of the prophecy. Whatever the year, it has generally been held, for
very natural reasons, that the regeneration of the earth and the
renewal of all life would occur in the early spring. In some cases
July, and particularly the 4th of July, was the expected time. This,
it may be noted, was about the season when the great annual ceremony
of the sun dance formerly took place among the prairie tribes. The
messiah himself has set several dates from time to time, as one
prediction after another failed to materialize, and in his message to
the Cheyenne and Arapaho, in August, 1891, he leaves the whole matter
an open question. The date universally recognized among all the tribes
immediately prior to the Sioux outbreak was the spring of 1891. As
springtime came and passed, and summer grew and waned, and autumn faded
again into winter without the realization of their hopes and longings,
the doctrine gradually assumed its present form—that some time in the
unknown future the Indian will be united with his friends who have gone
before, to be forever supremely happy, and that this happiness may be
anticipated in dreams, if not actually hastened in reality, by earnest
and frequent attendance on the sacred dance.
On returning to the Cheyenne and Arapaho in Oklahoma, after my visit
to Wovoka in January, 1892, I was at once sought by my friends of
both tribes, anxious to hear the report of my journey and see the
sacred things that I had brought back from the messiah. The Arapaho
especially, who are of more spiritual nature than any of the other
tribes, showed a deep interest and followed intently every detail of
the narrative. As soon as the news of my return was spread abroad, men
and women, in groups and singly, would come to me, and after grasping
my hand would repeat a long and earnest prayer, sometimes aloud,
sometimes with the lips silently moving, and frequently with tears
rolling down the cheeks, and the whole body trembling violently from
stress of emotion. Often before the prayer was ended the condition
of the devotee bordered on the hysterical, very little less than in
the Ghost dance itself. The substance of the prayer was usually an
appeal to the messiah to hasten the coming of the promised happiness,
with a petition that, as the speaker himself was unable to make the
long journey, he might, by grasping the hand of one who had seen and
talked with the messiah face to face, be enabled in his trance visions
to catch a glimpse of the coming glory. During all this performance
the bystanders awaiting their turn kept reverent silence. In a short
time it became very embarrassing, but until the story had been told
over and over again there was no way of escape without wounding
their feelings. The same thing afterward happened among the northern
Arapaho in Wyoming, one chief even holding out his hands toward me
with short exclamations of _hŭ! hŭ! hŭ!_ as is sometimes done by the
devotees about a priest in the Ghost dance, in the hope, as he himself
explained, that he might thus be enabled to go into a trance then and
there. The hope, however, was not realized.
After this preliminary ordeal my visitors would ask to see the things
which I had brought back from the messiah—the rabbit-skin robes, the
piñon nuts, the gaming sticks, the sacred magpie feathers, and, above
all, the sacred red paint. This is a bright-red ocher, about the color
of brick dust, which the Paiute procure from the neighborhood of
their sacred eminence, Mount Grant. It is ground, and by the help of
water is made into elliptical cakes about 6 inches in length. It is
the principal paint used by the Paiute in the Ghost dance, and small
portions of it are given by the messiah to all the delegates and are
carried back by them to their respective tribes, where it is mixed with
larger quantities of their own red paint and used in decorating the
faces of the participants in the dance, the painting being solemnly
performed for each dancer by the medicine-man himself. It is believed
to ward off sickness, to contribute to long life, and to assist the
mental vision in the trance. On the battlefield of Wounded Knee I have
seen this paint smeared on the posts of the inclosure about the trench
in which are buried the Indians killed in the fight. I found it very
hard to refuse the numerous requests for some of the paint, but as
I had only one cake myself I could not afford to be too liberal. My
friends were very anxious to touch it, however, but when I found that
every man tried to rub off as much of it as possible on the palms of
his hands, afterward smearing this dust on the faces of himself and his
family, I was obliged in self-defense to put it entirely away.
The piñon nuts, although not esteemed so sacred, were also the subject
of reverent curiosity. One evening, by invitation from Left Hand, the
principal chief of the Arapaho, I went over to his tipi to talk with
him about the messiah and his country, and brought with me a quantity
of the nuts for distribution. On entering I found the chief and a
number of the principal men ranged on one side of the fire, while his
wife and several other women, with his young grandchildren, completed
the circle on the other. Each of the adults in turn took my hand with
a prayer, as before described, varying in length and earnestness
according to the devotion of the speaker. This ceremony consumed a
considerable time. I then produced the piñon nuts and gave them to Left
Hand, telling him how they were used as food by the Paiute. He handed
a portion to his wife, and before I knew what was coming the two arose
in their places and stretching out their hands toward the northwest,
the country of the messiah, made a long and earnest prayer aloud that
_Hesûnanin_, “Our Father,” would bless themselves and their children
through the sacred food, and hasten the time of his coming. The others,
men and women, listened with bowed heads, breaking in from time to time
with similar appeals to “the Father.” The scene was deeply affecting.
It was another of those impressive exhibitions of natural religion
which it has been my fortune to witness among the Indians, and which
throw light on a side of their character of which the ordinary white
observer never dreams. After the prayer the nuts were carefully divided
among those present, down to the youngest infant, that all might taste
of what to them was the veritable bread of life.
As I had always shown a sympathy for their ideas and feelings, and had
now accomplished a long journey to the messiah himself at the cost of
considerable difficulty and hardship, the Indians were at last fully
satisfied that I was really desirous of learning the truth concerning
their new religion. A few days after my visit to Left Hand, several of
the delegates who had been sent out in the preceding August came down
to see me, headed by Black Short Nose, a Cheyenne. After preliminary
greetings, he stated that the Cheyenne and Arapaho were now convinced
that I would tell the truth about their religion, and as they loved
their religion and were anxious to have the whites know that it was
all good and contained nothing bad or hostile they would now give me
the message which the messiah himself had given to them, that I might
take it back to show to Washington. He then took from a beaded pouch
and gave to me a letter, which proved to be the message or statement of
the doctrine delivered by Wovoka to the Cheyenne and Arapaho delegates,
of whom Black Short Nose was one, on the occasion of their last visit
to Nevada, in August, 1891, and written down on the spot, in broken
English, by one of the Arapaho delegates, Casper Edson, a young man who
had acquired some English education by several years’ attendance at
the government Indian school at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. On the reverse
page of the paper was a duplicate in somewhat better English, written
out by a daughter of Black Short Nose, a school girl, as dictated by
her father on his return. These letters contained the message to be
delivered to the two tribes, and as is expressly stated in the text
were not intended to be seen by a white man. The daughter of Black
Short Nose had attempted to erase this clause before her father brought
the letter down to me, but the lines were still plainly visible. It is
the genuine official statement of the Ghost-dance doctrine as given
by the messiah himself to his disciples. It is reproduced here in
duplicate and verbatim, just as received, with a translation for the
benefit of those not accustomed to Carlisle English. In accordance
with the request of the Indians, I brought the original to Washington,
where it was read by the Indian Commissioner, Honorable T. J. Morgan,
after which I had two copies made, giving one to the commissioner and
retaining the other myself, returning the original to its owner, Black
Short Nose.
_The Messiah Letter_ (_Arapaho version_)
What you get home you make dance, and will give ʸᵒᵘ the same. when
you dance four days and ^{in night} one day, dance day time, five
days and then fift, will wash five for every body. He likes you
ᶠˡᵒᵏ you give him good many things, he heart been satting feel
good. After you get home, will give good cloud, and give you chance
to make you feel good. and he give you good spirit. and he give you
ᵃˡ a good paint.
You folks want you to come in three [months] here, any tribs from
there. There will ᴮᵉ good bit snow this year. Sometimes rain’s,
in fall, this year some rain, never give you any thing like that.
grandfather said when he die never ⁿᵒ cry. no hurt anybody. no
fight, good behave always, it will give you satisfaction, this
young man, he is a good Father and mother, dont tell no white man.
Jueses was on ground, he just like cloud. Every body is alive
again, I dont know when they will [be] here, may be this fall or in
spring.
Every body never get sick, be young again,—(if young fellow no sick
any more,) work for white men never trouble with him until you
leave, when it shake the earth dont be afraid no harm any body.
You make dance for six ʷᵉᵉᵏˢ night, and put you foot [food?] in
dance to eat for every body and wash in the water. that is all to
tell, I am in to you. and you will received a good words from him
some time, Dont tell lie.
_The Messiah Letter_ (_Cheyenne version_)
When you get home you have to make dance. You must dance four
nights and one day time. You will take bath in the morning before
you go to yours homes, for every body, and give you all the same
as this. Jackson Wilson likes you all, he is glad to get good many
things. His heart satting fully of gladness, after you get home,
I will give you a good cloud and give you chance to make you feel
good. I give you a good spirit, and give you all good paint, I want
you people to come here again, want them in three months any tribs
of you from there. There will be a good deal snow this year. Some
time rains, in fall this year some rain, never give you any thing
like that, grandfather, said, when they were die never cry, no
hurt any body, do any harm for it, not to fight. Be a good behave
always. It will give a satisfaction in your life. This young man
is a good father and mother. Do not tell the white people about
this, Juses is on the ground, he just like cloud. Every body is a
live again. I don’t know when he will be here, may be will be this
fall or in spring. When it happen it may be this. There will be no
sickness and return to young again. Do not refuse to work for white
man or do not make any trouble with them until you leave them. When
the earth shakes do not be afraid it will not hurt you. I want you
to make dance for six weeks. Eat and wash good clean yourselves
[The rest of the letter had been erased].
_The Messiah Letter_ (_free Rendering_)
When you get home you must make a dance to continue five days.
Dance four successive nights, and the last night keep up the dance
until the morning of the fifth day, when all must bathe in the
river and then disperse to their homes. You must all do in the same
way.
I, Jack Wilson, love you all, and my heart is full of gladness for
the gifts you have brought me. When you get home I shall give you a
good cloud [rain?] which will make you feel good. I give you a good
spirit and give you all good paint. I want you to come again in
three months, some from each tribe there [the Indian Territory].
There will be a good deal of snow this year and some rain. In the
fall there will be such a rain as I have never given you before.
Grandfather [a universal title of reverence among Indians and here
meaning the messiah] says, when your friends die you must not cry.
You must not hurt anybody or do harm to anyone. You must not fight.
Do right always. It will give you satisfaction in life. This young
man has a good father and mother. [Possibly this refers to Casper
Edson, the young Arapaho who wrote down this message of Wovoka for
the delegation].
Do not tell the white people about this. Jesus is now upon the
earth. He appears like a cloud. The dead are all alive again. I do
not know when they will be here; maybe this fall or in the spring.
When the time comes there will be no more sickness and everyone
will be young again.
Do not refuse to work for the whites and do not make any trouble
with them until you leave them. When the earth shakes [at the
coming of the new world] do not be afraid. It will not hurt you.
I want you to dance every six weeks. Make a feast at the dance and
have food that everybody may eat. Then bathe in the water. That is
all. You will receive good words again from me some time. Do not
tell lies.
Every organized religion has a system of ethics, a system of mythology,
and a system of ritual observance. In this message from the high priest
of the Ghost dance we have a synopsis of all three. With regard to
the ritual part, ceremonial purification and bathing have formed a
part in some form or other of every great religion from the beginning
of history, while the religious dance dates back far beyond the day
when the daughter of Saul “looked through a window and saw King David
leaping and dancing before the Lord.” The feasting enjoined is a
part of every Indian ceremonial gathering, religious, political, or
social. The dance is to continue four successive nights, in accord with
the regular Indian system, in which _four_ is the sacred number, as
_three_ is in Christianity. In obedience to this message the southern
prairie tribes, after the return of the delegation in August, 1891,
ceased to hold frequent one-night dances at irregular intervals as
formerly without the ceremonial bathing, and adopted instead a system
of four-night dances at regular periods of six weeks, followed by
ceremonial bathing on the morning of the fifth day.
The mythology of the doctrine is only briefly indicated, but the
principal articles are given. The dead are all arisen and the spirit
hosts are advancing and have already arrived at the boundaries of
this earth, led forward by the regenerator in shape of cloud-like
indistinctness. The spirit captain of the dead is always represented
under this shadowy semblance. The great change will be ushered in by a
trembling of the earth, at which the faithful are exhorted to feel no
alarm. The hope held out is the same that has inspired the Christian
for nineteen centuries—a happy immortality in perpetual youth. As
to fixing a date, the messiah is as cautious as his predecessor in
prophecy, who declares that “no man knoweth the time, not even the
angels of God.” His weather predictions also are about as definite as
the inspired utterances of the Delphian oracle.
The moral code inculcated is as pure and comprehensive in its
simplicity as anything found in religious systems from the days of
Gautama Buddha to the time of Jesus Christ. “_Do no harm to any one.
Do right always._” Could anything be more simple, and yet more exact
and exacting? It inculcates honesty—“_Do not tell lies._” It preaches
good will—“_Do no harm to any one._” It forbids the extravagant
mourning customs formerly common among the tribes—“_When your friends
die, you must not cry_,” which is interpreted by the prairie tribes as
forbidding the killing of horses, the burning of tipis and destruction
of property, the cutting off of the hair and the gashing of the body
with knives, all of which were formerly the sickening rule at every
death until forbidden by the new doctrine. As an Arapaho said to me
when his little boy died, “I shall not shoot any ponies, and my wife
will not gash her arms. We used to do this when our friends died,
because we thought we would never see them again, and it made us feel
bad. But now we know we shall all be united again.” If the Kiowa had
held to the Ghost-dance doctrine instead of abandoning it as they had
done, they would have been spared the loss of thousands of dollars in
horses, tipis, wagons, and other property destroyed, with much of the
mental suffering and all of the physical laceration that resulted in
consequence of the recent fatal epidemic in the tribe, when for weeks
and months the sound of wailing went up night and morning, and in every
camp men and women could be seen daily, with dress disordered and hair
cut close to the scalp, with blood hardened in clots upon the skin, or
streaming from mutilated fingers and fresh gashes on face, and arms,
and legs. It preaches peace with the whites and obedience to authority
until the day of deliverance shall come. Above all, it forbids
war—“_You must not fight._” It is hardly possible for us to realize the
tremendous and radical change which this doctrine works in the whole
spirit of savage life. The career of every Indian has been the warpath.
His proudest title has been that of warrior. His conversation by day
and his dreams by night have been of bloody deeds upon the enemies of
his tribe. His highest boast was in the number of his scalp trophies,
and his chief delight at home was in the war dance and the scalp dance.
The thirst for blood and massacre seemed inborn in every man, woman,
and child of every tribe. Now comes a prophet as a messenger from God
to forbid not only war, but all that savors of war—the war dance,
the scalp dance, and even the bloody torture of the sun dance—and
his teaching is accepted and his words obeyed by four-fifths of all
the warlike predatory tribes of the mountains and the great plains.
Only those who have known the deadly hatred that once animated Ute,
Cheyenne, and Pawnee, one toward another, and are able to contrast
it with their present spirit of mutual brotherly love, can know what
the Ghost-dance religion has accomplished in bringing the savage into
civilization. It is such a revolution as comes but once in the life of
a race.
The beliefs held among the various tribes in regard to the final
catastrophe are as fairly probable as some held on the same subject by
more orthodox authorities. As to the dance itself, with its scenes of
intense excitement, spasmodic action, and physical exhaustion even to
unconsciousness, such manifestations have always accompanied religious
upheavals among primitive peoples, and are not entirely unknown among
ourselves. In a country which produces magnetic healers, shakers,
trance mediums, and the like, all these things may very easily be
paralleled without going far from home.
In conclusion, we may say of the prophet and his doctrine what has been
said of one of his apostles by a careful and competent investigator:
“He has given these people a better religion than they ever had before,
taught them precepts which, if faithfully carried out, will bring them
into better accord with their white neighbors, and has prepared the way
for their final Christianization.” (_G. D., 4_, and _A. G. O., 5_.)
We may now consider details of the doctrine as held by different
tribes, beginning with the Paiute, among whom it originated. The best
account of the Paiute belief is contained in a report to the War
Department by Captain J. M. Lee, who was sent out in the autumn of 1890
to investigate the temper and fighting strength of the Paiute and other
Indians in the vicinity of Fort Bidwell in northeastern California.
We give the statement obtained by him from Captain Dick, a Paiute,
as delivered one day in a conversational way and apparently without
reserve, after nearly all the Indians had left the room:
Long time, twenty years ago, Indian medicine-man in Mason’s
valley at Walker lake talk same way, same as you hear now. In one
year, maybe, after he begin talk he die. Three years ago another
medicine-man begin same talk. Heap talk all time. Indians hear
all about it everywhere. Indians come from long way off to hear
him. They come from the east; they make signs. Two years ago me
go to Winnemucca and Pyramid lake, me see Indian Sam, a head man,
and Johnson Sides. Sam he tell me he just been to see Indian
medicine-man to hear him talk. Sam say medicine-man talk this way:
“All Indians must dance, everywhere, keep on dancing. Pretty soon
in next spring Big Man [Great Spirit] come. He bring back all game
of every kind. The game be thick everywhere. All dead Indians come
back and live again. They all be strong just like young men, be
young again. Old blind Indian see again and get young and have fine
time. When Old Man [God] comes this way, then all the Indians go
to mountains, high up away from whites. Whites can’t hurt Indians
then. Then while Indians way up high, big flood comes like water
and all white people die, get drowned. After that water go way and
then nobody but Indians everywhere and game all kinds thick. Then
medicine-man tell Indians to send word to all Indians to keep up
dancing and the good time will come. Indians who don’t dance, who
don’t believe in this word, will grow little, just about a foot
high, and stay that way. Some of them will be turned into wood and
be burned in fire.” That’s the way Sam tell me the medicine-man
talk. (_A. G. O., 6._)
Lieutenant N. P. Phister, who gathered a part of the material embodied
in Captain Lee’s report, confirms this general statement and gives a
few additional particulars. The flood is to consist of mingled mud and
water, and when the faithful go up into the mountains, the skeptics
will be left behind and will be turned to stone. The prophet claims to
receive these revelations directly from God and the spirits of the dead
Indians during his trances. He asserts also that he is invulnerable,
and that if soldiers should attempt to kill him they would fall down as
if they had no bones and die, while he would still live, even though
cut into little pieces. (_Phister, 3._)
One of the first and most prominent of those who brought the doctrine
to the prairie tribes was Porcupine, a Cheyenne, who crossed the
mountains with several companions in the fall of 1889, visited Wovoka,
and attended the dance near Walker lake, Nevada. In his report of his
experiences, made some months later to a military officer, he states
that Wovoka claimed to be Christ himself, who had come back again, many
centuries after his first rejection, in pity to teach his children. He
quotes the prophet as saying:
I found my children were bad, so I went back to heaven and left
them, I told them that in so many hundred years I would come back
to see my children. At the end of this time I was sent back to try
to teach them. My father told me the earth was getting old and worn
out and the people getting bad, and that I was to renew everything
as it used to be and make it better.