quietly on account of the persistent manner in which he was
followed about. All sorts of people wanted to touch him, men
and women would come in, rub their hands on him, and cry, which
demonstration he received with a patient fortitude that was rather
ludicrous at times. While he by no means told us everything he
knew, it was easy to believe that he was not the rank impostor
that I had before considered him. He makes no demands for presents
while at these camps. This trip entailed a ride of 200 miles in
the winter season, at the request of the Wichitas, for which I
understand they paid him $50 before starting, but everything that
was given him while at this camp was a voluntary gift, prompted
entirely by the good wishes of the giver. He took but little
property away when he left, and I saw but one horse that I thought
he had not brought down with him.
[Illustration: PL. CIV
ARAPAHO GHOST SHIRT—REVERSE]
Upon being asked concerning his religion, he said that all I had
heard must not be attributed to him, as some of it was false; that
he does not believe that he saw the veritable “Jesus” alive in
the north, but he did see a man there whom “Jesus” had helped or
inspired. This person told him that if he persevered in the dance
it would cause sickness and death to disappear. He avoided some
of the questions about the coming of the buffalo, etc., and under
the circumstances it was not possible to draw him out further, and
the subject of religion was then dropped, with the intention of
taking it up at a more favorable time, but this time never came. A
great many of the doings seen at these dances are the afterthoughts
of all kinds of people. I have seen some of them arise and have
watched their growth. These are not the teachings of Sitting Bull,
although he refrains from interfering with them through policy. He
took no part in the humbuggery going on, but danced and sang like
the humblest individual there. These things, taken in connection
with Äpiatañ’s letter, would make it seem that Sitting Bull has
been a dupe himself partly, and there is a possibility that he is
largely sincere in his teachings. There is this to be said in his
favor, that 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. For this
he is entitled to no little credit. (_G. D., 54._)
He made no claim to be a regular medicine-man, and so far as known
never went into a trance himself. Since the failure of his predictions,
especially with regard to the recovery of the ceded reservation, he
has fallen from his high estate. Truth compels us also to state that,
in spite of his apostolic character, he is about as uncertain in his
movements as the average Indian.
After Sitting Bull, the principal leader of the Ghost dance among the
southern Arapaho is Wa′tän-ga′a or Black Coyote, from whom the town of
Watonga, in Canadian county, derives its name. Black Coyote is a man of
considerable importance both in his tribe and in his own estimation,
and aspires to be a leader in anything that concerns his people. With
a natural predisposition to religions things, it is the dream of his
life to be a great priest and medicine-man. At the same time he keeps a
sharp lookout for his temporal affairs, and has managed to accumulate
considerable property in wagons and livestock, including three wives.
Although still a young man, being but little more than 40 years of age,
he has had his share of the world’s honors, being not only a leader
in the Ghost dance and other Indian ceremonies, tribal delegate to
Washington, and captain of the Indian police, but also, in his new
character of an American citizen, deputy sheriff of Canadian county.
He is a good-natured fellow, and vain of his possessions and titles,
but at the same time thoroughly loyal and reliable in the discharge of
his duties, and always ready to execute his orders at whatever personal
risk. His priestly ambition led him to make the journey to the north,
in which he brought back the first songs of the Ghost dance, and thus
became a leader, and a year later he headed a delegation from Oklahoma
to the messiah of Walker lake. He has repeatedly asked me to get for
him a permanent license from the government to enable him to visit the
various reservations at will as a general evangel of Indian medicine
and ceremony. Black Coyote in full uniform, with official badge, a
Harrison medal, and an immense police overcoat, which he procured in
Washington, and riding with his three wives in his own double-seated
coach, is a spectacle magnificent and impressive. Black Coyote in
breechcloth, paint, and feathers, leading the Ghost dance, or sitting
flat on the ground and beating the earth with his hand in excess of
religious fervor, is equally impressive. It was this combination of
vanity of leadership and sense of duty as a government officer that
made him my first and most willing informant on the Ghost dance, and
enabled me through him to do so much with the Arapaho.
In his portrait (plate +CV+) a number of scars will be noticed on his
chest and arms. The full number of these scars is seventy, arranged in
various patterns of lines, circles, crosses, etc., with a long figure
of the sacred pipe on one arm. According to his own statement they were
made in obedience to a dream as a sacrifice to save the lives of his
children. Several of his children had died in rapid succession, and in
accordance with Indian custom he undertook a fast of four days as an
expiation to the overruling spirit. During this time, while lying on
his bed, he heard a voice, somewhat resembling the cry of an owl or the
subdued bark of a dog. The voice told him that if he wished to save his
other children he must cut out seventy pieces of skin and offer them to
the sun. He at once cut out seven pieces, held them out to the sun and
prayed, and then buried them. But the sun was not satisfied, and soon
after he was warned in a vision that the full number of seventy must
be sacrificed if he would save his children. He then did as directed,
cutting out the pieces of skin in the various patterns indicated,
offering each in turn to the sun with a prayer for the health of his
family, and then burying them. Since then there has been no death
in his family. In cutting out the larger pieces, some of which were
several inches long and nearly half an inch wide, the skin was first
lifted up with an awl and then sliced away with a knife. This had to
be done by an assistant, and Black Coyote was particular to show me by
signs, sitting very erect and bracing himself firmly, that he had not
flinched during the process.
As has been stated, the first trances in the southern Ghost dance
occurred at the great dance held near the Cheyenne and Arapaho agency
under the auspices of Sitting Bull in September, 1890. On this occasion
Cheyenne and Arapaho, Caddo, Wichita, Kiowa, and Apache to the number
of perhaps 3,000 assembled, and remained together for about two weeks,
dancing every night until daylight. This was the largest Ghost dance
ever held in the south. After dances had been held for two or three
nights Sitting Bull announced that at the next one he would perform a
great wonder in the sight of all the people, after which they would
be able to make songs for themselves. He said no more, but dismissed
them to their tipis, wondering what this miracle could be. On the
next night he appeared wearing a wide-brim hat with a single eagle
feather, the same hat in which he is generally seen. Nearly all of
the two tribes of Cheyenne and Arapaho were present, and probably 600
or 800 were in the dance circle at one time. Nothing unusual occurred
for several hours until the dancers had gradually worked themselves
up to a high state of excitement, when Sitting Bull stepped into the
circle, and going up close in front of a young Arapaho woman, he began
to make hypnotic passes before her face with the eagle feather. In a
few seconds she became rigid and then fell to the ground unconscious.
Sitting Bull then turned his attention to another and another, and
the same thing happened to each in turn until nearly a hundred were
stretched out on the ground at once. As usual in the trances some
lay thus for a long time, and others recovered sooner, but none were
disturbed, as Sitting Bull told the dancers that these were now
beholding happy visions of the spirit world. When next they came
together those who had been in the trance related their experiences
in the other world, how they had met and talked with their departed
friends and joined in their oldtime amusements. Many of them embodied
their visions in songs, which were sung that night and afterward in the
dance, and from that time the Ghost dance was naturalized in the south
and developed rapidly along new lines. Each succeeding dance resulted
in other visions and new songs, and from time to time other hypnotists
arose, until almost every camp had its own.
[Illustration: PL. CV
BLACK COYOTE]
About this time a commission arrived to treat with the Cheyenne and
Arapaho for the sale of their reservation. The Indians were much
divided in opinion, the great majority opposing any sale whatsoever,
even of their claim in the Cherokee strip, which they believed was
all that the agreement was intended to cover. While the debate was in
progress Left Hand, chief of the Arapaho, went to Sitting Bull and
asked his opinion on the matter. Sitting Bull advised him to sell for
what they could get, as they had need of the money, and in a short time
the messiah would come and restore the land to them. On this advice
Left Hand signed the agreement, in the face of threats from those
opposed to it, and his example was followed by nearly all of his tribe.
This incident shows how thoroughly Sitting Bull and the other Arapaho
believed in the new doctrine. In view of the misery that has come on
these tribes from the sale of their reservation, it is sad to think
that they could have so deceived themselves by false hopes of divine
interposition. A large party of the Cheyenne refused to have anything
to do with the sale or to countenance the transaction by accepting
their share of the purchase money, even after the whites had taken
possession of the lands.
The troubles in the Sioux country now began to attract public
attention, and there was suggestion of military interference. The
newspaper liar has reached an abnormal development in Oklahoma, and
dispatches from Guthrie, El Reno, and Oklahoma City were filled with
vivid accounts of war dances, scalping parties, and imminent outbreaks,
mingled with frantic appeals for troops. A specimen dispatch stated
that a thousand Kickapoo were dancing, whereas in fact the whole tribe
numbers only 325, very few of whom were in any way concerned with the
Ghost dance. Indian Commissioner Morgan was at this time (November,
1890) on a tour of inspection among the western tribes of Oklahoma, and
satisfied himself that all such sensational reports were false, and
that there was no danger to be apprehended from the dance. (_G. D.,
55._) At the same time the War Department commissioned Lieutenant (now
Captain) H. L. Scott, of the Seventh cavalry, then and now stationed at
Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to investigate the meaning of the excitement and
the possibility of an outbreak. Captain Scott was eminently fitted for
the work by his intimate acquaintance with the Indians and his perfect
knowledge of the sign language. In the course of December, 1890, and
January and February, 1891, he visited the various camps of the western
tribes of the territory, attended a number of dances, and talked with
the leaders. His reports on the Ghost dance are most valuable, and
confirmed the War Department in its previous opinion that no danger was
to be apprehended, and that the true policy was one of noninterference.
The dance constantly gathered strength among the Arapaho and Cheyenne,
in spite of the failure of the first prediction, and spread rapidly
to the neighboring tribes, Sitting Bull himself being the high priest
and chief propagandist. The adverse report brought back by Ä′piatañ,
the Kiowa, in the spring of 1891 had no effect outside of his own
tribe. In the early part of that year the Arapaho and Cheyenne sent a
delegation, including one woman, to visit the messiah in Nevada and
bring back the latest news from heaven. They were gone a considerable
time and returned with some of the sacred medicine paint given them by
Wovoka, after having taken part with the Paiute in a Ghost dance under
his leadership at the regular dance ground near Mason valley. Tall
Bull, captain of the Cheyenne police, was one of this party, and Arnold
Woolworth, a Carlisle student, acted as interpreter.
In August, 1891, another delegation went out, consisting of Black
Coyote, Little Raven, Red Wolf, Grant Left Hand, and Casper Edson
(Arapaho), and Black Sharp Nose and Standing Bull (Cheyenne). Grant
Left Hand and Casper Edson, Carlisle students, acted as interpreters,
wrote down the words of the messiah, and delivered his message to their
people on their return. This message, as written down at the time by
Casper Edson, is given in the preceding chapter on the doctrine of
the Ghost dance. In accord with the messiah’s instructions the two
tribes now changed their manner of dancing from frequent small dances
at each camp at irregular intervals to larger dances participated in
by several camps together at regular intervals of six weeks, each
dance continuing for five consecutive days. The Caddo and Wichita also
adopted the new rule in agreement with instructions brought back by
a delegation sent out about the same time. The change was opposed by
Sitting Bull and some others, but the delegates, having the authority
of the messiah for the innovation, succeeded in carrying their point,
and thereafter assumed a leadership on equal terms with Sitting Bull,
who from that time lost much of his interest in the dance. They were
gone about two weeks, and brought back with them a quantity of the
sacred paint and a large number of magpie feathers, the kind commonly
worn by the Paiute in the Ghost dance. This started a demand for
magpie feathers, and the shrewd traders soon turned the fact to their
own advantage by importing selected crow feathers, which they sold to
the unsuspecting Indians for the genuine article at the rate of two
feathers for a quarter. While in the land of the Paiute the delegates
took part in the Ghost dance at Mason valley, and were thrown into a
trance by Wovoka, as related in chapter +IX+.
The Ghost dance practically superseded all other dances among the
Cheyenne and Arapaho, and constantly developed new features, notably
the auxiliary “crow dance,” which was organized by Grant Left Hand.
This was claimed as a dance seen in a trance vision of the spirit
world, but is really only a modification of the “Omaha dance,” common
to the northern prairie tribes. The opening of the reservation and
the influx of the whites served to intensify the religious fervor of
the Indians, who were now more than ever made to feel their dependent
and helpless condition. It was impossible, however, that the intense
mental strain could endure forever, and after the failure of the
predictions on the appointed dates the wild excitement gradually cooled
and crystallized into a fixed but tranquil expectation of ultimate
happiness under the old conditions in another world.
In October, 1892, another delegation, consisting of Sitting Bull and
his wife, with Washee and two other Arapaho, and Edward Guerrier, a
half-blood Cheyenne, visited the messiah. They brought back a very
discouraging report, which was in substance that the messiah was tired
of so many visitors and wanted them to go home and tell their tribes
to stop dancing. Although the Indians generally refused to accept the
message as genuine, the effect was naturally depressing. A year later,
in October, 1893, Black Coyote and several others dictated through me a
letter to Wovoka, asking him to send them some of the sacred paint or
anything else that would make them think of him, with “some good words
to help us and our children,” and requesting to know whether he had
been truthfully reported by the delegates of the preceding year. To one
who knows these people their simple religious faith is too touching to
be a subject of amusement.
* * * * *
The messiah doctrine never gained many converts among the Comanche,
excepting those of the Penätĕ′ka division and a few others living
on the Little Washita and other streams on the northern boundary of
the reservation, adjoining the tribes most interested in the Ghost
dance. These Comanche held a few Ghost dances and made a few songs,
but the body of the tribe would have nothing to do with it. This lack
of interest was due partly to the general skeptical temperament of the
Comanche, evinced in their carelessness in regard to ceremonial forms,
and partly to their tribal pride, which forbade their following after
the strange gods of another people, as they considered their own mescal
rite sufficient to all their needs. Quanah Parker, their head chief, a
shrewd half-blood, opposed the new doctrine and prevented its spread
among his tribe.
* * * * *
The Ghost dance was brought to the Pawnee, Ponca, Oto, Missouri, Kansa,
Iowa, Osage, and other tribes in central Oklahoma by delegates from
the Arapaho and Cheyenne in the west. The doctrine made slow progress
for some time, but by February, 1892, the majority of the Pawnee were
dancing in confident expectation of the speedy coming of the messiah
and the buffalo. Of all these tribes the Pawnee took most interest in
the new doctrine, becoming as much devoted to the Ghost dance as the
Arapaho themselves. The leader among the Pawnee was Frank White, and
among the Oto was Buffalo Black. The agent in charge took stringent
measures against the dance, and had the Oto prophet arrested and
confined in the Wichita jail, threatening at the same time to cut
off supplies from the tribe. As the confederated Oto and Missouri
number only 362 in all, they were easily brought into subjection, and
the dance was abandoned. The same method was pursued with the Pawnee
prophet and his people, but as they are stronger in number than the
Oto, they were proportionately harder to deal with, but the final
result was the same. (_Comr., 43._) The Osage gave but little heed
to the story, perhaps from the fact that, as they are the wealthiest
tribe in the country, they feel no such urgent need of a redeemer as
their less fortunate brethren. The Sauk, Fox, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi
engaged in the dance only to a limited extent, for the reason that a
number of the natives of these tribes, particularly the Potawatomi,
are under Catholic influences, while most of the others adhere to the
doctrine of Känakûk, the Potawatomi prophet mentioned in chapter +V+.
* * * * *
The Ghost dance doctrine was communicated directly to the Caddo,
Wichita, Kichai, Delaware, and Kiowa by the Arapaho and Cheyenne,
their neighbors on the north. We shall speak now of the tribes first
mentioned, leaving the Kiowa until the last. The Caddo, Wichita,
Kichai, and several remnants of cognate tribes, with a small band
of the Delaware, numbering in all about a thousand Indians, occupy
a reservation between the Washita and the South Canadian in western
Oklahoma, having the Arapaho and Cheyenne on the north and west, the
Kiowa on the south, and the whites of Oklahoma and the Chickasaw nation
on the east. The Caddo are the leading tribe, numbering more than half
of the whole body. They were the first of these to take up the dance,
and have manifested the greatest interest in it from the time it was
introduced among them.
A number of Caddo first attended the great Ghost dance held by the
Cheyenne and Arapaho on the South Canadian in the fall of 1890 on the
occasion when Sitting Bull came down from the north and inaugurated
the trances. On returning to their homes they started the Ghost dance,
which they kept up, singing the Arapaho songs as they had heard them
on the Canadian, until Sitting Bull came down about December, 1890, to
give them further instruction in the doctrine and to “give the feather”
to the seven persons selected to lead the ceremony. From this time
the Caddo had songs and trances of their own, the chief priest and
hypnotist of the dance being Nĭshkû′ntŭ, “Moon Head,” or John Wilson.
The Caddo and the Delaware usually danced together on Boggy Creek.
The Wichita and the Kichai, who took the doctrine from the Caddo,
usually danced together on Sugar creek about 15 miles from the agency
at Anadarko, but manifested less interest in the matter until Sitting
Bull came down about the beginning of February, 1891, and “gave the
feather” to the leaders. From this time all these tribes went into the
dance heart and soul, on some occasions dancing for days and nights
together from the middle of the afternoon until the sun was well up in
the morning. The usual custom was to continue until about midnight.
Cold weather had no deterrent effect, and they kept up the dance in the
snow, the trance subjects sometimes lying unconscious in the snow for
half an hour at a time. At this time it was confidently expected that
the great change would occur in the spring, and as the time drew near
the excitement became most intense. The return of the Kiowa delegate,
Ä′piatañ, in the middle of February, 1891, with a report adverse to the
messiah, produced no effect on the Caddo and their confederates, who
refused to put any faith in his statements, claiming that he had not
seen the real messiah or else had been bribed by the whites to make a
false report.
About the time that Black Coyote and the others went out to see the
messiah in the fall of 1891 the Caddo and their confederates sent out
a delegation for the same purpose. The delegates were Billy Wilson and
Squirrel (Caddo), Nashtowi and Lawrie Tatum (Wichita), and Jack Harry
(Delaware). Tatum was a schoolboy and acted as interpreter for the
party. Like the Arapaho they came back impressed with reverence for the
messiah, and at once changed the time and method of the dancing, in
accordance with his instructions, to periodical dances at intervals of
six weeks, continuing for five consecutive days, the dance on the last
night being kept up until daylight, when all the participants went down
to bathe in the stream and then dispersed to their homes. They were
dancing in this fashion when last visited in the fall of 1893.
The principal leader of the Ghost dance among the Caddo is Nĭshkû′ntŭ,
“Moon Head,” known to the whites as John Wilson. Although considered a
Caddo, and speaking only that language, he is very much of a mixture,
being half Delaware, one-fourth Caddo, and one-fourth French. One
of his grandfathers was a Frenchman. As the Caddo lived originally
in Louisiana, there is a considerable mixture of French blood among
them, which manifests itself in his case in a fairly heavy beard. He
is about 50 years of age, rather tall and well built, and wears his
hair at full length flowing loosely over his shoulders. With a good
head and strong, intelligent features, he presents the appearance of
a natural leader. He is also prominent in the mescal rite, which has
recently come to his tribe from the Kiowa and Comanche. He was one
of the first Caddo to go into a trance, the occasion being the great
Ghost dance held by the Arapaho and Cheyenne near Darlington agency,
at which Sitting Bull presided, in the fall of 1890. On his return to
consciousness he had wonderful things to tell of his experiences in the
spirit world, composed a new song, and from that time became the high
priest of the Caddo dance. Since then his trances have been frequent,
both in and out of the Ghost dance, and in addition to his leadership
in this connection he assumes the occult powers and authority of a
great medicine-man, all the powers claimed by him being freely conceded
by his people.
When Captain Scott was investigating the Ghost dance among the Caddo
and other tribes of that section, at the period of greatest excitement,
in the winter of 1890–91, he met Wilson, of whom he has this to say: