

INDIAN MESSIAH. 



441 



vades every class among these people, that a 

 Messiah will soon appear among them to re- 

 store their lands, which have been acquired by 

 the United States Government in many cases by 

 arbitrary seizure or else by purchase in which 

 the promised compensation was never paid. A 

 belief in a divine interposition in behalf of the 

 aborigines has previously appeared among the 

 Indians. It is said that Elskwatawa, the " proph- 

 et " brother of the great Tecumseh, preached a 

 war of extermination against the whites, and told 

 the story of a coming Messiah who would lead 

 the Indians to assured victory. A similar belief 

 prevailed among the Sacs and Foxes, and before 

 the battle of the Bad Axe, in Wisconsin, in Au- 

 gust, 1832, Black Hawk assured his followers 

 that the Great Spirit would send a Messiah to 

 them who would lead them to success in the 

 struggle for the recovery of their lands. More 

 recently other prophets have told of a time in 

 the near future when the wrongs of the red men 

 would be righted by the interference of the Great 

 Spirit. 



During the summer of 1890 vague reports be- 

 gan to reach the East of an outbreak among the 

 Indians that was soon to occur. At first these 

 rumors were denied by the authorities in Wash- 

 ington, but they persisted until positive informa- 

 tion of the ghost dances, the so-called " Messianic 

 craze," and the concentration of the Indians 

 was received. Early in December Gen. Nelson 

 A. Miles said : " The danger of the situation in 

 the Dakotas has not been exaggerated. The dis- 

 affection is more widespread than it has been at 

 any time for years. The conspiracy extends to 

 more different tribes that have heretofore been 

 hostile but that are now in full sympathy with 

 each other and are scattered over'a larger area 

 of country than in the whole history of Indian 

 warfare. It is a more comprehensive plot than 

 anything ever inspired by Tecumseh or even 

 Pontiac. The causes of the difficulty are easy of 

 discovery. Insufficient food supplies, religious 

 delusion', and the innate disposition of the savage 

 to go to war must be held responsible." 



Also concerning their numbers the same au- 

 thority then said : " Altogether there are in the 

 Northwest about 30,000 who are affected by the 

 Messiah craze ; that means fully 6,000 fighting 

 men. Of this number at least one third would 

 not go on the warpath, so that leaves us with 

 about 4,000 adversaries. There are 6,000 other 

 Indians in the Indian Territory who will need to 

 be watched if active operations take place." 



Besides the agitation in North Dakota the 

 Messiah craze prevailed in the Indian Territory, 

 where the Cheyenne, Arapahoe. Osage, Missouri, 

 and Seminole tribes took part in the dances. 

 The leader of the Indians was supposed to be 

 Sitting Bull, of the Sioux tribe, who took ad- 

 vantage of the craze to influence the Indians 

 against the whites. In this he was aided by the 

 policy of the Interior Department in failing to 

 fulfill its contracts. Thus from South Dakota 

 came the following : " The 1,200 Indians on the 

 Sisseton and Wahpeton reservation are on the 

 vefge of starvation at the opening of winter, 

 because of the Government's failure to furnish 

 them with rations. The Interior Department 

 has authorized the expenditure of $2,000 for the 

 relief of the red men, but upon this small sum of 



money over 1,200 men, women, and children must 

 live fora period of six months of rigorous winter. 

 This is less than one cent a day for each person. 

 Chief Renville and all the other able-bodied In- 

 dians on the reservation have addressed a peti- 

 tion to the Government as follows : ' We appeal to 

 the authorities at Washington and our friends 

 everywhere in the East to aid us as far as it be 

 in their power. Unless we are helped in some 

 way, great suffering and starvation will bo in- 

 evitable.' " 



Active measures were at once taken by the 

 War Department, and Gen. Miles perfected a 

 plan by which that portion of the country was 

 entirely hemmed in by soldiers. 



The links in this chain of military posts are 

 around by the east to North Rosebuu, Lower 

 Brule, Fort Sully, and Cheyenne River post, and 

 by the west to North Oelrichs, Fort Mead, and 

 Standing Rock, forming a circle with Fort Rob- 

 inson on the southwest and Fort Niobrara on 

 the southeast as supply stations and bulwarks 

 to the entire scheme. The affair culminated in 

 the arrest of Sitting Bull at his camp on Grand 

 river about forty miles from Standing Rock, 

 N. D., by the Indian police on Dec. 15. An 

 attempt at his rescue terminated in a fight in 

 which Sitting Bull, his son Black Bird, Catch 

 Bear, and other Indians, together with several 

 of the Indian police, were killed. This incident 

 brought the trouble to an apparant close. 



As to the origin of the belief in an Indian 

 Messiah there are several accounts. One of these, 

 obtained from one of the missionaries among the 

 Sioux, a man of thorough education and of Indian 

 descent, is as follows : A young man of one of the 

 tribes in the Northwest dreamed one night that 

 the son of the Great Spirit appeared to him and 

 told him to seek out among his comrades a num- 

 ber of the young men of correct habits. With 

 these he was told to make a journey through 

 his own country, then through a territory not 

 known to him, and on until he reached the great 

 sea. The route that he was to follow was clearly 

 indicated in the dream, The summons was not 

 one that he dared to disregard, and seeking out 

 among his tribe several young men he made 

 ready for the journey. Among those who 

 seemed very desirous of' going was a youth who 

 was considered foolish, but as he promised to 

 behave himself he was permitted to join the 

 party. After proper preparations the start was 

 made, but before they had gone very far the 

 young man whom they had doubted produced a 

 bottle of fire-water, and in spite of their remon- 

 strances proceeded to drink. Ignoring all their 

 requests to stop, he continued with them till 

 evening and then of a sudden fell over as if 

 dead. A feeling of awe came over the party, and 

 they were afraid lest the Great Spirit was of- 

 fended and had punished them for not being 

 more careful in choosing their associates. At 

 first they were uncertain as to whether their com- 

 rade was really dead, and so they waited for sev- 

 eral days or until his death was evident, and 

 then they laid the body on the ground and cov- 

 ered it with a great pile of stones, for they were 

 too far from their home to return with the 

 remains. Then resuming their journey, they 

 reached the unknown country, through which 

 they passed successfully, for, as if by divine in- 



