messiah in the fall of 1889 returned in March, 1890. Short Bull, on
Rosebud reservation, at once began to preach to his people the doctrine
and advent of the messiah, but desisted on being warned to stop by
Agent Wright. (_Comr., 29._) The strange hope had taken hold of the
Indians however, and the infection rapidly, although quietly, spread
among all the wilder portion of the tribe. The first warning of trouble
ahead came in the shape of a letter addressed to Secretary Noble by
Charles L. Hyde, a citizen of Pierre, South Dakota, under date of May
29, 1890, in which he stated that he had trustworthy information that
the Sioux, or a part of them, were secretly planning an outbreak in
the near future. His informant appears to have been a young half-blood
from Pine Ridge, who was at that time attending school in Pierre, and
was in correspondence with his Indian relatives at home. (_G. D.,
20._) The letter was referred to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
who forwarded a copy of it to the agents of the several western Sioux
reservations, with a request for further information. They promptly and
unanimously replied that there was no ground for apprehension, that the
Indians were peaceably disposed, and that there was no undue excitement
beyond that occasioned by the rumors of a messiah in the west. This
excitement they thought would continue to increase as the predicted
time drew near, and would die a natural death when the prophecy failed
of its fulfillment.
All the agents are positive in the opinion that at this time, about
the middle of June, 1890, the Indians had no hostile intentions.
McLaughlin, the veteran agent of Standing Rock, who probably knew
the Sioux better than any other white man having official relations
with them, states that among his people there was nothing in word or
action to justify such a suspicion, and that he did not believe such
an imprudent step was seriously contemplated by any of the tribe, and
concludes by saying that he has every confidence in the good intentions
of the Sioux as a people, that they would not be the aggressors in any
hostile act, and that if justice were only done them no uneasiness
need be entertained. He complains, however, of the evil influence
exercised by Sitting Bull and a few other malcontents attached to
his agency and advises their removal from among the Indians. Wright,
at Rosebud, also advised the removal of Crow Dog and some other
mischief-makers. These men had led the opposition to the late treaty
and to every advance of civilization, by which they felt their former
influence undermined, and between them and the progressive party there
was uncompromising hostility. (_G. D., 21._) Although the trouble did
come six months later, it is sufficiently evident that at this time
there was no outbreak intended. Certain it is that the Sioux as a
tribe—25,000 strong—did not engage in the outbreak, and in view of all
the circumstances it will hardly be claimed that they were deliberate
aggressors.
[Illustration: +Fig. 72+—A Sioux warrior—Weasel Bear.]
The first mutterings of dissatisfaction came from Pine Ridge. This is
the largest of the Sioux agencies, having 6,000 of the wildest and most
warlike of the tribe, largely under the influence of the celebrated
chief Red Cloud, the twin spirit of Sitting Bull in wily disposition
and hatred of the white man. It is the most remote from the white
settlements along Missouri river, and joins Rosebud reservation, with
4,000 more Sioux of about the same condition and temper, thus making a
compact body of 10,000 of the most warlike Indians of the plains. Above
all other reservations in the United States this was the very one where
there was most urgent and obvious necessity for efficient and vigorous
administration and for prompt and honest fulfillment of pledges.
From 1879 to 1886 this agency was in charge of Dr V. T. McGillycuddy,
a man of unflinching courage, determined will, and splendid executive
ability. Taking charge of these Indians when they had come in fresh
from the warpath, he managed them, as he himself says, for seven years
without the presence of a soldier on the reservation, and with none
nearer than 60 miles. Relying on the Indians themselves, he introduced
the principle of home rule by organizing a force of 50 Indian police,
drilled in regular cavalry and infantry tactics. With these he was able
to thwart all the mischievous schemes of Red Cloud, maintain authority,
and start the Indians well on the road to civilization.
Then came a political change of administration, with a resulting train
of changes all through the service. Out of 58 Indian agents more than
50 were removed and new men appointed. Some of these appointments were
for the better, but the general result was bad, owing mainly to the
inexperience of the new officials. In the meantime commissioners were
negotiating with the Sioux for a further cession of lands, which was
finally effected in spite of the opposition of a large part of the
tribe, especially of those under the influence of Red Cloud and Sitting
Bull at Pine Ridge and Standing Rock. Then rations were reduced and
the Indians began to suffer and, consequently, to be restless, their
unrest being intensified but not caused by the rumors of a messiah soon
to appear to restore the former conditions. According to the official
statement of General Brooke, the beef issue at Pine Ridge was reduced
from 8,125,000 pounds in 1886 to 4,000,000 pounds in 1889, a reduction
of more than one-half in three years. (_War, 5._) In April, 1890,
Gallagher, the agent then in charge, informed the Department that the
monthly beef issue was only 205,000 pounds, whereas the treaty called
for 470,400. He was informed that it was better to issue half rations
all the time than to issue three-fourths or full rations for two months
and none for the rest of the year. From other sources also the warning
now came to the Department that the Sioux of Pine Ridge were becoming
restless from hunger. (_G. D., 22._) Repeated representations failed to
bring more beef, and at last in the summer of 1890 the Indians at Pine
Ridge made the first actual demonstration by refusing to accept the
deficient issue and making threats against the agent. They were finally
persuaded to take the beef, but Agent Gallagher, finding that the
dissatisfaction was growing and apparently without remedy, resigned,
and his successor took charge in the beginning of October, 1890.
[Illustration: +Fig. 73+—Red Cloud.]
By this time the Ghost dance was in full progress among the western
Sioux and was rapidly spreading throughout the tribe. The principal
dance ground on Pine Ridge reservation was at No Water’s camp on White
Clay creek, about 20 miles from the agency. At a great Ghost dance
held here about the middle of June the ghost shirts were worn probably
for the first time. (_Comr., 30._) In August about 2,000 Indians had
assembled for a dance at the same rendezvous, when Agent Gallagher
sent out several police with orders to the dancers to quit and go
home. They refused to do so, and the agent himself went out with more
police to enforce the order. On repeating his demand a number of the
warriors leveled their guns toward him and the police, and told him
that they were ready to defend their religion with their lives. Under
the circumstances the agent, although known to be a brave man, deemed
it best to withdraw and the dance went on. (_Comr., 31; G. D., 23._)
On Rosebud reservation, which adjoins Pine Ridge on the east and is
occupied by the turbulent and warlike Brulés, the warning given to
Short Bull had such an effect that there was no open manifestation
until September, when the Ghost dance was inaugurated at the various
camps under the leadership of Short Bull the medicine-man, Crow Dog,
and Two Strike. Agent Wright, then in charge, went out to the Indians
and told them the dance must be stopped, which was accordingly done.
He expressly states that no violence was contemplated by the Indians,
and that no arms were carried in the dance, but that he forbade it on
account of its physical and mental effect on the participants and its
tendency to draw them from their homes. In some way a rumor got among
the Indians at this time that troops had arrived on the reservation
to attack them, and in an incredibly short time every Indian had left
the neighborhood of the agency and was making preparations to meet
the enemy. It was with some difficulty that Agent Wright was able to
convince them that the report was false and persuade them to return to
their homes. Soon afterward circumstances obliged him to be temporarily
absent, leaving affairs in the meantime in charge of a special agent.
The Indians took advantage of his absence to renew the Ghost dance
and soon defied control. The agent states, however, that no Indians
left the agency until the arrival of the troops, when the leaders
immediately departed for Pine Ridge, together with 1,800 of their
followers. (_G. D., 24; Comr., 32._)
On October 9 Kicking Bear of Cheyenne River agency, the chief high
priest of the Ghost dance among the Sioux, went to Standing Rock
by invitation of Sitting Bull and inaugurated the dance on that
reservation at Sitting Bull’s camp on Grand river. The dance had
begun on Cheyenne river about the middle of September, chiefly at the
camps of Hump and Big Foot. On learning of Kicking Bear’s arrival,
Agent McLaughlin sent a force of police, including two officers, to
arrest him and put him off the reservation, but they returned without
executing the order, both officers being in a dazed condition and
fearing the power of Kicking Bear’s “medicine.” Sitting Bull, however,
had promised that his visitors would go back to their own reservation,
which they did a day or two later, but he declared his intention to
continue the dance, as they had received a direct message from the
spirit world through Kicking Bear that they must do so to live. He
promised that he would suspend the dance until he could come and talk
the matter over with the agent, but this promise he failed to keep.
Considering Sitting Bull the leader and instigator of the excitement
on the reservation, McLaughlin again advised his removal, and that of
several other mischief makers, and their confinement in some military
prison at a distance. (_G. D., 25._)
The two centers of excitement were now at Standing Rock reservation,
where Sitting Bull was the open and declared leader, and at Pine Ridge,
where Red Cloud was a firm believer in the new doctrine, although
perhaps not an instigator of direct opposition to authority. At Rosebud
the movement had been smothered for the time by the prompt action of
Agent Wright, as already described. At the first-named reservation
McLaughlin met the emergency with bravery and ability reinforced
by twenty years of experience in dealing with Indians, and, while
recommending the removal of Sitting Bull, expressed confidence in
his own ability to allay the excitement and suppress the dance. At
Pine Ridge, however, where the crisis demanded a man of most positive
character—somebody of the McGillycuddy stamp—Gallagher had resigned and
had been succeeded in October by D. F. Royer, a person described as
“destitute of any of those qualities by which he could justly lay claim
to the position—experience, force of character, courage, and sound
judgment.” (_Welsh, 2._) This appears in every letter and telegram
sent out by him during his short incumbency, and is sufficiently
evidenced in the name by which the Sioux soon came to know him,
Lakota-Kokipa-Koshkala, “Young-man-afraid-of-Indians.” Before he had
been in charge a week, he had so far lost control of his Indians as to
allow a half dozen of them to release and carry off a prisoner named
Little, whom the police had arrested and brought to the agency. On
October 12 he reported that more than half of his 6,000 Indians were
dancing, and that they were entirely beyond the control of the police,
and suggested that it would be necessary to call out the military. (_G.
D., 26._)
About the same time Agent Palmer at Cheyenne River reported to the
Department that Big Foot’s band (afterward engaged at Wounded Knee)
was very much excited over the coming of the messiah, and could not be
kept by the police from dancing. In reply, both agents were instructed
to use every prudent measure to stop the dance and were told that
military assistance would be furnished if immediate need should arise.
(_L. B., 1._) Instructions were also sent to agents in Nevada to warn
the leaders of the dance in that quarter to desist. A few days later
the agent at Cheyenne River had a talk with the dancers, and so far
convinced them of the falsity of their hopes that he was able to report
that the excitement was dying out, but recommended the removal of Hump,
as a leader of the disaffection. (_G. D., 27._)
By the advice of the Department, Royer had consulted General Miles,
at that time passing on his way to the west, as to the necessity for
troops, and, after hearing a full statement, the general expressed
the opinion that the excitement would die out of itself. The next day
the general had a talk with the Indians, who informed him that they
intended to continue the dance. He gave them some good advice and
told them that they must stop. Had the matter rested here until the
words of the commanding officer could have been deliberated in their
minds—for the mental process of an Indian can not well be hurried—all
might have been well. Unfortunately, however, the agent, now thoroughly
frightened, wrote a long letter to the Department on October 30,
stating that the only remedy for the matter was the use of military,
and that about 600 or 700 troops would be necessary. On November 11 he
telegraphed for permission to come to Washington to “explain,” and was
refused. Then came other telegraphic requests, at the rate of one every
day, for the same permission, all of which were refused, with pointed
intimation that the interests of the service required that the agent
should remain at his post of duty. Finally the matter was reported by
the Indian Office to the War Department, and on November 15 Royer was
instructed to report the condition of affairs to the commander of the
nearest military post, Port Robinson, Nebraska. On the same day he had
telegraphed that the Indians were wild and crazy and that at least a
thousand soldiers were needed. The agent at Rosebud also now reported
that his Indians were beyond control by the police. Special agents were
sent to both agencies and confirmed the reports as to the alarming
condition of affairs. The agent at Crow Creek and Lower Brulé agency
reported at the same time that his Indians were under good control and
that the police were sufficient for all purposes. (_G. D., 28; L. B.,
2._)
On the last day of October, Short Bull, one of those who had been to
see the messiah, made an address to a large gathering of Indians near
Pine Ridge, in which he said that as the whites were interfering so
much in the religious affairs of the Indians he would advance the time
for the great change and make it nearer, even within the next month.
He urged them all to gather in one place and prepare for the coming
messiah, and told them they must dance even though troops should
surround them, as the guns of the soldiers would be rendered harmless
and the white race itself would soon be annihilated. (See his speech,
page 788.)
Soon afterward, McLaughlin personally visited Sitting Bull at his
camp on Grand river and attempted to reason with the Indians on the
absurdity of their belief. In reply, Sitting Bull proposed that they
should both go with competent attendants to the country of the messiah
and see and question him for themselves, and rest the truth or falsity
of the new doctrine on the result. The proposition was not accepted.
(_G. D., 29._) There can be no question that the leaders of the Ghost
dance among the Sioux were fully as much deceived as their followers.
As the local agents had declared the situation beyond their control,
the War Department was at last called on and responded. On November 13
the President had directed the Secretary of War to assume a military
responsibility to prevent an outbreak (_G. D., 30_), and on November
17 troops, under command of General John R. Brooke, were ordered to
the front. The general plan of the campaign was under the direction
of General Nelson A. Miles, in command of the military department of
the Missouri. On November 19 the first troops arrived at Pine Ridge
from Fort Robinson, Nebraska, and were speedily reinforced by others.
Within a few days there were at Pine Ridge agency, under immediate
command of General Brooke, eight troops of the Seventh cavalry,
under Colonel Forsyth; a battalion of the Ninth cavalry (colored),
under Major Henry; a battalion of the Fifth artillery, under Captain
Capron, and a company of the Eighth infantry and eight companies of
the Second infantry, under Colonel Wheaton. At Rosebud were two troops
of the Ninth cavalry, with portions of the Eighth and Twenty-first
infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Poland. Between Rosebud and Pine
Ridge were stationed seven companies of the First infantry, under
Colonel Shafter. West and north of Pine Ridge were stationed portions
of the First, Second, and Ninth cavalry, under command of Colonel
Tilford and Lieutenant-Colonel Sanford. Farther west, at Buffalo Gap,
on the railroad, were stationed three troops from the Fifth and Eighth
cavalry, under Captain Wells. Farther north on the railroad, at Rapid
City, was Colonel Carr with six troops of the Sixth cavalry. Along the
south fork of Cheyenne river Lieutenant-Colonel Offley took position
with seven companies of the Seventeenth infantry, and east of him was
stationed Lieutenant-Colonel Sumner with three troops of the Eighth
cavalry, two companies of the Third infantry, and Lieutenant Robinson’s
company of Crow Indian scouts. Small garrisons were also stationed
at Forts Meade, Bennett, and Sully. Most of the force was placed in
position between the Indians now gathering in the Bad Lands, under
Short Bull and Kicking Bear, and the scattered settlements nearest
them. Seven companies of the Seventh infantry, under Colonel Merriam,
were also placed along Cheyenne river to restrain the Indians of
Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations. In a short time there
were nearly 3,000 troops in the field in the Sioux country. General
Miles established his headquarters at Rapid City, South Dakota, close
to the center of disturbance. (_War, 6._) On December 1 the Secretary
of the Interior directed that the agents be instructed to obey and
cooperate with the military officers in all matters looking to the
suppression of an outbreak. (_G. D., 31._)
[Illustration: PL. XCV
MAP
OF THE
COUNTRY EMBRACED IN THE CAMPAIGN
AGAINST THE
SIOUX INDIANS
From Report of the SECRETARY OF WAR for 1891, Vol. 1.
]
Upon the first appearance of the troops a large number of Indians of
Rosebud and Pine Ridge, led by Short Bull, Kicking Bear, and others,
left their homes and fled to the rough broken country known as the
Bad Lands, northwest of White river in South Dakota, on the edge
of Pine Ridge reservation and about 50 miles northwest of the agency.
In their flight they destroyed the houses and other property of the
friendly Indians in their path and compelled many to go with them.
They succeeded also in capturing a large portion of the agency beef
herd. Others rapidly joined them until soon a formidable body of 3,000
Indians had gathered in the Bad Lands, where, protected by the natural
fastnesses and difficulties of the country, their future intentions
became a matter of anxious concern to the settlers and the authorities.
[Illustration: +Fig. 74+—Short Bull.]
From the concurrent testimony of all the witnesses, including Indian
Commissioner Morgan and the Indians themselves, this flight to the
Bad Lands was not properly a hostile movement, but was a stampede
caused by panic at the appearance of the troops. In his official report
Commissioner Morgan says:
When the troops reached Rosebud, about 1,800 Indians—men, women,
and children—stampeded toward Pine Ridge and the Bad Lands,
destroying their own property before leaving and that of others en
route.
After the death of Sitting Bull he says:
Groups of Indians from the different reservations had commenced
concentrating in the Bad Lands, upon or in the vicinity of the
Pine Ridge reservation. Killing of cattle and destruction of other
property by these Indians, almost entirely within the limits of
Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations, occurred, but no signal fires
were built, no warlike demonstrations were made, no violence
was done to any white settlers, nor was there any cohesion or
organization among the Indians themselves. Many of them were
friendly Indians who had never participated in the ghost dance,
but had fled thither from fear of soldiers, in consequence of the
Sitting Bull affair or through the overpersuasion of friends. The
military gradually began to close in around them and they offered
no resistance, and a speedy and quiet capitulation of all was
confidently expected. (_Comr., 33._)
The Sioux nation numbers over 25,000, with between 6,000 and 7,000
warriors. Hardly more than 700 warriors were concerned altogether,
including those of Big Foot’s band and those who fled to the Bad Lands.
None of the Christian Indians took any part in the disturbance.
While it is certain that the movement toward the Bad Lands with the
subsequent events were the result of panic at the appearance of the
troops, it is equally true that the troops were sent only on the
request of the civilian authorities. On this point General Miles
says: “Not until the civil agents had lost control of the Indians
and declared themselves powerless to preserve peace, and the Indians
were in armed hostility and defiance of the civil authorities, was a
single soldier moved from his garrison to suppress the general revolt.”
(_War, 7._) Throughout the whole trouble McGillycuddy at Standing Rock
consistently declared his ability to control his Indians without the
presence of troops.
In accord with instructions from the Indian Office, the several agents
in charge among the Sioux had forwarded lists of disturbers whom it
would be advisable to arrest and remove from among the Indians, using
the military for the purpose if necessary. The agents at the other
reservations sent in all together the names of about fifteen subjects
for removal, while Royer, at Pine Ridge, forwarded as a “conservative
estimate” the names of sixty-four. Short Bull and Kicking Bear being
in the Bad Lands, and Red Cloud being now an old man and too politic
to make much open demonstration, the head and front of the offenders
was Sitting Bull, the irreconcilable; but McLaughlin, within whose
jurisdiction he was, in a letter of November 22, advised that the
arrest be not attempted until later in the season, as at the date of
writing the weather was warm and pleasant—in other words, favorable to
the Indians in case they should make opposition. (_G. D., 32._) The
worst element had withdrawn to the Bad Lands, where they were making
no hostile demonstrations, but were apparently badly frightened and
awaiting developments to know whether to come in and surrender or to
continue to retreat. The dance had generally been discontinued on the
reservations, excepting at Sitting Bull’s camp on Grand river and Big
Foot’s camp on Cheyenne river. The presence of troops had stopped the
dances near the agencies, and the Secretary of the Interior, in order
to allay the dissatisfaction, had ordered that the full rations due
under the treaty should be issued at all the Sioux agencies, which at
the same time were placed under the control of the military. (_G. D.,
33; L. B., 3._) Such were the conditions on the opening of December,
1890. Everything seemed to be quieting down, and it was now deemed
a favorable time to forestall future disturbance by removing the
ringleaders.
[Illustration: +Fig. 75+—Kicking Bear.]