and then a woman, so in that way forming a very large circle. They
dance around in the circle in a continuous time until some of them
become so tired and overtired that they became crazy and finally
drop as though dead, with foams in mouth all wet by perspiration.
All the men and women made holy shirts and dresses they wear in
dance. The persons dropped in dance would all lie in great dust the
dancing make. They paint the white muslins they made holy shirts
and dresses out of with blue across the back, and alongside of
this is a line of yellow paint. They also paint in the front part
of the shirts and dresses. A picture of an eagle is made on the
back of all the shirts and dresses. On the shoulders and on the
sleeves they tied eagle feathers. They said that the bullets will
not go through these shirts and dresses, so they all have these
dresses for war. Their enemies weapon will not go through these
dresses. The ghost dancers all have to wear eagle feather on head.
With this feather any man would be made crazy if fan with this
feather. In the ghost dance no person is allow to wear anything
made of any metal, except the guns made of metal is carry by some
of the dancers. When they come from ghosts or after recovery from
craziness, they brought meat from the ghosts or from the supposed
messiah. They also brought water, fire, and wind with which to kill
all the whites or Indians who will help the chief of the whites.
They made sweat house and made holes in the middle of the sweat
house where they say the water will come out of these holes. Before
they begin to dance they all raise their hands toward the northwest
and cry in supplication to the messiah and then begin the dance
with the song, “_Ate misunkala ceya omani-ye_,” etc.
SELWYN’S INTERVIEW WITH KUWAPI
On November 21, 1890, it was reported to Agent E. W. Foster, in charge
of Yankton agency, South Dakota, that an Indian named Kuwapi, from
Rosebud agency, was on the reservation teaching the doctrine and
ceremony of the Ghost dance. He at once had the man arrested by a
force in charge of William T. Selwyn, a full-blood Yankton Sioux, who
had received a fair education under the patronage of a gentleman in
Philadelphia, and who had for several years been employed in various
capacities at different Sioux agencies. Selwyn had recently come from
Pine Ridge, where he had learned and reported to Agent Gallagher
something of the religious excitement among the western Sioux, and
had afterward repeated this information to the agent at Yankton. While
Kuwapi was in his custody Selwyn questioned him at length concerning
the new doctrine, and forwarded the following report (_G. D., Document
36861—1890_) of the interview to Agent Foster:
+Yankton Agency, South Dakota+,
_November 22, 1890_.
Colonel +E. W. Foster+,
_United States Indian Agent, Yankton Agency, South Dakota_.
+Dear Sir+: It has been reported here a few days ago that there was
an Indian visitor up at White Swan from Rosebud agency who has been
telling or teaching the doctrines of the new messiah, and has made
some agitation among the people up there. According to the request
of Captain Conrad, United States Army, of Fort Randall, South
Dakota, and by your order of the 21st instant, I went up to White
Swan and have arrested the wanted man (Kuwapi, or One they chased
after). On my way to the agency with the prisoner I have made
little interview with him on the subject of the new messiah. The
following are the facts which he corroborated concerning the new
messiah, his laws and doctrines to the Indians of this continent:
Q. Do you believe in the new messiah?—A. I somewhat believe it.
Q. What made you believe it?—A. Because I ate some of the buffalo
meat that he (the new messiah) sent to the Rosebud Indians through
Short Bull.
Q. Did Short Bull say that he saw the living herd of roaming
buffaloes while he was with the son of the Great Spirit?—A. Short
Bull told the Indians at Rosebud that the buffalo and other wild
game will be restored to the Indians at the same time when the
general resurrection in favor of the Indians takes place.
Q. You said a “general resurrection in favor of the Indians takes
place;” when or how soon will this be?—A. The father sends word to
us that he will have all these caused to be so in the spring, when
the grass is knee high.
Q. You said “father;” who is this father?—A. It is the new messiah.
He has ordered his children (Indians) to call him “father.”
Q. You said the father is not going to send the buffalo until the
resurrection takes place. Would he be able to send a few buffaloes
over this way for a sort of a sample, so as to have his children
(Indians) to have a taste of the meat?—A. The father wishes to do
things all at once, even in destroying the white race.
Q. You said something about the destroying of the white race.
Do you mean to say that all mankind except the Indians will be
killed?—A. Yes.
Q. How, and who is going to kill the white people?—A. The father is
going to cause a big cyclone or whirlwind, by which he will have
all the white people to perish.
Q. If it should be a cyclone or whirlwind, what are we going to
do to protect ourselves?—A. The father will make some kind of
provisions by which we will be saved.
Q. You said something about the coming destruction on the white
people by your father. Supposing your father is sick, tired out,
forget, or some other accidental cause by which he should not be
able to accomplish his purpose, what would be the case about the
destroying of the white people?—A. There is no doubt about these
things, as the miracle performer or the father is going to do just
as what he said he would do.
Q. What other object could you come to by which you are led to
believe that there is such a new messiah on earth at present?—A.
The ghost dancers are fainted whenever the dance goes on.
Q. Do you believe that they are really fainted?—A. Yes.
Q. What makes you believe that the dancers have really fainted?—A.
Because when they wake or come back to their senses they sometimes
bring back some news from the unknown world, and some little
trinkets, such as buffalo tail, buffalo meat, etc.
Q. What did the fainted ones see when they get fainted?—A. They
visited the happy hunting ground, the camps, multitudes of people,
and a great many strange people.
Q. What did the ghost or the strange people tell the fainted one
or ones?—A. When the fainted one goes to the camp, he is welcomed
by the relatives of the visitor (the fainted one), and he is also
invited to several feasts.
Q. Were the people at Rosebud agency anxiously waiting or expecting
to see all of their dead relatives who have died several years
ago?—A. Yes.
Q. We will have a great many older folks when all the dead people
come back, would we not?—A. The visitors all say that there is not
a single old man nor woman in the other world—all changed to young.
Q. Are we going to die when the dead ones come back?—A. No; we will
be just the same as we are today.
Q. Did the visitor say that there is any white men in the other
world?—A. No; no white people.
Q. If there is no white people in the other world, where did they
get their provisions and clothing?—A. In the other world, the
messenger tells us that they have depended altogether for their
food on the flesh of buffalo and other wild game; also, they were
all clad in skins of wild animals.
Q. Did the Rosebud agency Indians believe the new messiah, or the
son of the Great Spirit?—A. Yes.
Q. How do they show that they have a belief in the new messiah?—A.
They show themselves by praying to the father by looking up to
heaven, and call him “father,” just the same as you would in a
church.
Q. Have you ever been in a church?—A. No.
Q. Do you faithfully believe in the new messiah?—A. I did not in
the first place, but as I became more acquainted with the doctrines
of the new messiah that I really believe in him.
Q. How many people at Rosebud, in your opinion, believe this new
messiah?—A. Nearly every one.
Q. Did you not the Rosebud people prepare to attack the white
people this summer? While I was at Pine Ridge agency this summer
the Oglalla Sioux Indians say they will resist against the
government if the latter should try to put a stop to the messiah
question. Did your folks at Rosebud say the same thing?—A. Yes.
Q. Are they still preparing and thinking to attack the white people
should the government send our soldiers with orders to put a stop
to your new business of the messiah?—A. I do not know, but I think
that the Wojaji band at Rosebud agency will do some harm at any
time.
Q. You do not mean to say that the Rosebud Indians will try and
cause an outbreak?—A. That seems to be the case.
Q. You said something about the “son of the Great Spirit,” or “the
father.” What do you mean by the son of the Great Spirit?—A. This
father, as he is called, said himself that he is the son of the
Great Spirit.
Q. Have you talked to or with any Indian at White Swan about
the new messiah, his laws and doctrines, or have you referred
this to anyone while there?—A. I have told a few of them. I did
not voluntarily express my wish for them to know and follow the
doctrines of the new messiah.
Q. Yes, but you have explained the matter to the Indians, did you
not?—A. Yes, I have.
Q. Do the Yankton Indians at White Swan believe in your teaching of
the new messiah?—A. I did not intend to teach them, but as I have
been questioned on the subject, that I have said something about it.
Q. Did any of them believe in you?—A. Some have already believed
it, and some of them did not believe it.
Q. Those that have believed in you must be better men than the
others, are they not?—A. I do not know.
Q. Do you intend to introduce the doctrines of the new messiah from
Rosebud to this agency as a missionary of the gospel?—A. No, I did
not.
Q. What brings you here, then?—A. I have some relatives here that I
wanted to see, and this was the reason why I came here.
Q. Where does this new messiah question originate? I mean from the
first start of it.—A. This has originated in White mountains.
Q. Where is this White mountain?—A. Close to the big Rocky
mountains, near the country that belong to the Mexicans.
Q. Do you think that there will be a trouble in the west by next
spring?—A. Yes.
Q. What makes you think so?—A. Because that is what I have heard
people talk of.
This is all that I have questioned Kuwapi on the subject of the new
messiah.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
+William T. Selwyn+.
+Chapter XI+
THE GHOST DANCE WEST OF THE ROCKIES
The first Ghost dance on Walker Lake reservation took place in January,
1889, about a mile above the railroad bridge near the agency. Wovoka’s
preaching had already been attracting general attention among his own
people for some months. It is said that six Apache attended this first
dance, but the statement is improbable, as this would imply that they
had made a journey of 600 miles through a desert country to see a man
as yet unknown outside of his own tribe. From this time, however,
his fame went abroad, and another large dance in the same vicinity
soon after was attended by a number of Ute from Utah. The Ute are
neighbors of the Paiute on the east, as the Bannock are on the north,
and these tribes were naturally the first to hear of the new prophet
and to send delegates to attend the dance. The doctrine spread almost
simultaneously to all the scattered bands of Paiute in Nevada, Oregon,
and adjacent sections.
In its essential features the Ghost dance among the Paiute as conducted
by the messiah himself was practically the same as among the majority
of the prairie tribes, as will later be described. The Sioux, Kiowa,
and perhaps some other tribes, however, danced around a tree or pole
set up in the center of the ring, differing in this respect from the
Paiute, as well as from the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Caddo, and others. No
fire was allowed within the ring by any of the prairie tribes among
whom the subject was investigated, but among the Paiute it seems
that fires were built either within the circle or close to it. When
I visited the messiah in January, 1892, deep snow was on the ground,
which had caused the temporary suspension of dancing, so that I had no
opportunity of seeing the performance there for myself. I saw, however,
the place cleared for the dance ground—the same spot where the large
delegation from Oklahoma had attended the dance the preceding summer—at
the upper end of Mason valley. A large circular space had been cleared
of sagebrush and leveled over, and around the circumference were the
remains of the low round structures of willow branches which had
sheltered those in attendance. At one side, within the circle, was a
larger structure of branches, where the messiah gave audience to the
delegates from distant tribes, and, according to their statements,
showed them the glories of the spirit world through the medium of
hypnotic trances. The Paiute always dance five nights, or perhaps more
properly four nights and the morning of the fifth day, as enjoined,
by the messiah on the visiting delegates, ending the performance with
a general shaking and waving of blankets, as among the prairie tribes,
after which all go down and bathe in the nearest stream. The shaking
of the blankets dispels all evil influences and drives sickness and
disease away from the dancers. There is no previous consecration of the
ground, as among the Arapaho, and no preliminary sweat bath, as among
the Sioux. The sweat bath seems to be unknown to the Paiute, who are
preeminently a dirty people, and I saw no trace of sweat-house frames
at any of their camps. Nakash, the Arapaho who visited the messiah in
1889 and first brought the dance to the eastern tribes, confirmed the
statements of the Paiute and ranchmen that there were no trances in the
Paiute Ghost dance.
Besides the dance ground in Mason valley, where the messiah himself
generally presided, there were several others on Walker River
reservation, although, if we are to believe the agent, no Ghost dances
were ever held on either reservation.
The following extract from Porcupine’s account of his visit to the
messiah in the fall of 1889 (see page 793) gives some idea of the
Paiute Ghost dance and throws light on the cataleptic peculiarities of
the messiah:
I went to the agency at Walker lake, and they told us Christ would
be there in two days. At the end of two days, on the third morning,
hundreds of people gathered at this place. They cleared off a place
near the agency in the form of a circus ring and we all gathered
there. This space was perfectly cleared of grass, etc. We waited
there till late in the evening, anxious to see Christ. Just before
sundown I saw a great many people, mostly Indians, coming dressed
in white men’s clothes. The Christ was with them. They all formed
in this ring in a circle around him. They put up sheets all around
the circle, as they had no tents. Just after dark some of the
Indians told me that the Christ (father) was arrived. I looked
around to find him, and finally saw him sitting on one side of the
ring. They all started toward him to see him. They made a big fire
to throw light on him. I never looked around, but went forward,
and when I saw him I bent my head.... He sat there a long time and
nobody went up to speak to him. He sat with his head bowed all the
time. After awhile he rose and said he was very glad to see his
children. “I have sent for you and am glad to see you. I am going
to talk to you after awhile about your relatives who are dead and
gone. My children, I want you to listen to all I have to say to
you. I will teach you, too, how to dance a dance, and I want you to
dance it. Get ready for your dance, and then when the dance is over
I will talk to you.” He was dressed in a white coat with stripes.
The rest of his dress was a white man’s, except that he had on a
pair of moccasins. Then he commenced our dance, everybody joining
in, the Christ singing while we danced. We danced till late in the
night; then he told us we had danced enough.
The next morning after breakfast was over, we went into the circle
and spread canvas over it on the ground, the Christ standing in
the midst of us. He told us he was going away that day, but would
be back the next morning and talk to us.... He had no beard or
whiskers, but very heavy eyebrows. He was a good-looking man. We
were crowded up very close. We had been told that nobody was to
talk, and that even if we whispered the Christ would know it.... He
would talk to us all day.
That evening we all assembled again to see him depart. When we were
assembled he began to sing, and he commenced to tremble all over
violently for a while and then sat down. We danced all that night,
the Christ lying down beside us apparently dead.
The next morning when we went to eat breakfast, the Christ was with
us. After breakfast four heralds went around and called out that
the Christ was back with us and wanted to talk with us. The circle
was prepared again. The people assembled, and Christ came among us
and sat down. (_G. D., 9._)
We come now to the other tribes bordering on the Paiute. First in order
are the Washo, a small band dwelling on the slopes of the sierras in
the neighborhood of Carson, Nevada, and speaking a peculiar language
of unknown affinity. They are completely under the domination of the
Paiute. They had no separate dance, but joined in with the nearest
camps of Paiute and sang the same songs. Occupying practically the same
territory as the Paiute, they were among the first to receive the new
doctrine.
Farther to the south, in California, about Bridgeport and Mono lake
and extending across to the westward slope of the sierras, are several
small Shoshonean bands closely akin to the Paiute and known locally as
the “Diggers.” The Paiute state that bands of these Indians frequently
came up and participated in the dance on the reservation. They
undoubtedly had their own dances at home also.
According to the statement of the agent in charge of the Mission
Indians in southern California in 1891, the doctrine reached them also,
and the medicine-men of Potrero began to prophesy the destruction of
the whites and the return of Indian supremacy. Few believed their
predictions, however, until rumors brought the news of the overflow of
Colorado river and the birth of “Salton sea” in the summer of 1891.
Never doubting that the great change was near at hand, the frightened
Indians fled to the mountains to await developments, but after having
gone hungry for several days the millennial dawn seemed still as far
away as ever, and they returned to their homes with disappointment in
their hearts. Although the agent mentions specifically only the Indians
of Potrero, there can be no doubt that the inhabitants of the other
Mission rancherias in the vicinity were also affected, and we are thus
enabled to fix the boundary of the messiah excitement in this direction
at the Pacific ocean. (_Comr., 27._)
In northern California the new doctrine was taken up late in 1890
by the Pit River Indians, a group of tribes constituting a distinct
linguistic stock and scattered throughout the whole basin of Pit river,
from Goose lake to the Sacramento, which may have formed the boundary
of the Ghost-dance movement in this direction. (_A. G. O., 7._) As a
number of these Indians are living also on Round Valley reservation in
California, it is possible that the doctrine may have reached there
also. Having obtained the dance ritual directly from the Paiute, their
neighbors on the east, the ceremony and belief were probably the same
with both tribes.
So far as can be learned from the reports of agents, and from the
statement of Wovoka himself, the dance was never taken up by the
Indians of Hoopa Valley reservation in California; of Klamath, Siletz,
Grande Ronde, or Umatilla reservations in Oregon; by any of the tribes
in Washington; by those of Lapwai or Cœur d’Alêne reservations in
Idaho; or on Jocko reservation in Montana. Wovoka stated that he had
been visited by delegates from Warmspring agency, in Oregon, who also
had taken part in the dance, but these may have been some of the Paiute
living on that reservation. The small band of Paiute living with the
Klamath probably also attended the dance at some time.[8]
A single Nez Percé visited the messiah, but the visit had no effect
on his tribe at home. In a general way it may be stated that the
doctrine of the Ghost dance was never taken up by any tribes of the
Salishan or Shahaptian stocks, occupying practically the whole of the
great Columbia basin. This is probably due to the fact that the more
important of these tribes have been for a long time under the influence
of Catholic or other Christian missionaries, while most of the others
are adherents of the Smohalla or the Shaker doctrine.
Of the tribes southward from the Paiute, according to the best
information obtainable, the Ghost dance never reached the Yuma, Pima,
Papago, Maricopa, or any of the Apache bands in Arizona or New Mexico,
neither did it affect any of the Pueblo tribes except the Taos, who
performed the dance merely as a pastime. As before stated, it is said
that six Apache attended the first large dance at Walker lake in 1889.
This seems improbable, but if true it produced no effect on any part
of the tribe at large. Later on the Jicarilla Apache, in northern New
Mexico, may have heard of it through the southern Ute, but, so far as
is known officially, neither of these tribes ever engaged in the dance.
The agent of the Jicarilla states that the tribe knew nothing of the
doctrine until informed of it by himself. (_G. D., 10._) It seems never
to have been taken up by the Mescalero Apache in southern New Mexico,
although they are in the habit of making frequent visits to the Kiowa,
Comanche, Apache, and other Ghost-dancing tribes of Oklahoma. The agent
of the Mohave states officially that these Indians knew nothing about
it, but this must be a mistake, as there is constant communication
between the Mohave and the southern Paiute, and, according to Wovoka’s
statement, Mohave delegates attended the dance in 1890, while the 700
Walapai and Chemehuevi associated with the Mohave are known to have
been devoted adherents of the doctrine.
The dance was taken up nearly simultaneously by the Bannock, Shoshoni,
Gosiute, and Ute in the early part of 1889. All these tribes are
neighbors (on the east) of the Paiute and closely cognate to them,
the Bannock particularly having only a slight dialectal difference of
language, so that communication between them is an easy matter. The
Bannock are chiefly on Fort Hall and Lemhi reservations in Idaho.
The Shoshoni are on the Western Shoshone (Duck Valley) reservation
in Nevada, on Fort Hall and Lemhi reservations in Idaho, and on Wind
River reservation in Wyoming. The Ute are on Uintah and Uncompahgre
reservations in Utah, and on the Southern Ute reservation in Colorado.
There are also a considerable number of Bannock and Shoshoni not on
reservations. The Ute of Utah sent delegates to the messiah soon after
the first Ghost dance in January, 1889, but it is doubtful if the
southern Ute in Colorado were engaged in the dance. Although aware of
the doctrine, they ridiculed the idea of the dead returning to earth.
(_G. D., 11._)
In regard to the dance among the Shoshoni and Paiute on the Western
Shoshoni reservation, in Nevada and Idaho, their agent writes, under
date of November 8, 1890:
The Indians of this reservation and vicinity have just concluded
their second medicine dance, the previous one having taken place
in August last. They are looking for the coming of the Indian
Christ, the resurrection of the dead Indians, and the consequent
supremacy of the Indian race. Fully one thousand people took part
in the dance. While the best of order prevailed, the excitement was
very great as morning approached. When the dancers were worn out
mentally and physically, the medicine-men would shout that they
could see the faces of departed friends and relatives moving about
the circle. No pen can paint the picture of wild excitement that
ensued. All shouted in a chorus, Christ has come, and then danced
and sung until they fell in a confused and exhausted mass on the
ground.... I apprehend no trouble beyond the loss of time and the
general demoralizing effect of these large gatherings of people.
Several of the leading men have gone to Walker lake to confer with
a man who calls himself Christ. Others have gone to Fort Hall to
meet Indians from Montana and Dakota, to get the news from that
section. In fact, the astonishing part of the business is the fact
that all the Indians in the country seem to possess practically the
same ideas and expect about the same result. (_G. D., 12._)
On December 6 he writes that another Ghost dance had then been in
progress for six days, and that the Indians had announced their
intention to dance one week in each month until the grass grew, at
which time the medicine-men had told them the messiah would come,
bringing with him all their dead friends. (_G. D., 13._) This dance,
however, was attended by a much smaller number of Indians, and skeptics
had already arisen among them to scoff at the new believers. The leaven
was working, and only a little shrewd diplomacy was needed to turn the
religious scale, as is shown by an extract from a third letter, dated
January 10, 1891, from which it would seem that Agent Plumb is a man of
practical common sense, as likewise that Esau was not the only one who
would sell his birthright for a mess of pottage: