also among the wilder tribes in the western part of the territory.
Proceeding directly to the Cheyenne and Arapaho, it soon became evident
that there was more in the Ghost dance than had been suspected, with
the result that the investigation, to which it had been intended to
devote only a few weeks, has extended over a period of more than
three years, and might be continued indefinitely, as the dance still
exists (in 1896) and is developing new features at every performance.
The uprising among the Sioux in the meantime made necessary also the
examination of a mass of documentary material in the files of the
Indian Office and the War Department bearing on the outbreak, in
addition to the study in the field of the strictly religious features
of the dance.
The first visit of about four months (December, 1890–April, 1891) was
made to the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Caddo, and
Wichita, all living near together in the western part of what was then
Indian Territory, but is now Oklahoma. These tribes were all more or
less under the influence of the new religion. The principal study
was made among the Arapaho, who were the most active propagators of
the “Messiah” doctrine among the southern tribes and are especially
friendly and cordial in disposition.
On returning to Washington, the author received a commission to make
an ethnologic collection for the World’s Columbian Exposition, and,
selecting the Kiowa for that purpose as a representative prairie
tribe, started out again almost immediately to the same field. This
trip, lasting three months, gave further opportunity for study of the
Ghost dance among the same tribes. After returning and attending to
the labeling and arranging of the collection, a study was made of all
documents bearing on the subject in possession of the Indian Office
and the War Department. Another trip was then made to the field for
the purpose of investigating the dance among the Sioux, where it had
attracted most attention, and among the Paiute, where it originated.
On this journey the author visited the Omaha, Winnebago, Sioux of Pine
Ridge, Paiute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho; met and talked with the messiah
himself, and afterward, on the strength of this fact, obtained from the
Cheyenne the original letter containing his message and instructions to
the southern tribes. This trip occupied about three months.
A few months later, in the summer of 1892, another journey was made
to the West, in the course of which the southern tribes and the Sioux
were revisited, and some time was spent in Wyoming with the Shoshoni
and northern Arapaho, the latter of whom were perhaps the most earnest
followers of the messiah in the north. This trip consumed four months.
After some time spent in Washington in elaborating notes already
obtained, a winter trip (1892–93) was made under another commission
from the World’s Fair to the Navaho and the Hopi or Moki, of New Mexico
and Arizona. Although these tribes were not directly concerned in the
Ghost dance, they had been visited by apostles of the new doctrine, and
were able to give some account of the ceremony as it existed among the
Havasupai or Cohonino and others farther to the west. On the return
journey another short stay was made among the Kiowa and Arapaho. In
the summer of 1893 a final visit, covering a period of five months,
was made to the western tribes of Oklahoma, bringing the personal
observation and study of the Ghost dance down to the beginning of 1894.
The field investigation therefore occupied twenty-two months, involving
nearly 32,000 miles of travel and more or less time spent with about
twenty tribes. To obtain exact knowledge of the ceremony, the author
took part in the dance among the Arapaho and Cheyenne. He also carried
a kodak and a tripod camera, with which he made photographs of the
dance and the trance both without and within the circle. Several months
were spent in consulting manuscript documents and printed sources
of information in the departments and libraries at Washington, and
correspondence was carried on with persons in various parts of the
country who might be able to give additional facts. From the beginning
every effort was made to get a correct statement of the subject. Beyond
this, the work must speak for itself.
As the Ghost dance doctrine is only the latest of a series of Indian
religious revivals, and as the idea on which it is founded is a
hope common to all humanity, considerable space has been given to a
discussion of the primitive messiah belief and of the teachings of the
various Indian prophets who have preceded Wovoka, together with brief
sketches of several Indian wars belonging to the same periods.
In the songs the effort has been to give the spirit and exact
rendering, without going into analytic details. The main purpose of the
work is not linguistic, and as nearly every tribe concerned speaks a
different language from all the others, any close linguistic study must
be left to the philologist who can afford to devote a year or more to
an individual tribe. The only one of these tribes of which the author
claims intimate knowledge is the Kiowa.
Acknowledgments are due the officers and members of the Office of
Indian Affairs and the War Department for courteous assistance in
obtaining documentary information and in replying to letters of
inquiry; to Mr De Lancey W. Gill and Mr J. K. Hillers and their
assistants of the art and photographic divisions of the United States
Geological Survey; to Mr A. R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress; to
Mr F. V. Coville, botanist, Agricultural Department; Honorable T. J.
Morgan, former Commissioner of Indian Affairs; Major J. W. MacMurray,
first artillery, United States Army; Dr Washington Matthews, surgeon,
United States Army; Captain H. L. Scott, seventh cavalry, United States
Army; Captain J. M. Lee, ninth infantry, United States Army; Captain E.
L. Huggins, second cavalry, United States Army, of the staff of General
Miles; the late Captain J. G. Bourke, third cavalry, United States
Army; Captain H. G. Browne, twelfth infantry, United States Army;
Judge James Wickersham, Tacoma, Washington; Dr George Bird Grinnell,
editor of “Forest and Stream,” New York city; Mr Thomas V. Keam and the
late A. M. Stephen, Keams Canyon, Arizona; Rev. H. R. Voth, Oraibi,
Arizona; General L. W. Colby, Washington, District of Columbia; Mr D.
B. Dyer, Augusta, Georgia; Rev. Myron Eells, Tacoma, Washington; Mr
Emile Berliner and the Berliner Gramophone Company, for recording,
and Professors John Philip Sousa and F. W. V. Gaisberg, for arranging
the Indian music; W. S. Godbe, Bullionville, Nevada; Miss L. McLain,
Washington City; Addison Cooper, Nashville, Tennessee; Miss Emma C.
Sickels, Chicago; Professor A. H. Thompson, United States Geological
Survey, Washington; Mrs L. B. Arnold, Standing Rock, North Dakota; Mr
C. H. Bartlett, South Bend, Indiana; Dr T. P. Martin, Taos, New Mexico,
and to the following Indian informants and interpreters: Philip Wells,
Louis Menard, Ellis Standing Bear, American Horse, George Sword, and
Fire Thunder, of Pine Ridge, South Dakota; Henry Reid, Rev. Sherman
Coolidge, Norcok, Sage, and Sharp Nose, of Fort Washakie, Wyoming;
Charley Sheep of Walker river, Nevada; Black Coyote, Sitting Bull,
Black Short Nose, George Bent, Paul Boynton, Robert Burns, Jesse Bent,
Clever Warden, Grant Left-hand, and the Arapaho police at Darlington,
Oklahoma; Andres Martinez, Belo Cozad, Paul Setkopti, Henry Poloi,
Little Bow, William Tivis, George Parton, Towakoni Jim, Robert Dunlap,
Kichai, John Wilson, Tama, Igiagyahona, Deoñ, Mary Zotom, and Eliza
Parton of Anadarko, Oklahoma.
THE NARRATIVE
+Chapter I+
PARADISE LOST
There are hours long departed which memory brings
Like blossoms of Eden to twine round the heart.
_Moore._
The wise men tell us that the world is growing happier—that we live
longer than did our fathers, have more of comfort and less of toil,
fewer wars and discords, and higher hopes and aspirations. So say the
wise men; but deep in our own hearts we know they are wrong. For were
not we, too, born in Arcadia, and have we not—each one of us—in that
May of life when the world was young, started out lightly and airily
along the path that led through green meadows to the blue mountains
on the distant horizon, beyond which lay the great world we were to
conquer? And though others dropped behind, have we not gone on through
morning brightness and noonday heat, with eyes always steadily forward,
until the fresh grass began to be parched and withered, and the way
grew hard and stony, and the blue mountains resolved into gray rocks
and thorny cliffs? And when at last we reached the toilsome summits, we
found the glory that had lured us onward was only the sunset glow that
fades into darkness while we look, and leaves us at the very goal to
sink down, tired in body and sick at heart, with strength and courage
gone, to close our eyes and dream again, not of the fame and fortune
that were to be ours, but only of the old-time happiness that we have
left so far behind.
As with men, so is it with nations. The lost paradise is the world’s
dreamland of youth. What tribe or people has not had its golden age,
before Pandora’s box was loosed, when women were nymphs and dryads and
men were gods and heroes? And when the race lies crushed and groaning
beneath an alien yoke, how natural is the dream of a redeemer, an
Arthur, who shall return from exile or awake from some long sleep to
drive out the usurper and win back for his people what they have lost.
The hope becomes a faith and the faith becomes the creed of priests and
prophets, until the hero is a god and the dream a religion, looking to
some great miracle of nature for its culmination and accomplishment.
The doctrines of the Hindu avatar, the Hebrew Messiah, the Christian
millennium, and the Hesûnanin of the Indian Ghost dance are essentially
the same, and have their origin in a hope and longing common to all
humanity.
Probably every Indian tribe, north and south, had its early hero god,
the great doer or teacher of all first things, from the Inskeha and
Manabozho of the rude Iroquoian and Algonquian to the Quetzalcoatl, the
Bochica, and the Viracocha of the more cultivated Aztecs, Muyscas, and
Quichuas of the milder southland. Among the roving tribes of the north
this hero is hardly more than an expert magician, frequently degraded
to the level of a common trickster, who, after ridding the world of
giants and monsters, and teaching his people a few simple arts, retires
to the upper world to rest and smoke until some urgent necessity again
requires his presence below. Under softer southern skies the myth takes
more poetic form and the hero becomes a person of dignified presence, a
father and teacher of his children, a very Christ, worthy of all love
and reverence, who gathers together the wandering nomads and leads them
to their destined country, where he instructs them in agriculture,
house building, and the art of government, regulates authority, and
inculcates peaceful modes of life. “Under him, the earth teemed with
fruits and flowers without the pains of culture. An ear of Indian corn
was as much as a single man could carry. The cotton, as it grew, took
of its own accord the rich dyes of human art. The air was filled with
intoxicating perfumes and the sweet melody of birds. In short, these
were the halcyon days, which find a place in the mythic systems of
so many nations in the Old World. It was the golden age of Anahuac.”
(_Prescott, 1._)[1] When at last his work is well accomplished, he bids
farewell to his sorrowing subjects, whom he consoles with the sacred
promise that he will one day return and resume his kingdom, steps into
his magic boat by the seashore, and sails away out of their sight to
the distant land of sunrise.
Such was Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs, and such in all essential respects
was the culture god of the more southern semicivilized races. Curiously
enough, this god, at once a Moses and a messiah, is usually described
as a white man with flowing beard. From this and other circumstances
it has been argued that the whole story is only another form of the
dawn myth, but whether the Indian god be an ancient deified lawgiver of
their own race, or some nameless missionary who found his way across
the trackless ocean in the early ages of Christianity, or whether we
have here only a veiled parable of the morning light bringing life
and joy to the world and then vanishing to return again from the east
with the dawn, it is sufficient to our purpose that the belief in the
coming of a messiah, who should restore them to their original happy
condition, was well nigh universal among the American tribes.
This faith in the return of a white deliverer from the east opened the
gate to the Spaniards at their first coming alike in Haiti, Mexico,
Yucatan, and Peru. (_Brinton, 1._) The simple native welcomed the white
strangers as the children or kindred of their long-lost benefactor,
immortal beings whose near advent had been foretold by oracles and
omens, whose faces borrowed from the brightness of the dawn, whose
glistening armor seemed woven from the rays of sunlight, and whose
god-like weapons were the lightning and the thunderbolt. Their first
overbearing demands awakened no resentment; for may not the gods claim
their own, and is not resistance to the divine will a crime? Not until
their most sacred things were trampled under foot, and the streets
of the holy city itself ran red with the blood of their slaughtered
princes, did they read aright the awful prophecy by the light of
their blazing temples, and know that instead of the children of an
incarnate god they had welcomed a horde of incarnate devils. “The light
of civilization would be poured on their land. But it would be the
light of a consuming fire, before which their barbaric glory, their
institutions, their very existence and name as a nation, would wither
and become extinct. Their doom was sealed when the white man had set
his foot on their soil.” (_Prescott, 2._)
The great revolt of the Pueblo Indians in August, 1680, was one of the
first determined efforts made by the natives on the northern continent
to throw off the yoke of a foreign oppressor. The Pueblo tribes along
the Rio Grande and farther to the west, a gentle, peaceful race, had
early welcomed the coming of the Spaniards, with their soldiers and
priests, as friends who would protect them against the wild marauding
tribes about them and teach them the mysteries of a greater “medicine”
than belonged to their own kachinas. The hope soon faded into bitter
disappointment. The soldiers, while rough and overbearing toward
their brown-skin allies, were yet unable to protect them from the
inroads of their enemies. The priests prohibited their dances and
simple amusements, yet all their ringing of bells and chanting of
hymns availed not to bring more rain on the crops or to turn aside the
vengeful Apache. “What have we gained by all this?” said the Pueblos
one to another; “not peace and not happiness, for these new rulers will
not protect us from our enemies, and take from us all the enjoyments we
once knew.”
The pear was ripe. Popé, a medicine-man of the Tewa, had come back
from a pilgrimage to the far north, where he claimed to have visited
the magic lagoon of Shipapu, whence his people traced their origin and
to which the souls of their dead returned after leaving this life. By
these ancestral spirits he had been endowed with occult powers and
commanded to go back and rouse the Pueblos to concerted effort for
deliverance from the foreign yoke of the strangers.
Wonderful beings were these spirit messengers. Swift as light and
impalpable as thought, they passed under the earth from the magic lake
to the secret subterranean chamber of the oracle and stood before him
as shapes of fire, and spoke, telling him to prepare the strings of
yucca knots and send them with the message to all the Pueblos far and
near, so that in every village the chiefs might untie one knot from the
string each day, and know when they came to the last knot that then was
the time to strike.
From the Pecos, across the Rio Grande to Zuñi and the far-distant Hopi
mesas, every Pueblo village accepted the yucca string and began secret
preparation for the rising. The time chosen was the new moon of August,
1680, but, through a partial discovery of the plot, the explosion was
precipitated on the 10th. So sudden and complete was the surprise that
many Spaniards in the Pueblo country, priests, soldiers, and civilians,
were killed, and the survivors, after holding out for a time under
Governor Otermin at Santa Fé, fled to El Paso, and in October there
remained not a single Spaniard in all New Mexico. (_Bandelier, 1a, 1b._)
Despite their bitter disappointment, the southern nations continued to
cherish the hope of a coming redeemer, who now assumed the character
of a terrible avenger of their wrongs, and the white-skin conqueror
has had bloody occasion to remember that his silent peon, as he toils
by blue Chapala or sits amid the ruins of his former grandeur in the
dark forests of Yucatan, yet waits ever and always the coming of the
day which shall break the power of the alien Spaniard and restore to
their inheritance the children of Anahuac and Mayapan. In Peru the
natives refused to believe that the last of the Incas had perished a
wanderer in the forests of the eastern Cordilleras. For more than two
centuries they cherished the tradition that he had only retired to
another kingdom beyond the mountains, from which he would return in
his own good time to sweep their haughty oppressors from the land. In
1781 the slumbering hope found expression in a terrible insurrection
under the leadership of the mestizo Condorcanqui, a descendant of the
ancient royal family, who boldly proclaimed himself the long lost
Tupac Amaru, child of the sun and Inca of Peru. With mad enthusiasm
the Quichua highlanders hailed him as their destined deliverer and
rightful sovereign, and binding around his forehead the imperial fillet
of the Incas, he advanced at the head of an immense army to the walls
of Cuzco, declaring his purpose to blot out the very memory of the
white man and reestablish the Indian empire in the City of the Sun.
Inspired by the hope of vengeance on the conqueror, even boys became
leaders of their people, and it was only after a bloody struggle of two
years’ duration that the Spaniards were able to regain the mastery and
consigned the captive Inca, with all his family, to an ignominious and
barbarous death. Even then so great was the feeling of veneration which
he had inspired in the breasts of the Indians that “notwithstanding
their fear of the Spaniards, and though they were surrounded by
soldiers of the victorious army, they prostrated themselves at the
sight of the last of the children of the sun, as he passed along the
streets to the place of execution.” (_Humboldt, 1._)
In the New World, as in the Old, the advent of the deliverer was to
be heralded by signs and wonders. Thus in Mexico, a mysterious rising
of the waters of Lake Tezcuco, three comets blazing in the sky, and a
strange light in the east, prepared the minds of the people for the
near coming of the Spaniards. (_Prescott, 3._) In this connection,
also, there was usually a belief in a series of previous destructions
by flood, fire, famine, or pestilence, followed by a regeneration,
through, the omnipotent might of the savior. The doctrine that the
world is old and worn out, and that the time for its renewal is near
at hand, is an essential part of the teaching of the Ghost dance.
The number of these cycles of destruction was variously stated among
different tribes, but perhaps the most sadly prophetic form of the
myth was found among the Winnebago, who forty years ago held that the
tenth generation of their people was near its close, and that at the
end of the thirteenth the red race would be destroyed. By prayers and
ceremonies they were then endeavoring to placate their angry gods and
put farther away the doom that now seems rapidly closing in on them.
(_Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, 1._)
+Chapter II+
THE DELAWARE PROPHET AND PONTIAC
Hear what the Great Spirit has ordered me to tell you: Put off
entirely the customs which you have adopted since the white people
came among us.—_The Delaware Prophet._
This is our land, and not yours.—_The Confederate Tribes, 1752._
The English advances were slow and halting, for a long period almost
imperceptible, while the establishment of a few small garrisons and
isolated trading stations by the French hardly deserved to be called an
occupancy of the country. As a consequence, the warlike northern tribes
were slow to realize that an empire was slipping from their grasp,
and it was not until the two great nations prepared for the final
struggle in the New World that the native proprietors began to read
the stars aright. Then it was, in 1752, that the Lenape chiefs sent to
the British agent the pointed interrogatory: “The English claim all on
one side of the river, the French claim all on the other—where is the
land of the Indians?” (_Bancroft, 1._) Then, as they saw the French
strengthening themselves along the lakes, there came a stronger protest
from the council ground of the confederate tribes of the west: “This is
our land and not yours. Fathers, both you and the English are white;
the land belongs to neither the one nor the other of you, but the Great
Being above allotted it to be a dwelling place for us; so, fathers, I
desire you to withdraw, as I have desired our brothers, the English.”
A wampum belt gave weight to the words. (_Bancroft, 2._) The French
commander’s reply was blunt, but more practiced diplomats assured
the red men that all belonged to the Indian, and that the great king
of the French desired only to set up a boundary against the further
encroachments of the English, who would otherwise sweep the red tribes
from the Ohio as they had already driven them from the Atlantic. The
argument was plausible. In every tribe were French missionaries, whose
fearless courage and devotion had won the admiration and love of the
savage; in every village was domiciliated a hardy voyageur, with his
Indian wife and family of children, in whose veins commingled the blood
of the two races and whose ears were attuned alike to the wild songs of
the forest and the rondeaus of Normandy or Provence. It was no common
tie that bound together the Indians and the French, and when a governor
of Canada and the general of his army stepped into the circle of braves
to dance the war dance and sing the war song with their red allies,
thirty-three wild tribes declared on the wampum belt, “The French are
our brothers and their king is our father. We will try his hatchet
upon the English” (_Bancroft, 3_), and through seven years of blood
and death the lily and the totem were borne abreast until the flag of
France went down forever on the heights of Quebec.
For some time after the surrender the unrest of the native tribes was
soothed into a semblance of quiet by the belief, artfully inculcated
by their old allies, that the king of France, wearied by his great
exertions, had fallen asleep for a little while, but would soon awake
to take vengeance on the English for the wrongs they had inflicted on
his red children. Then, as they saw English garrisons occupying the
abandoned posts and English traders passing up the lakes even to the
sacred island of the Great Turtle, the despairing warriors said to one
another, “We have been deceived. English and French alike are white men
and liars. We must turn from both and seek help from our Indian gods.”
In 1762 a prophet appeared among the Delawares, at Tuscarawas, on the
Muskingum, who preached a union of all the red tribes and a return
to the old Indian life, which he declared to be the divine command,
as revealed to himself in a wonderful vision. From an old French
manuscript, written by an anonymous eyewitness of the scene which he
describes, we have the details of this vision, as related by Pontiac
to his savage auditors at the great council of the tribes held near
Detroit in April, 1763. Parkman gives the story on the authority of
this manuscript, which he refers to as the “Pontiac manuscript,” and
states that it was long preserved in a Canadian family at Detroit,
and afterward deposited with the Historical Society of Michigan. It
bears internal evidence of genuineness, and is supposed to have been
written by a French priest. (_Parkman, 1._) The vision, from the same
manuscript, is related at length in Schoolcraft’s Algic Researches.
According to the prophet’s story, being anxious to know the “Master
of Life,” he determined, without mentioning his desire to anyone, to
undertake a journey to the spirit world. Ignorant of the way, and
not knowing any person who, having been there, could direct him, he
performed a mystic rite in the hope of receiving some light as to the
course he should pursue. He then fell into a deep sleep, in which he
dreamed that it was only necessary to begin his journey and that by
continuing to walk forward he would at last arrive at his destination.
Early the next morning, taking his gun, ammunition, and kettle,
he started off, firmly convinced that by pressing onward without
discouragement he should accomplish his object. Day after day he
proceeded without incident, until at sunset of the eighth day, while
preparing to encamp for the night by the side of a small stream in a
little opening in the forest, he noticed, running out from the edge of
the prairie, three wide and well-trodden paths. Wondering somewhat that
they should be there, he finished his temporary lodging and, lighting
a fire, began to prepare his supper. While thus engaged, he observed
with astonishment that the paths became more distinct as the night grew
darker. Alarmed at the strange appearance, he was about to abandon his
encampment and seek another at a safer distance, when he remembered
his dream and the purpose of his journey. It seemed to him that one of
these roads must lead to the place of which he was in search, and he
determined, therefore, to remain where he was until morning, and then
take one of the three and follow it to the end. Accordingly, the next
morning, after a hasty meal, he left his encampment, and, burning with
the ardor of discovery, took the widest path, which he followed until
noon, when he suddenly saw a large fire issuing apparently from the
earth. His curiosity being aroused, he went toward it, but the fire
increased to such a degree that he became frightened and turned back.
He now took the next widest of the three paths, which he followed
as before until noon, when a similar fire again drove him back and
compelled him to take the third road, which he kept a whole day
without meeting anything unusual, when suddenly he saw a precipitous
mountain of dazzling brightness directly in his path. Recovering from
his wonder, he drew near and examined it, but could see no sign of a
road to the summit. He was about to give way to disappointment, when,
looking up, he saw seated a short distance up the mountain a woman of
bright beauty and clad in snow-white garments, who addressed him in his
own language, telling him that on the summit of the mountain was the
abode of the Master of Life, whom he had journeyed so far to meet. “But
to reach it,” said she, “you must leave all your cumbersome dress and
equipments at the foot, then go and wash in the river which I show you,
and afterward ascend the mountain.”
He obeyed her instructions, and on asking how he could hope to climb
the mountain, which, was steep and slippery as glass, she replied that
in order to mount he must use only his left hand and foot. This seemed
to him almost impossible, but, encouraged by the woman, he began to
climb, and at length, after much difficulty, reached the top. Here the
woman suddenly vanished, and he found himself alone without a guide. On
looking about, he saw before him a plain, in the midst of which were
three villages, with well-built houses disposed in orderly arrangement.
He bent his steps toward the principal one, but after going a short
distance he remembered that he was naked, and was about to turn back
when a voice told him that as he had washed himself in the river he
might go on without fear. Thus bidden, he advanced without hesitation
to the gate of the village, where he was admitted and saw approaching
a handsome man in white garments, who offered to lead him into the
presence of the Master of Life. Admiring the beauty of everything about
him, he was then conducted to the Master of Life, who took him by
the hand and gave him for a seat a hat bordered with gold. Afraid of
spoiling the hat, he hesitated to sit down until again told to do so,
when he obeyed, and the Master of Life thus addressed him:
I am the Master of Life, whom you wish to see and with whom you
wish to speak. Listen to what I shall tell you for yourself and for
all the Indians.
He then commanded him to exhort his people to cease from drunkenness,
wars, polygamy, and the medicine song, and continued:
The land on which you are, I have made for you, not for others.
Wherefore do you suffer the whites to dwell upon your lands? Can
you not do without them? I know that those whom you call the
children of your Great Father [the King of France] supply your
wants; but were you not wicked as you are you would not need them.
You might live as you did before you knew them. Before those whom
you call your brothers [the French] had arrived, did not your bow
and arrow maintain you? You needed neither gun, powder, nor any
other object. The flesh of animals was your food; their skins
your raiment. But when I saw you inclined to evil, I removed the
animals into the depths of the forest that you might depend on your
brothers for your necessaries, for your clothing. Again become good
and do my will and I will send animals for your sustenance. I do
not, however, forbid suffering among you your Father’s children. I
love them; they know me; they pray to me. I supply their own wants,
and give them that which they bring to you. Not so with those who
are come to trouble your possessions [the English]. Drive them
away; wage war against them; I love them not; they know me not;
they are my enemies; they are your brothers’ enemies. Send them
back to the lands I have made for them. Let them remain there.
(_Schoolcraft, Alg. Res., 1._)
The Master of Life then gave him a prayer, carved in Indian
hieroglyphics upon a wooden stick, which he was told to deliver to his
chief on returning to earth. (_Parkman, 2._) His instructor continued:
Learn it by heart, and teach it to all the Indians and children. It
must be repeated morning and evening. Do all that I have told thee,
and announce it to all the Indians as coming from the Master of
Life. Let them drink but one draught, or two at most, in one day.
Let them have but one wife, and discontinue running after other
people’s wives and daughters. Let them not fight one another. Let
them not sing the medicine song, for in singing the medicine song
they speak to the evil spirit. Drive from your lands those dogs
in red clothing; they are only an injury to you. When you want
anything, apply to me, as your brothers do, and I will give to
both. Do not sell to your brothers that which I have placed on the
earth as food. In short, become good, and you shall want nothing.
When you meet one another, bow and give one another the [left]
hand of the heart. Above all, I command thee to repeat morning and
evening the prayer which I have given thee.