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Title: The Ghost-dance religion and the Sioux outbreak of 1890
Fourteenth annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology, part 2.

Author: James Mooney

Illustrator: Mary W. Gill

Release date: August 30, 2024 [eBook #74335]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74335

Credits: Charlene Taylor, PM for Bureau of American Ethnology,
Robert Tonsing, and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GHOST-
DANCE RELIGION AND THE SIOUX OUTBREAK OF 1890 ***

FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY
TO THE

SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN
INSTITUTION

1892–93
BY

J . W. P O W E L L
DIRECTOR

PART 2

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1896

THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION
AND THE

SIOUX OUTBREAK OF 1890
BY

JAMES MOONEY

Say, shall not I at last attain
Some height, from whence the Past is clear,
In whose immortal atmosphere
I shall behold my dead again?
Bayard Taylor.
For the fires grow cold and the dances fail,
And the songs in their echoes die;
And what have we left but the graves beneath,
And, above, the waiting sky?
The Song of the Ancient People.
My Father, have pity on me!
I have nothing to eat,
I am dying of thirst—
Everything is gone!

Arapaho Ghost Song.

CONTENTS

Page
Introduction 653
The narrative 657
Chapter I Paradise lost
— 657
II— The Delaware prophet and Pontiac 662
III— Tenskwatawa the Shawano prophet 670
IV— Tecumtha and Tippecanoe 681
V— Känakûk and minor prophets 692
Känakûk 692
Pa′thĕskĕ 700
Tä′vibo 701
Nakai′-doklĭ′ni 704
The Potawatomi prophet 705
Cheez-tah-paezh the Sword-bearer 706
VI— The Smohalla religion of the Columbia region 708
Smohalla 708
Joseph and the Nez Percé war 711
VII— Smohalla and his doctrine 716
VIII— The Shakers of Puget sound 746
IX— Wovoka the messiah 764
X— The doctrine of the Ghost dance 777
Appendix:
The Mormons and the Indians 792
Porcupine’s account of the messiah 793
The Ghost dance among the Sioux 796

Page
Selwyn’s interview with Kuwapi 798
XI— The Ghost dance west of the Rockies 802
XII— The Ghost dance east of the Rockies—among the Sioux 816
Appendix: Causes of the outbreak 829
Commissioner Morgan’s statement 829
Ex-Agent McGillycuddy’s statement 831
Statement of General Miles 833
Report of Captain Hurst 836
Statement of American Horse 839
Statement of Bishop Hare 840
XIII— The Sioux outbreak—Sitting Bull and Wounded Knee 843
Appendix: The Indian story of Wounded Knee 884
XIV— Close of the outbreak—The Ghost dance in the south 887
XV— The ceremony of the Ghost dance 915
Among the northern Cheyenne 915
Among the Sioux 915
Song rehearsals 918
Preparations for the dance 918
Giving the feather 919
The painting of the dancers 919
The ceremony 920
The crow dance 921
The hypnotic process 922
The area covered by the dance 926
Present condition of the dance 927
XVI— Parallels in other systems 928
The Biblical period 928
Mohammedanism 930
Joan of Arc 932
Dance of Saint John 935
The Flagellants 935

Page
Ranters, Quakers, and Fifth-Monarchy men 936
French prophets 938
Jumpers 939
Methodists 939
Shakers 941
Kentucky revival 942
Adventists 944
Other parallels 945
Beekmanites 945
Patterson and Brown’s mission 946
Wilderness worshipers 946
Heavenly recruits 947
Appendix: Hypnotism and the dance among the
Dervishes 948
The songs 953
Introductory 953
The Arapaho 953
Tribal synonymy 953
Tribal signs 954
Sketch of the tribe 954
Songs of the Arapaho 958
1. Opening song: Eyehe′! nä′nisa′na—O, my children! 958
2. Sĕ′icha′ hei′ta′wuni′na—The sacred pipe tells me 959
3. Ate′bĕ tiăwu′nănu′—When at first I liked the whites 961
4. A′bä′ni′hi′—My partner 962
5. A′-nisûna′a′hu—My father 962
6. E′yehe′! Wû′nayu′uhu′—E′yehe′!—They are new 963
7. Hi′sähi′hi—My partner! My partner 964
8. Ä′-nani′ni′bi′nä′si waku′na—The wind makes the head-
feathers sing 965

Page
9. He′! Näne′th bi′shiqa′wă—When I met him
approaching 965
10. Häna′na′wunănu—I take pity on those 966
11. A-ni′qu wa′wanä′nibä′tia′—Father, now I am singing it 966
12. Ha′yana′-usi′ya′—How bright is the moonlight! 966
13. Ha′ti ni′bät—The cottonwood song 967
14. Eyehe′! A′nie′sa′na′—The young Thunderbirds 968
15. A′he′sûna′nini năya′qûti′hi—Our father, the Whirlwind 970
16. A′he′sûna′nini năya′qûti′—Our father, the Whirlwind 970
17. Ninaä′niahu′na—I circle around 970
18. Ha′nahawu′nĕn bĕni′ni′na—The Hanahawunĕn gave it
to me 971
19. Ate′be′ tana′-ise′ti—When first our father came 971
20. A-ni′änĕ′thăhi′nani′na—My father did not recognize
me 972
21. Ni′-athu′-a-u′ ă′hakä′nith′iĭ—The whites are crazy 972
22. Na′ha′ta bi′taa′wu—The earth is about to move 973
23. Ahe′sûna′nini ächiqa′hă′wa-ŭ′—I am looking at my
father 973
24. Ha′ănake′i—The rock 973
25. Wa′wa′na′danä′diă′—I am about to hum 974
26. A-te′bĕ dii′nĕtita′niĕg—At the beginning of existence 975
27. Tahu′na′änä′nia′huna—It is I who make the thunder 976
28. Ani′qu ne′chawu′nani′—Father, have pity on me 977
29. A-ni′niha′niahu′na—I fly around yellow 977
30. Niha′nata′yeche′ti—The yellow hide 978
31. A-bää′thina′hu—The cedar tree 978
32. Wa′wa nû′nanû′naku′ti—Now I am waving an eagle
feather 979
33. A-ni′qana′ga—There is a solitary bull 980
34. A-nĕä′thibiwă′hană—The place where crying begins 981
35. Thi′äya′ he′năă′awă—When I see the thi′äya 981

Page
36. A-hu′hu ha′geni′sti′ti—The crow is making a road 982
37. Bi′taa′wu hu′hu′—The crow brought the earth 983
38. Ni′nini′tubi′na hu′hu′ (I)—The crow has called me 983
39. Nû′nanû′naa′tăni′na hu′hu′ (I)—The crow is circling
above me 984
40. I′yu hä′thäbĕ′nawa′—Here it is, I hand it to you 984
41. Ha′naě′hi ya′ga′ahi′na—Little boy, the coyote gun 984
42. He′sûna′ na′nahatha′hi—The father showed me 985
43. Nänisa′tăqu′thi Chĭnachi′chibä′iha′—The seven
venerable priests 986
44. Nä′nisa′tăqi Chĭ′năchi′chibä′iha′—The seven venerable
priests 990
45. Nû′nanû′naa′tani′na hu′hu′ (II) 990
46. Na′tănu′ya chĕ′bi′nh—The pemmican that I am using 991
47. Häĭ′nawa′ hä′ni′ta′quna′ni—I know, in the pitfall 991
48. Bä′hinä′nina′tä ni′tabä′na—I hear everything 993
49. A-bä′qati′ hä′nichä′bi′hinä′na—With the wheel I am
gambling 994
50. Ani′äsa′kua′na—I am watching 995
51. Ni′chī′ă i′theti′hi—(There) is a good river 995
52. Ni′nini′tubi′na hu′hu′ (II) 996
53. Anihä′ya atani′tă′nu′nawa′—I use the yellow (paint) 997
54. Ni′naä′niahu′tawa bi′taa′wu—I am flying about the
earth 997
55. I′nita′ta′-usä′na—Stand ready 998
56. Wa′wäthä′bi—I have given you magpie feathers 998
57. Ani′qa hĕ′tabi′nuhu′ni′na—My father, I am poor 999
58. Nä′nisa′taqu′thi hu′na—The seven crows 999
59. Ahu′nä he′sûna′nĭn—There is our father 1000
60. Ga′awa′hu—The ball, the ball 1000
61. Ahu′ ni′higa′hu—The Crow is running 1000
62. Ya′thä-yû′na—He put me in five places 1001

Page
63. Ni′naä′qa′wa chibä′ti—I am going around the sweat-
house 1001
64. Hise′hi—My comrade 1002
65. Na′tu′wani′sa—My top, my top 1005
66. He′nä′ga′nawa′nen—When we dance until daylight 1006
67. Ni′nä′nina′ti′naku′ni′na—I wear the morning star 1006
68. A-ne′na′ tabi′ni′na—My mother gave it to me 1007
69. Yĭ′hä′ä′ä′hi′hĭ′—Gambling song (Paiute gambling
songs) 1008
70. Ni′qa-hu′hu′—My father, my father 1010
71. A′hu′nawu′hu′—With red paint 1010
72. Ani′qa naga′qu—Father, the Morning Star 1010
73. Ahu′yu häthi′na—Closing song 1011
Arapaho glossary 1012
The Cheyenne 1023
Tribal synonymy 1023
Tribal sign 1024
Sketch of the tribe 1024
Songs of the Cheyenne 1028
1. O′tä nä′nisĭ′näsists—Well, my children 1028
2. Ehä′n esho′ini′—Our father has come 1028
3. Nä′niso′näsĭ′stsihi′—My children 1029
4. Nä′see′nehe′ ehe′yowo′mi—I waded into the yellow
river 1030
5. Wosi′vä-ă′ă′—The mountain is circling 1030
6. Ni′ha-i′hi′hi′—My father, I come 1031
7. Hi′awu′hi—We have put the devil aside 1031
8. Ni′ha e′yehe′!—My father, my father 1031
9. Ä′minû′qi—My comrade 1032
10. He′stutu′ai—The buffalo head 1032
11. Nä′mio′ts—I am coming in sight 1034

Page
12. A′gachi′hi—The crow is circling 1034
13. Nä′nise′näsĕ′stse—My children, I am now humming 1034
14. Ogo′ch ehe′eye′!—The crow, the crow 1035
15. Tsĭso′soyo′tsĭto′ho—While I was going about 1035
16. Ni′ha e′yehe′e′yeye′!—My father, my father 1036
17. A′ga′ch ehe′e′ye′!—The crow, the crow 1037
18. Nä′niso′näsĭ′stsi he′e′ye′!—My children, my children 1037
19. A′guga-ihi—The crow woman 1038
Cheyenne glossary 1039
The Comanche 1043
Tribal synonymy 1043
Tribal sign 1043
Sketch of the tribe 1043
Songs of the Comanche 1046
1. Heyo′hänä häe′yo 1046
2. Ya′hi′yû′niva′hu 1047
3. Yani′tsini′hawa′na 1047
4. Ni′nini′tuwi′na 1047
The Paiute, Washo, and Pit River tribes 1048
Paiute tribal synonymy 1048
Sketch of the Paiute 1048
Characteristics 1048
Genesis myth 1050
The Washo 1051
The Pit River Indians 1052
Songs of the Paiute 1052
1. Nüvä ka ro′răni′—The snow lies there 1052
2. Dĕna′ gayo′n—A slender antelope 1053
3. Do tĭ′mbi—The black rock 1053
4. Päsü′ wĭ′noghän—The wind stirs the willows 1053
5. Pägü′nävä′—Fog! Fog! 1054

Page
6. Wûmbĭ′ndomä′n—The whirlwind 1054
7. Kosi′ wûmbi′ndomä′—There is dust from the whirlwind 1054
8. Dombi′na so′wina′—The rocks are ringing 1055
9. Sû′ng-ä ro′yonji′—The cottonwoods are growing tall 1055
Paiute glossary 1056
The Sioux 1057
Tribal synonymy 1057
Tribal sign 1057
Sketch of the tribe 1058
Songs of the Sioux 1061
1. Opening song: A′te he′ye e′yayo—The father says so 1061
2. Michĭ′nkshi nañpe—My son, let me grasp your hand 1061
3. He tuwe′cha he—Who think you comes there? 1064
4. Wana′yañ ma′niye—Now he is walking 1064
5. Lechel miyo′qañ-kte—This is to be my work 1065
6. Michinkshi′yi tewa′qila che—I love my children 1065
7. Mila kiñ hiyu′michi′chiyana—Give me my knife 1065
8. Le he′yahe′—This one says 1068
9. Niya′te-ye′ he′u′we—It is your father coming 1068
10. Miyo′qañ kiñ wañla′ki—You see what I can do 1068
11. Michĭ′nkshi mita′waye—It is my own child 1069
12. A′te he′ u-we—There is the father coming 1069
13. Wa′sna wa′tiñ-kta—I shall eat pemmican 1069
14. A′te lena ma′qu-we—The father gave us these 1069
15. Ina′ he′kuwo′—Mother, come home 1070
16. Wa′na wanasa′pi-kta—Now they are about to chase the
buffalo 1070
17. He! kii′ñyañka a′gali′-ye—He! They have come back
racing 1071
18. Mī′ye wañma′yañka-yo!—Look at me! 1071
19. Maka′ sito′maniyañ—The whole world is coming 1072

Page
20. Le′na wa′kañ—These sacred things 1072
21. Miyo′qañ kiñ chichu′-che—I have given you my
strength 1072
22. Michĭ′nkshi take′na—My child, come this way 1073
23. Wana wichĕ′shka—Now set up the tipi 1073
24. A′te mi′chuye—Father, give them to me 1074
25. Hañpa wecha′ghe—I made moccasins for him 1074
26. Waka′ñyañ iñya′ñkiñ-kte—The holy (hoop) shall run 1075
Sioux glossary 1075
The Kiowa and Kiowa Apache 1078
Kiowa tribal synonymy 1078
Kiowa tribal sign 1078
Sketch of the Kiowa 1078
The Kiowa Apache 1081
Songs of the Kiowa 1081
1. Da′ta-i so′da′te—The father will descend 1081
2. Da′k̔ i′ñago (ĭm) zä′nteähe′dal—The spirit army is
approaching 1082
3. Gu′ato ädâ′ga—I scream because I am a bird 1082
4. Da′ta-i nyä′hoănga′mo—The father shows me the road 1083
5. Dak̔ iñ′a bate′yä—The spirit (God) is approaching 1083
6. Na′da′g äka′na—Because I am poor 1084
7. Ze′bät-gâ′ga igu′ănpa′-ima′—He makes me dance with
arrows 1084
8. Be′ta! To′ngyä-gu′adăl—Red Tail has been sent 1085
9. Da′ta-i änka′ñgo′na—My father has much pity for us 1085
10. Da′ta-i iñka′ñtähe′dal—My father has had pity on me 1085
11. Dak̔ iñ′ago äho′ähe′dal—The spirit host is advancing 1086
12. E′hyu′ñi degi′ăta—I am mashing the berries 1087
13. Go′mgyä-da′ga—That wind shakes my tipi 1087
14. Dak̔ iñ′a daka′ñtähe′dal—God has had pity on us 1087

Page
15. Anso′ gyätä′to—I shall cut off his feet 1088
Kiowa glossary 1088
The Caddo and associated tribes 1092
Caddo tribal synonymy 1092
Caddo tribal sign 1092
Sketch of the Caddo 1092
The Wichita, Kichai, and Delaware 1095
Songs of the Caddo 1096
1. Ha′yo ta′ia′ ă′ă′—Our father dwells above 1096
2. Wû′nti ha′yano′ di′witi′a—All our people are going up 1096
3. Nûna ĭ′tsiya′—I have come 1097
4. Na′tsiwa′ya—I am coming 1097
5. Na′-iye′ ino′ ga′nio′sĭt—My sister above 1097
6. Na′a ha′yo ha′wano—Our father above (has) paint 1098
7. Wû′nti ha′yano ka′ka′na′—All the people cried 1098
8. Na′wi i′na—We have our mother below 1098
9. Ni′ ika′ na′a—Our grandmother and our father above 1099
10. Hi′na ha′natobi′na—The eagle feather headdress 1099
11. Na′ aa′ o′wi′ta′—The father comes from above 1099
12. Na′ iwi′ o′wi′ta′—See! the eagle comes 1100
13. A′nana′ hana′nito′—The feather has come back 1101
14. Na′ iwi′ ha′naa′—There is an eagle above 1101
15. Wi′tŭ′ Ha′sini′—Come on, Caddo 1101
Caddo glossary 1102
Authorities cited 1104

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page
Plate LXXXV. Map of the Indian reservations of the United States
showing the approximate area of the Ghost dance 653
LXXXVI. The prayer-stick 698
LXXXVII. Chief Joseph 712
LXXXVIII. Map showing the distribution of the tribes of the
upper Columbia 716
LXXXIX. Smohalla and his priests 721
XC. Smohalla church on Yakima reservation 723
XCI. Interior of Smohalla church 727
XCII. Winter view in Mason valley showing snow-
covered sagebrush 769
XCIII. Sioux ghost shirts from Wounded Knee battlefield 789
XCIV. Sioux sweat-house and sacrifice pole 823
XCV. Map of the country embraced in the campaign
against the Sioux 850
XCVI. Map of Standing Rock agency and vicinity 855
XCVII. Map of Wounded Knee battlefield 869
XCVIII. After the battle 873
XCIX. Battlefield of Wounded Knee 875
C. Burying the dead 877
CI. Grave of the dead at Wounded Knee 879
CII. Battlefield after the blizzard 881
CIII. Arapaho ghost shirt, showing coloring 895
CIV. Arapaho ghost shirt—reverse 897
CV. Black Coyote 898

Page
CVI. Biäñk̔i, the Kiowa dreamer 908
CVII. Biäñk̔i’s vision 910
CVIII. Kiowa summer shelter 913
CIX. The Ghost dance (buckskin painting) 915
CX. Sacred objects from the Sioux Ghost dance 916
CXI. Sacred objects from the Sioux Ghost dance 918
CXII. The Ghost dance—small circle 921
CXIII. The Ghost dance—larger circle 923
CXIV. The Ghost dance—large circle 925
CXV. The Ghost dance—praying 927
CXVI. The Ghost dance—inspiration 929
CXVII. The Ghost dance—rigid 931
CXVIII. The Ghost dance—unconscious 933
CXIX. The crow dance 935
CXX. Arapaho bed 962
CXXI. The sweat-lodge: Kiowa camp on the Washita 981
CXXII. Dog-soldier insignia 988

Figure 56. Tenskwatawa the Shawano prophet, 1808 and 1831 670
57. Greenville treaty medal 671
58. Tecumtha 682
59. Harrison treaty pipe 688
60. Känakûk the Kickapoo prophet 693
61. Känakûk’s heaven 694
62. Onsawkie 698
63. Nakai′-doklĭ′ni’s dance-wheel 704
64. Smohalla’s flag 726
65. Charles Ike, Smohalla interpreter 728
66. Diagram showing arrangement of worshipers at
Smohalla service 729
67. John Slocum and Louis Yowaluch 746

Page
68. Shaker church at Mud bay 758
69. Wovoka 764
70. Navaho Indians 810
71. Vista in the Hopi pueblo of Walpi 812
72. A Sioux warrior—Weasel Bear 844
73. Red Cloud 846
74. Short Bull 851
75. Kicking Bear 853
76. Red Tomahawk 856
77. Sitting Bull the Sioux medicine-man 858
78. Sketch of the country of the Sitting Bull fight,
December 15, 1890 859
79. Survivors of Wounded Knee—Blue Whirlwind and
children 877
80. Survivors of Wounded Knee—Marguerite Zitkala-
noni 878
81. Survivors of Wounded Knee—Jennie Sword 879
82. Survivors of Wounded Knee—Herbert Zitkalazi 880
83. Sitting Bull the Arapaho apostle 896
84. Two Kiowa prophecies (from a Kiowa calendar) 907
85. Poor Buffalo 908
86. Sitting Bull comes down (from a Kiowa calendar) 909
87. Ā′piatañ 912
88. Arapaho tipi and windbreak 957
89. Bed of the prairie tribes 963
90. Shinny stick and ball 964
91. Wakuna or head-feathers 964
92. The Thunderbird 969
93. Hummer and bull-roarer 974
94. Dog-soldier insignia—rattle and quirt 987
95. Diagram of awl game 1002

Page
96. Sticks used in awl game 1003
97. Trump sticks used in awl game 1003
98. Baskets used in dice game 1004
99. Dice used in dice game 1005
100. Cheyenne camping circle 1026
101. Paiute wikiup 1049
102. Native drawings of Ghost dance—A, Comanche;
B, Sioux 1060
103. Jerking beef 1066
104. Kiowa camping circle 1080
PL. LXXXV

JULIUS BIEN & CO. N.Y.
INDIAN RESERVATIONS
OF THE

UNITED STATES
IN 1890
Showing approximate area

of the Ghost Dance

THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION
By James Mooney

INTRODUCTION
In the fall of 1890 the author was preparing to go to Indian Territory,
under the auspices of the Bureau of Ethnology, to continue researches
among the Cherokee, when the Ghost dance began to attract attention, and
permission was asked and received to investigate that subject also among
the wilder tribes in the western part of the territory. Proceeding directly to
the Cheyenne and Arapaho, it soon became evident that there was more in
the Ghost dance than had been suspected, with the result that the
investigation, to which it had been intended to devote only a few weeks, has
extended over a period of more than three years, and might be continued
indefinitely, as the dance still exists (in 1896) and is developing new
features at every performance. The uprising among the Sioux in the
meantime made necessary also the examination of a mass of documentary
material in the files of the Indian Office and the War Department bearing on
the outbreak, in addition to the study in the field of the strictly religious
features of the dance.
The first visit of about four months (December, 1890–April, 1891) was
made to the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Caddo, and
Wichita, all living near together in the western part of what was then Indian
Territory, but is now Oklahoma. These tribes were all more or less under the
influence of the new religion. The principal study was made among the
Arapaho, who were the most active propagators of the “Messiah” doctrine
among the southern tribes and are especially friendly and cordial in
disposition.

On returning to Washington, the author received a commission to make
an ethnologic collection for the World’s Columbian Exposition, and,
selecting the Kiowa for that purpose as a representative prairie tribe, started
out again almost immediately to the same field. This trip, lasting three
months, gave further opportunity for study of the Ghost dance among the
same tribes. After returning and attending to the labeling and arranging of
the collection, a study was made of all documents bearing on the subject in
possession of the Indian Office and the War Department. Another trip was
then made to the field for the purpose of investigating the dance among the
Sioux, where it had attracted most attention, and among the Paiute, where it
originated. On this journey the author visited the Omaha, Winnebago, Sioux
of Pine Ridge, Paiute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho; met and talked with the
messiah himself, and afterward, on the strength of this fact, obtained from
the Cheyenne the original letter containing his message and instructions to
the southern tribes. This trip occupied about three months.
A few months later, in the summer of 1892, another journey was made to
the West, in the course of which the southern tribes and the Sioux were
revisited, and some time was spent in Wyoming with the Shoshoni and
northern Arapaho, the latter of whom were perhaps the most earnest
followers of the messiah in the north. This trip consumed four months. After
some time spent in Washington in elaborating notes already obtained, a
winter trip (1892–93) was made under another commission from the
World’s Fair to the Navaho and the Hopi or Moki, of New Mexico and
Arizona. Although these tribes were not directly concerned in the Ghost
dance, they had been visited by apostles of the new doctrine, and were able
to give some account of the ceremony as it existed among the Havasupai or
Cohonino and others farther to the west. On the return journey another short
stay was made among the Kiowa and Arapaho. In the summer of 1893 a
final visit, covering a period of five months, was made to the western tribes
of Oklahoma, bringing the personal observation and study of the Ghost
dance down to the beginning of 1894.
The field investigation therefore occupied twenty-two months, involving
nearly 32,000 miles of travel and more or less time spent with about twenty
tribes. To obtain exact knowledge of the ceremony, the author took part in
the dance among the Arapaho and Cheyenne. He also carried a kodak and a
tripod camera, with which he made photographs of the dance and the trance

both without and within the circle. Several months were spent in consulting
manuscript documents and printed sources of information in the
departments and libraries at Washington, and correspondence was carried
on with persons in various parts of the country who might be able to give
additional facts. From the beginning every effort was made to get a correct
statement of the subject. Beyond this, the work must speak for itself.
As the Ghost dance doctrine is only the latest of a series of Indian
religious revivals, and as the idea on which it is founded is a hope common
to all humanity, considerable space has been given to a discussion of the
primitive messiah belief and of the teachings of the various Indian prophets
who have preceded Wovoka, together with brief sketches of several Indian
wars belonging to the same periods.
In the songs the effort has been to give the spirit and exact rendering,
without going into analytic details. The main purpose of the work is not
linguistic, and as nearly every tribe concerned speaks a different language
from all the others, any close linguistic study must be left to the philologist
who can afford to devote a year or more to an individual tribe. The only one
of these tribes of which the author claims intimate knowledge is the Kiowa.
Acknowledgments are due the officers and members of the Office of
Indian Affairs and the War Department for courteous assistance in obtaining
documentary information and in replying to letters of inquiry; to Mr De
Lancey W. Gill and Mr J. K. Hillers and their assistants of the art and
photographic divisions of the United States Geological Survey; to Mr A. R.
Spofford, Librarian of Congress; to Mr F. V. Coville, botanist, Agricultural
Department; Honorable T. J. Morgan, former Commissioner of Indian
Affairs; Major J. W. MacMurray, first artillery, United States Army; Dr
Washington Matthews, surgeon, United States Army; Captain H. L. Scott,
seventh cavalry, United States Army; Captain J. M. Lee, ninth infantry,
United States Army; Captain E. L. Huggins, second cavalry, United States
Army, of the staff of General Miles; the late Captain J. G. Bourke, third
cavalry, United States Army; Captain H. G. Browne, twelfth infantry,
United States Army; Judge James Wickersham, Tacoma, Washington; Dr
George Bird Grinnell, editor of “Forest and Stream,” New York city; Mr
Thomas V. Keam and the late A. M. Stephen, Keams Canyon, Arizona; Rev.
H. R. Voth, Oraibi, Arizona; General L. W. Colby, Washington, District of
Columbia; Mr D. B. Dyer, Augusta, Georgia; Rev. Myron Eells, Tacoma,

Washington; Mr Emile Berliner and the Berliner Gramophone Company,
for recording, and Professors John Philip Sousa and F. W. V. Gaisberg, for
arranging the Indian music; W. S. Godbe, Bullionville, Nevada; Miss L.
McLain, Washington City; Addison Cooper, Nashville, Tennessee; Miss
Emma C. Sickels, Chicago; Professor A. H. Thompson, United States
Geological Survey, Washington; Mrs L. B. Arnold, Standing Rock, North
Dakota; Mr C. H. Bartlett, South Bend, Indiana; Dr T. P. Martin, Taos, New
Mexico, and to the following Indian informants and interpreters: Philip
Wells, Louis Menard, Ellis Standing Bear, American Horse, George Sword,
and Fire Thunder, of Pine Ridge, South Dakota; Henry Reid, Rev. Sherman
Coolidge, Norcok, Sage, and Sharp Nose, of Fort Washakie, Wyoming;
Charley Sheep of Walker river, Nevada; Black Coyote, Sitting Bull, Black
Short Nose, George Bent, Paul Boynton, Robert Burns, Jesse Bent, Clever
Warden, Grant Left-hand, and the Arapaho police at Darlington, Oklahoma;
Andres Martinez, Belo Cozad, Paul Setkopti, Henry Poloi, Little Bow,
William Tivis, George Parton, Towakoni Jim, Robert Dunlap, Kichai, John
Wilson, Tama, Igiagyahona, Deoñ, Mary Zotom, and Eliza Parton of
Anadarko, Oklahoma.

THE NARRATIVE

Chapter I
PARADISE LOST
There are hours long departed which memory brings
Like blossoms of Eden to twine round the heart.
Moore.

The wise men tell us that the world is growing happier—that we live
longer than did our fathers, have more of comfort and less of toil, fewer
wars and discords, and higher hopes and aspirations. So say the wise men;
but deep in our own hearts we know they are wrong. For were not we, too,
born in Arcadia, and have we not—each one of us—in that May of life
when the world was young, started out lightly and airily along the path that
led through green meadows to the blue mountains on the distant horizon,
beyond which lay the great world we were to conquer? And though others
dropped behind, have we not gone on through morning brightness and
noonday heat, with eyes always steadily forward, until the fresh grass began
to be parched and withered, and the way grew hard and stony, and the blue
mountains resolved into gray rocks and thorny cliffs? And when at last we
reached the toilsome summits, we found the glory that had lured us onward
was only the sunset glow that fades into darkness while we look, and leaves
us at the very goal to sink down, tired in body and sick at heart, with
strength and courage gone, to close our eyes and dream again, not of the
fame and fortune that were to be ours, but only of the old-time happiness
that we have left so far behind.
As with men, so is it with nations. The lost paradise is the world’s
dreamland of youth. What tribe or people has not had its golden age, before
Pandora’s box was loosed, when women were nymphs and dryads and men
were gods and heroes? And when the race lies crushed and groaning
beneath an alien yoke, how natural is the dream of a redeemer, an Arthur,
who shall return from exile or awake from some long sleep to drive out the
usurper and win back for his people what they have lost. The hope becomes
a faith and the faith becomes the creed of priests and prophets, until the
hero is a god and the dream a religion, looking to some great miracle of

nature for its culmination and accomplishment. The doctrines of the Hindu
avatar, the Hebrew Messiah, the Christian millennium, and the Hesûnanin
of the Indian Ghost dance are essentially the same, and have their origin in
a hope and longing common to all humanity.
Probably every Indian tribe, north and south, had its early hero god, the
great doer or teacher of all first things, from the Inskeha and Manabozho of
the rude Iroquoian and Algonquian to the Quetzalcoatl, the Bochica, and the
Viracocha of the more cultivated Aztecs, Muyscas, and Quichuas of the
milder southland. Among the roving tribes of the north this hero is hardly
more than an expert magician, frequently degraded to the level of a
common trickster, who, after ridding the world of giants and monsters, and
teaching his people a few simple arts, retires to the upper world to rest and
smoke until some urgent necessity again requires his presence below. Under
softer southern skies the myth takes more poetic form and the hero becomes
a person of dignified presence, a father and teacher of his children, a very
Christ, worthy of all love and reverence, who gathers together the
wandering nomads and leads them to their destined country, where he
instructs them in agriculture, house building, and the art of government,
regulates authority, and inculcates peaceful modes of life. “Under him, the
earth teemed with fruits and flowers without the pains of culture. An ear of
Indian corn was as much as a single man could carry. The cotton, as it grew,
took of its own accord the rich dyes of human art. The air was filled with
intoxicating perfumes and the sweet melody of birds. In short, these were
the halcyon days, which find a place in the mythic systems of so many
nations in the Old World. It was the golden age of Anahuac.” (Prescott, 1.)[1]
When at last his work is well accomplished, he bids farewell to his
sorrowing subjects, whom he consoles with the sacred promise that he will
one day return and resume his kingdom, steps into his magic boat by the
seashore, and sails away out of their sight to the distant land of sunrise.
Such was Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs, and such in all essential respects
was the culture god of the more southern semicivilized races. Curiously
enough, this god, at once a Moses and a messiah, is usually described as a
white man with flowing beard. From this and other circumstances it has
been argued that the whole story is only another form of the dawn myth, but
whether the Indian god be an ancient deified lawgiver of their own race, or
some nameless missionary who found his way across the trackless ocean in

the early ages of Christianity, or whether we have here only a veiled parable
of the morning light bringing life and joy to the world and then vanishing to
return again from the east with the dawn, it is sufficient to our purpose that
the belief in the coming of a messiah, who should restore them to their
original happy condition, was well nigh universal among the American
tribes.
This faith in the return of a white deliverer from the east opened the gate
to the Spaniards at their first coming alike in Haiti, Mexico, Yucatan, and
Peru. (Brinton, 1.) The simple native welcomed the white strangers as the
children or kindred of their long-lost benefactor, immortal beings whose
near advent had been foretold by oracles and omens, whose faces borrowed
from the brightness of the dawn, whose glistening armor seemed woven
from the rays of sunlight, and whose god-like weapons were the lightning
and the thunderbolt. Their first overbearing demands awakened no
resentment; for may not the gods claim their own, and is not resistance to
the divine will a crime? Not until their most sacred things were trampled
under foot, and the streets of the holy city itself ran red with the blood of
their slaughtered princes, did they read aright the awful prophecy by the
light of their blazing temples, and know that instead of the children of an
incarnate god they had welcomed a horde of incarnate devils. “The light of
civilization would be poured on their land. But it would be the light of a
consuming fire, before which their barbaric glory, their institutions, their
very existence and name as a nation, would wither and become extinct.
Their doom was sealed when the white man had set his foot on their soil.”
(Prescott, 2.)
The great revolt of the Pueblo Indians in August, 1680, was one of the
first determined efforts made by the natives on the northern continent to
throw off the yoke of a foreign oppressor. The Pueblo tribes along the Rio
Grande and farther to the west, a gentle, peaceful race, had early welcomed
the coming of the Spaniards, with their soldiers and priests, as friends who
would protect them against the wild marauding tribes about them and teach
them the mysteries of a greater “medicine” than belonged to their own
kachinas. The hope soon faded into bitter disappointment. The soldiers,
while rough and overbearing toward their brown-skin allies, were yet
unable to protect them from the inroads of their enemies. The priests
prohibited their dances and simple amusements, yet all their ringing of bells

and chanting of hymns availed not to bring more rain on the crops or to turn
aside the vengeful Apache. “What have we gained by all this?” said the
Pueblos one to another; “not peace and not happiness, for these new rulers
will not protect us from our enemies, and take from us all the enjoyments
we once knew.”
The pear was ripe. Popé, a medicine-man of the Tewa, had come back
from a pilgrimage to the far north, where he claimed to have visited the
magic lagoon of Shipapu, whence his people traced their origin and to
which the souls of their dead returned after leaving this life. By these
ancestral spirits he had been endowed with occult powers and commanded
to go back and rouse the Pueblos to concerted effort for deliverance from
the foreign yoke of the strangers.
Wonderful beings were these spirit messengers. Swift as light and
impalpable as thought, they passed under the earth from the magic lake to
the secret subterranean chamber of the oracle and stood before him as
shapes of fire, and spoke, telling him to prepare the strings of yucca knots
and send them with the message to all the Pueblos far and near, so that in
every village the chiefs might untie one knot from the string each day, and
know when they came to the last knot that then was the time to strike.
From the Pecos, across the Rio Grande to Zuñi and the far-distant Hopi
mesas, every Pueblo village accepted the yucca string and began secret
preparation for the rising. The time chosen was the new moon of August,
1680, but, through a partial discovery of the plot, the explosion was
precipitated on the 10th. So sudden and complete was the surprise that
many Spaniards in the Pueblo country, priests, soldiers, and civilians, were
killed, and the survivors, after holding out for a time under Governor
Otermin at Santa Fé, fled to El Paso, and in October there remained not a
single Spaniard in all New Mexico. (Bandelier, 1a, 1b.)
Despite their bitter disappointment, the southern nations continued to
cherish the hope of a coming redeemer, who now assumed the character of
a terrible avenger of their wrongs, and the white-skin conqueror has had
bloody occasion to remember that his silent peon, as he toils by blue
Chapala or sits amid the ruins of his former grandeur in the dark forests of
Yucatan, yet waits ever and always the coming of the day which shall break
the power of the alien Spaniard and restore to their inheritance the children

of Anahuac and Mayapan. In Peru the natives refused to believe that the last
of the Incas had perished a wanderer in the forests of the eastern
Cordilleras. For more than two centuries they cherished the tradition that he
had only retired to another kingdom beyond the mountains, from which he
would return in his own good time to sweep their haughty oppressors from
the land. In 1781 the slumbering hope found expression in a terrible
insurrection under the leadership of the mestizo Condorcanqui, a
descendant of the ancient royal family, who boldly proclaimed himself the
long lost Tupac Amaru, child of the sun and Inca of Peru. With mad
enthusiasm the Quichua highlanders hailed him as their destined deliverer
and rightful sovereign, and binding around his forehead the imperial fillet
of the Incas, he advanced at the head of an immense army to the walls of
Cuzco, declaring his purpose to blot out the very memory of the white man
and reestablish the Indian empire in the City of the Sun. Inspired by the
hope of vengeance on the conqueror, even boys became leaders of their
people, and it was only after a bloody struggle of two years’ duration that
the Spaniards were able to regain the mastery and consigned the captive
Inca, with all his family, to an ignominious and barbarous death. Even then
so great was the feeling of veneration which he had inspired in the breasts
of the Indians that “notwithstanding their fear of the Spaniards, and though
they were surrounded by soldiers of the victorious army, they prostrated
themselves at the sight of the last of the children of the sun, as he passed
along the streets to the place of execution.” (Humboldt, 1.)
In the New World, as in the Old, the advent of the deliverer was to be
heralded by signs and wonders. Thus in Mexico, a mysterious rising of the
waters of Lake Tezcuco, three comets blazing in the sky, and a strange light
in the east, prepared the minds of the people for the near coming of the
Spaniards. (Prescott, 3.) In this connection, also, there was usually a belief
in a series of previous destructions by flood, fire, famine, or pestilence,
followed by a regeneration, through, the omnipotent might of the savior.
The doctrine that the world is old and worn out, and that the time for its
renewal is near at hand, is an essential part of the teaching of the Ghost
dance. The number of these cycles of destruction was variously stated
among different tribes, but perhaps the most sadly prophetic form of the
myth was found among the Winnebago, who forty years ago held that the
tenth generation of their people was near its close, and that at the end of the
thirteenth the red race would be destroyed. By prayers and ceremonies they

were then endeavoring to placate their angry gods and put farther away the
doom that now seems rapidly closing in on them. (Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes,
1.)

Chapter II
THE DELAWARE PROPHET AND PONTIAC
Hear what the Great Spirit has ordered me to tell you: Put off entirely the customs which
you have adopted since the white people came among us.—The Delaware Prophet.
This is our land, and not yours.—The Confederate Tribes, 1752.

The English advances were slow and halting, for a long period almost
imperceptible, while the establishment of a few small garrisons and isolated
trading stations by the French hardly deserved to be called an occupancy of
the country. As a consequence, the warlike northern tribes were slow to
realize that an empire was slipping from their grasp, and it was not until the
two great nations prepared for the final struggle in the New World that the
native proprietors began to read the stars aright. Then it was, in 1752, that
the Lenape chiefs sent to the British agent the pointed interrogatory: “The
English claim all on one side of the river, the French claim all on the other
—where is the land of the Indians?” (Bancroft, 1.) Then, as they saw the
French strengthening themselves along the lakes, there came a stronger
protest from the council ground of the confederate tribes of the west: “This
is our land and not yours. Fathers, both you and the English are white; the
land belongs to neither the one nor the other of you, but the Great Being
above allotted it to be a dwelling place for us; so, fathers, I desire you to
withdraw, as I have desired our brothers, the English.” A wampum belt gave
weight to the words. (Bancroft, 2.) The French commander’s reply was
blunt, but more practiced diplomats assured the red men that all belonged to
the Indian, and that the great king of the French desired only to set up a
boundary against the further encroachments of the English, who would
otherwise sweep the red tribes from the Ohio as they had already driven
them from the Atlantic. The argument was plausible. In every tribe were
French missionaries, whose fearless courage and devotion had won the
admiration and love of the savage; in every village was domiciliated a
hardy voyageur, with his Indian wife and family of children, in whose veins
commingled the blood of the two races and whose ears were attuned alike

to the wild songs of the forest and the rondeaus of Normandy or Provence.
It was no common tie that bound together the Indians and the French, and
when a governor of Canada and the general of his army stepped into the
circle of braves to dance the war dance and sing the war song with their red
allies, thirty-three wild tribes declared on the wampum belt, “The French
are our brothers and their king is our father. We will try his hatchet upon the
English” (Bancroft, 3), and through seven years of blood and death the lily
and the totem were borne abreast until the flag of France went down forever
on the heights of Quebec.
For some time after the surrender the unrest of the native tribes was
soothed into a semblance of quiet by the belief, artfully inculcated by their
old allies, that the king of France, wearied by his great exertions, had fallen
asleep for a little while, but would soon awake to take vengeance on the
English for the wrongs they had inflicted on his red children. Then, as they
saw English garrisons occupying the abandoned posts and English traders
passing up the lakes even to the sacred island of the Great Turtle, the
despairing warriors said to one another, “We have been deceived. English
and French alike are white men and liars. We must turn from both and seek
help from our Indian gods.”
In 1762 a prophet appeared among the Delawares, at Tuscarawas, on the
Muskingum, who preached a union of all the red tribes and a return to the
old Indian life, which he declared to be the divine command, as revealed to
himself in a wonderful vision. From an old French manuscript, written by
an anonymous eyewitness of the scene which he describes, we have the
details of this vision, as related by Pontiac to his savage auditors at the great
council of the tribes held near Detroit in April, 1763. Parkman gives the
story on the authority of this manuscript, which he refers to as the “Pontiac
manuscript,” and states that it was long preserved in a Canadian family at
Detroit, and afterward deposited with the Historical Society of Michigan. It
bears internal evidence of genuineness, and is supposed to have been
written by a French priest. (Parkman, 1.) The vision, from the same
manuscript, is related at length in Schoolcraft’s Algic Researches.
According to the prophet’s story, being anxious to know the “Master of
Life,” he determined, without mentioning his desire to anyone, to undertake
a journey to the spirit world. Ignorant of the way, and not knowing any
person who, having been there, could direct him, he performed a mystic rite

in the hope of receiving some light as to the course he should pursue. He
then fell into a deep sleep, in which he dreamed that it was only necessary
to begin his journey and that by continuing to walk forward he would at last
arrive at his destination.
Early the next morning, taking his gun, ammunition, and kettle, he started
off, firmly convinced that by pressing onward without discouragement he
should accomplish his object. Day after day he proceeded without incident,
until at sunset of the eighth day, while preparing to encamp for the night by
the side of a small stream in a little opening in the forest, he noticed,
running out from the edge of the prairie, three wide and well-trodden paths.
Wondering somewhat that they should be there, he finished his temporary
lodging and, lighting a fire, began to prepare his supper. While thus
engaged, he observed with astonishment that the paths became more
distinct as the night grew darker. Alarmed at the strange appearance, he was
about to abandon his encampment and seek another at a safer distance,
when he remembered his dream and the purpose of his journey. It seemed to
him that one of these roads must lead to the place of which he was in
search, and he determined, therefore, to remain where he was until morning,
and then take one of the three and follow it to the end. Accordingly, the next
morning, after a hasty meal, he left his encampment, and, burning with the
ardor of discovery, took the widest path, which he followed until noon,
when he suddenly saw a large fire issuing apparently from the earth. His
curiosity being aroused, he went toward it, but the fire increased to such a
degree that he became frightened and turned back.
He now took the next widest of the three paths, which he followed as
before until noon, when a similar fire again drove him back and compelled
him to take the third road, which he kept a whole day without meeting
anything unusual, when suddenly he saw a precipitous mountain of dazzling
brightness directly in his path. Recovering from his wonder, he drew near
and examined it, but could see no sign of a road to the summit. He was
about to give way to disappointment, when, looking up, he saw seated a
short distance up the mountain a woman of bright beauty and clad in snow-
white garments, who addressed him in his own language, telling him that on
the summit of the mountain was the abode of the Master of Life, whom he
had journeyed so far to meet. “But to reach it,” said she, “you must leave all

your cumbersome dress and equipments at the foot, then go and wash in the
river which I show you, and afterward ascend the mountain.”
He obeyed her instructions, and on asking how he could hope to climb
the mountain, which, was steep and slippery as glass, she replied that in
order to mount he must use only his left hand and foot. This seemed to him
almost impossible, but, encouraged by the woman, he began to climb, and
at length, after much difficulty, reached the top. Here the woman suddenly
vanished, and he found himself alone without a guide. On looking about, he
saw before him a plain, in the midst of which were three villages, with well-
built houses disposed in orderly arrangement. He bent his steps toward the
principal one, but after going a short distance he remembered that he was
naked, and was about to turn back when a voice told him that as he had
washed himself in the river he might go on without fear. Thus bidden, he
advanced without hesitation to the gate of the village, where he was
admitted and saw approaching a handsome man in white garments, who
offered to lead him into the presence of the Master of Life. Admiring the
beauty of everything about him, he was then conducted to the Master of
Life, who took him by the hand and gave him for a seat a hat bordered with
gold. Afraid of spoiling the hat, he hesitated to sit down until again told to
do so, when he obeyed, and the Master of Life thus addressed him:
I am the Master of Life, whom you wish to see and with whom you wish to speak. Listen
to what I shall tell you for yourself and for all the Indians.

He then commanded him to exhort his people to cease from drunkenness,
wars, polygamy, and the medicine song, and continued:
The land on which you are, I have made for you, not for others. Wherefore do you suffer
the whites to dwell upon your lands? Can you not do without them? I know that those whom
you call the children of your Great Father [the King of France] supply your wants; but were
you not wicked as you are you would not need them. You might live as you did before you
knew them. Before those whom you call your brothers [the French] had arrived, did not your
bow and arrow maintain you? You needed neither gun, powder, nor any other object. The
flesh of animals was your food; their skins your raiment. But when I saw you inclined to evil,
I removed the animals into the depths of the forest that you might depend on your brothers
for your necessaries, for your clothing. Again become good and do my will and I will send
animals for your sustenance. I do not, however, forbid suffering among you your Father’s
children. I love them; they know me; they pray to me. I supply their own wants, and give
them that which they bring to you. Not so with those who are come to trouble your
possessions [the English]. Drive them away; wage war against them; I love them not; they
know me not; they are my enemies; they are your brothers’ enemies. Send them back to the
lands I have made for them. Let them remain there. (Schoolcraft, Alg. Res., 1.)

The Master of Life then gave him a prayer, carved in Indian
hieroglyphics upon a wooden stick, which he was told to deliver to his chief
on returning to earth. (Parkman, 2.) His instructor continued:
Learn it by heart, and teach it to all the Indians and children. It must be repeated morning
and evening. Do all that I have told thee, and announce it to all the Indians as coming from
the Master of Life. Let them drink but one draught, or two at most, in one day. Let them have
but one wife, and discontinue running after other people’s wives and daughters. Let them not
fight one another. Let them not sing the medicine song, for in singing the medicine song they
speak to the evil spirit. Drive from your lands those dogs in red clothing; they are only an
injury to you. When you want anything, apply to me, as your brothers do, and I will give to
both. Do not sell to your brothers that which I have placed on the earth as food. In short,
become good, and you shall want nothing. When you meet one another, bow and give one
another the [left] hand of the heart. Above all, I command thee to repeat morning and
evening the prayer which I have given thee.

The Indian received the prayer, promising to do as he had been
commanded and to recommend the same course to others. His former
conductor then came and, leading him to the foot of the mountain, bid him
resume his garments and go back to his village. His return excited much
surprise among his friends, who had supposed him lost. They asked him
where he had been, but as he had been commanded to speak to no one until
he had seen the chief, he motioned with his hand to signify that he had
come from above. On entering the village he went at once to the wigwam of
the chief, to whom he delivered the prayer and the message which he had
received from the Master of Life. (Schoolcraft, Alg. Res., 2.)
Although the story as here given bears plain impress of the white man’s
ideas, it is essentially aboriginal. While the discrimination expressed by the
Master of Life in favor of the French and against the English may have
been due to the fact that the author of the manuscript was a Frenchman, it is
more probable that we have here set forth only the well-known preference
of the wild tribes. The occupancy of a region by the English always meant
the speedy expulsion of the natives. The French, on the contrary, lived side
by side with the red men, joining in their dances and simple amusements,
and entering with fullest sympathy into their wild life, so that they were
regarded rather as brethren of an allied tribe than as intruders of an alien
race. This feeling is well indicated in the prophet’s narrative, where the
Indians, while urged to discard everything that they have adopted from the
whites, are yet to allow the French to remain among them, though exhorted
to relentless war on the English. The difference received tragic
exemplification at Michilimackinac a year later, when a handful of French

traders looked on unarmed and unhurt while a crew of maddened savages
were butchering, scalping, and drinking the blood of British soldiers. The
introduction of the trivial incident of the hat is characteristically Indian, and
the confounding of dreams and visions with actual happenings is a frequent
result of mental exaltation of common occurrence in the history of religious
enthusiasts. The Delaware prophet regards the whole experience as an
actual fact instead of a distempered vision induced by long fasts and vigils,
and the hieroglyphic prayer—undoubtedly graven by himself while under
the ecstasy—is to him a real gift from heaven. The whole story is a striking
parallel of the miraculous experiences recounted by the modern apostles of
the Ghost dance. The prayer-stick also and the heavenly map, later
described and illustrated, reappear in the account of Känakûk, the Kickapoo
prophet, seventy years afterward, showing in a striking manner the
continuity of aboriginal ideas and methods.
The celebrated missionary, Heckewelder, who spent fifty years among
the Delawares, was personally acquainted with this prophet and gives a
detailed account of his teachings and of his symbolic parchments. He says:
In the year 1762 there was a famous preacher of the Delaware nation, who resided at
Cayahaga, near Lake Erie, and travelled about the country, among the Indians, endeavouring
to persuade them that he had been appointed by the Great Spirit to instruct them in those
things that were agreeable to him, and point out to them the offences by which they had
drawn his displeasure on themselves, and the means by which they might recover his favour
for the future. He had drawn, as he pretended, by the direction of the Great Spirit, a kind of
map on a piece of deerskin, somewhat dressed like parchment, which he called “the great
Book or Writing.” This, he said, he had been ordered to shew to the Indians, that they might
see the situation in which the Mannitto had originally placed them, the misery which they
had brought upon themselves by neglecting their duty, and the only way that was now left
them to regain what they had lost. This map he held before him while preaching, frequently
pointing to particular marks and spots upon it, and giving explanations as he went along.
The size of this map was about fifteen inches square, or, perhaps, something more. An
inside square was formed by lines drawn within it, of about eight inches each way; two of
these lines, however, were not closed by about half an inch at the corners. Across these inside
lines, others of about an inch in length were drawn with sundry other lines and marks, all
which was intended to represent a strong inaccessible barrier, to prevent those without from
entering the space within, otherwise than at the place appointed for that purpose. When the
map was held as he directed, the corners which were not closed lay at the left-hand side,
directly opposite to each other, the one being at the southeast by south, and the nearest at the
northeast by north. In explaining or describing the particular points on this map, with his
fingers always pointing to the place he was describing, he called the space within the inside
lines “the heavenly regions,” or the place destined by the Great Spirit for the habitation of the
Indians in future life. The space left open at the southeast corner he called the “avenue,”
which had been intended for the Indians to enter into this heaven, but which was now in the
possession of the white people; wherefore the Great Spirit had since caused another “avenue”

to be made on the opposite side, at which, however, it was both difficult and dangerous for
them to enter, there being many impediments in their way, besides a large ditch leading to a
gulf below, over which they had to leap; but the evil spirit kept at this very spot a continual
watch for Indians, and whoever he laid hold of never could get away from him again, but
was carried to his regions, where there was nothing but extreme poverty; where the ground
was parched up by the heat for want of rain, no fruit came to perfection, the game was almost
starved for want of pasture, and where the evil spirit, at his pleasure, transformed men into
horses and dogs, to be ridden by him and follow him in his hunts and wherever he went.
The space on the outside of this interior square was intended to represent the country given
to the Indians to hunt, fish, and dwell in while in this world; the east side of it was called the
ocean or “great salt-water lake.” Then the preacher, drawing the attention of his hearers
particularly to the southeast avenue, would say to them, “Look here! See what we have lost
by neglect and disobedience; by being remiss in the expression of our gratitude to the Great
Spirit for what he has bestowed upon us; by neglecting to make to him sufficient sacrifices;
by looking upon a people of a different colour from our own, who had come across a great
lake, as if they were a part of ourselves; by suffering them to sit down by our side, and
looking at them with indifference, while they were not only taking our country from us, but
this (pointing to the spot), this, our own avenue, leading into those beautiful regions which
were destined for us. Such is the sad condition to which we are reduced. What is now to be
done, and what remedy is to be applied? I will tell you, my friends. Hear what the Great
Spirit has ordered me to tell you! You are to make sacrifices, in the manner that I shall direct;
to put off entirely from yourselves the customs which you have adopted since the white
people came among us. You are to return to that former happy state, in which we lived in
peace and plenty, before these strangers came to disturb us; and, above all, you must abstain
from drinking their deadly beson, which they have forced upon us, for the sake of increasing
their gains and diminishing our numbers. Then will the Great Spirit give success to our arms;
then he will give us strength to conquer our enemies, to drive them from hence, and recover
the passage to the heavenly regions which they have taken from us.”
Such was in general the substance of his discourses. After having dilated more or less on
the various topics which I have mentioned, he commonly concluded in this manner: “And
now, my friends, in order that what I have told you may remain firmly impressed on your
minds, and to refresh your memories from time to time, I advise you to preserve, in every
family at least, such a book or writing as this, which I will finish off for you, provided you
bring me the price, which is only one buckskin or two doeskins apiece.” The price was of
course bought (sic), and the book purchased. In some of those maps, the figure of a deer or
turkey, or both, was placed in the heavenly regions, and also in the dreary region of the evil
spirit. The former, however, appeared fat and plump, while the latter seemed to have nothing
but skin and bones. (Heckewelder, 1.)

From the narrative of John McCullough, who had been taken by the
Indians when a child of 8 years, and lived for some years as an adopted son
in a Delaware family in northeastern Ohio, we gather some additional
particulars concerning this prophet, whose name seems to be lost to history.
McCullough himself, who was then but a boy, never met the prophet, but
obtained his information from others who had, especially from his Indian
brother, who went to Tuscarawas (or Tuscalaways) to see and hear the new
apostle on his first appearance.

It was said by those who went to see him that he had certain hieroglyphics marked on a
piece of parchment, denoting the probation that human beings were subjected to whilst they
were living on earth, and also denoting something of a future state. They informed me that he
was almost constantly crying whilst he was exhorting them. I saw a copy of his
hieroglyphics, as numbers of them had got them copied and undertook to preach or instruct
others. The first or principal doctrine they taught them was to purify themselves from sin,
which they taught they could do by the use of emetics and abstinence from carnal knowledge
of the different sexes; to quit the use of firearms, and to live entirely in the original state that
they were in before the white people found out their country. Nay, they taught that that fire
was not pure that was made by steel and flint, but that they should make it by rubbing two
sticks together.... It was said that their prophet taught them, or made them believe, that he had
his instructions immediately from Keesh-she-la-mil-lang-up, or a being that thought us into
being, and that by following his instructions they would, in a few years, be able to drive the
white people out of their country.
I knew a company of them who had secluded themselves for the purpose of purifying from
sin, as they thought they could do. I believe they made no use of firearms. They had been out
more than two years before I left them.... It was said that they made use of no other weapons
than their bows and arrows. They also taught, in shaking hands, to give the left hand in token
of friendship, as it denoted that they gave the heart along with the hand. (Pritts, 1.)

The religious ferment produced by the exhortations of the Delaware
prophet spread rapidly from tribe to tribe, until, under the guidance of the
master mind of the celebrated chief, Pontiac, it took shape in a grand
confederacy of all the northwestern tribes to oppose the further progress of
the English. The coast lands were lost to the Indians. The Ohio and the
lakes were still theirs, and the Alleghanies marked a natural boundary
between the two sections. Behind this mountain barrier Pontiac determined
to make his stand. Though the prospect of a restoration of the French power
might enable him to rally a following, he himself knew he could expect no
aid from the French, for their armies had been defeated and their garrisons
were already withdrawn; but, relying on the patriotism of his own red
warriors, when told that the English were on their way to take possession of
the abandoned posts, he sent back the haughty challenge, “I stand in the
path.”
To Pontiac must be ascribed the highest position among the leaders of the
Algonquian race. Born the son of a chief, he became in turn the chief of his
own people, the Ottawa, whom it is said he commanded on the occasion of
Braddock’s defeat. For this or other services in behalf of the French he had
received marks of distinguished consideration from Montcalm himself. By
reason of his natural ability, his influence was felt and respected wherever
the name of his tribe was spoken, while to his dignity as chief he added the
sacred character of high priest of the powerful secret order of the Midé.

(Parkman, 3.) Now, in the prime of manhood, he originated and formulated
the policy of a confederation of all the tribes, an idea afterward taken up
and carried almost to a successful accomplishment by the great Tecumtha.
As principal chief of the lake tribes, he summoned them to the great council
near Detroit, in April, 1763, and, as high priest and keeper of the faith, he
there announced to them the will of the Master of Life, as revealed to the
Delaware prophet, and called on them to unite for the recovery of their
ancient territories and the preservation of their national life. Under the spell
of his burning words the chiefs listened as to an oracle, and cried out that he
had only to declare his will to be obeyed. (Parkman, 4.) His project being
unanimously approved, runners were sent out to secure the cooperation of
the more remote nations, and in a short time the confederation embraced
every important tribe of Algonquian lineage, together with the Wyandot,
Seneca, Winnebago, and some of those to the southward. (Parkman, 5.)
Only the genius of a Pontiac could have molded into a working unit such
an aggregation of diverse elements of savagery. His executive ability is
sufficiently proven by his creation of a regular commissary department
based on promissory notes—hieroglyphics graven on birchbark and signed
with the otter, the totem of his tribe; his diplomatic bent appeared in his
employment of two secretaries to attend to this unique correspondence,
each of whom he managed to keep in ignorance of the business transacted
by the other (Parkman, 6); while his military capacity was soon to be
evinced in the carefully laid plan which enabled his warriors to strike
simultaneously a crushing blow at every British post scattered throughout
the 500 miles of wilderness from Pittsburg to the straits of Mackinaw.
The history of this war, so eloquently told by Parkman, reads like some
old knightly romance. The warning of the Indian girl; the concerted attack
on the garrisons; the ball play at Mackinac on the king’s birthday, and the
massacre that followed; the siege of Fort Pitt and the heroic defense of
Detroit; the bloody battle of Bushy run, where the painted savage recoiled
before the kilted Highlander, as brave and almost as wild; Bouquet’s march
into the forests of the Ohio, and the submission of the vanquished tribes—
all these things must be passed over here. They have already been told by a
master of language. But the contest of savagery against civilization has but
one ending, and the scene closes with the death of Pontiac, a broken-
spirited wanderer, cut down at last by a hired assassin of his own race, for

whose crime the blood of whole tribes was poured out in atonement.
(Parkman, 7.)

Chapter III
TENSKWATAWA THE SHAWANO PROPHET
I told all the redskins that the way they were in was not good, and that they ought to
abandon it.—Tenskwatawa.
A very shrewd and influential man, but circumstances have destroyed him.—Catlin.

Fig. 56—Tenskwatawa the Shawano prophet, 1808 and 1831.

EXPLANATION OF FIGURE 56
The first portrait is taken from one given in Lossing’s American Revolution and War
of 1812, iii (1875), page 189, and thus described: “The portrait of the Prophet is from a
pencil sketch made by Pierre Le Dru, a young French trader, at Vincennes, in 1808. He
made a sketch of Tecumtha at about the same time, both of which I found in possession
of his son at Quebec in 1848, and by whom I was kindly permitted to copy them.” The
other is a copy of the picture painted by Catlin in 1881, after the tribe had removed to

Kansas. The artist describes him as blind in his left (?) eye, and painted him holding his
medicine fire in his right hand and his sacred string of beans in the other.

Forty years had passed away and changes had come to the western
territory. The cross of Saint George, erected in the place of the lilies of
France, had been supplanted by the flag of the young republic, which in one
generation had extended its sway from the lakes to the gulf and from the
Atlantic to the Rocky mountains. By treaties made in 1768 with the
Iroquois and Cherokee, the two leading Indian confederacies in the east, the
Ohio and the Kanawha had been fixed as the boundary between the two
races, the Indians renouncing forever their claims to the seaboard, the
Delaware, and the Susquehanna, while they were confirmed in their
possession of the Alleghany, the Ohio, and the great northwest. But the
restless borderer would not be limited, and encroachments on the native
domain were constantly being made, resulting in a chronic warfare which
kept alive the spirit of resentment. The consequence was that in the final
struggle of the Revolution the Indian tribes ranged themselves on the
British side. When the war ended and a treaty of peace was made between
the new government and the old, no provision was made for the red allies of
the king, and they were left to continue the struggle single-handed. The
Indians claimed the Ohio country as theirs by virtue of the most solemn
treaties, but pioneers had already occupied western Pennsylvania, western
Virginia, and Kentucky, and were listening with eager attention to the
reports brought back by adventurous hunters from the fertile lands of the
Muskingum and the Scioto. They refused to be bound by the treaties of a
government they had repudiated, and the tribes of the northwest were
obliged to fight to defend their territories. Under the able leadership of
Little Turtle they twice rolled back the tide of white invasion, defeating two
of the finest armies ever sent into the western country, until, worn out by
twenty years of unceasing warfare, and crushed and broken by the decisive
victory of Wayne at the Fallen Timbers, their villages in ashes and their
cornfields cut down, the dispirited chiefs met their conqueror at Greenville
in 1795 and signed away the rights for which they had so long contended.

Fig. 57—Greenville treaty medal, obverse and reverse.

By this treaty, which marks the beginning of the end with the eastern
tribes, the Indians renounced their claims to all territory east of a line
running in a general way from the mouth of the Cuyahoga on Lake Erie to
the mouth of the Kentucky on the Ohio, leaving to the whites the better
portion of Ohio valley, including their favorite hunting ground of Kentucky.
The Delaware, the Wyandot, and the Shawano, three of the leading tribes,
were almost completely shorn of their ancient inheritance and driven back
as refugees among the Miami.
The Canadian boundary had been established along the lakes; the Ohio
was lost to the Indians; for them there was left only extermination or
removal to the west. Their bravest warriors were slain. Their ablest
chieftain, who had led them to victory against St Clair, had bowed to the
inevitable, and was now regarded as one with a white man’s heart and a
traitor to his race. A brooding dissatisfaction settled down on the tribes.
Who shall deliver them from the desolation that has come on them?

Now arose among the Shawano another prophet to point out to his people
the “open door” leading to happiness. In November, 1805, a young man
named Laulewasikaw (Lalawe′thika, a rattle or similar instrument—
Gatschet), then hardly more than 30 years of age, called around him his
tribesmen and their allies at their ancient capital of Wapakoneta, within the
present limits of Ohio, and there announced himself as the bearer of a new
revelation from the Master of Life, who had taken pity on his red children
and wished to save them from the threatened destruction. He declared that
he had been taken up to the spirit world and had been permitted to lift the
veil of the past and the future—had seen the misery of evil doers and
learned the happiness that awaited those who followed the precepts of the
Indian god. He then began an earnest exhortation, denouncing the
witchcraft practices and medicine juggleries of the tribe, and solemnly
warning his hearers that none who had part in such things would ever taste
of the future happiness. The firewater of the whites was poison and
accursed; and those who continued its use would after death be tormented
with all the pains of fire, while flames would continually issue from their
mouths. This idea may have been derived from some white man’s teaching
or from the Indian practice of torture by fire. The young must cherish and
respect the aged and infirm. All property must be in common, according to
the ancient law of their ancestors. Indian women must cease to intermarry
with white men; the two races were distinct and must remain so. The white
man’s dress, with his flint-and-steel, must be discarded for the old time
buckskin and the firestick. More than this, every tool and every custom
derived from the whites must be put away, and they must return to the
methods which the Master of Life had taught them. When they should do all
this, he promised that they would again be taken into the divine favor, and
find the happiness which their fathers had known before the coming of the
whites. Finally, in proof of his divine mission, he announced that he had
received power to cure all diseases and to arrest the hand of death in
sickness or on the battlefield. (Drake, Tecumseh, 1.) To avoid repetition, it
may be stated that, except when otherwise noted, the principal facts
concerning Tecumtha and the prophet are taken from Drake’s work, the
most valuable published on the subject. The prophet and his doctrines are
also spoken of at some length by Tanner, Kendall, Warren, and Catlin, as
hereafter quoted, while the history of Tecumtha is a part of the history of
Ohio valley, to be found in any work treating of that section and period.)

In an account quoted by Drake, probably from an English writer, it is
stated that the prophet was noted for his stupidity and intoxication until his
fiftieth (?) year, when one day, while lighting his pipe in his cabin, he
suddenly fell back apparently lifeless and remained in that condition until
his friends had assembled for the funeral, when he revived from his trance,
and after quieting their alarm, announced that he had been to the spirit
world and commanded them to call the people together that he might tell
them what he had seen. When they had assembled, he declared that he had
been conducted to the border of the spirit world by two young men, who
had permitted him to look in upon its pleasures, but not to enter, and who,
after charging him with the message to his people already noted, had left
him, promising to visit him again at a future time. (Drake, Ab. Races, 1.)
Although the language of this account is somewhat overdrawn, the main
statements are probably correct, as it is in complete accordance with the
Indian system by which all truth has been revealed in dreams and trances
from the first dawn of tradition down to Smohalla and the messiah of the
Ghost dance.
His words aroused an intense excitement among his hearers, and the
impression deepened as the tidings of the new gospel were carried from
camp to camp. Those who were addicted to drunkenness—the besetting sin
of the Indians since their acquaintance with the whites—were so thoroughly
alarmed at the prospect of a fiery punishment in the spirit world that for a
long time intoxication became practically unknown among the western
tribes. Their zeal led also to the inauguration of a crusade against all who
were suspected of dealing in witchcraft or magic arts; but here the prophet
took advantage of this feeling to effectually rid himself of all who opposed
his sacred claims. It was only necessary for him to denounce such a person
as a witch to have him pay the forfeit with reputation, if not with life.
Among the first of his victims were several Delawares—Tatepocoshe (more generally
known as Teteboxti), Patterson, his nephew, Coltos, an old woman, and an aged man called
Joshua. These were successively marked by the prophet, and doomed to be burnt alive. The
tragedy was commenced with the old woman. The Indians roasted her slowly over a fire for
four days, calling upon her frequently to deliver up her charm and medicine bag. Just as she
was dying, she exclaimed that her grandson, who was then out hunting, had it in his
possession. Messengers were sent in pursuit of him, and when found he was tied and brought
into camp. He acknowledged that on one occasion he had borrowed the charm of his
grandmother, by means of which he had flown through the air over Kentucky, to the banks of
the Mississippi, and back again, between twilight and bedtime; but he insisted that he had
returned the charm to its owner, and, after some consultation, he was set at liberty. The

following day a council was held over the case of the venerable chief Tatepocoshe, he being
present. His death was decided upon after full deliberation; and, arrayed in his finest apparel,
he calmly assisted in building his own funeral pile, fully aware that there was no escape from
the judgment that had been passed upon him. The respect due to his whitened locks induced
his executioners to treat him with mercy. He was deliberately tomahawked by a young man,
and his body was then placed upon the blazing fagots and consumed. The next day the old
preacher Joshua met a similar fate. The wife of Tatepocoshe and his nephew Billy Patterson
were then brought into the council house and seated side by side. The latter had led an
irreproachable life, and died like a Christian, singing and praying amid the flames which
destroyed his body. While preparations were making for the immolation of Tatepocoshe’s
wife, her brother, a youth of 20 years of age, suddenly started up, took her by the hand, and,
to the amazement of the council, led her out of the house. He soon returned, and exclaiming,
“The devil has come among us (alluding to the prophet), and we are killing each other,” he
reseated himself in the midst of the crowd. This bold step checked the wild frenzy of the
Indians, put an end to these cruel scenes, and for a time greatly impaired the impostor’s
influence among the Delawares. (Drake, Tecumseh, 2.)

The prophet now changed his name to Tenskwatawa, “The Open Door”
(from skwa′te, a door, and the′nui, to be open; frequently spelled
Elskwatawa), significant of the new mode of life which he had come to
point out to his people, and fixed his headquarters at Greenville, Ohio,
where representatives from the various scattered tribes of the northwest
gathered about him to learn the new doctrines. Some, especially the
Kickapoo, entered fervently into his spirit, while others were disposed to
oppose him. The Miami, who regarded the Shawano as intruders, were
jealous of his influence, and the chiefs of his own tribe were somewhat
inclined to consider him in the light of a rival. To establish his sacred
character and to dispel the doubts of the unbelievers, he continued to dream
dreams and announce wonderful revelations from time to time, when an
event occurred which effectually silenced opposition and stamped him as
one inspired.
By some means he had learned that an eclipse of the sun was to take
place in the summer of 1806. As the time drew near, he called about him the
scoffers and boldly announced that on a certain day he would prove to them
his supernatural authority by causing the sun to become dark. When the day
and hour arrived and the earth at midday was enveloped in the gloom of
twilight, Tenskwatawa, standing in the midst of the terrified Indians,
pointed to the sky and cried, “Did I not speak truth? See, the sun is dark!”
There were no more doubters now. All proclaimed him a true prophet and
the messenger of the Master of Life. His fame spread abroad and apostles
began to carry his revelations to the remotest tribes.

We get but fragmentary light in regard to the details of the doctrine and
ceremonies of this religious revival, as well as of that which preceded it.
There were then no railroads, no newspaper correspondents to gather each
day’s proceedings, and no telegraph to flash the news across the continent
before nightfall; no reservation system, with its attendant army of
employees, everyone a spy when an emergency arose; and no investigators
to go among the tribes and study the matter from an ethnologic point of
view. Our information is derived chiefly from military officers, who knew
these things only as vague rumors of Indian unrest fomented by British
agents; from the statements of a few illiterate interpreters or captives among
the savages, and from the misty recollections of old men long after the
excitement had passed away. Of the dances which are a part of every
important Indian ceremony, the songs which they chanted, the peculiar
dress or adornments which probably distinguished the believers—of all
these we know nothing; but we may well surmise that the whole elaborate
system of Indian mythology and ceremonial was brought into play to give
weight to the words of the prophet, and enough is known to show that in its
leading features the movement closely resembled the modern Ghost dance.
It is impossible to know how far the prophet was responsible for the final
shaping of the doctrine. Like all such movements, it undoubtedly grew and
took more definite form under the hands of the apostles who went out from
the presence of its originator to preach to the various tribes. A religion
which found adherents alike in the everglades of Florida and on the plains
of the Saskatchewan must necessarily have undergone local modifications.
From a comparison of the various accounts we can arrive at a general
statement of the belief.
The prophet was held to be an incarnation of Manabozho, the great “first
doer” of the Algonquian system. His words were believed to be the direct
utterances of a deity. Manabozho had taught his people certain modes of
living best suited to their condition and capacity. A new race had come upon
them, and the Indians had thrown aside their primitive purity of life and
adopted the innovations of the whites, which had now brought them to
degradation and misery and threatened them with swift and entire
destruction. To punish them for their disobedience and bring them to a
sense of their duty, Manabozho had called the game from the forests and
shut it up under the earth, so that the tribes were now on the verge of

starvation and obliged to eat the flesh of filthy hogs. They had also lost their
old love for one another and become addicted to the secret practices of the
poisoner and the wizard, together with the abominable ceremonies of the
calumet dance. They must now put aside all these things, throw away the
weapons and the dress of the white man, pluck out their hair as in ancient
times, wear the eagle feather on their heads, and clothe themselves again
with the breechcloth and the skins of animals slain with the bows and
arrows which Manabozho had given them. (Kendall, 1.) They must have
done with the white man’s flint-and-steel, and cook their food over a fire
made by rubbing together two sticks, and this fire must always be kept
burning in their lodges, as it was a symbol of the eternal life, and their care
for it was an evidence of their heed to the divine commands. The firewater
must forever be put away, together with the medicine bags and poisons and
the wicked juggleries which had corrupted the ancient purity of the Midé
rites. Instead of these the prophet gave them new songs and new medicines.
Their women must cease from any connection with white men. They were
to love one another and make an end of their constant wars, to be kind to
their children, to keep but one dog in a family, and to abstain from lying and
stealing. If they would listen to his voice and follow his instructions, the
incarnate Manabozho promised that at the end of four years (i. e., in 1811)
he would bring on two days of darkness, during which he would travel
invisibly throughout the land, and cause the animals which he had created
to come forth again out of the earth. (Kendall, 2.) They were also promised
that their dead friends would be restored to them.
The ideas as to the catastrophe that was to usher in the new era seem to
have varied according to the interpreter of the belief. Among the Ottawa,
and perhaps among the lake tribes generally, there was to be a period of
darkness, as already stated. Among the Cherokee, and probably also among
the Creek, it was believed that there would be a terrible hailstorm, which
would overwhelm with destruction both the whites and the unbelievers of
the red race, while the elect would be warned in time to save themselves by
fleeing to the high mountain tops. The idea of any hostile combination
against the white race seems to have been no part of the doctrine. In the
north, however, there is always a plain discrimination against the
Americans. The Great Father, through his prophet, is represented as
declaring himself to be the common parent alike of Indians, English,
French, and Spaniards; while the Americans, on the contrary, “are not my

children, but the children of the evil spirit. They grew from the scum of the
great water, when it was troubled by an evil spirit and the froth was driven
into the woods by a strong east wind. They are numerous, but I hate them.
They are unjust; they have taken away your lands, which were not made for
them.” (Kendall, 3.)
From the venerable James Wafford, of the Cherokee nation, the author in
1891 obtained some interesting details in regard to the excitement among
the Cherokee. According to his statement, the doctrine first came to them
through the Creek about 1812 or 1813. It was probably given to the Creek
by Tecumtha and his party on their visit to that tribe in the fall of 1811, as
will be related hereafter. The Creek were taught by their prophets that the
old Indian life was soon to return, when “instead of beef and bacon they
would have venison, and instead of chickens they would have turkeys.”
Great sacred dances were inaugurated, and the people were exhorted to be
ready for what was to come. From the south the movement spread to the
Cherokee, and one of their priests, living in what is now upper Georgia,
began to preach that on a day near at hand there would be a terrible storm,
with a mighty wind and hailstones as large as hominy mortars, which would
destroy from the face of the earth all but the true believers who had
previously taken refuge on the highest summits of the Great Smoky
mountains. Full of this belief, numbers of the tribe in Alabama and Georgia
abandoned their bees, their orchards, their slaves, and everything else that
might have come to them through the white man, and, in spite of the
entreaties and remonstrances of friends who put no faith in the prediction,
took up their toilsome march for the mountains of Carolina. Wafford, who
was then about 10 years of age, lived with his mother and stepfather on
Valley river, and vividly remembers the troops of pilgrims, with their packs
on their backs, fleeing from the lower country to escape from the wrath to
come. Many of them stopped at the house of his stepfather, who, being a
white man, was somewhat better prepared than his neighbors to entertain
travelers, and who took the opportunity to endeavor to persuade them to
turn back, telling them that their hopes and fears alike were groundless.
Some listened to him and returned to their homes, but others went on and
climbed the mountain, where they waited until the appointed day arrived,
only to find themselves disappointed. Slowly and sadly then they took up
their packs once more and turned their faces homeward, dreading the
ridicule they were sure to meet there, but yet believing in their hearts that

the glorious coming was only postponed for a time. This excitement among
the Cherokee is noted at some length in the Cherokee Advocate of
November 16, 1844, published at Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation. Among the
Creek the excitement, intensified by reports of the struggle now going on in
the north, and fostered and encouraged by the emissaries of Spain and
England, grew and spread until it culminated in the summer of 1813 in the
terrible Creek war.
Enough is known of the ceremonial of this religion to show that it must
have had an elaborate ritual. We learn from Warren that the adherents of the
prophet were accustomed to perform certain ceremonies in solemn councils,
and that, after he had prohibited the corrupt secret rites, he introduced
instead new medicines and songs, and that at the ancient capital of the
Ojibwa on Lake Superior the Indians collected in great numbers and
performed these dances and ceremonies day and night. (Warren, 1.) They
were also instructed to dance naked, with their bodies painted and with the
warclub in their hands. (Kendall, 4.) The solemn rite of confirmation,
known as “shaking hands with the prophet,” was particularly impressive.
From the narrative of John Tanner, a white man captured when a child from
his home in Kentucky and brought up among the wild Ojibwa, we get the
best contemporary account of the advent of the new doctrine in the north
and its effect on the lake tribes. He says:
It was while I was living here at Great Wood river that news came of a great man among
the Shawneese, who had been favoured by a revelation of the mind and will of the Great
Spirit. I was hunting in the prairie, at a great distance from my lodge, when I saw a stranger
approaching. At first I was apprehensive of an enemy, but as he drew nearer, his dress
showed him to be an Ojibbeway; but when he came up, there was something very strange
and peculiar in his manner. He signified to me that I must go home, but gave no explanation
of the cause. He refused to look at me or enter into any kind of conversation. I thought he
must be crazy, but nevertheless accompanied him to my lodge. When we had smoked, he
remained a long time silent, but at last began to tell me he had come with a message from the
prophet of the Shawneese. “Henceforth,” said he, “the fire must never be suffered to go out
in your lodge. Summer and winter, day and night, in the storm, or when it is calm, you must
remember that the life in your body and the fire in your lodge are the same and of the same
date. If you suffer your fire to be extinguished, at that moment your life will be at its end.
You must not suffer a dog to live; you must never strike either a man, a woman, a child, or a
dog. The prophet himself is coming to shake hands with you; but I have come before, that
you may know what is the will of the Great Spirit, communicated to us by him, and to inform
you that the preservation of your life, for a single moment, depends on your entire obedience.
From this time forward we are neither to be drunk, to steal, to lie, or to go against our
enemies. While we yield an entire obedience to these commands of the Great Spirit, the
Sioux, even if they come to our country, will not be able to see us; we shall be protected and
made happy.” I listened to all he had to say, but told him, in answer, that I could not believe

we should all die in case our fire went out; in many instances, also, it would be difficult to
avoid punishing our children; our dogs were useful in aiding us to hunt and take animals, so
that I could not believe the Great Spirit had any wish to take them from us. He continued
talking to us until late at night; then he lay down to sleep in my lodge. I happened to wake
first in the morning, and, perceiving the fire had gone out, I called him to get up and see how
many of us were living and how many dead. He was prepared for the ridicule I attempted to
throw upon his doctrine, and told me that I had not yet shaken hands with the prophet. His
visit had been to prepare me for this important event, and to make me aware of the
obligations and risks I should incur, by entering into the engagement implied in taking in my
hand the message of the prophet. I did not rest entirely easy in my unbelief. The Indians,
generally, received the doctrine of this man with great humility and fear. Distress and anxiety
was visible in every countenance. Many killed their dogs, and endeavored to practice
obedience to all the commands of this new preacher, who still remained among us. But, as
was usual with me, in any emergency of this kind, I went to the traders, firmly believing that
if the Deity had any communications to make to men, they would be given, in the first
instance, to white men. The traders ridiculed and despised the idea of a new revelation of the
Divine will, and the thought that it should be given to a poor Shawnee. Thus was I confirmed
in my infidelity. Nevertheless, I did not openly avow my unbelief to the Indians, only I
refused to kill my dogs, and showed no great degree of anxiety to comply with his other
requirements. As long as I remained among the Indians, I made it my business to conform, as
far as appeared consistent with my immediate convenience and comfort, with all their
customs. Many of their ideas I have adopted, but I always found among them opinions which
I could not hold. The Ojibbeway whom I have mentioned remained some time among the
Indians in my neighborhood, and gained the attention of the principal men so effectually that
a time was appointed and a lodge prepared for the solemn and public espousing of the
doctrines of the prophet. When the people, and I among them, were brought into the long
lodge, prepared for this solemnity, we saw something carefully concealed under a blanket, in
figure and dimensions bearing some resemblance to the form of a man. This was
accompanied by two young men, who, it was understood, attended constantly upon it, made
its bed at night, as for a man, and slept near it. But while we remained no one went near it or
raised the blanket which was spread over its unknown contents. Four strings of mouldy and
discoloured beans were all the remaining visible insignia of this important mission. After a
long harangue, in which the prominent features of the new revelation were stated and urged
upon the attention of all, the four strings of beans, which we were told were made of the flesh
itself of the prophet, were carried with much solemnity to each man in the lodge, and he was
expected to take hold of each string at the top, and draw them gently through his hand. This
was called shaking hands with the prophet, and was considered as solemnly engaging to obey
his injunctions, and accept his mission as from the Supreme. All the Indians who touched the
beans had previously killed their dogs; they gave up their medicine bags, and showed a
disposition to comply with all that should be required of them.
We had now been for some time assembled in considerable numbers. Much agitation and
terror had prevailed among us, and now famine began to be felt. The faces of men wore an
aspect of unusual gloominess; the active became indolent, and the spirits of the bravest
seemed to be subdued. I started to hunt with my dogs, which I had constantly refused to kill
or suffer to be killed. By their assistance, I found and killed a bear. On returning home, I said
to some of the Indians, “Has not the Great Spirit given us our dogs to aid us in procuring
what is needful for the support of our life, and can you believe he wishes now to deprive us
of their services? The prophet, we are told, has forbid us to suffer our fire to be extinguished
in our lodges, and when we travel or hunt, he will not allow us to use a flint and steel, and we
are told he requires that no man should give fire to another. Can it please the Great Spirit that

we should lie in our hunting camps without fire, or is it more agreeable to him that we should
make fire by rubbing together two sticks than with a flint and a piece of steel?” But they
would not listen to me; and the serious enthusiasm which prevailed among them so far
affected me that I threw away my flint and steel, laid aside my medicine bag, and, in many
particulars, complied with the new doctrines; but I would not kill my dogs. I soon learned to
kindle a fire by rubbing some dry cedar, which I was careful to carry always about me, but
the discontinuance of the use of flint and steel subjected many of the Indians to much
inconvenience and suffering. The influence of the Shawnee prophet was very sensibly and
painfully felt by the remotest Ojibbeways of whom I had any knowledge, but it was not the
common impression among them that his doctrines had any tendency to unite them in the
accomplishment of any human purpose. For two or three years drunkenness was much less
frequent than formerly, war was less thought of, and the entire aspect of affairs among them
was somewhat changed by the influence of one man. But gradually the impression was
obliterated; medicine bags, flints, and steels were resumed; dogs were raised, women and
children were beaten as before, and the Shawnee prophet was despised. At this day he is
looked upon by the Indians as an impostor and a bad man. (Tanner, 1.)

Tanner’s account is confirmed by Warren, from the statements of old men
among the Ojibwa who had taken part in the revival. According to their
story the ambassadors of the new revelation appeared at the different
villages, acting strangely and with their faces painted black—perhaps to
signify their character as messengers from the world of shades. They told
the people that they must light a fire with two dry sticks in each of their
principal settlements, and that this fire must always be kept sacred and
burning. They predicted the speedy return of the old Indian life, and
asserted that the prophet would cause the dead to rise from the grave. The
new belief took sudden and complete possession of the minds of the Ojibwa
and spread “like wildfire” from end to end of their widely extended
territory, and even to the remote northern tribes in alliance with the Cree
and Asiniboin. The strongest evidence of their implicit obedience to the new
revelation was given by their attention to the command to throw away their
medicine bags, the one thing which every Indian holds most sacred. It is
said that the shores of Lake Superior, in the vicinity of the great village of
Shagawaumikong (Bayfield, Wisconsin), were strewn with these medicine
bags, which had been cast into the water. At this ancient capital of the tribe
the Ojibwa gathered in great numbers, to dance the dances and sing the
songs of the new ritual, until a message was received from the prophet
inviting them to come to him at Detroit, where he would explain in person
the will of the Master of Life. This was in 1808. The excitement was now at
fever heat, and it was determined to go in a body to Detroit. It is said that
150 canoe loads of Ojibwa actually started on this pilgrimage, and one
family even brought with them a dead child to be restored to life by the

prophet. They had proceeded a considerable distance when they were met
by an influential French trader, who reported, on the word of some who had
already visited the prophet’s camp and returned, that the devotees there
were on the brink of starvation—which was true, as the great multitude had
consumed their entire supply of provisions, and had been so occupied with
religious ceremonies that they had neglected to plant their corn. It was also
asserted that during the prophet’s frequent periods of absence from the
camp, when he would disappear for several days, claiming on his return that
he had been to the spirit world in converse with the Master of Life, that he
was really concealed in a hollow log in the woods. This is quite probable,
and entirely consistent with the Indian theory of trances and soul
pilgrimages while the body remains unconscious in one spot. These reports,
however, put such a damper on the ardor of the Ojibwa that they returned to
their homes and gradually ceased to think about the new revelation. As time
went on a reaction set in, and those who had been most active evangelists of
the doctrine among the tribe became most anxious to efface the
remembrance of it. One good, however, resulted to the Ojibwa from the
throwing away of the poisonous compounds formerly in common use by the
lower order of doctors, and secret poisoning became almost unknown.
(Warren, 2.)
When the celebrated traveler Catlin went among the prairie tribes some
thirty years later, he found that the prophet’s emissaries—he says the
prophet himself, which is certainly a mistake—had carried the living fire,
the sacred image, and the mystic strings (see portrait and description) even
to the Blackfeet on the plains of the Saskatchewan, going without hindrance
among warring tribes where the name of the Shawano had never been
spoken, protected only by the reverence that attached to their priestly
character. There seems no doubt that by this time they had developed the
plan of a confederacy for driving back the whites, and Catlin asserts that
thousands of warriors among those remote tribes had pledged themselves to
fight under the lead of Tecumtha at the proper time. His account of the
prophet’s methods in the extreme northwest agrees with what Tanner has
reported from the Ojibwa country. (Catlin, 1.) But disaster followed him
like a shadow. Rivals, jealous of his success, came after him to denounce
his plans as visionary and himself as an impostor. The ambassadors were
obliged to turn back to save their lives and retrace their way in haste to the

far distant Wabash, where the fatal battle of Tippecanoe and the death of his
great brother, Tecumtha, put an end to all his splendid dreams.

Chapter IV
TECUMTHA AND TIPPECANOE
These lands are ours. No one has a right to remove us, because we were the first owners.—
Tecumtha to Wells, 1807.
The Great Spirit gave this great island to his red children. He placed the whites on the
other side of the big water. They were not contented with their own, but came to take ours
from us. They have driven us from the sea to the lakes—we can go no farther.—Tecumtha,
1810.
The President may sit still in his town and drink his wine, while you and I will have to
fight it out.—Tecumtha to Harrison, 1810.

And now we begin to hear of the prophet’s brother, Tecumtha, the most
heroic character in Indian history. Tecumtha, “The Meteor,” was the son of
a chief and the worthy scion of a warrior race. His tribe, the Shawano, made
it their proud boast that they of all tribes had opposed the most determined
resistance to the encroachments of the whites. His father had fallen under
the bullets of the Virginians while leading his warriors at the bloody battle
of Point Pleasant, in 1774. His eldest and dearest brother had lost his life in
an attack on a southern frontier post, and another had been killed fighting
by his side at Wayne’s victory in 1794. What wonder that the young
Tecumtha declared that his flesh crept at the sight of a white man!
But his was no mean spirit of personal revenge; his mind was too noble
for that. He hated the whites as the destroyers of his race, but prisoners and
the defenseless knew well that they could rely on his honor and humanity
and were safe under his protection. When only a boy—for his military
career began in childhood—he had witnessed the burning of a prisoner, and
the spectacle was so abhorrent to his feelings that by an earnest and
eloquent harangue he induced the party to give up the practice forever. In
later years his name was accepted by helpless women and children as a
guaranty of protection even in the midst of hostile Indians. Of commanding
figure, nearly six feet in height and compactly built; of dignified bearing
and piercing eye, before whose lightning even a British general quailed;

with the fiery eloquence of a Clay and the clear-cut logic of a Webster;
abstemious in habit, charitable in thought and action, brave as a lion, but
humane and generous withal—in a word, an aboriginal American knight—
his life was given to his people, and he fell at last, like his father and his
brothers before him, in battle with the destroyers of his nation, the
champion of a lost cause and a dying race.
His name has been rendered “The Shooting Star” and “The Panther
Crouching, or Lying in Wait.” From a reply to a letter of inquiry addressed
to Professor A. S. Gatschet, the well-known philologist, I extract the
following, which throws valuable light on the name system and mythology
of the Shawano, and shows also that the two renderings, apparently so
dissimilar, have a common origin:
Shawano personal names are nearly all clan names, and by their interpretation the clan to
which the individual or his father or mother belongs may be discovered. Thus, when a man is
called “tight fitting” or “good fit,” he is of the Rabbit clan, because the fur fits the rabbit very
tightly and closely. The name of Tecumtha is derived from nila ni tka′mthka, “I cross the path
or way of somebody, or of an animal.” This indicates that the one so named belongs to the
clan of the round-foot or claw-foot animals, as panther, lion, or even raccoon. Tecumtha and
his brother belonged to the clan of the manetuwi msipessi or “miraculous panther” (msi,
great, big; pishiwi, abbreviated pessi, cat, both combined meaning the American lion). So the
translations “panther lying in wait,” or “crouching lion,” give only the sense of the name, and
no animal is named in it. But the msi-pessi, when the epithet miraculous (manetuwi) is added
to it, means a “celestial tiger,” i. e., a meteor or shooting star. The manetuwi msi-pessi lives
in water only and is visible not as an animal, but as a shooting star, and exceeding in size
other shooting stars. This monster gave name to a Shawano clan, and this clan, to which
Tecumtha belonged, was classed among the claw-foot animals also. The quick motion of the
shooting star was correctly likened to that of a tiger or wildcat rushing upon his prey.
Shooting stars are supposed to be souls of great men all over America. The home of the dead
is always in the west, where the celestial bodies set, and since meteors travel westward they
were supposed to return to their western home.

Fig. 58—Tecumtha.
One of the finest looking men I ever saw—about 6 feet high, straight, with large, fine
features, and altogether a daring, bold-looking fellow.—Captain Floyd, 1810.
One of those uncommon geniuses which spring up occasionally to produce
revolutions and overturn the established order of things—Governor Harrison.

EXPLANATION OF FIGURE 58
This portrait is a copy of the one given by Lossing in his American Revolution and
the War of 1812, iii. (1875), page 283. He quotes a description of Tecumtha’s personal
appearance by a British officer who saw him in 1812, and then goes on to give the
history of the portrait. “Captain J. B. Glegg, Brock’s aid-de-camp, has left on record the
following description of Tecumtha at that interview: ‘Tecumseh’s appearance was very
prepossessing; his figure light and finely proportioned; his age I imagined to be about
five and thirty [he was about forty]; in height, 5 feet 9 or 10 inches; his complexion
light copper; countenance oval, with bright hazel eyes, bearing cheerfulness, energy,

and decision. Three small silver crosses or coronets were suspended from the lower
cartilage of his aquiline nose, and a large silver medallion of George the Third, which I
believe his ancestor had received from Lord Dorchester when governor-general of
Canada, was attached to a mixed-colored wampum string and hung round his neck. His
dress consisted of a plain, neat uniform, tanned deerskin jacket, with long trowsers of
the same material, the seams of both being covered with neatly cut fringe, and he had
on his feet leather moccasins, much ornamented with work made from the dyed quills
of the porcupine.’ The portrait of Tecumtha above given is from a pencil sketch by
Pierre Le Dru.... In this I have given only the head by Le Dru. The cap was red, and in
front was a single eagle’s feather, black, with a white tip. The sketch of his dress (and
the medal above described), in which he appears as a brigadier-general of the British
army, is from a rough drawing, which I saw in Montreal in the summer of 1858, made
at Malden soon after the surrender of Detroit, where the Indians celebrated that event by
a grand feast. It was only on gala occasions that Tecumtha was seen in full dress. The
sketch did not pretend to give a true likeness of the chief, and was valuable only as a
delineation of his costume. From the two we are enabled to give a pretty faithful picture
of the great Shawnoese warrior and statesman as he appeared in his best mood. When in
full dress he wore a cocked hat and plume, but would not give up his blue breechcloth,
red leggings fringed with buckskin, and buckskin moccasins.”

Tecumtha was now in the prime of manhood, being about 40 years of
age, and had already thought out his scheme of uniting all the tribes in one
grand confederation to resist the further encroachments of the whites, on the
principle that the Indians had common interests, and that what concerned
one tribe concerned all. As the tribes were constantly shifting about,
following the game in its migrations, he held that no one tribe had any more
than a possessory right to the land while in actual occupancy, and that any
sale of lands, to be valid, must be sanctioned by all the tribes concerned.
His claim was certainly founded in justice, but the government refused to
admit the principle in theory, although repeatedly acting on it in practice,
for every important treaty afterward made in Mississippi valley was a joint
treaty, as it was found impossible to assign the ownership of any
considerable section to any one particular tribe. The Shawano themselves
hunted from the Cumberland to the Susquehanna. As a basal proposition,
Tecumtha claimed that the Greenville treaty, having been forced on the
Indians, was invalid; that the only true boundary was the Ohio, as
established in 1768, and that all future cessions must have the sanction of
all the tribes claiming rights in that region.
By this time there were assembled at Greenville to listen to the teachings
of the prophet hundreds of savages, representing all the widely extended
tribes of the late region and the great northwest, all wrought up to the
highest pitch of excitement over the prospect of a revival of the old Indian

life and the perpetuation of aboriginal sovereignty. This was Tecumtha’s
opportunity, and he was quick to improve it. Even those who doubted the
spiritual revelations could see that they were in danger from the continued
advances of the whites, and were easily convinced that safety required that
they should unite as one people for the preservation of a common boundary.
The pilgrims carried back these ideas to their several tribes, and thus what
was at first a simple religious revival soon became a political agitation.
They were equally patriotic from the Indian point of view, and under the
circumstances one was almost the natural complement of the other. All the
evidence goes to show that the movement in its inception was purely
religious and peaceable; but the military spirit of Tecumtha afterward gave
to it a warlike and even aggressive character, and henceforth the apostles of
the prophet became also recruiting agents for his brother. Tecumtha himself
was too sensible to think that the whites would be destroyed by any
interposition of heaven, or that they could be driven out by any combination
of the Indians, but he did believe it possible that the westward advance of
the Americans could be stopped at the Ohio, leaving his people in
undisturbed possession of what lay beyond. In this hope he was encouraged
by the British officials in Canada, and it is doubtful if the movement would
ever have become formidable if it had not been incited and assisted from
across the line.
In the spring of 1807 it was estimated that at Fort Wayne fifteen hundred
Indians had recently passed that post on their way to visit the prophet, while
councils were constantly being held and runners were going from tribe to
tribe with pipes and belts of wampum. It was plain that some uncommon
movement was going on among them, and it also was evident that the
British agents had a hand in keeping up the excitement. The government
became alarmed, and the crisis came when an order was sent from the
President to Tecumtha at Greenville to remove his party beyond the
boundary of 1795 (the Greenville treaty). Trembling with excitement,
Tecumtha rose and addressed his followers in a passionate speech, dwelling
on the wrongs of the Indians and the continued encroachments of the
whites. Then, turning to the messenger, he said, “These lands are ours. No
one has a right to remove us, because we were the first owners. The Great
Spirit above has appointed this place for us, on which to light our fires, and
here we will remain. As to boundaries, the Great Spirit above knows no
boundaries nor will his red children acknowledge any.” (Drake, Tecumseh,

3.) From this time it was understood that the Indians were preparing to
make a final stand for the valley of the Ohio. The prophet continued to
arouse their enthusiasm by his inspired utterances, while Tecumtha became
the general and active organizer of the warriors. At a conference with the
governor of Ohio in the autumn of 1807 he fearlessly denied the validity of
the former treaties, and declared his intention to resist the further extension
of the white settlements on Indian lands.
The next spring great numbers of Indians came down from the lakes to
visit Tecumtha and his brother, who, finding their following increasing so
rapidly, accepted an invitation from the Potawatomi and Kickapoo, and
removed their headquarters to a more central location on the Wabash. The
Delaware and Miami, who claimed precedence in that region and who had
all along opposed the prophet and Tecumtha, protested against this move,
but without effect. The new settlement, which was on the western bank of
the river, just below the mouth of the Tippecanoe, was known to the Indians
as Kehtipaquononk, “the great clearing,” and was an old and favorite
location with them. It had been the site of a large Shawano village which
had been destroyed by the Americans in 1791, and some years later the
Potawatomi had rebuilt upon the same place, to which they now invited the
disciples of the new religion. The whites had corrupted the name to
Tippecanoe, and it now generally became known as the Prophet’s town.
Nothing else of moment occurred during this year, but it was learned that
Tecumtha contemplated visiting the southern tribes in the near future to
enlist them also in his confederacy. In 1809, however, rumors of an
approaching outbreak began to fill the air, and it was evident that the British
were instigating the Indians to mischief in anticipation of a war between
England and the United States. Just at this juncture the anger of Tecumtha’s
party was still further inflamed by the negotiation of treaties with four tribes
by which additional large tracts were ceded in Indiana and Illinois. The
Indians now refused to buy ammunition from the American traders, saying
that they could obtain all they wanted for nothing in another quarter. In
view of the signs of increasing hostility, Governor Harrison was authorized
to take such steps as might be necessary to protect the frontier. Tecumtha
had now gained over the Wyandot, the most influential tribe of the Ohio
region, the keepers of the great wampum belt of union and the lighters of
the council fire of the allied tribes. Their example was speedily followed by

the Miami, whose adhesion made the tribes of the Ohio and the lakes
practically unanimous. The prophet now declared that he would follow in
the steps of Pontiac, and called on the remote tribes to assist those on the
border to roll back the tide which would otherwise overwhelm them all. In
return, the Sauk and Fox sent word that they were ready whenever he
should say the word.
In the summer of 1810, according to a previous arrangement, Tecumtha,
attended by several hundred warriors, descended the river to Vincennes to
confer with Governor Harrison on the situation. The conference began on
the 15th of August and lasted three days. Tecumtha reiterated his former
claims, saying that in uniting the tribes he was endeavoring to dam the
mighty water that was ready to overflow his people. The Americans had
driven the Indians from the sea and threatened to push them into the lakes;
and, although he disclaimed any intention of making war against the United
States, he declared his fixed resolution to insist on the old boundary and to
oppose the further intrusion of the whites on the lands of the Indians, and to
resist the survey of the lands recently ceded. He was followed by chiefs of
five different tribes, each of whom in turn declared that he would support
the principles of Tecumtha. Harrison replied that the government would
never admit that any section belonged to all the Indians in common, and
that, having bought the ceded lands from the tribes who were first found in
possession of them, it would defend its title by arms. To this Tecumtha said
that he preferred to be on the side of the Americans, and that if his terms
were conceded he would bring his forces to the aid of the United States in
the war which he knew was soon to break out with England, but that
otherwise he would be compelled to join the British. The governor replied
that he would state the case to the President, but that it was altogether
unlikely that he would consent to the conditions. Recognizing the
inevitable, Tecumtha expressed the hope that, as the President was to
determine the matter, the Great Spirit would put sense into his head to
induce him to give up the lands, adding, “It is true, he is so far off he will
not be injured by the war. He may sit still in his town and drink his wine,
while you and I will have to fight it out.” The governor then requested that
in the event of an Indian war Tecumtha would use his influence to prevent
the practice of cruelties on women and children and defenseless prisoners.
To this he readily agreed, and the promise was faithfully kept. (Drake,
Tecumseh, 4.)

The conference had ended with a tacit understanding that war must come,
and both sides began to prepare for the struggle. Soon after it was learned
that the prophet had sent belts to the tribes west of the Mississippi, inviting
them to join in a war against the United States. Outrages on the Indians by
settlers intensified the hostile feeling, and the Delawares refused to deliver
up a murderer until some of the whites who had killed their people were
first punished. Harrison himself states that the Indians could rarely obtain
satisfaction for the most unprovoked wrongs. In another letter he says that
Tecumtha “has taken for his model the celebrated Pontiac, and I am
persuaded he will bear a favorable comparison in every respect with that
far-famed warrior.”
In July, 1811, Tecumtha again, visited Harrison at Vincennes. In the
course of his talk he said that the whites were unnecessarily alarmed, as the
Indians were only following the example set them by the colonies in uniting
for the furtherance of common interests. He added that he was now on his
way to the southern tribes to obtain their adhesion also to the league, and
that on his return in the spring he intended to visit the President to explain
his purposes fully and to clear away all difficulties. In the meantime he
expected that a large number of Indians would join his colony on the
Wabash during the winter, and to avoid any danger of collision between
them and the whites, he requested that no settlements should be made on
the disputed lands until he should have an opportunity to see the President.
To this Harrison replied that the President would never give up a country
which he had bought from its rightful owners, nor would he suffer his
people to be injured with impunity. This closed the interview, and the next
day Tecumtha started with his party for the south to visit the Creek and
Choctaw. About the same time it was learned that the British had sent a
message to the prophet, telling him that the time had now come for him to
take up the hatchet, and inviting him to send a party to their headquarters at
Malden (now Amherstburg, Ontario) to receive the necessary supplies. In
view of these things Harrison suggested to the War Department that
opportunity be taken of Tecumtha’s absence in the south to strike a blow
against his confederacy. Continuing in the same letter, he says of the great
Indian leader:
The implicit obedience and respect which the followers of Tecumseh pay to him is really
astonishing, and more than any other circumstance bespeaks him one of those uncommon
geniuses which spring up occasionally to produce revolutions and overturn the established

order of things. If it were not for the vicinity of the United States, he would perhaps be the
founder of an empire that would rival in glory Mexico or Peru. No difficulties deter him. For
four years he has been in constant motion. You see him to-day on the Wabash, and in a short
time hear of him on the shores of Lake Erie or Michigan or on the banks of the Mississippi,
and wherever he goes he makes an impression favorable to his purposes. He is now upon the
last round, to put a finishing stroke to his work. I hope, however, before his return that that
part of the fabric which he considered complete will be demolished, and even its foundations
rooted up. (Drake, Tecumseh, 5.)

On this trip Tecumtha went as far as Florida and engaged the Seminole
for his confederacy. Then, retracing his steps into Alabama, he came to the
ancient Creek town of Tukabachi, on the Tallapoosa, near the present site of
Montgomery. What happened here is best told in the words of McKenney
and Hall, who derived their information from Indians at the same town a
few years later:
He made his way to the lodge of the chief called the Big Warrior. He explained his object,
delivered his war talk, presented a bundle of sticks, gave a piece of wampum and a war
hatchet—all which the Big Warrior took—when Tecumthé, reading the spirit and intentions
of the Big Warrior, looked him in the eye, and, pointing his finger toward his face, said:
“Your blood is white. You have taken my talk, and the sticks, and the wampum, and the
hatchet, but you do not mean to fight. I know the reason. You do not believe the Great Spirit
has sent me. You shall know. I leave Tuckhabatchee directly, and shall go straight to Detroit.
When I arrive there, I will stamp on the ground with my foot and shake down every house in
Tuckhabatchee.” So saying, he turned and left the Big Warrior in utter amazement at both his
manner and his threat, and pursued his journey. The Indians were struck no less with his
conduct than was the Big Warrior, and began to dread the arrival of the day when the
threatened calamity would befall them. They met often and talked over this matter, and
counted the days carefully to know the day when Tecumthé would reach Detroit. The
morning they had fixed upon as the day of his arrival at last came. A mighty rumbling was
heard—the Indians all ran out of their houses—the earth began to shake; when at last, sure
enough, every house in Tuckhabatchee was shaken down. The exclamation was in every
mouth, “Tecumthé has got to Detroit!” The effect was electric. The message he had delivered
to the Big Warrior was believed, and many of the Indians took their rifles and prepared for
the war. The reader will not be surprised to learn that an earthquake had produced all this; but
he will be, doubtless, that it should happen on the very day on which Tecumthé arrived at
Detroit, and in exact fulfillment of his threat. It was the famous earthquake of New Madrid
on the Mississippi. (McKenney and Hall, 1.)

The fire thus kindled among the Creek by Tecumtha was fanned into a
blaze by the British and Spanish traders until the opening of the war of
1812 gave the opportunity for the terrible outbreak known in history as the
Creek war.
While Tecumtha was absent in the south, affairs were rapidly
approaching a crisis on the Wabash. The border settlers demanded the
removal of the prophet’s followers, stating in their memorial to the

President that they were “fully convinced that the formation of this
combination headed by the Shawano prophet was a British scheme, and that
the agents of that power were constantly exciting the Indians to hostility
against the United States.” Governor Harrison now sent messages to the
different tribes earnestly warning them of the consequences of a hostile
outbreak, but about the same time the prophet himself announced that he
had now taken up the tomahawk against the United States, and would only
lay it down with his life, unless the wrongs of the Indians were redressed. It
was known also that he was arousing his followers to a feverish pitch of
excitement by the daily practice of mystic rites.
Harrison now determined to break up the prophet’s camp. Accordingly, at
the head of about 900 men, including about 250 regulars, he marched from
Vincennes, and on the 5th of November, 1811, encamped within a few
miles of the prophet’s town. The Indians had fortified the place with great
care and labor. It was sacred to them as the spot where the rites of the new
religion had been so long enacted, and by these rites they believed it had
been rendered impregnable to the attacks of the white man. The next day he
approached still nearer, and was met by messengers from the town, who
stated that the prophet was anxious to avoid hostilities and had already sent
a pacific message by several chiefs, who had unfortunately gone down on
the other side of the river and thus had failed to find the general. A truce
was accordingly agreed on until the next day, when terms of peace were to
be arranged between the governor and the chiefs. The army encamped on a
spot pointed out by the Indians, an elevated piece of ground rising out of a
marshy prairie, within a mile of the town. Although Harrison did not
believe that the Indians would make a night attack, yet as a precaution he
had the troops sleep on their arms in order of battle.
At 4 o’clock in the morning of the 7th, Governor Harrison, according to his practice, had
risen preparatory to the calling up the troops, and was engaged, while drawing on his boots
by the fire, in conversation with General Wells, Colonel Owen, and Majors Taylor and Hurst.
The orderly drum had been roused for the purpose of giving the signal for the troops to turn
out, when the attack of the Indians suddenly commenced upon the left flank of the camp. The
whole army was instantly on its feet, the campfires were extinguished, the governor mounted
his horse and proceeded to the point of attack. Several of the companies had taken their
places in the line within forty seconds from the report of the first gun, and the whole of the
troops were prepared for action in the course of two minutes, a fact as creditable to their own
activity and bravery as to the skill and bravery of their officers. The battle soon became
general, and was maintained on both sides with signal and even desperate valor. The Indians
advanced and retreated by the aid of a rattling noise, made with deer hoofs, and persevered in
their treacherous attack with an apparent determination to conquer or die upon the spot. The

battle raged with unabated fury and mutual
slaughter until daylight, when a gallant and
successful charge by our troops drove the enemy
into the swamp and put an end to the conflict.
Prior to the assault the prophet had given
assurances to his followers that in the coming
contest the Great Spirit would render the arms of
the Americans unavailing; that their bullets
would fall harmless at the feet of the Indians;
that the latter should have light in abundance,
while the former would be involved in thick
darkness. Availing himself of the privilege
conferred by his peculiar office, and perhaps
unwilling in his own person to attest at once the
rival powers of a sham prophecy and a real
American bullet, he prudently took a position on
an adjacent eminence, and when the action
began, he entered upon the performance of
certain mystic rites, at the same time singing a
war song. In the course of the engagement he
was informed that his men were falling. He told
them to fight on—it would soon be as he had
predicted. And then, in louder and wilder strains,
his inspiring battle song was heard commingling
with the sharp crack of the rifle and the shrill
war whoop of his brave but deluded followers.
(Drake, Tecumseh, 6.)

Drake estimates the whole number of
Indians engaged in the battle at
between 800 and 1,000, representing all
the principal tribes of the region, and
puts the killed at probably not less than
50, with an unusually large proportion
of wounded. Harrison’s estimate would
Fig. 59—Harrison treaty pipe.
seem to put the numbers much higher.
The Americans lost 60 killed or mortally wounded, and 188 in all. (Drake,
Tecumseh, 7.) In their hurried retreat the Indians left a large number of dead
on the field. Believing on the word of the prophet that they would receive
supernatural aid from above, they had fought with desperate bravery, and
their defeat completely disheartened them. They at once abandoned their
town and dispersed, each to his own tribe. Tecumtha’s great fabric was
indeed demolished, and even its foundations rooted up.

The night before the engagement the prophet had performed some
medicine rites by virtue of which he had assured his followers that half of
the soldiers were already dead and the other half bereft of their senses, so
that the Indians would have little to do but rush into their camp and finish
them with the hatchet. The result infuriated the savages. They refused to
listen to the excuses which are always ready to the tongue of the
unsuccessful medicine-man, denounced him as a liar, and even threatened
him with death. Deserted by all but a few of his own tribe, warned away
from several villages toward which he turned his steps, he found refuge at
last among a small band of Wyandot; but his influence and his sacred
prestige were gone forever, and he lived out his remaining days in the
gloom of obscurity.
From the south Tecumtha returned through Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois,
everywhere making accessions to his cause, but reached the Wabash at last,
just a few days after the battle, only to find his followers scattered to the
four winds, his brother a refugee, and the great object of his life—a
confederation of all the tribes—brought to nothing. His grief and
disappointment were bitter. He reproached his brother in unmeasured terms
for disobeying his instructions to preserve peace in his absence, and when
the prophet attempted to reply, it is said that Tecumtha so far forgot his
dignity as to seize his brother by the hair and give him a violent shaking,
threatening to take his life.
Early in 1812 Tecumtha sent a message to Governor Harrison, informing
him of his return from the south, and stating that he was now ready to make
the proposed visit to the President. To this Harrison replied, giving his
permission, but refusing to allow any party to accompany him. This
stipulation did not please the great leader, who had been accustomed to the
attendance of a retinue of warriors wherever he went. He declined the
terms, and thus terminated his intercourse with the governor. In June, 1812,
he visited the agent at Fort Wayne, and there reiterated the justice of his
position in regard to the ownership of the Indian lands, again disclaimed
having had any intention of making war against the United States, and
reproached Harrison for marching against his people in his absence. In
return, the agent endeavored to persuade him now to join forces with the
United States in the approaching conflict with England. “Tecumtha listened
with frigid indifference, made a few general remarks in reply, and then with

a haughty air left the council house and took his departure for Malden,
where he joined the British standard.” (Drake, Tecumseh, 8.) His
subsequent career is a part of the history of the war of 1812.
Formal declaration of war against Great Britain was made by the United
States on June 18, 1812. Tecumtha was already at Malden, the British
headquarters on the Canadian side, and when invited by some friendly
Indians to attend a council near Detroit in order to make arrangements for
remaining neutral, he sent back word that he had taken sides with the king,
and that his bones would bleach on the Canadian shore before he would
recross the river to join in any council of neutrality. A few days later he led
his Indians into battle on the British side. For his services at Maguaga he
was soon afterward regularly commissioned a brigadier general in the
British army.
We pass over the numerous events of this war—Maguaga, the Raisin,
Fort Meigs, Perry’s victory—as being outside the scope of our narrative,
and come to the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813, the last ever fought
by Tecumtha. After Perry’s decisive victory on the lake, Proctor hastily
prepared to retreat into the interior, despite the earnest protests of Tecumtha,
who charged him with cowardice, an imputation which the British general
did not dare to resent. The retreat was begun with Harrison in close pursuit,
until the British and Indians reached a spot on the north bank of the
Thames, in the vicinity of the present Chatham, Ontario. Here, finding the
ground favorable for defense, Tecumtha resolved to retreat no farther, and
practically compelled Proctor to make a stand. The Indian leader had no
hope of triumph in the issue. His sun had gone down, and he felt himself
already standing in the shadow of death. He was done with life and desired
only to close it, as became a warrior, striking a last blow against the
hereditary enemy of his race. When he had posted his men, he called his
chiefs about him and calmly said, “Brother warriors, we are now about to
enter into an engagement from which I shall never come out—my body will
remain on the field of battle.” He then unbuckled his sword, and, placing it
in the hands of one of them, said, “When my son becomes a noted warrior
and able to wield a sword, give this to him.” He then laid aside his British
military dress and took his place in the line, clothed only in the ordinary
deerskin hunting shirt. (Drake, Tecumseh, 9.) When the battle began, his
voice was heard encouraging his men until he fell under the cavalry charge

of the Americans, who had already broken the ranks of the British regulars
and forced them to surrender. Deprived of their leader and deserted by their
white allies, the Indians gave up the unequal contest and fled from the field.
Tecumtha died in his forty-fourth year.
After the close of the war the prophet returned from Canada by
permission of this government and rejoined his tribe in Ohio, with whom he
removed to the west in 1827. (Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, 2.) Catlin, who met
and talked with him in 1832, thus speaks of him:
This, no doubt, has been a very shrewd and influential man, but circumstances have
destroyed him, as they have many other great men before him, and he now lives respected,
but silent and melancholy, in his tribe. I conversed with him a great deal about his brother
Tecumseh, of whom he spoke frankly, and seemingly with great pleasure; but of himself and
his own great schemes he would say nothing. He told me that Tecumseh’s plans were to
embody all the Indian tribes in a grand confederacy, from the province of Mexico to the
Great Lakes, to unite their forces in an army that would be able to meet and drive back the
white people, who were continually advancing on the Indian tribes and forcing them from
their lands toward the Rocky mountains; that Tecumseh was a great general, and that nothing
but his premature death defeated his grand plan. (Catlin, 2.)

Chapter V
KÄNAKÛK AND MINOR PROPHETS
KÄNAKÛK
My father, the Great Spirit holds all the world in his hands. I pray to him that we may not
be removed from our lands.... Take pity on us and let us remain where we are.—Känakûk.
I was singularly struck with the noble efforts of this champion of the mere remnant of a
poisoned race, so strenuously laboring to rescue the remainder of his people from the deadly
bane that has been brought amongst them by enlightened Christians.—Catlin.

The scene now shifts to the west of the Mississippi. With the death of
Tecumtha the confederacy of the northwestern tribes fell to pieces, and on
the closing of the war of 1812 the government inaugurated a series of
treaties resulting, within twenty years, in the removal of almost every tribe
beyond the Mississippi and the appropriation of their former country by the
whites. Among others the Kickapoo, by the treaty of Edwardsville in 1819,
had ceded the whole of their ancient territory in Illinois, comprising nearly
one-half the area of the state, in exchange for a much smaller tract on Osage
river in Missouri and $3,000 in goods. (Treaties, 1.) The government also
agreed to furnish two boats to take them up the river to their new home,
where “the United States promise to guarantee to the said tribe the
peaceable possession of the tract of land hereby ceded to them, and to
restrain and prevent all white persons from hunting, settling, or otherwise
intruding upon it.”
For some reason, however, the Kickapoo manifested no overwhelming
desire to remove from their villages and cornfields on the broad prairies of
Illinois to the rugged hills of Missouri. This may have been due to the
innate perversity of the savage, or possibly to the fact that the new country
guaranteed to them was already occupied by their hereditary enemies, the
Osage, who outnumbered the Kickapoo three to one. To be sure, these
aboriginal proprietors had agreed to surrender the territory to the United
States, but they were still at home to all visitors, as the immigrant Cherokee

had learned to their cost. Be that as it may, several years passed and it began
to be suspected that the Kickapoo were not anxious to go west and grow up
with the country. Investigation disclosed the fact that, instead of removing
to the reservation on Osage river, one-half of the tribe had gone southward
in a body and crossed over to the Spanish side of Red river (now Texas),
where they might reasonably hope to be secure from the further advance of
the Americans. Others were preparing to follow, and the government agents
were instructed to make a strong effort to effect the immediate removal of
the tribe to Missouri and to prevent the emigration of any more to the south.

Fig. 60—Känakûk the Kickapoo prophet.

It now appeared that they were encouraged to hold their ground by a new
prophet who had sprung up among them, named Känakûk. The name (also
spelled Kee-an-ne-kuk and Kanacuk), refers to putting the foot upon a
fallen object, and does not denote “the foremost man,” as rendered by
Catlin. In a letter written to General Clark, in February, 1827—a few days
after the prophet himself had visited General Clark—the agent, Mr Graham,
after reporting his failure to induce the tribe to remove, states that the
prophet “had no idea of giving up his lands,” and continues:
This man has acquired an influence over his people through supposed revelations from
God, which he urges on them with an eloquence, mildness, and firmness of manner that
carries to their credulous ears conviction of his communications with God.
To give a favorable turn to his mind, I apparently gave credence to his statements of these
revelations, and attempted to put a construction on them for him. He listened to me with
great attention, and, after I had finished, said I might be right; that God would talk to him
again and he would let me know what he said. In the meantime he would use his influence to
get his people to move, but that he could not himself come over until all had removed; that
there were many bad men yet among them, whom he hoped to convert to the ways of God,
and then all would come over. He would preach to his men and warn them from taking away
or injuring the property of the white people, and if any white man struck them—to use his
own expression—he would bow his head and not complain; he would stop any attempt to
take revenge. He seems to have a wonderful influence over those Indians who accompanied
him. They neither drank nor painted, were serious, though not gloomy. (Ind. Off., 1.)

In the same month Känakûk himself visited
General Clark at Saint Louis, and in the
course of a long talk explained the origin of
his divine mission and the nature of his
doctrine, illustrating the subject by means of a
peculiar diagram (figure 61), and closing with
an earnest appeal in behalf of his people that
they should be allowed to remain undisturbed.
Although it was said by the traders that he had
stolen his inspiration from a Methodist
preacher, it is plain from an examination of his
doctrine that he was the direct spiritual
successor of Tenskwatawa and the Delaware
prophet, who in their generation had preached
Fig. 61—Känakûk’s heaven. to the same tribe. Like his predecessors, also,
he condemned the use of “medicine bags” and
medicine songs, which, although universal among the tribes, seem to have

been regarded by the better class of Indians as witchcraft was in former
days among the whites.
After the usual preliminary expressions of mutual friendship and good
will, Känakûk stated that all his people were united in sentiment, and then
proceeded to explain his religious views as follows:
My father, the Great Spirit has placed us all on this earth; he has given to our nation a
piece of land. Why do you want to take it away and give us so much trouble? We ought to
live in peace and happiness among ourselves and with you. We have heard of some trouble
about our land. I have come down to see you and have all explained.
* * * * *
My father, the Great Spirit appeared to me; he saw my heart was in sorrow about our land;
he told me not to give up the business, but go to my Great Father and he would listen to me.
My father, when I talked to the Great Spirit, I saw the chiefs holding the land fast. He told me
the life of our children was short and that the earth would sink.
My father, I will explain to you what the Great Spirit said to me—to do so, I must make
some marks. The Great Spirit says: My father, we started from this point (A, figure 61). We
are here now (B). When we get here (C), the Great Spirit will appear to me again. Here (B)
the Great Spirit gave his blessings to the Indians and told them to tell his people to throw
away their medicine bags and not to steal, not to tell lies, not to murder, not to quarrel, and to
burn their medicine bags. If they did not, they could not get on the straight way, but would
have to go the crooked path of the bad here (D); that when we got to this place (the curved
line, E), we would not be able to cross it unless we were all good. It was fire. That we should
go to this place (E), where there would be collected all the red chiefs and there would be a
great preaching. That if we had not thrown away all our bad doings, these two points would
meet (D and E), and then the Great Spirit would destroy everything and the world would be
turned over. That if we would be good and throw away all our bad doings, we would cross
this fire, when we would [come] to water (second line), which we would cross. There we
would come to a country where there was nothing but a prairie and nothing grew upon it.
There the sun would be hid from us by four black clouds. When we get here (C), the Great
Spirit will explain these round marks.
My father, I have now explained as well as I can, with much pains, our situation. I wish
you to tell me the truth and hide nothing from me. I have heard that some of your warriors
are going to take up the tomahawk. I explained to you last fall our situation. We are now here
(B), where we are in great trouble. I told you of all our troubles. I asked you to reflect on our
situation and that we would come back to see you.
* * * * *
My father, you call all the redskins your children. When we have children, we treat them
well. That is the reason I make this long talk to get you to take pity on us and let us remain
where we are.
My father, I wish after my talk is over you would write to my Great Father, the president,
that we have a desire to remain a little longer where we now are. I have explained to you that
we have thrown all our badness away and keep the good path. I wish our Great Father could
hear that. I will now talk to my Great Father, the president.

My Great Father, I don’t know if you are the right chief, because I have heard some things
go wrong. I wish you to reflect on our situation and let me know. I want to talk to you mildly
and in peace, so that we may understand each other. When I saw the Great Spirit, he told me
to throw all our bad acts away. We did so. Some of our chiefs said the land belonged to us,
the Kickapoos; but this is not what the Great Spirit told me—the lands belong to him. The
Great Spirit told me that no people owned the lands—that all was his, and not to forget to tell
the white people that when we went into council. When I saw the Great Spirit, he told me,
Mention all this to your Great Father. He will take pity on your situation and let you remain
on the lands where you are for some years, when you will be able to get through all the bad
places (the marks in the figure), and where you will get to a clear piece of land where you
will all live happy. When I talked to the Great Spirit, he told me to make my warriors throw
their tomahawks in the bad place. I did so, and every night and morning I raise my hands to
the Great Spirit and pray to him to give us success. I expect, my father, that God has put me
in a good way—that our children shall see their sisters and brothers and our women see their
children. They will grow up and travel and see their totems. The Great Spirit told me, “Our
old men had totems. They were good and had many totems. Now you have scarcely any. If
you follow my advice, you will soon have totems again.” Say this to my Great Father for me.
[2]

* * * * *
My father, since I talked with the Great Spirit, our women and children and ourselves, we
have not such good clothes, but we don’t mind that. We think of praying every day to the
Great Spirit to get us safe to the good lands, where all will be peace and happiness.
My father, the Great Spirit holds all the world in his hands. I pray to him that we may not
be removed from our land until we can see and talk to all our totems....
My father, when I left my women and children, they told me, “As you are going to see our
Great Father, tell him to let us alone and let us eat our victuals with a good heart.”
* * * * *
My father, since my talk with the Great Spirit we have nothing cooked until the middle of
the day. The children get nothing in the morning to eat. We collect them all to pray to the
Great Spirit to make our hearts pure, and then eat. We bring our children up to be good.
My father, I will tell you all I know. I will put nothing on my back. God told me,
Whenever you make a talk, tell everything true. Keep nothing behind, and then you will find
everything go right.
* * * * *
My father, when I talked with the Great Spirit, he did not tell me to sell my lands, because
I did not know how much was a dollar’s worth, or the game that run on it. If he told me so, I
would tell you to-day.
My father, you have heard what I have said. I have represented to you our situation, and
ask you to take pity on us and let us remain where we are....
My father, I have shown you in the lines I have made the bad places. Our warriors even are
afraid of those dark places you see there. That is the reason they threw their tomahawks aside
and put up their hands to the Great Spirit.
* * * * *
My father, every time we eat we raise our hands to the Great Spirit to give us success.

My father, we are sitting by each other here to tell the truth. If you write anything wrong,
the Great Spirit will know it. If I say anything not true, the Great Spirit will hear it.
My father, you know how to write and can take down what is said for your satisfaction. I
can not; all I do is through the Great Spirit for the benefit of my women and children.
My father, everything belongs to the Great Spirit. If he chooses to make the earth shake, or
turn it over, all the skins, white and red, can not stop it. I have done. I trust to the Great
Spirit. (Ind. Off., 2.)

A few years later, in 1831, Catlin visited Känakûk, who was still living
with the remnant of his people in Illinois, and was then regarded as their
chief. He still preached the same doctrine, which the artist incorrectly
supposed was the Christian religion—probably from the fact that the
meetings were held on Sunday in imitation of the whites—and especially
was constantly and earnestly exhorting his tribesmen to cease from drinking
whisky, which threatened to destroy their race. His influence had extended
into Michigan, and many of the Potawatomi were counted among his
disciples. Catlin, who painted his portrait (of which figure 60 is a
reproduction), heard him preach, and expressed surprise and admiration at
the ease and grace of his manner and his evident eloquent command of
language. The traveler continues:
I was singularly struck with the noble efforts of this champion of the mere remnant of a
poisoned race so strenuously laboring to rescue the remainder of his people from the deadly
bane that has been brought amongst them by enlightened Christians. How far the efforts of
this zealous man have succeeded in Christianizing, I can not tell, but it is quite certain that
his exemplary and constant endeavors have completely abolished the practice of drinking
whisky in his tribe, which alone is a very praiseworthy achievement, and the first and
indispensable step toward all other improvements. I was some time amongst those people,
and was exceedingly pleased and surprised also to witness their sobriety and their peaceable
conduct, not having seen an instance of drunkenness, or seen or heard of any use made of
spirituous liquors whilst I was amongst the tribe. (Catlin, 3.)

After mentioning, although apparently not crediting the assertion of the
traders, that the prophet had borrowed his doctrines from a white man,
Catlin goes on to describe a peculiar prayer-stick which Känakûk had given
to his followers, and which reminds us at once of the similar device of the
Delaware prophet of 1764, and is in line with the whole system of birchbark
pictographs among the northern tribes. These sticks were of maple, graven
with hieroglyphic prayers and other religious symbols. They were carved by
the prophet himself, who distributed them to every family in the tribe,
deriving quite a revenue from their sale, and in this way increasing his
influence both as a priest and as a man of property. Apparently every man,
woman, and child in the tribe was at this time in the habit of reciting the

prayers from these sticks on rising in the morning and before retiring for the
night. This was done by placing the right index finger first under the upper
character while repeating a short prayer which it suggested, then under the
next, and the next, and so on to the bottom, the whole prayer, which was
sung as a sort of chant, occupying about ten minutes.
Without undertaking to pass judgement on the purity of the prophet’s
motives, Catlin strongly asserts that his influence and example were good
and had effectually turned his people from vice and dissipation to
temperance and industry, notwithstanding the debasing tendency of
association with a frontier white population.
The veteran missionary, Allis, also notes the use of this prayer stick as he
observed it in 1834 among the Kickapoo, then living near Fort
Leavenworth, in Kansas. The prophet’s followers were accustomed to meet
for worship on Sunday, when Känakûk delivered an exhortation in their
own language, after which they formed in line and marched around several
times in single file, reciting the chant from their prayer-sticks and shaking
hands with the bystanders as they passed. As they departed they continued
to chant until they arrived at the “father’s house” or heaven, indicated by
the figure of a horn at the top of the prayer-stick. The worshipers met also
on Fridays and made confession of their sins, after which certain persons
appointed for the purpose gave each penitent several strokes with a rod of
hickory, according to the gravity of his offense. (Allis, 1.)

Fig. 62—Onsawkie.

Through the kindness of Mr C. H. Bartlett, of South Bend, Indiana, the
United States National Museum has recently come into possession of one of
these prayer-sticks. The stick, of which plate lxxxvi gives a good idea, is of
maple, a little more than 12 inches in length, 2​9⁄16 inches in its greatest
width, and three-eighths of an inch thick. It is said to have been painted a
bright red on one side and a vivid green on the other. The paint has now
disappeared, however, leaving bare the surface of the wood, polished from
long use. One side is carved with the symbolic figures already mentioned,
while the other is smooth. In all its details it is a neat specimen of Indian

workmanship. According to the tradition of the Armstrong family, its
former owners, the small square in the lower left-hand corner represents
hell or the final abode of the wicked, while the house with the four pine (?)
trees, at the top, symbolizes the spiritual home of the devout followers of
the prophet. As is well known, four is the sacred number of many Indian
tribes. The significance of several other lines above and below is unknown.
Along the shaft of the stick from bottom to top are the prayer characters,
arranged in three groups of five each, one group being near the bottom,
while the others are along the upper portion of the shaft and are separated
one from the other by a small circle. The characters bear some resemblance
to the old black-letter type of a missal, while the peculiar arrangement is
strongly suggestive of the Catholic rosary with its fifteen “mysteries” in
three groups of five each. It will be remembered that the earliest and most
constant missionaries among the Kickapoo and other lake tribes were
Catholic, and we may readily see that their teachings and ceremonies
influenced this native religion, as was afterward the case with the religions
of Smohalla and the Ghost dance. Neither three nor five are commonly
known as sacred numbers among the Indians, while three is distinctly
Christian in its symbolism. It is perhaps superfluous to state that the ideas
of heaven and hell are not aboriginal, but were among the first incorporated
from the teachings of the white missionaries. The characters resembling
letters may be from the alphabetic system of sixteen characters which it is
said the Ojibwa invented for recording their own language, and taught to
the Kickapoo and Sauk, and which resembled somewhat the letters of the
Roman alphabet, from which they apparently were derived. (Hamilton, 1.)

PL. LXXXVI

THE PRAYER-STICK

This prayer-stick or “bible,” as it has been called, was obtained by Mr
Bartlett from Mr R.V. Armstrong, of Mill Creek, Indiana, who stated that it
was the only remaining one of a large number which had been in possession
of the family for many years. The story of the manner in which it was
originally obtained, as told by Mr Armstrong, is interesting. “His father,
Reverend James Armstrong, was a Methodist minister and missionary who
had been sent to northern Indiana in the early part of this century. In 1830,
while living on Shawnee prairie, 3 miles from the present site of Attica,

Indiana, a large band of Kickapoo Indians came to his house to visit the
missionary, and apparently regarded the interview as of great importance to
themselves. They declared that they were from beyond the Mississippi
river, that they had heard of Mr Armstrong and his missionary labors, and
that they believed him to be the one for whom their people had long been
looking. Each Indian held in his hand one of these wooden crosses, and as
they knelt on the grass in front of the missionary’s house, they went through
their devotions in their own tongue, moving their fingers over the
inscription that ascends the shaft of the cross. The missionary understood
them to state that this cross was their “bible,” that they knew that it was not
the true bible, but that they had been told to use it until one should come
who would give them in exchange the genuine word of God. Thereupon the
missionary gathered up their crosses—and there were more than a large
basketful of them—and gave in exchange to each a copy of the New
Testament. The Indians received the books with profuse expressions of
gratitude and apparently viewed them at once as sacred possessions. These
wise men from the west then went away to their far country.”
Känakûk died of smallpox in 1852, in Kansas, where his people had been
removed in spite of his eloquent appeals in their behalf. For many years he
had been recognized as the chief of his tribe, and as such exerted a most
beneficial influence over the Kickapoo in restraining the introduction and
use of liquor among them. At the same time he staunchly upheld the old
Indian idea and resisted every advance of the missionaries and civilization
to the last. He was regarded as possessed of supernatural powers, and in his
last illness asserted that he would arise again three days after death. In
expectation of the fulfillment of the prophecy, a number of his followers
remained watching near the corpse until they too contracted the contagion
and died likewise. (Comr., 1.) After his death, the decline of his tribe was
rapid and without check. In 1894 there remained only 514, about equally
divided between Kansas and Oklahoma. These few survivors of a large tribe
still hold in loving reverence the name of their chief and prophet.

PA′THĔSKĔ
Recent personal investigation among the Winnebago failed to develop
any knowledge of a former doctrine of an approaching destruction of the
world, as mentioned in a statement already quoted (see page 661). It

appeared, however, that at the time indicated, about 1852 or 1853, while the
tribe was still living on Turkey river, Iowa, a prophet known as Pa′thĕskĕ,
or Long Nose, announced that he had been instructed in a vision to teach his
people a new dance, which he called the friendship dance (chû′‘korăki′).
This they were to perform at intervals for one whole year, at the end of
which time, in the spring, they must take the warpath against their
hereditary enemy, the Sioux, and would then reap a rich harvest of scalps.
The dance, as he taught it to them, he claimed to have seen performed by a
band of spirits in the other world, whither he had been taken after a
ceremonial fast of several days’ duration. It differed from their other dances,
and, although warlike in its ultimate purpose, was not a war dance. It was
performed by the men alone, circling around a fire within the lodge. He also
designated a young man named Sara′minûka, or “Indistinct,” as the proper
one to lead the expedition at the appointed time. The friendship dance went
on all through the summer and winter until spring, when the prophet
announced that he had received a new revelation forbidding the proposed
expedition. His disgusted followers at once denounced him as an impostor
and abandoned the dance. Sara′minûka was soon afterward killed by an
accident, which was considered by the Indians a direct retribution for his
failure to carry out his part of the program. The prophet died a few years
later while on a visit to Washington with a delegation of his tribe.
Although the old men consulted on the subject seemed to know nothing
of any predicted destruction of the world in this connection, it is probable
that the statement given by Agent Fletcher at the time was correct, as such
cycle myths are very general among the Indian and other primitive tribes.
The Arapaho informed the author that we are now living in the sixth cycle,
and that the final catastrophe will take place at the close of the seventh.

TÄ′VIBO
About 1870 another prophet arose among the Paiute in Nevada. As most
Indian movements are unknown to the whites at their inception, the date is
variously put from 1869 to 1872. He is said to have been the father of the
present “messiah,” who has unquestionably derived many of his ideas from
him, and lived, as does his son, in Mason valley, about 60 miles south of
Virginia City, not far from Walker River reservation. In talking with his son,
he said that his father’s name was Tä′vibo or “White man,” and that he was

a capita (Spanish, capitan) or petty chief, but not a prophet or preacher,
although he used to have visions and was invulnerable. From concurrent
testimony of Indians and white men, however, there seems to be no doubt
that he did preach and prophesy and introduce a new religious dance among
his people, and that the doctrine which he promulgated and the hopes which
he held out twenty years ago were the foundation on which his son has built
the structure of the present messiah religion. He was visited by Indians from
Oregon and Idaho, and his teachings made their influence felt among the
Bannock and Shoshoni, as well as among all the scattered bands of the
Paiute, to whom he continued to preach until his death a year or two later.
(G. D., 1 and 2; A. G. O., 1; Phister, 1.)
Captain J. M. Lee, Ninth infantry, formerly on the staff of General Miles,
was on duty in that neighborhood at the time and gives the following
account of the prophet and his doctrines in a personal letter to the author:
I was on Indian duty in Nevada in 1869, 1870, and 1871. When visiting Walker Lake
reservation in 1869–70, I became acquainted with several superstitious beliefs then
prevailing among the Paiute Indians. It was a rough, mountainous region roundabout, and
mysterious happenings, according to tradition, always occurred when the prophet or
medicine-men went up into the mountains and there received their revelations from the
divine spirits. In the earlier part of the sixties the whites began to come in and appropriate
much of the Indian country in Nevada, and in the usual course it turned out that the
medicine-men or prophets were looked to for relief. The most influential went up alone into
the mountain and there met the Great Spirit. He brought back with him no tablets of stone,
but he was a messenger of good tidings to the effect that within a few moons there was to be
a great upheaval or earthquake. All the improvements of the whites—all their houses, their
goods, stores, etc.—would remain, but the whites would be swallowed up, while the Indians
would be saved and permitted to enjoy the earth and all the fullness thereof, including
anything left by the wicked whites. This revelation was duly proclaimed by the prophet, and
attracted a few believers, but the doubting skeptics were too many, and they ridiculed the
idea that the white men would fall into the holes and be swallowed up while the Indians
would not. As the prophet could not enforce his belief, he went up into the mountain again
and came back with a second revelation, which was that when the great disaster came, all,
both Indians and whites, would be swallowed up or overwhelmed, but that at the end of three
days (or a few days) the Indians would be resurrected in the flesh, and would live forever to
enjoy the earth, with plenty of game, fish, and pine nuts, while their enemies, the whites,
would be destroyed forever. There would thus be a final and eternal separation between
Indians and whites.
This revelation, which seemed more reasonable, was rather popular for awhile, but as time
wore along faith seemed to weaken and the prophet was without honor even in his own
country. After much fasting and prayer, he made a third trip to the mountain, where he
secured a final revelation or message to the people. The divine spirit had become so much
incensed at the lack of faith in the prophecies, that it was revealed to his chosen one that
those Indians who believed in the prophecy would be resurrected and be happy, but those
who did not believe in it would stay in the ground and be damned forever with the whites.

It was not long after this that the prophet died, and the poor miserable Indians worried
along for nearly two decades, eating grasshoppers, lizards, and fish, and trying to be civilized
until the appearance of this new prophet Quoit-tsow, who is said to be the son, either actual
or spiritual, of the first one.

Additional details are given in the following interesting extract from a
letter addressed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under date of
November 19, 1890, by Mr Frank Campbell, who has an intimate
acquaintance with the tribe and was employed in an official capacity on the
reservation at the time when Tävibo first announced the new revelation. It
would appear from Mr Campbell’s statement that under the new
dispensation both races were to meet on a common level, and, as this agrees
with what Professor Thompson, referred to later on, afterward found among
the eastern Paiute, it is probable that the original doctrine had been very
considerably modified since its first promulgation a few years before.
Eighteen years ago I was resident farmer on Walker Lake Indian reserve, Nevada. I had
previously been connected with the Indian service at the reserve for ten years, was familiar
with the Paiute customs, and personally acquainted with all the Indians in that region. In
1872 an Indian commenced preaching a new religion at that reserve that caused a profound
sensation among the Paiute. For several months I was kept in ignorance of the cause of the
excitement—which was remarkable, considering the confidence they had always reposed in
me. They no doubt expected me to ridicule the sayings of the new messiah, as I had always
labored among them to break down, their superstitious beliefs. When finally I was made
acquainted with, the true facts of the case, I told them, the preachings of Waugh-zee-waugh-
ber were good and no harm could come from it. Indian emissaries visited the reserve from
Idaho, Oregon, and other places, to investigate the new religion. I visited the Indian camp
while the prophet was in a trance and remained until he came to. In accordance with
instructions, the Indians gathered around him and joined in a song that was to guide the spirit
back to the body. Upon reanimation he gave a long account of his visit in the spirit to the
Supreme Ruler, who was then on the way with all the spirits of the departed dead to again
reside upon this earth and change it into a paradise. Life was to be eternal, and no distinction
was to exist between races.
This morning’s press dispatches contain an account of Porcupine’s visit to Walker lake ...
that proves to me that the religion started at Walker lake eighteen years ago is the same that is
now agitating the Indian world. There is nothing in it to cause trouble between whites and
Indians unless the new Messiah is misquoted and his doctrine misconstrued. I left Walker
Lake reserve in June, 1873, and at the time supposed this craze would die out, but have
several times since been reminded by Nevada papers and letters that it was gradually
spreading. (G. D., 3.)

The name given by Campbell certainly does not much resemble Tävibo,
but it is quite possible that the father, like the son, had more than one name.
It is also possible that “Waughzeewaughber” was not the prophet described
by Captain Lee, but one of his disciples who had taken up and modified the
original doctrine. The name Tävibo refers to the east (tävänagwat) or place

where the sun (täbi) rises. By the cognate Shoshoni and Comanche the
whites are called Taivo.
From oral information of Professor A. H. Thompson, of the United States
Geological Survey, I learn some particulars of the advent of the new
doctrine among the Paiute of southwestern Utah. While his party was
engaged in that section in the spring of 1875, a great excitement was caused
among the Indians by the report that two mysterious beings with white
skins (it will be remembered that the father of Wovoka was named Tävibo
or “white man”) had appeared among the Paiute far to the west and
announced a speedy resurrection of all the dead Indians, the restoration of
the game, and the return of the old-time primitive life. Under the new order
of things, moreover, both races alike were to be white. A number of Indians
from Utah went over into Nevada, where they met others who claimed to
have seen these mysterious visitors farther in the west. On their return to
Utah they brought back with them the ceremonial of the new belief, the
chief part of the ritual being a dance performed at night in a circle, with no
fire in the center, very much as in the modern Ghost dance.
It is said that the Mormons, who hold the theory that the Indians are the
descendants of the supposititious “ten lost tribes,” cherish, as a part of their
faith, the tradition that some of the lost Hebrew emigrants are still ice-
bound in the frozen north, whence they will one day emerge to rejoin their
brethren in the south. When the news of this Indian revelation came to their
ears, the Mormon priests accepted it as a prophecy of speedy fulfillment of
their own traditions, and Orson Pratt, one of the most prominent leaders,
preached a sermon, which was extensively copied and commented on at the
time, urging the faithful to arrange their affairs and put their houses in order
to receive the long-awaited wanderers.
According to the statement of the agent then in charge at Fort Hall, in
Idaho, the Mormons at the same time—the early spring of 1875—sent
emissaries to the Bannock, urging them to go to Salt Lake City to be
baptized into the Mormon religion. A large number accepted the invitation
without the knowledge of the agent, went down to Utah, and were there
baptized, and then returned to work as missionaries of the new faith among
their tribes. As an additional inducement, free rations were furnished by the
Mormons to all who would come and be baptized, and “they were told that
by being baptized and going to church the old men would all become

young, the young men would never be sick, that the Lord had a work for
them to do, and that they were the chosen people of God to establish his
kingdom upon the earth,” etc. It is also asserted that they were encouraged
to resist the authority of the government. (Comr., 2.) However much of truth
there may be in these reports, and we must make considerable allowance for
local prejudice, it is sufficiently evident that the Mormons took an active
interest in the religious ferment then existing among the neighboring tribes
and helped to give shape to the doctrine which crystallized some years later
in the Ghost dance.

NAKAI′-DOKLĬ′NI
Various other prophets of more or less local
celebrity have arisen from time to time among
the tribes, and the resurrection of the dead and
the return of the olden things have usually
figured prominently in their prophecies. In
fact, this idea has probably been the day-
dream of every Indian medicine-man since the
whites first landed in America. Most of these,
however, have been unknown to fame outside
of their own narrow circles, except where
Fig. 63—Nakai′-doklĭ′ni’s dance- chance or deliberate purpose has given a
wheel. warlike meaning to their teachings and thus
made them the subjects of official notice.
Among these may be mentioned the Apache medicine-man Nakai′-
doklĭ′ni, who attracted some attention for a time in southern Arizona in
1881. (Bourke, 1.) In the early part of this year he began to advertise his
supernatural powers, claiming to be able to raise the dead and commune
with spirits, and predicting that the whites would soon be driven from the
land. He taught his followers a new and peculiar dance, in which the
performers were ranged like the spokes of a wheel, all facing inward, while
he, standing in the center, sprinkled them with the sacred hoddentin[3] as
they circled around him.
In June of 1881 he announced to his people, the White Mountain band of
Apache on San Carlos reservation, that on condition of receiving a
sufficient number of horses and blankets for his trouble he would bring

back from the dead two chiefs who had been killed a few months before.
The proposition naturally aroused great excitement among the Indians.
Eager to have once more with them their beloved chiefs, they willingly
produced the required ponies, and when remonstrated with by the agent,
replied that they would wait until the specified time for the fulfillment of
the prediction, when, if the dead chiefs failed to materialize, they would
demand the restoration of the property. (Comr., 3.)
Accordingly Nakai′-doklĭ′ni began his prayers and ceremonies, and the
dance was kept up regularly at his camp on Cibicu creek until August, when
it was reported to Colonel E. A. Carr; commanding at Fort Apache, that the
medicine-man had announced that the dead chiefs refused to return because
of the presence of the whites, but that when the whites left, the dead would
return, and that the whites would be out of the country when the corn was
ripe.
As matters seemed to be getting serious, the agent now called on the
commanding officer to “arrest or kill him, or both.” The officer prepared to
make the arrest when Nakai′-doklĭ′ni should come down to the post to lead
the dance which had been arranged to take place in a few days. The prophet
failed to put in an appearance, however, and messengers were sent to his
camp to ask him to come to the fort the next Sunday. To this message he
returned an evasive reply, whereon Colonel Carr, with 85 white troops and
23 Apache scouts, started for his camp in Cibicu canyon to put him under
arrest. They arrived at the village on August 30. Nakai′-doklĭ′ni submitted
quietly to arrest, but as the troops were making camp for the night, their
own scouts, joined by others of the Indians, opened fire on them. A sharp
skirmish ensued, in which several soldiers were killed or wounded, but the
Indians were repulsed with considerable loss, including the prophet himself,
who was killed at the first fire. The result was another in the long series of
Apache outbreaks. (Comr., 4; Sec. War, 1; A. G. O., 2.)

THE POTAWATOMI PROPHET
In 1883 a new religion was introduced among the Potawatomi and
Kickapoo, of the Pottawotomie and Great Nemaha agency in northeastern
Kansas, by visiting Potawatomi, Winnebago, and Ojibwa from Wisconsin.
As usual, the ritual part consists chiefly of a ceremonial dance. In doctrine it
teaches the same code of morality enjoined by the ten commandments, and

especially prohibits liquor drinking, gambling, and horse racing, for which,
reason the agents generally have not seen fit to interfere with it, and in some
cases have rather encouraged it as a civilizing influence among that portion
of the tribes not yet enrolled in Christian denominations. The movement is
entirely distinct from the Ghost dance, and may perhaps be a revival of the
system preached by Känakûk more than fifty years before. In 1891 the
majority of the two tribes, numbering in all 749, were reported as adherents
of the doctrine. (Comr., 5, 6, 7; also reports from the same agency for 1887
and 1889.) A large number of the Sauk and Fox, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi
of Oklahoma are also believers in the religion.
In 1885 Agent Patrick says on this subject:
These Indians are chaste, cleanly, and industrious, and would be a valuable acquisition to
the Prairie band if it were not for their intense devotion to a religious dance started among
the northern Indians some years since. This dance was introduced to the Prairie band about
two years ago by the Absentee Pottawatomies and Winnebagoes, and has spread throughout
the tribes in the agency. They seem to have adopted the religion as a means of expressing
their belief in the justice and mercy of the Great Spirit and of their devotion to him, and are
so earnest in their convictions as to its affording them eternal happiness that I have thought it
impolitic so far to interfere with it any further than to advise as few meetings as possible and
to discountenance it in my intercourse with the individuals practicing the religion. It is not an
unmixed evil, as under its teaching drunkenness and gambling have been reduced 75 per
cent, and a departure from virtue on the part of its members meets with the severest
condemnation. As some tenets of revealed religion are embraced in its doctrines, I do not
consider it a backward step for the Indians who have not heretofore professed belief in any
Christian religion, and believe its worst features are summed up in the loss of time it
occasions and the fanatical train of thought involved in the constant contemplation of the
subject. (Comr., 6.)

CHEEZ-TAH-PAEZH THE SWORD-BEARER
It is probable that something of the messiah idea entered into the
promises held out to his followers by Sword-bearer, a Crow medicine-man,
in Montana in 1887. The official records are silent on this point, although it
is definitely stated that he asserted his own invulnerability, and that his
claims in this respect were implicitly believed by his people. Cheez-tah-
paezh, literally “Wraps his tail” (also written Cheeschapahdisch,
Cheschopah, Chese-cha-pahdish, and Chese-Topah), was without any
special prominence in his tribe until the summer of 1887, when, in company
with several other young men of the Crows, he participated in the sun dance
of the Cheyenne, and showed such fortitude in enduring the dreadful torture
that he was presented by the Cheyenne with a medicine saber painted red,

in virtue of which he took the title of Sword-bearer. This naturally brought
him into notice at home, and he soon aspired to become a chief and
medicine-man. Among other things, he asserted that no bullet or weapon
had power to harm him. What other claims he made are not known, but his
words produced such an impression, it is said, that for a time every full-
blood and half-blood among the Crows believed in him.
In a few months he had become one of the most influential leaders in the
tribe, when, taking advantage of some dissatisfaction toward the agent, he
headed a demonstration against the agency on September 30. Troops under
General Ruger were called on to arrest him and the others concerned, and in
attempting to do this, on November 5, 1887, a skirmish ensued in which
Sword-bearer was killed. His death convinced his followers of the
falsehood of his pretensions, and the tribe, which hitherto had always been
loyal to the government, soon resumed its friendly attitude. (Sec. War, 2; A.
G. O., 3; additional details from a personal letter by Colonel Simon Snyder,
Fifteenth infantry.)
The action is graphically described by Roosevelt on the authority of one
of the officers engaged. When the troops arrived, they found the Crow
warriors awaiting them on a hill, mounted on their war ponies and in full
paint and buckskin. In this author’s words—
The Crows on the hilltop showed a sullen and threatening front, and the troops advanced
slowly toward them, and then halted for a parley. Meanwhile a mass of black thunder clouds
gathering on the horizon threatened one of those cloudbursts of extreme severity and
suddenness so characteristic of the plains country. While still trying to make arrangements
for a parley, a horseman started out of the Crow ranks and galloped headlong down toward
the troops. It was the medicine chief Sword-bearer. He was painted and in his battle dress,
wearing his war bonnet of floating, trailing eagle feathers, and with the plumes of the same
bird braided in the mane and tail of his fiery little horse. On he came at a gallop almost up to
the troops, and then began to circle around them, calling and singing, and throwing his red
sword into the air, catching it by the hilt as it fell. Twice he rode completely around the
troops, who stood in uncertainty, not knowing what to make of his performance, and
expressly forbidden to shoot at him. Then, paying no further heed to them, he rode back
toward the Crows. It appears that he had told the latter that he would ride twice around the
hostile force, and by his incantations would call down rain from heaven, which would make
the hearts of the white men like water, so that they would go back to their homes. Sure
enough, while the arrangements for the parley were still going forward, down came the
cloudburst, drenching the command, and making the ground on the hills in front nearly
impassable; and before it dried a courier arrived with orders to the troops to go back to camp.
This fulfillment of Sword-bearer’s prophecy of course raised his reputation to the zenith,
and the young men of the tribe prepared for war, while the older chiefs, who more fully
realized the power of the whites, still hung back. When the troops next appeared, they came

upon the entire Crow force, the women and children with their tepees being off to one side
beyond a little stream, while almost all the warriors of the tribe were gathered in front.
Sword-bearer started to repeat his former ride, to the intense irritation of the soldiers.
Luckily, however, this time some of his young men could not be restrained. They, too, began
to ride near the troops, and one of them was unable to refrain from firing on Captain
Edwards’s troop, which was in the van. This gave the soldiers their chance. They instantly
responded with a volley, and Edwards’s troop charged. The fight lasted only a minute or two,
for Sword-bearer was struck by a bullet and fell; and as he had boasted himself invulnerable
and promised that his warriors should be invulnerable also if they would follow him, the
hearts of the latter became as water, and they broke in every direction. (Roosevelt, 1.)

Chapter VI
THE SMOHALLA RELIGION OF THE
COLUMBIA REGION
SMOHALLA
I have only one heart. Although you say, Go to another country, my heart is not that way. I
do not want money for my land. I am here, and here is where I am going to be. I will not part
with lands, and if you come again I will say the same thing. I will not part with my lands.—
Umatilla Chief.
We have never made any trade. The earth is part of my body, and I never gave up the earth.
So long as the earth keeps me I want to be let alone.—Toohulhulsote.
Their only troubles arise from the attempts of white men to encroach upon the
reservations. I verily believe that were the snow-crowned summits of Mount Rainier set apart
as an Indian reservation, white men would immediately commence jumping them.—
Superintendent Ross.

About the time that the Paiute were preparing for the millennial dawn, we
begin to hear of a “dreamer prophet” on the Columbia, called Smohalla,
who was becoming a thorn in the flesh of the Indian agents in that quarter,
and was reported to be organizing among the Indians a new religion which
taught the destruction of the whites and resistance to the government, and
made moral virtues of all the crimes in the catalog. One agent, in disregard
of grammar if not of veracity, gravely reported that “the main object is to
allow a plurality of wives, immunity from punishment for lawbreaking, and
allowance of all the vices—especially drinking and gambling—are chief
virtues in the believers of this religion.” (Comr., 8.)
This was bad enough, but worse was behind it. It appeared that Smohalla
and his followers, numbering perhaps about 2,000 Indians of various tribes
along the Columbia in eastern Washington and Oregon, had never made
treaties giving up any of their lands, and consequently claimed the right to
take salmon in the streams and dig kamas in the prairies of their ancestral
country undisturbed and unmolested, and stoutly objected to going on any

of the neighboring reservations at Yakima, Umatilla, or Warmspring. There
is no doubt that justice and common sense were on the side of the Indians,
for by the reports of the agents themselves it is shown that the dwellers on
the reservations were generally neglected, poor, and miserable, and
subjected to constant encroachments by the whites in spite of treaties and
treaty lines, while at the same time that agents and superintendents were
invoking the aid of the military to compel Smohalla’s followers to go on a
reservation these same men were moving heaven and earth to force the
Indians already on a reservation to give up their treaty rights and remove to
another and less valuable location—to begin life anew under the fostering
care of the government until such time as the white man should want them
to move on again.
These matters are treated at length in the annual reports of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with the accompanying reports of
superintendents and agents in charge of the reservations concerned, from
1870 to 1875. With regard to the Umatilla reservation, to which most
strenuous efforts were made to remove the “renegades,” as they were
called, Agent Boyle reports in 1870 (Comr., 9) that the Indians are
“dispirited ... in consequence of the oft-repeated theme that their farms are
to be taken from them and given to the white settlers.” He continues, “It is
hardly to be expected that the Indians can retain this reservation much
longer unless the strong arm of the government protects them. Daily I am
called upon to notify the white settlers that they are encroaching upon the
Indian lands.” He advises their removal to a permanent reservation,
“knowing as I do that they must go sooner or later.” Again, “The agency has
been established for the space of ten years, and I regret exceedingly that I
have been most completely disappointed with what I see about me.” In
discussing the removal of the Indians to a new reservation, Superintendent
Meacham says of a considerable portion of them that it “would suit them
better to be turned loose to look out for themselves.” (Comr., 10.)
In 1873 Agent Cornoyer reported that the Indians numbered 837, by the
census of 1870, which he believes was as correct as could then be taken, but
“this number I think is now too high.” He continues:
Of the appropriation of $4,000 per annum for beneficial objects, not one single dollar of
that fund has been turned over to me since September, 1871; and of the appropriation for
incidental expenses of $40,000 per annum for the Indian service in this state, only $200 of
that appropriation has been turned over to me during the same period of two years.... I would

also beg leave to call your attention to that portion of my last annual report wherein I called
the attention of the Department to the unfulfilled stipulations of the treaty of June 9, 1855,
with these Indians. (Comr., 11.)

Commissioner Brunot, in 1871, stated that the estimated number of
Indians coming under the provisions of the treaty at the time it was made in
1855 was 3,500, and “by the census taken in 1870 the number was
1,622”—a decrease of nearly one-half in fifteen years. Of these only about
half were on the reservation, the rest being on Columbia river, “never
having partaken of the benefits of the treaty.” On the next page he tells us
what some of these benefits are: “Maladministration of agents, and the
misapplication of funds, the failure of the government to perform the
promises of the treaty, and the fact that the Indians have been constantly
agitated by assertions that the government intended their removal, and that
their removal was urged for several years in succession in the reports of a
former agent, thus taking away from them all incentives to improve their
lands.” (Comr., 12.)
In 1871 a commission was sent to Umatilla and other reservations, which
gave the Indians a chance to speak for themselves. The Cayuse chief,
described as a Catholic Indian, in dress, personal appearance, and bearing
superior to the average American farmer, said:
This reservation is marked out for us. We see it with our eyes and our hearts. We all hold it
with our bodies and our souls. Right out here are my father and mother, and brothers and
sisters and children, all buried. I am guarding their graves. My friend, this reservation, this
small piece of land, we look upon it as our mother, as if she were raising us. You come to ask
me for my land. It is like as if we who are Indians were to be sent away and get lost.... What
is the reason you white men who live near the reservation like my land and want to get it?
You must not think so. My friends, you must not talk too strong about getting my land. I like
my land and will not let it go.

The Wallawalla chief said:
I have tied all the reservation in my heart and it can not be loosened. It is dear as our
bodies to us.

The Umatilla chief said:
Our red people were brought up here.... When my father and mother died, I was left here.
They gave me rules and gave me their land to live upon. They left me to take care of them
after they were buried. I was to watch over their graves. I do not wish to part with my land. I
have felt tired working on my land, so tired that the sweat dropped off me on the ground.
Where is all that Governor Stevens or General Palmer said [i. e., that it was to be a
reservation for the Indians forever]? I am very fond of this land that is marked out for me....
Should I take only a small piece of ground and a white man sit down beside me, I fear there
would be trouble all the time.

An old man said:
I am getting old now, and I want to die where my father and mother and children have
died. I do not wish to leave this land and go off to some other land.... I see where I have
sweat and worked in trying to get food. I love my church, my mills, my farm, the graves of
my parents and children. I do not wish to leave my land. That is all my heart, and I show it to
you.

A young chief said:
I have only one heart, one tongue. Although you say, Go to another country, my heart is
not that way. I do not wish for any money for my land. I am here, and here is where I am
going to be.... I will not part with lands, and if you come again I will say the same thing. I
will not part with my lands.

The commissioner who was conducting the negotiations, after
enumerating the promises made to the Indians in return for the lands which
they had surrendered under the original treaty of 1855, tells how some of
these promises have been fulfilled:
... A miserably inadequate supply of worn-out agricultural implements. A group of eight or
ten dilapidated shanties used for the agency buildings. The physician promised has never
resided upon the reservation, but lives and practices his profession at Pendleton. The hospital
promised (fifteen years ago) has not yet been erected.

Of their ever-living grievance Colonel Ross, superintendent of the
Washington agencies, says:
Their only troubles arise from the attempts of white men to encroach upon the
reservations. A mania prevails among a certain class of citizens in this direction. I verily
believe that were the snow-crowned summits of Mount Rainier set apart as an Indian
reservation, white men would immediately commence jumping them. (Comr., 14.)

JOSEPH AND THE NEZ PERCÉ WAR
We first hear officially of Smohalla and his people from A. B. Meacham,
superintendent of Indian affairs in Oregon, who states, in September, 1870,
that—
... One serious drawback [to the adoption of the white man’s road] is the existence among
the Indians of Oregon of a peculiar religion called Smokeller or Dreamers, the chief doctrine
of which is that the red man is again to rule the country, and this sometimes leads to rebellion
against lawful authority.

A few pages farther on we learn the nature of this rebellion:
The next largest band (not on a reservation) is Smokeller’s, at Priest rapids, Washington
territory. They also refused to obey my order to come in, made to them during the month of
February last, of which full report was made. I would also recommend that they be removed
to Umatilla by the military. (Comr., 15.)

Three months before this report Congress had passed a bill appointing
commissioners to negotiate with the tribes of Umatilla reservation “to
ascertain upon what terms they would be willing to sell their lands and
remove elsewhere,” and Meacham himself was the principal member of this
commission. (Comr., 15.)
In 1872 Smohalla’s followers along the Columbia were reported to
number 2,000, and his apostles were represented as constantly traveling
from one reservation to another to win over new converts to his teachings.
Repeated efforts had been made to induce them to go on the reservations in
eastern Oregon and Washington, but without success. We are told now that
—
They have a new and peculiar religion, by the doctrines of which they are taught that a
new god is coming to their rescue; that all the Indians who have died heretofore, and who
shall die hereafter, are to be resurrected; that as they will then be very numerous and
powerful, they will be able to conquer the whites, recover their lands, and live as free and
unrestrained as their fathers lived in olden times. Their model of a man is an Indian. They
aspire to be Indians and nothing else.... It is thought by those who know them best that they
can not be made to go upon their reservations without at least being intimidated by the
presence of a military force. (Comr., 17.)

We hear but little more of Smohalla and his doctrines for several years,
until attention was again attracted to Indian affairs in the northwest by the
growing dissatisfaction which culminated in the Nez Percé war of 1877.
The Nez Percés, especially those who acknowledged the leadership of Chief
Joseph, were largely under the influence of the Dreamer prophets, and there
was reason to believe that an uprising inaugurated by so prominent a tribe
would involve all the smaller tribes in sympathy with the general Indian
belief. As soon therefore as it became evident that matters were
approaching a crisis, a commission, of which General O. O. Howard was
chief, was appointed to make some peaceable arrangement with the so-
called “renegades” on the upper Columbia. The commissioners met
Smohalla and his principal men at Wallula, Washington territory, on April
23, 1877, and as a result of the council then held these non-treaty tribes,
although insisting as strongly as ever on their right to live undisturbed in
their own country, yet refrained from taking part in the war which broke out
a few weeks later.
It is foreign to our purpose to recount the history of the Nez Percé war of
1877. As is generally the case with Indian wars, it originated in the

unauthorized intrusion of lawless whites on lands which the Indians
claimed as theirs by virtue of occupancy from time immemorial. The Nez
Percés, whom all authorities agree in representing as a superior tribe of
Indians, originally inhabited the valleys of Clearwater and Salmon rivers in
Idaho, with the country extending west of Snake river into Washington and
Oregon as far as the Blue mountains. They are first officially noticed in the
report of the Indian Commissioner for 1843, where they are described as
“noble, industrious, sensible,” and well disposed toward the whites, while
“though brave as Cæsar, the whites have nothing to dread at their hands in
case of their dealing out to them what they conceive to be right and
equitable.” (Comr., 18.) It being deemed advisable to bring them into more
direct relations with the United States, the agent who made the report called
the chiefs together in this year and “assured them of the kind intentions of
our government, and of the sad consequences that would ensue to any white
man, from this time, who should invade their rights.” (Comr., 19.) On the
strength of these fair promises a portion of the tribe, in 1855, entered into a
treaty by which they ceded a large part of their territory, and were
guaranteed possession of the rest. In 1860, however, gold was discovered in
the country, and the usual result followed. “In defiance of law, and despite
the protestations of the Indian agent, a townsite was laid off in October,
1861, on the reservation, and Lewiston, with a population of 1,200, sprung
into existence.” (Comr., 20.) A new treaty was then made in 1863, by which
the intruders were secured in possession of what they had thus seized, and
the Nez Percés were restricted within much narrower limits. By this treaty
the Wallowa valley, in northeastern Oregon, the ancestral home of that part
of the tribe under the leadership of Chief Joseph, was taken from the
Indians. This portion of the tribe, however, had refused to have part in the
negotiations, and “Chief Joseph and his band, utterly ignoring the treaty of
1863, continued to claim the Wallowa valley, where he was tacitly
permitted to roam without restraint, until the encroachments of white
settlers induced the government to take some definite action respecting this
band of non-treaty Nez Percés.” (Comr., 21.) At this time the tribe
numbered about 2,800, of whom about 500 acknowledged Joseph as their
chief.

PL. LXXXVII

CHIEF JOSEPH

Collisions between the whites and Indians in the valley became more
frequent, and one of Joseph’s band had been killed, when a commission was
appointed in 1876 to induce the Indians to give up the Wallowa valley and
remove to Lapwai reservation in Idaho. Joseph still refusing to remove, the
matter was turned over to General Howard. On May 3, 1877, he held the
first council with Joseph and his followers at Fort Lapwai. Their ceremonial
approach, which was probably in accord with the ritual teachings of the
Dreamer religion, is thus described by the general:

A long rank of men, followed by women and children, with faces painted, the red paint
extending back into the partings of the hair—the men’s hair braided and tied up with showy
strings—ornamented in dress, in hats, in blankets with variegated colors, in leggings of
buckskin and moccasins beaded and plain; women with bright shawls or blankets, and skirts
to the ankle and top moccasins. All were mounted on Indian ponies as various in color as the
dress of the riders. These picturesque people, after keeping us waiting long enough for effect,
came in sight from up the valley from the direction of their temporary camp just above the
company gardens. They drew near to the hollow square of the post and in front of the small
company to be interviewed. Then they struck up their song. They were not armed except with
a few tomahawk pipes that could be smoked with the peaceful tobacco or penetrate the skull
bone of an enemy, at the will of the holder. Yet somehow this wild sound produced a strange
effect. It made one feel glad that there were but fifty of them, and not five hundred. It was
shrill and searching; sad, like a wail, and yet defiant in its close. The Indians swept around
outside the fence and made the entire circuit, still keeping up the song as they rode. The
buildings broke the refrain into irregular bubblings of sound until the ceremony was
completed. (Howard, 1.)

At this conference Toohulhulsote, the principal Dreamer priest of
Joseph’s band, acted as spokesman for the Indians, and insisted, according
to the Smohalla doctrine, that the earth was his mother, that she should not
be disturbed by hoe or plow, that men should subsist by the spontaneous
productions of nature, and that the sovereignty of the earth could not be
sold or given away. Continuing, he asserted, “We never have made any
trade. Part of the Indians gave up their land. I never did. The earth is part of
my body, and I never gave up the earth. So long as the earth keeps me I
want to be left alone.” General Howard finally ordered him under arrest,
after which the Indians at last agreed to go on a reservation by June 14.
(Howard, 2.) A few days later, councils were held with Smohalla and his
people, and with Moses, another noted “renegade” chief with a considerable
following farther up the Columbia. Both chiefs, representing at least 500
warriors, disclaimed any hostile intentions and agreed to go on reservations.
Smohalla said, “Your law is my law. I say to you, yes. I will be on a
reservation by September.” (Howard, 3.) Parties under Joseph and other
leading chiefs then went out to select suitable locations for reservations,
Joseph and his band deciding in favor of Lapwai valley. Everything was
moving smoothly toward a speedy and peaceful settlement of all
difficulties, and the commission had already reported the successful
accomplishment of the work, when a single act of lawless violence undid
the labor of weeks and precipitated a bloody war. (Comr., 22.)
One of Joseph’s band had been murdered by whites some time before,
but the Indians had remained quiet. (Comr., 23.) Now, while the Nez Percés

were gathering up their stock to remove to the reservation selected, a band
of white robbers attacked them, ran off the cattle, and killed one of the party
in charge. Joseph could no longer restrain his warriors, and on June 13,
1877—one day before the date that had been appointed for going on the
reservation—the enraged Nez Percés attacked the neighboring settlement
on White Bird creek, Idaho, and killed 21 persons.[4] The war was begun.
The troops under Howard were ordered out. The first fight occurred on June
17 at Hangman’s creek and resulted in the loss of 34 soldiers. Then came
another on July 4 with a loss of 13 more. Then on July 12 another encounter
by troops under General Howard himself, in which 11 soldiers were killed
and 26 wounded. (Comr., 24.)
Then began one of the most remarkable exhibitions of generalship in the
history of our Indian wars, a retreat worthy to be remembered with that of
the storied ten thousand. With hardly a hundred warriors, and impeded by
more than 350 helpless women and children—with General Howard
behind, with Colonel (General) Miles in front, and with Colonel Sturgis and
the Crow scouts coming down upon his flank—Chief Joseph led his little
band up the Clearwater and across the mountains into Montana, turning at
Big Hole pass long enough to beat back his pursuers with a loss of 60 men;
then on by devious mountain trails southeast into Yellowstone park, where
he again turned on Howard and drove him back with additional loss of men
and horses; then out of Wyoming and north into Montana again, hoping to
find safety on Canadian soil, until intercepted in the neighborhood of the
Yellowstone by Colonel Sturgis in front with fresh troops and a detachment
of Crow scouts, with whom they sustained two more encounters, this time
with heavy loss of men and horses to themselves; then again eluding their
pursuers, this handful of starving and worn-out warriors, now reduced to
scarcely fifty able men, carrying their wounded and their helpless families,
crossed the Missouri and entered the Bearpaw mountains. But new enemies
were on their trail, and at last, when within 50 miles of the land of refuge,
Miles, with a fresh army, cut off their retreat by a decisive blow, capturing
more than half their horses, killing a number of the band, including Joseph’s
brother and the noted chief Looking Glass, and wounding 40 others. (Comr.,
25.)
Forced either to surrender or to abandon the helpless wounded, the
women, and children, Joseph chose to surrender to Colonel Miles, on

October 5, 1877, after a masterly retreat of more than a thousand miles. He
claimed that this was “a conditional surrender, with a distinct promise that
he should go back to Idaho in the spring.” (Comr., 26.) The statement of
General Howard’s aid-de-camp is explicit on this point:
It was promised Joseph that he would be taken to Tongue river and kept there till spring,
and then be returned to Idaho. General Sheridan, ignoring the promises made on the
battlefield, ostensibly on account of the difficulty of getting supplies there from Fort Buford,
ordered the hostiles to Leavenworth, ... but different treatment was promised them when they
held rifles in their hands. (Sutherland, 1.)

Seven years passed before the promise was kept, and in the meantime the
band had been reduced by disease and death in Indian Territory from about
450 to about 280.
This strong testimony to the high character of Joseph, and his people and
the justice of their cause comes from the commissioner at the head of Indian
affairs during and immediately after the outbreak:
I traveled with him in Kansas and the Indian Territory for nearly a week and found him to
be one of the most gentlemanly and well-behaved Indians that I ever met. He is bright and
intelligent, and is anxious for the welfare of his people.... The Nez Percés are very much
superior to the Osages and Pawnees in the Indian Territory; they are even brighter than the
Poncas, and care should be taken to place them where they will thrive.... It will be borne in
mind that Joseph has never made a treaty with the United States, and that he has never
surrendered to the government the lands he claimed to own in Idaho.... I had occasion in my
last annual report to say that “Joseph and his followers have shown themselves to be brave
men and skilled soldiers, who, with one exception, have observed the rules of civilized
warfare, and have not mutilated their dead enemies.” These Indians were encroached upon by
white settlers on soil they believed to be their own, and when these encroachments became
intolerable they were compelled, in their own estimation, to take up arms. (Comr., 27a.)

In all our sad Indian history there is nothing to exceed in pathetic
eloquence the surrender speech of the Nez Percé chief:
I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohulhulsote is dead.
The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led the young men
is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My
people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food. No one
knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my
children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead.
Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I
will fight no more forever. (Sec. War, 3.)

Chapter VII
SMOHALLA AND HIS DOCTRINE
My young men shall never work. Men who work can not dream, and wisdom comes to us
in dreams.... You ask me to plow the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mother’s
bosom? You ask me to dig for stone. Shall I dig under her skin for her bones? You ask me to
cut grass and make hay and sell it and be rich like white men. But how dare I cut off my
mother’s hair?—Smohalla.

We hear little of Smohalla for several years after the Nez Percé war until
the opening of the Northern Pacific railroad in 1883 once more brought to a
focus the land grievances of the Indians in that section. Along Yakima
valley the railroad “was located through Indian fields and orchards, with
little respect for individual rights,” while the host of prospective settlers
who at once swarmed into the country showed the usual white man’s
consideration for the native proprietors. Some of the Indians, breaking away
from their old traditions in order to obtain permanent homes before
everything should be taken up by the whites, had gone out and selected
homesteads under the law, and the agent was now using the Indian police to
compel them to return to the reservation, “and the singular anomaly was
presented of the United States Indian agent on the one hand applying for
troops to drive the Indians from their homestead settlements to the
reservation a hundred miles away, and on the other the Indians telegraphing
to the military authorities to send troops to protect them from the Indian
police.” (MacMurray MS.) In addition to their land troubles the Yakima and
their confederated tribes, among whom were many progressive and even
prosperous Indians, were restive under constant interference with their
religious (Smohalla) ceremonies, to which a large proportion adhered.
In order to learn the nature of the dissatisfaction of the Indians, and if
possible to remove the cause, General Miles, then commanding the military
department of the Columbia, sent Major J. W. MacMurray to the scene of
the disturbance in June, 1884. He spent about a year in the work, visiting
the various villages of the upper Columbia, especially Pʿnä at Priest rapids,

where he met Smohalla, the high priest of the Dreamer theology, and his
report on the subject is invaluable.
Smohalla is the chief of the Wa′napûm, a small tribe in Washington,
numbering probably less than 200 souls, commonly known rather
indefinitely as “Columbia River Indians,” and roaming along both banks of
the Columbia from the neighborhood of Priest rapids down to the entrance
of Snake river. They are of Shahaptian stock and closely akin to the Yakima
and Nez Percés, and have never made a treaty with the government. Among
his own people and his disciples in the neighboring tribes he is known as
Shmóqûla, “The Preacher.”[5] He is also frequently called Yu′yunipĭ′tqana,
“The Shouting Mountain,” from a belief among his followers that a part of
his revelation came to him from a mountain which became instinct with life
and spoke into his soul while he lay dreaming upon it. Still another name by
which he is sometimes known is Waip-shwa, or “Rock Carrier,” the reason
for which does not appear. The name which belonged to him in youth,
before assuming his priestly function, is now forgotten. For more than forty
years he has resided at the Wanapûm village of Pʿnä on the west bank of the
Columbia, at the foot of Priest rapids, in what is now Yakima county,
Washington. The name Pʿnä signifies “a fish weir,” this point being a great
rendezvous for the neighboring tribes during the salmon-fishing season.
These frequent gatherings afford abundant opportunity for the teaching and
dissemination of his peculiar doctrines, as is sufficiently evident from the
fact that, while his own tribe numbers hardly two score families, his
disciples along the river are counted by thousands.

PL. LXXXVIII

JULIUS BIEN & CO. N.Y.
DISTRIBUTION OF TRIBES OF THE UPPER COLUMBIA REGION IN WASHINGTON,
OREGON AND IDAHO
INCLUDING ALL THOSE OF THE SMOHALLA AND SHAKER RELIGIONS
BY
JAMES MOONEY
1894

Smohalla was born about 1815 or 1820, and is consequently now an old
man, although still well preserved, and with his few scattering locks
unchanged in color. At the time of the Nez Percé war he was in the full
vigor of manhood. His appearance in 1884 is thus described by Major
MacMurray: “In person Smohalla is peculiar. Short, thick-set, bald-headed
and almost hunch-backed, he is not prepossessing at first sight, but he has
an almost Websterian head, with a deep brow over bright, intelligent eyes.
He is a finished orator. His manner is mostly of the bland, insinuating,
persuasive style, but when aroused he is full of fire and seems to handle
invectives effectively. His audience seemed spellbound under his magic
manner, and it never lost interest to me, though he spoke in a language

comprehended by few white men and translated to me at second or third
hand.” By another writer who met him a year later he is described as rather
undersized and inclining toward obesity, with “a reserved and cunning but
not ill-natured countenance, and a large, well-shaped head. His manners
were more suave and insinuating than is usual with Indians.” He had a
comfortable appearance, his moccasins and leggings were new, and he rode
a good pinto pony. (Huggins, 1.)
In his youth he had frequented the Catholic mission of Atahnam among
the Yakima, where he became familiar with the forms of that service and
also acquired a slight knowledge of French. Whether or not he was a regular
member of the mission school is a disputed point, as it is asserted by some
that he has never worn the white man’s dress or had his hair cut. The
influence of the Catholic ceremonial is plainly visible in his own ritual
performance. In his early manhood he distinguished himself as a warrior,
and had already come to be regarded as a prominent man when he first
began to preach his peculiar theology about the year 1850. There can be no
question that the rapid spread of his doctrines among the tribes of the
Columbia materially facilitated their confederation in the Yakima war of
1855–56. It is said that he aspired to be the leader in this war, and that, to
attain this end, he invited all the neighboring bands to attend a council at his
village of Pʿnä, but failed to accomplish his object.
Shortly after the close of the war, probably about 1860, the incident
occurred which wrought an entire change in his life, stamping him as an
oracle and prophet beyond peradventure, and giving to his religious system
the force of authority which it has ever since retained. He had already
established a reputation as a medicine-man, and was believed to be “making
medicine” against the life of Moses, the noted chief of a tribe farther up the
river, who was greatly in dread of his occult powers, and forced a quarrel in
order to rid himself forever of his rival. A fight resulted, and Smohalla was
nearly killed. It is said that he was left on the ground as dead, but revived
sufficiently to crawl away and get into a boat on the bank of the Columbia
near by. Bleeding and disabled, he was carried down at the mercy of the
current until he was finally rescued from his perilous position by some
white men, far below. His recovery was slow. When it was completed,
unwilling to return in disgrace to his own country and probably still
dreading the anger of Moses, he determined to become a wanderer.

Then began one of the most remarkable series of journeyings ever
undertaken by an uncivilized Indian. Going down the Columbia to Portland
and the coast, he turned south, and, stopping on the way at various points in
Oregon and California, continued beyond San Diego into Mexico. Then,
turning again, he came back through Arizona, Utah, and Nevada to his
former home on the Columbia, where he announced that he had been dead
and in the spirit world and had now returned by divine command to guide
his people. As he was thought to have been killed in the encounter with
Moses, and as he had disappeared so completely until now, his awe-stricken
hearers readily believed that they were actually in the presence of one who
had been taken bodily into the spirit world, whence he was now sent back
as a teacher.
On the occasion of MacMurray’s visit, says that authority, “Smohalla
asked me many geographic questions, and I spread out a railroad map,
marking the situation of Priest rapids, Portland, and Vancouver barracks,
and he traced with a straw down the coast line to below San Diego. He
asked where San Bernardino was, and paused long over this. He recognized
the ocean or ‘salt chuck,’ with many other geographic features and
localities, but he would neither admit nor deny having been at Salt Lake
City, although he admitted having been in Utah, knew the lake and adjacent
mountain chains, and said that he had seen Mormon priests getting
commands direct from heaven. He dwelt long over Arizona, and remarked,
‘bad-a Inchun.’”
Smohalla now declared to his people that the Sa′ghalee Tyee, the Great
Chief Above, was angry at their apostasy, and commanded them through
him to return to their primitive manners, as their present miserable
condition in the presence of the intrusive race was due to their having
abandoned their own religion and violated the laws of nature and the
precepts of their ancestors. He then explained in detail the system to which
they must adhere in future if they would conform to the expressed will of
the higher power. It was a system based on the primitive aboriginal
mythology and usage, with an elaborate ritual which combined with the
genuine Indian features much of what he had seen and remembered of
Catholic ceremonial and military parade, with perhaps also some additions
from Mormon forms.

His words made a deep impression on his hearers. They had indeed
abandoned their primitive simplicity to a great extent, and were now
suffering the penalty in all the misery that had come to them with the advent
of the white-skin race that threatened to blot them out from the earth. The
voice of the prophet was accepted as a voice from the other world, for they
knew that he had been dead and was now alive. What he said must be true
and wise, for he had been everywhere and knew tribes and countries they
had never heard of. Even the white men confirmed his words in this regard.
He could even control the sun and the moon, for he had said when they
would be dark, and they were dark.
If genius be a form of insanity, as has been claimed, intense religious
enthusiasm would seem to have a close connection with physical as well as
mental disease. Like Mohammed and Joan of Arc, and like the Shaker
prophet of Puget sound, Smohalla is subject to cataleptic trances, and it is
while in this unconscious condition that he is believed to receive his
revelations. Says MacMurray:
He falls into trances and lies rigid for considerable periods. Unbelievers have
experimented by sticking needles through his flesh, cutting him with knives, and otherwise
testing his sensibility to pain, without provoking any responsive action. It was asserted that
he was surely dead, because blood did not flow from the wounds. These trances always
excite great interest and often alarm, as he threatens to abandon his earthly body altogether
because of the disobedience of his people, and on each occasion they are in a state of
suspense as to whether the Saghalee Tyee will send his soul back to earth to reoccupy his
body, or will, on the contrary, abandon and leave them without his guidance. It is this going
into long trances, out of which he comes as from heavy sleep and almost immediately relates
his experiences in the spirit land, that gave rise to the title of “Dreamers,” or believers in
dreams, commonly given to his followers by the neighboring whites. His actions are similar
to those of a trance medium, and if self-hypnotization be practicable that would seem to
explain it. I questioned him as to his trances and hoped to have him explain them to me, but
he avoided the subject and was angered when I pressed him. He manifestly believes all he
says of what occurs to him in this trance state. As we have hundreds of thousands of educated
white people who believe in similar fallacies, this is not more unlikely in an Indian subjected
to such influence.

In studying Smohalla we have to deal with the same curious mixture of
honest conviction and cunning deception that runs through the history of
priestcraft in all the ages. Like some other prophets before him, he seeks to
convey the idea that he is in control of the elements and the heavenly
bodies, and he has added greatly to his reputation by predicting several
eclipses. This he was enabled to do by the help of an almanac and some
little explanation from a party of surveyors. In this matter, however, he was

soon made to realize that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. He could
not get another almanac, and his astronomic prophecies came to an abrupt
termination at the end of the first year. Concerning this, Major MacMurray
says:
He showed me an almanac of a preceding year and asked me to readjust it for eclipses, as
it did not work as it had formerly done. I explained that Washington (the Naval Observatory)
made new ones every year, and that old ones could not be fixed up to date. He had probably
obtained this one from the station agent at the railroad, now superseded by a new one, who
had cut off Smohalla’s supply of astronomical data. My inability to repair the 1882 almanac
for use in prognosticating in 1884 cost me much of his respect as a wise man from the east.
(MacMurray MS.)

Smohalla had also a blank book containing mysterious characters, some
of which resembled letters of the alphabet, and which he said were records
of events and prophecies. MacMurray was unable to decide whether they
were mnemonic or were simply unmeaning marks intended to foster among
his followers the impression of his superior wisdom. It is probable that they
were genuine mnemonic symbols invented by himself for his own purposes,
as such systems, devised and used by single individuals or families, and
unintelligible to others, are by no means rare among those who may be
called the literary men of our aboriginal tribes.

PL. LXXXIX

SMOHALLA AND HIS PRIESTS

As their principal troubles arose out of the disputed title to their lands,
Major MacMurray was asked by the Indians to explain the Indian
homestead law and how white men divided land. This was carefully done
with the aid of a checkerboard, and they were shown how the land was
mapped out into equal squares arranged on straight lines so that every man
could find his own. They were then urged by the officer to apply for
homesteads and settle upon them so as to avoid further trouble with the new
settlers who were pouring into the country. Smohalla replied that he knew
all this, but he did not like the new law, as it was against nature. He then
went on to expound in detail the Indian cosmogony. Said he:
I will tell you about it. Once the world was all water and God lived alone. He was
lonesome, he had no place to put his foot, so he scratched the sand up from the bottom and
made the land, and he made the rocks, and he made trees, and he made a man; and the man
had wings and could go anywhere. The man was lonesome, and God made a woman. They
ate fish from the water, and God made the deer and other animals, and he sent the man to

hunt and told the woman to cook the meat and to dress the skins. Many more men and
women grew up, and they lived on the banks of the great river whose waters were full of
salmon. The mountains contained much game and there were buffalo on the plains. There
were so many people that the stronger ones sometimes oppressed the weak and drove them
from the best fisheries, which they claimed as their own. They fought and nearly all were
killed, and their bones are to be seen in the hills yet. God was very angry at this and he took
away their wings and commanded that the lands and fisheries should be common to all who
lived upon them; that they were never to be marked off or divided, but that the people should
enjoy the fruits that God planted in the land, and the animals that lived upon it, and the fishes
in the water. God said he was the father and the earth was the mother of mankind; that nature
was the law; that the animals, and fish, and plants obeyed nature, and that man only was
sinful. This is the old law.
I know all kinds of men. First there were my people (the Indians); God made them first.
Then he made a Frenchman [referring to the Canadian voyagers of the Hudson Bay
company], and then he made a priest [priests accompanied these expeditions of the Hudson
Bay company]. A long time after that came Boston men [Americans are thus called in the
Chinook jargon, because the first of our nation came into the Columbia river in 1796 in a
ship from Boston], and then King George men [the English]. Later came black men, and last
God made a Chinaman with a tail. He is of no account and has to work all the time like a
woman. All these are new people. Only the Indians are of the old stock. After awhile, when
God is ready, he will drive away all the people except those who have obeyed his laws.
Those who cut up the lands or sign papers for lands will be defrauded of their rights and
will be punished by God’s anger. Moses was bad. God did not love him. He sold his people’s
houses and the graves of their dead. It is a bad word that comes from Washington. It is not a
good law that would take my people away from me to make them sin against the laws of
God.
You ask me to plow the ground! Shall I take a knife and tear my mother’s bosom? Then
when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest.
You ask me to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for her bones? Then when I die I
can not enter her body to be born again.
You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it, and be rich like white men! But how
dare I cut off my mother’s hair?
It is a bad law, and my people can not obey it. I want my people to stay with me here. All
the dead men will come to life again. Their spirits will come to their bodies again. We must
wait here in the homes of our fathers and be ready to meet them in the bosom of our mother.
(MacMurray MS.)

The idea that the earth is the mother of all created things lies at the base,
not only of the Smohalla religion, but of the theology of the Indian tribes
generally and of primitive races all over the world. This explains
Tecumtha’s reply to Harrison: “The sun is my father and the earth is my
mother. On her bosom I will rest.” In the Indian mind the corn, fruits, and
edible roots are the gifts which the earth-mother gives freely to her children.
Lakes and ponds are her eyes, hills are her breasts, and streams are the milk
flowing from her breasts. Earthquakes and underground noises are signs of

her displeasure at the wrongdoing of her children. Especially are the
malarial fevers, which often follow extensive disturbance of the surface by
excavation or otherwise, held to be direct punishments for the crime of
lacerating her bosom.
Smohalla’s chief supporter and assistant at the ceremonies was
Kotai′aqan, or Coteea′kun, as MacMurray spells it, of the Yakima tribe. The
name refers to a brood of young ducks scattering in alarm. He was the son
of Kamai′äkan, the great war chief of the Yakima. He also gave MacMurray
the story of the cosmos, which agrees with that obtained from Smohalla, but
is more in detail:
The world was all water, and Saghalee Tyee was above it. He threw up out of the water at
shallow places large quantities of mud, and that made the land. Some was piled so high that it
froze hard, and the rains that fell were made into snow and ice. Some of the earth was made
hard into rocks, and anyone could see that it had not changed—it was only harder. We have
no records of the past; but we have it from our fathers from far back that Saghalee Tyee
threw down many of the mountains he had made. It is all as our fathers told us, and we can
see that it is true when we are hunting for game or berries in the mountains. I did not see it
done. He made trees to grow, and he made a man out of a ball of mud and instructed him in
what he should do. When the man grew lonesome, he made a woman as his companion, and
taught her to dress skins, and to gather berries, and to make baskets of the bark of roots,
which he taught her how to find.
She was asleep and dreaming of her ignorance of how to please man, and she prayed to
Saghalee Tyee to help her. He breathed on her and gave her something that she could not see,
or hear, or smell, or touch, and it was preserved in a little basket, and by it all the arts of
design and skilled handiwork were imparted to her descendants.
Notwithstanding all the benefits they enjoyed, there was quarreling among the people, and
the earth-mother was angry. The mountains that overhung the river at the Cascades were
thrown down, and dammed the stream and destroyed the forests and whole tribes, and buried
them under the rocks. (MacMurray MS.)

In connection with the wonderful little basket, MacMurray states that
Kotai′aqan presented him with a very ancient drum-shape basket, about 2½
inches in diameter, to give to his wife, in order that she might likewise be
inspired. Concerning the catastrophe indicated in the last paragraph, he goes
on to say:
The Cascade range, where it crosses the Columbia river, exhibits enormous cross sections
of lava, and at its base are petrified trunks of trees, which have been covered and hidden
from view except where the wash of the mighty stream has exposed them. Indians have told
me, of their knowledge, that, buried deep under these outpours of basalt, or volcanic tufa, are
bones of animals of siah, or the long ago. Traditions of the great landslide at the Cascades are
many, but vary little in form. According to one account, the mountain tops fell together and
formed a kind of arch, under which the water flowed, until the overhanging rocks finally fell
into the stream and made a dam or gorge. As the rock is columnar basalt, very friable and

easily disintegrated, that was not impossible, and the landscape suggests some such giant
avalanche. The submerged trees are plainly visible near this locality. Animal remains I have
not seen, but these salmon-eating Indians have lived on the river’s border through countless
ages, and know every feature in their surroundings by constant association for generations,
and naturally ally these facts with their religious theories. (MacMurray MS.)

In an article on “The submerged trees of the Columbia river,” in Science
of February 18, 1887, the geologist, Major Clarence E. Dutton, also notices
the peculiar formation at the Cascades and mentions the Indian tradition of
a natural bridge over the river at this point.
PL. XC

SMOHALLA CHURCH ON YAKIMA RESERVATION

MacMurray continues:
Coteeakun went on to say that some day Saghalee Tyee would again overturn the
mountains and so expose these bones, which, having been preserved through so long a time,
would be reoccupied by the spirits which now dwell in the mountain tops, watching their
descendants on earth and waiting for the resurrection to come. The voices of these spirits of
the dead can be heard at all times in the mountains, and often they answer back when spoken
to. Mourners who wail for their dead hear spirit voices replying, and know they will always
remain near them. No man knows when it will come, and only those who have observed
nature’s laws and adhered to the faith of their ancestors will have their bones so preserved
and be certain of an earthly tenement for their spirits. He wanted me to confirm this.
Coteeakun was pacific and gentle. He said all men were as brothers to him and he hoped
all would dwell together. He had been told that white and black and all other kinds of men
originally dwelt in tents, as the red men always have done, and that God in former times
came to commune with white men. He thought there could be only one Saghalee Tyee, in

which case white and red men would live on a common plane. We came from one source of
life and in time would “grow from one stem again. It would be like a stick that the whites
held by one end and the Indians by the other until it was broken, and it would be made again
into one stick.”
Some of the wilder Indians to the north have more truculent ideas as to the final cataclysm
which is to reoverturn the mountains and bring back the halcyon days of the long past. As the
whites and the others came only within the lifetime of the fathers of these Indians, they are
not to be included in the benefits of the resurrection, but are to be turned over with all that
the white man’s civilization has put upon the present surface of the land.
Coteeakun was for progress—limited progress, it is true—to the extent of fixed homes and
agriculture, but he did not want his people to go from their villages or to abandon their
religious faith. They were nearly all disposed to work for wages among the farmers, and had
orchards and some domestic animals upon whose produce they lived, besides the fish from
the rivers. Smohalla opposed anything that pertained to civilization, and had neither cattle,
sheep, goats, pigs, nor chickens, and not a tree or vegetable was grown anywhere in his
vicinage. Kowse (Peucedanum cous), kamas (Camassia esculenta), berries, fish, and the
game of the mountains alone furnished food to his people, whom he advised to resist every
advance of civilization as improper for a true Indian and in violation of the faith of their
ancestors. I found, however, that he was willing to advise his people to take up lands and
adopt the white man’s road, if the government would pension him as it had pensioned Chief
Moses, so that while I thought he believed in his religion as much as other sectarians do in
theirs, he was tainted by the mercenary desire to live upon his followers unless otherwise
provided for by the government.

From Captain E. L. Huggins, Second cavalry, who visited Smohalla
about the same time, we obtain further information concerning the prophet’s
personality and doctrines. When Smohalla was urged to follow the example
of other Indians who had taken up the white man’s road, he replied, “No
one has any respect for these book Indians. Even the white men like me
better and treat me better than they do the book Indians. My young men
shall never work. Men who work can not dream, and wisdom comes to us
in dreams.”
When it was argued that the whites worked and yet knew more than the
Indians, he replied that the white man’s wisdom was poor and weak and of
no value to Indians, who must learn the highest wisdom from dreams and
from participating in the Dreamer ceremonies. Being pressed to explain the
nature of this higher knowledge, he replied, “Each one must learn for
himself the highest wisdom. It can not be taught. You have the wisdom of
your race. Be content.”
When the officer contended that even the Indians had to work hard
during the fishing season to get food for winter, the prophet answered:

“This work lasts only for a few weeks. Besides it is natural work and
does them no harm. But the work of the white man hardens soul and body.
Nor is it right to tear up and mutilate the earth as white men do.”
To the officer’s assertion that the Indians also dug roots and were even
then digging kamas in the mountains, he replied:
“We simply take the gifts that are freely offered. We no more harm the
earth than would an infant’s fingers harm its mother’s breast. But the white
man tears up large tracts of land, runs deep ditches, cuts down forests, and
changes the whole face of the earth. You know very well this is not right.
Every honest man,” said he, looking at me searchingly, “knows in his heart
that this is all wrong. But the white men are so greedy they do not consider
these things.”
He asserted that the Indians were now so helpless before the white men
that they must cease to exist unless they had assistance from a higher
power, but that if they heeded the sacred message they would receive strong
and sudden help as surely as the spring comes after winter. When some
doubt was expressed as to his own faith in these things, he asked pointedly:
“Do the white teachers believe what they teach?”
“It is said, Smohalla, that you hate all white men.”
“It is not true. But the whites have caused us great suffering. Dr Whitman
many years ago made a long journey to the east to get a bottle of poison for
us. He was gone about a year, and after he came back strong and terrible
diseases broke out among us. The Indians killed Dr Whitman, but it was too
late. He had uncorked his bottle and all the air was poisoned. Before that
there was little sickness among us, but since then many of us have died. I
have had children and grandchildren, but they are all dead. My last
grandchild, a young woman of 16, died last month. If only her infant could
have lived”—his voice faltered slightly, but with scarcely a pause he
continued in his former tone, “I labored hard to save them, but my medicine
would not work as it used to.”
He repelled the idea that the Indians had profited by the coming of the
whites, and especially denied that they had obtained ponies from this
source. His statement on this point may be of interest to those who hold that
the horse is indigenous to America:

“What! The white man gave us ponies? Oh, no; we had ponies long
before we ever saw white people. The Great Spirit gave them to us. Our
horses were swifter and more enduring, too, in those days, before they were
mixed with the white man’s horses.”
He went on to tell how the Indians had befriended the first explorers who
came among them and how ungrateful had been their later recompense, and
said: “We are now so few and weak that we can offer no resistance, and
their preachers have persuaded them to let a few of us live, so as to claim
credit with the Great Spirit for being generous and humane. But they
begrudge us what little grass our ponies eat.” At parting he repeated
earnestly, “If they tell you Smohalla hates all white people, do not believe
it.” (Huggins, 2.)

Our knowledge of the Smohalla ritual is derived from the account given
by Major MacMurray and from the statements of Yakima and Pälus
informants. The officer’s account is that of an intelligent observer, who
noted ceremonies closely, but without fully comprehending their meaning.
The Indian account is that of initiates and true believers, one of them being
the regular interpreter of the Smohalla services on Yakima reservation.
The officer had already seen the ceremonial performances at the Indian
villages at Celilo and Umatilla in Oregon, at Tumwater and Yakima gap in
Washington, but found its greatest development at the fountain head, the
home of Smohalla at Priest rapids. His account is so full of interest that we
give it almost in its entirety.
While still several miles away, his party discovered the village, the
houses extending along the bank of the river, with several flags attached to
long poles fluttering in the wind. The trail from the mountains was winding
and difficult, but at last—
We reached the plain and were met by a procession, headed by Smohalla in person, all
attired in gorgeous array and mounted on their best chargers. We wended our way through
sagebrush and sand dunes to the village street, not a soul being visible, but from the mat-
roofed salmon houses there came forth the most indescribable chorus of bell ringing, drum
beating, and screeching. I noticed that the street was neatly swept and well sprinkled—an
unusual thing in any Indian village. This, Smohalla said, was in my honor and to show that
his people had cleanly tastes. Our procession passed on beyond the village to a new canvas
tent, which had a brush shade to keep off the sun and was lined and carpeted with new and
very pretty matting. Smohalla said this had been prepared especially for me, and was to be

my house as long as I should stay with him. To cap the climax, he had constructed a bench
for me, having sent more than 90 miles for the nails. Fresh salmon, caught in a peculiar trap
among the rocks and broiled on a plank, were regularly furnished my party, and with hard
tack and coffee of our own supplying we got enough to eat and drink. Our own blankets
furnished sleeping conveniences. The river was within two yards of our tent door and was an
ample lavatory.
When I awoke the next morning, the sound of drums was again heard, and for days it
continued. I do not remember that there was any intermission except for a few minutes at a
time. Seven bass drums were used for the purpose. I was invited to be present, and took great
interest in the ceremonies, which I shall endeavor to describe.
There was a small open space to the north of the larger house, which was Smohalla’s
residence and the village assembly room as well. This space was inclosed by a whitewashed
fence made of boards which had drifted down the river. In the middle was a flagstaff with a
rectangular flag, suggesting a target. In the center of the flag was a round red patch. The field
was yellow, representing grass, which is there of a yellow hue in summer. A green border
indicated the boundary of the world, the hills being moist and green near their tops. At the
top of the flag was a small extension of blue color, with a white star in the center. Smohalla
explained: “This is my flag, and it represents the world. God told me to look after my people
—all are my people. There are four ways in the world—north and south and east and west. I
have been all those ways. This is the center. I live here. The red spot is my heart—everybody
can see it. The yellow grass grows everywhere around this place. The green mountains are
far away all around the world. There is only water beyond, salt water. The blue [referring to
the blue cloth strip] is the sky, and the star is the north star. That star never changes; it is
always in the same place. I keep my heart on that star. I never change.”
There are frequent services, a sort of processional around the outside of the fence, the
prophet and a small boy with a bell entering the inclosure, where, after hoisting the flag, he
delivers a sort of sermon. Captains or class leaders give instructions to the people, who are
arranged according to stature, the men and women in different classes marching in single file
to the sound of drums. There seems to be a regular system of signals, at command of the
prophet, by the boy with the bell, upon which the people chant loud or low, quick or slow, or
remain silent. These outdoor services occurred several times each day.
Smohalla invited me to participate in what he considered a grand ceremonial service
within the larger house. This house was built with a framework of stout logs placed upright
in the ground and roofed over with brush, or with canvas in rainy weather. The sides
consisted of bark and rush matting. It was about 75 feet long by 25 feet wide. Singing and
drumming had been going on for some time when I arrived. The air resounded with the
voices of hundreds of Indians, male and female, and the banging of drums. Within, the room
was dimly lighted. Smoke curled from a fire on the floor at the farther end and pervaded the
atmosphere. The ceiling was hung with hundreds of salmon, split and drying in the smoke.
The scene was a strange one. On either side of the room was a row of twelve women
standing erect with arms crossed and hands extended, with finger tips at the shoulders. They
kept time to the drums and their voices by balancing on the balls of their feet and tapping
with their heels on the floor, while they chanted with varying pitch and time. The excitement
and persistent repetition wore them out, and I heard that others than Smohalla had seen
visions in their trances, but I saw none who would admit it or explain anything of it. I fancied
they feared their own action, and that real death might come to them in this simulated death.
Those on the right hand were dressed in garments of a red color with an attempt at
uniformity. Those on the left wore costumes of white buckskin, said to be very ancient

ceremonial costumes, with red and blue
trimmings. All wore large round silver plates
or such other glittering ornaments as they
possessed. A canvas covered the floor and on
it knelt the men and boys in lines of seven.
Each seven, as a rule, had shirts of the same
color. The tallest were in front, the size
diminishing regularly to the rear. Children
and ancient hags filled in any spare space. In
front on a mattress knelt Smohalla, his left
hand covering his heart. On his right was the
boy bell ringer in similar posture. Smohalla
wore a white garment which he was pleased
to call a priest’s gown, but it was simply a
white cloth shirt with a colored stripe down
the back.

Fig. 64—Smohalla’s flag (heraldic).
PL. XCI

INTERIOR OF SMOHALLA CHURCH

I and my two assistants were seated on a mattress about 10 feet in front of the prophet,
which fortunately placed us near the door and incidentally near fresh air. There were two
other witnesses, Indians from distant villages, who sat at one side with Smohalla’s son
looking on.
Smohalla’s son was said to be in training as his successor. He was a young man,
apparently about 23 years old, tall, slender, and active in movement, and commonly kept
himself apart from the body of the people. He was much darker than his father. His dress was
brilliant in style and color. He ordinarily wore a short gown or surplice, sometimes yellow
and at other times sky blue, with ornate decorations of stars or moons appliqué, cut from
bright-colored cloths. The sleeves were extravagantly trimmed with beads and silver
ornaments. He knelt at the right of the group as the place of honor. On his left was
Coteeakun, the head man of the Indian village at Union gap, on the Yakima reservation. The
third man was Coteeakun’s brother, a most intelligent and progressive Indian. (MacMurray
MS.)

From Charles Ike, an intelligent half-blood interpreter on Yakima
reservation, who is also the regular interpreter of the Smohalla ritual
services at the Yakima village of Paʾkiut, we obtain additional interesting
details concerning the ceremony as there performed, with the underlying
religious teachings.
As at present taught, the religion finds adherents among probably all the
tribes along the Columbia from near the British border down to the
Wushqûm tribe at The Dalles, with the exception, perhaps, of the Klikatat,
who are nearly all Catholics. The two chief centers are at Pʿnä or Priest
rapids, where Smohalla in person regularly preaches to about 120 hearers,
and at Paʾkiut, at Union gap on Yakima reservation, where, until his death a
short time ago, Tianä′ni has regularly conducted the services for about 300
of his tribe. At each place is a church or meeting-house built as already
described.
The former high priest of the doctrine among the Yakima, and the right-
hand man of Smohalla himself, was Kotai′aqan, already mentioned, the son
of the great war chief Kamai′äkan. It is even asserted that he was the
originator of the system. However this may be, it is certain that he had
much to do with formulating both the dogmas and the ritual. In temper he
was more gentle than Smohalla, and more disposed to meet civilization
half-way. On his death, about 1890, he was succeeded by his stepson,
Tīanä′ni, or “Many Wounds,” who filled the office until about October,
1892, when he was murdered near his home by two drunken Indians. He
was succeeded in the chieftainship by a younger son of Kotai′aqan named

Sha′awĕ (or Shaw-wawa Kootiacan), and in his priestly functions by a man
known to the whites as Billy John.
The regular services take place on Sunday, in the morning, afternoon, and
evening. Sunday has been held sacred among the Nez Percés and
neighboring tribes for more than sixty years, as the result of the teachings of
the Hudson Bay officers. The prairie tribes also, having learned that Sunday
is the great “medicine day” of the whites, now select it by preference for
their own religious ceremonies of the Ghost dance and the mescal. There
are also services during the week, besides special periodic observances,
such as the “lament” for the dead, particularly the dead chiefs, in early
spring; the salmon dance, when the salmon begin to run in April, and the
berry dance, when the wild berries ripen in autumn. The description of the
ceremonial of the salmon dance will answer for the others, as it differs
chiefly only by the addition of the feast.

Fig. 65—Charles Ike, Smohalla interpreter.

As already stated, the house has the door at the eastern end, as is the
common rule in all Indian structures. On the roof, at the eastern end of the
building at Paʾkiut, are the flags, the center one blue, representing the sky;
another one white, representing the earthly light, and the third yellow,
representing the heavenly light of the spirit world. Blue, white, and yellow
are the sacred colors of this system, as also of that of the Shakers, to be
described later. On entering, the worshipers range themselves in two lines
along the sides of the building, the men and boys standing along the

northern wall, the women and girls along the southern wall, and all facing
toward the center. The first man entering takes his place on the north nearest
the door; the next one stands just beyond him, and so on; while the women
and girls, when their turn comes, make the whole circuit along the northern
side, and then, turning at the farther end, take their places in reverse order
along the southern wall. In the open space between the rows is a floor-
walker, whose business it is to see that everyone is in the right place. All are
dressed as nearly as possible in the finest style of the old Indian costume,
buckskin and shell ornaments, their faces painted yellow, white, or red with
Indian paints, and carrying eagle feathers in their right hands (plates xc, xci;
figure 66).

Fig. 66—Diagram showing arrangement of worshipers at Smohalla service.

At the farther end, facing the door, sits the high priest, while just behind
him stands his “interpreter,” and on his left are seated on the ground the
three drummers with their large drums in front of them. The high priest
carries a large bell in his left hand and a smaller one in his right.
Dishes of fresh-cooked salmon and jars of water, together with a plentiful
supply of other food, are ranged in front of the devotees. After a preliminary
ceremony in the nature of a litany, in which the principal articles of their
theology are recited in the form of question and answer by the whole body
of worshipers, the high priest gives the command, “Take water,” when
everyone raises a cup of water to his lips. Next comes the command, “Now
drink,” and each one takes a sip. At the words, “Now the salmon,” each
takes up a portion of fish, which he puts into his mouth at the next
command, “Now eat.” Last comes the command, “Now help yourselves,”
which is the signal for a general attack on the provisions.

When everyone has satisfied his hunger, the remains of the feast are
cleared away and the “dance” begins. At a signal given by a single stroke of
the bell in the left hand of the high priest all stand up in line on either side
of the building. At another stroke of the bell all put their right hands on their
breasts. Another tap of the bell and the right hand is brought out in front of
the body. Another, and they begin to move their right hands backward and
forward like fans in front of the breast, and thus continue throughout the
dance, keeping time also to the singing by balancing alternately upon their
toes and heels, as already described, without moving from their places.
Ritual songs are sung throughout the remainder of the service, in time with
the movements of the dancers and the sounds of the drums, and regulated
by the strokes of the bell.
Between songs anyone who wishes to speak steps out into the open
space. With a single tap of the bell the high priest then summons his
“interpreter,” standing behind him, who comes forward and stands beside
the speaker, a few feet in front and at the right of the high priest. The
speaker then in a low tone tells his story—usually a trance vision of the
spirit world—to the interpreter, who repeats it in a loud voice to the
company. At the end of the recital the high priest gives the signal with the
bell, when all raise their right hands with a loud “Ai!” (Yes!). The high
priest himself sometimes discourses also to the people through the
interpreter; at other times directly.
Each song is repeated until the high priest gives the signal with the bell to
stop. Most of the songs consist—in the native language—of seven lines. At
the end of the first line the high priest taps once with the bell; at the end of
the second line he taps twice, and so on to the end of the song, when he
rings the bell hard and continuously, and all raise their hands with a loud
“Ai!” Then the song leader, who stands with a feather fan between the high
priest and the drummers, starts the next song.
The first song is given by all standing motionless, with the right hand on
the breast and with eyes cast downward. It may be rendered:
Verily, verily, Our Brother made the body.
He gave it a spirit and the body moved.
Then he counted out the words for us to speak.

Another begins:

Verily, Our Brother put salmon in the water to be our food.

Another begins:
O, brothers! O, sisters!
When first the light struck this world, it lighted the world forever.

Our Brother (Nämi Piäp) is the term used in referring to the creating
spirit, instead of “our father,” as we might expect them to say.
On leaving, at the close of the ceremony, the man nearest the high priest
passes around in front of him and down along in front of the line of women,
and as he reaches the door he turns around and bows to the high priest.
Each man in turn thus files around and passes out, after which the women—
first the one nearest the high priest and then the others in regular order—
pass out in the same manner. While the worshipers are thus going out, the
high priest, standing up, rings continuously the small bell in his right hand,
while with the larger bell in his left he gives a single stroke as each one
passes through the door.

Tribes of the Columbia region
The following synopsis will give a good general idea of the location and
numbers of the tribes of the Columbia region from the British line down to
the Cascades, including all those under the influence of the Smohalla
religion. Except when derived from such well-known authorities as Lewis
and Clark, Stevens, Gibbs, etc., the information given is the result of
personal investigation and work with Yakima and Pälus Indians. The
general boundaries of the tribes west of the Cascade range, including the
adherents of the Shaker religion, are also indicated on the accompanying
map (plate lxxxviii), but our information in regard to this region is too
meager to be definite.
Kutenai (Kitunahan stock).—Synonyms: Arcs Plats, Cotonné, Cottonoi,
Coutanie, Flatbow, Kitunaha, Kootenai, Koutaine, Kutneha, Skalzi,
Tushepaw (Lewis and Clark, 1805), White-tailed Deer People (Clark,
Indian Sign Language). The Kutenai, properly Kituna′qa, form a distinct
linguistic stock, and live chiefly on the Canadian side, around Kutenai river
and lake, but extend across the line into northern Idaho and northwestern
Montana. Their extension southward dates from their treaty of peace with
the Flatheads about ninety years ago. In company with the Flatheads they

were accustomed formerly to come down from the mountains in the fall to
hunt the buffalo on the headwaters of the Missouri. They are mentioned by
Lewis and Clark in 1805 under the name of Tushepaw, with bands
distinguished as Ootlashoot, Micksucksealton (?), and Hohilpo living in the
mountains and on Clark’s fork within United States territory. According to
Gatschet, Tu′shipa is a collective term applied by the Shoshoni to the tribes
living north of them, including the Nez Percés and others, as well as the
Kutenai. A part of the Kutenai joined with the Flatheads and Upper Pend
d’Oreilles in a treaty with the government in 1855 and are now on Flathead
(Jocko) reservation in Montana. They are probably all Catholics. Others,
living in northern Idaho, have never entered into treaty relations, and may
be followers of Smohalla. The best estimates for the last fifty years give
those within the United States a population of from 400 to 450.
Pend d’Oreille (Salishan stock).—Synonyms: Calispel, Coospellar
(Lewis and Clark), Kahlispelm, Kalispelines, Kalispelusses, Kellespem,
Kullas-Palus, Ku′shpĕlu (a Yakima or Pälus form), Papshpûn-ʿlĕma or
“people of the great fir trees” (Yakima name), Pend d’Oreilles or “ear-
rings” (French name), Ponderas. The Pend d’Oreilles held the country along
the river and lake of the same name, in Idaho and Washington, immediately
southwest of the Kutenai. They are commonly distinguished as Upper, on
the lake, and Lower, on both banks of the river. They are the Coospellar
mentioned by Lewis and Clark in 1805. They formerly crossed the
mountains annually to hunt buffalo on the Missouri. Since 1844 they and
most of the other Salishan tribes of this region have been under the
influence of Catholic missionaries. The Upper Pend d’Oreilles joined with
the Flatheads and Kutenai in a treaty with the government in 1855, and are
now on Flathead reservation in Montana. Some of the Lower band joined
them there in 1887. Others are on the Cœur d’Alêne reservation in Idaho, a
few are with Moses on the Columbia in Washington, and the rest are still in
their original country, never having entered into treaty stipulations. The
whole tribe numbers about 1,000 souls.
Colville (Salishan stock).—Synonyms: Chaudière (French name),
Chualpay, Kettle Falls, Quiarlpi or “basket people” (Hale), Schrooyelpi,
Schwogelpi, Schwoyelpi, Swielpee, Wheelpoo (Lewis and Clark). They
originally occupied the country on Colville and Kettle rivers and on both
sides of the Columbia from Kettle falls down to Spokane river, in

Washington, and extending north into British territory to about the lower
Arrow lake. They are mentioned by Lewis and Clark under the name of
Wheelpoo. Kettle falls on the Columbia, within their territory, was the great
salmon fishing resort for all the tribes of this region, and here, in 1846, was
established the Catholic mission of Saint Paul. As a result of this missionary
work, all of these Salishan tribes, excepting the Sanpoil, Nespelim, Mitaui,
and a part of the Spokan are now Catholics. In 1854, according to Stevens,
the original Shwoyelpi were nearly extinct and their places had been filled
by Indians from neighboring tribes. Without ever having entered into any
treaty with the government, they were assigned in 1872 to Colville
reservation, Washington, which had been set apart for the tribes of that
section. They were reported to number 616 in 1870, and only 301 in 1892.
Lake or Senijextee (Salishan stock).—These owned the country on both
sides of the Columbia, in Washington, from about Kettle falls northward
into British Columbia to the vicinity of Arrow lake. They are now on
Colville reservation in Washington and number about 350, with perhaps a
few others across the boundary. They may be identical with the Lahannas of
Lewis and Clark.
Spokan (Salishan stock).—Synonyms: Lartielo (Lewis and Clark),
Sarlilso (Gibbs), Sinhumanish, Sinkoman (Kutenai name), Spokihnish,
Spokomish, Zingomenes. They are commonly distinguished as Upper
Spokan or Sineeguomenah, Middle or Sintootoo, and Lower or Chekisschee
(Winans, Comr., 1870). Spokan is the name given them by the Cœur
d’Alênes; Sinkoman is their Kutenai name, while the Lartielo or Sarlilso of
Lewis and Clark is simply a bad misprint for Sintootoo, the name of the
middle band. They are closely connected, linguistically and politically, with
the Sanpoil and Nespelim. The lower Spokan are now Protestants, the rest
are Catholics. They formerly owned the whole basin of Spokane river in
Washington and extending into Idaho. They are now on Spokane
reservation in Washington and the Cœur d’Alêne reservation in Idaho, and
number in all about 900 or 1,000.
Cœur d’Alêne (Salishan stock).—Synonyms: Pointed Hearts, Qʾma′shpăl
or “kamas people” (so called by the Yakima), Skeechaway, Skeetsomish
(Lewis and Clark), Skitsămŭq (Pälus name), Skitswish, Stietshoi. They
occupied the lake and river bearing their name in Idaho and the adjacent
headwaters of the Spokane. A part of this territory they held jointly with the

Spokan, whose language they speak. In 1892 they numbered 427, on Cœur
d’Alêne reservation in Idaho.
Sanpoil (Salishan stock).—Synonyms: Hai-ai′nĭma (Yakima name),
Hihighenimmo (Lewis and Clark), Ipoilq (another Yakima name), Nʾpochle
(Stevens), Sans Puelles, Sinapoils, Sinipouals, Sinpaivelish,
Sinpohellechach, Sinpoilschne, Siur Poils. The name by which this tribe is
commonly known is sometimes written as a French form Sans Poils,
meaning “without bristles,” or “hairless,” but it is more probably an Indian
word. They occupy the country on Sanpoil river in Washington, now
included within Colville reservation, and are closely allied with the
Nespelim. These two tribes are the most aboriginal in eastern Washington,
and adhere strictly to their primitive customs and religion. The two tribes
are thus described by Winans, the government farmer, in 1870:
They have never received any presents from the government, although they have been
frequently asked to do so. They seem suspicious of the whites, are the least civilized and
most independent of any of the tribes of the territory. They are rich in horses and cattle,
possessing all the comforts they know how to enjoy, and it appears their only fear is that they
will be interfered with by the government. They are perfectly contented with their condition,
and would not accept anything from the government if offered, except a religious instructor
and doctor.

Some years later they were brought under the reservation system and a
change came o’er the spirit of their dream. In 1892 we are told officially
that “the Sanpuell Indians are the worst people that I have anything to do
with.... They are surly, ignorant, and filthy,” notwithstanding which they
still “have the same religious prejudice as the Nespelims about receiving aid
from the government.” Of the Nespelim the same intelligent witness tells us
that “they are a peculiar class of Indians, having a religion of their own.”
The religion of the two tribes is aboriginal, and is similar to the Smohalla
doctrine in principle, although not in ceremonial. In 1892 the Sanpoil were
estimated at 300.
Nespelim (Salishan stock).—Synonyms: Inspellum, Sinspeelish. On the
north bank of the Columbia, in Washington, along Nespelim river and down
to the junction of the Okinagan, and on the opposite side of the Columbia
down to about Grande Coulée. They speak the same language as the
Sanpoils, and in aboriginal habit, religion, and organization are closely
identified with them. They are within the limits of Colville reservation and
were reported to number only 62 in 1892.

Okanagan (Salishan stock).—Synonyms: Oakinacken, Okinakane,
Okiwahkine. They occupy the whole basin of Okanagan river in
Washington, extending north into British Columbia, and including
Similkameen river. The Okanagan were an important tribe or confederacy
divided into a number of bands, some of which have also at times been
considered as belonging to the Spokan, while others are commonly
recognized as distinct tribes. Ross gives them “twelve tribes,” as follows:
Skamoynumach, Kewaughtchenunaugh, Pisscow (Piskwaus),
Incomecane′took, Tsillane (Chelan), Intie′took (Entiatook),
Battlelemuleemauch or Meatwho (Mitaui), Inspellum (Nespelim),
Sinpohellechach (Sanpoil), Sinwhoyelppetook (Colville), Samilkanuigh
(Similkameen), and Oakinacken (Okanagan). They are now included within
the Colville agency, and are Catholics. They were estimated at 340 in 1870
and reported as numbering 405 in 1892.
Mitaui (Salishan stock).—Synonyms: Battlelemuleemauch, Meatwho,
Meshons, Meteowwee (Lewis and Clark), Methows, Mithouies. They
formerly lived on the west side of the Columbia, including the basins of the
Methow, Lake Chelan, and Entiatook river. Lewis and Clark met some of
them in 1805 below the mouth of the Wallawalla. They are closely
connected with the Piskwaus and Isle de Pierres. They now reside in
Nespelim valley on Colville reservation, confederated with the Isle de
Pierres under Chief Moses. The two tribes were reported at 390 in 1892. A
few others live in the neighborhood of Kittitas near the Yakima tribe. See
Piskwaus.
Isle de Pierre (Salishan stock).—Synonyms: Columbias, Linkinse,
Sinkiuse. They originally occupied the country in Washington from the
Columbia eastward to the Grande Coulée, extending from about the mouth
of the Grande Coulée down nearly to Crab creek. Isle de Pierre is the
French name of Rock island in the Columbia at the mouth of the
Wenatchee. For a long time, under their noted chief Moses, they refused to
recognize the authority of the government or to go on a reservation. Now,
however, they are settled in Nespelim valley, on Colville reservation. They
were reported to number 390 in 1892 and are described as “true, genuine
Indians in every sense of the word.” Their chief, Moses, the enemy and
rival of Smohalla, was thus described in 1870: “Moses, the head chief, has
been a great warrior. He was foremost in the fights of 1858 with Colonels

Steptoe and Wright, and was severely wounded a number of times, but not
dying, the Indians believe he has a charmed life. He is medium sized, about
45 years old, noble looking, straight as an arrow, and never breaks his word.
He has more influence than any other chief east of the Cascade mountains
in the territory. He comes nearer being such a chief as we read of than any I
have ever met. He is kindly disposed toward the whites and invites them to
come and settle in his country.” (Winans.) Linguistically they are probably
nearest related to the Piskwaus.
Wa′napûm (Shahaptian stock).—Synonyms: Columbia River Indians,
Sokulks. This is the tribe of which Smohalla is the chief and high priest.
They are a small band, numbering probably less than 200 souls, and closely
connected linguistically and politically with the Yakima, Pälus, and Nez
Percés. Wanapûm is the name by which they are known to these cognate
tribes, and signifies “river people;” from wana or wala, “river” (particularly
Columbia river), and pûm or pam, “people or tribal country.” Together with
the other non-treaty tribes of this region they are known to the whites under
the indefinite name of “Columbia River Indians.” They are identical with
the Sokulk met by Lewis and Clark at the mouth of Snake river and
described as living farther up on the Columbia. The name Sokulk seems to
be entirely unknown among the Yakima and Pälus of today. The Wa′napûm
range along both banks of the Columbia, in Washington, from above Crab
creek down to the mouth of Snake river. Their village, where Smohalla
resides, is on the west bank of the Columbia, at the foot of Priest rapids, in
the Yakima country. It is called Pʿnä, signifying “a fish weir,” and is a great
rendezvous for the neighboring tribes during the salmon fishing season.
Haying never made a treaty or gone on a reservation, they are not officially
recognized by the government.
Pä′lus (Shahaptian stock).—Synonyms: Palouse, Pelloatpallah
Chopunnish (Lewis and Clark), Peloose, Polonches, Sewatpalla. The Pälus
owned the whole basin of Palouse river in Washington and Idaho, and
extended also along the north bank of Snake river to its junction with the
Columbia. They were, and are, closely connected with the Wanapûm and
the Nez Percés. Pälus, the name by which the tribe is commonly known, is
properly the name of Standing Rock, at the junction of Palouse and Snake
rivers. They can not explain the meaning. They have four villages: Almotu,
on the north bank of Snake river in Washington, about 30 miles above the

mouth of Palouse river; Pälus, on the north bank of Snake river just below
the junction of the Palouse; Ta′sawĭks, on the north bank of Snake river
about 15 miles above its mouth; and Kasĭ′spä or Cosispa (meaning “at the
point,” from kăsĭ′s, a point, and pä, the locative), at Ainsworth in the
junction of the Snake and Columbia. This last village has a slight difference
in dialect and is sometimes regarded as belonging to the Wanapûm.
Although the Pä′lus are mentioned as parties to the Yakima treaty of 1855,
they have never as a tribe recognized any treaty limitations or come upon a
reservation. They are aboriginal in their ideas and among the most devoted
adherents of the Smohalla doctrine. They were estimated at 500 in 1854,
but, not being officially recognized, it is impossible to give their present
number.
Pĭskwaus or Winä′tshipûm (Salishan stock).—Synonyms: Piscaous,
Piscous, Pisquose. The name by which this tribe is commonly known is
properly the name of a fishing place on Wenatchee river, and is probably
Salishan, but may be from the Yakima pĭsko, signifying “a bend in the
river.” The Yakima call the river Winätshi, signifying a “river issuing from a
cañon,” and the tribe Winätshipûm. The Piskwaus proper, on Wenatchee
river, with their connected bands or tribes living in the same neighborhood,
west of the Columbia in Kittitas and Okanogan counties, Washington, are a
southern extension of the Mitaui and speak the same language. Under the
name of Piskwaus, Stevens includes “the Indians on the Columbia between
the Priests’ and Ross rapids, on the Pisquose or Winatshapam river; the
Enteatkeon, Chelaun lake, and the Mithaw on Barrier river. The name of
Pisquouse, however, properly refers to a single locality on the river known
to the Yakamas as Winatshapam. The Pisquouse themselves, as has before
been remarked, are so much intermarried with the Yakamas that they have
almost lost their nationality. These bands were formerly all united under one
principal chief, Stalkoosum, who is said to have been a man of great note
among them. He was killed a few years since in a fight with the Blackfeet,
since which there has been no head of the tribe.” (Stevens, Comr. Rept.,
1854.) The Piskwaus and smaller connected tribes took part in the Yakima
treaty of 1855, but do not live on the reservation. Most of them live on the
Wenatchee and the north branch of Yakima river in Kittitas county. They are
all Catholics. There is no official statement of their number. Smaller tribes
or bands connected with the Piskwaus proper and speaking the same
language are:

1. K̔′tătäs, K̔tătäs-‛lĕ′ma, Ketetas (Stevens), Pshwa′năpûm (Yakima
name), Shanwappoms (Lewis and Clark). K̔′tătäs signifies “a shoal,” ‘lĕ′ma
being a tribal suffix, and Pshwană-pûm in the Yakima language signifies
“shoal people,” the name referring to a shoal in Yakima river at Ellensburg.
2. Ska′utăl, or Skaddal (of Lewis and Clark). About Boston creek and
Kahchass lake, at the head of Yakima river.
3. W‛shä′nătu, or Shallattoos (of Lewis and Clark). The word means
“huckleberry” in Yakima, and is applied to a site on Yakima river just above
Ellensburg.
4. Skwa′nănă, or Squannaroos (of Lewis and Clark). A Yakima word
meaning “whirlpool,” and applied to a point on Yakima river about opposite
the entrance of Selah creek, the village being on the west bank of the river.
This band may possibly speak the language of the Ätanûm, a Shahaptian
tribe, whose territory adjoins them.
5. Qamĭl-‘lĕma or Kahmiltpah. The name is Yakima, and signifies
“people of Qamĭ′lh.” Qamĭ′lh, or “Watching for Fish,” was a chief who
formerly lived with his band about Saddle mountain, on the east side of the
Columbia, above Priest rapids. They are called Kahmiltpah in the Yakima
treaty of 1855. They now live with the other tribes last named in Kittitas
county.
6. Si′ăpkat or Seapcat. They reside now in Kittitas county, but probably
lived originally at a place of the same name on the east bank of the
Columbia, about Bishop rock and Milk creek, below Wenatchee river. They
are called Seapcat in the Yakima treaty of 1855. The word is of the
Piskwaus language.
Yä′kĭmâ (Shahaptian stock).—Synonyms: Cutsahnim (Lewis and Clark),
Eyackimah, Pa′‛kiut-‛lĕ′ma, Stobshaddat (by Puget sound tribes, Tolmie),
Waptai′lmĭm, Yackamans, Yookoomans. The Yakima are the most important
tribe of the Shahaptian stock, excluding the Nez Percés. They occupied the
country of Natchess and middle Yakima rivers, in the present Yakima
county, Washington, and are now on a reservation within the same county.
Stevens says the name signifies “black bear” in the Wallawalla language,
but Yakima informants state that it is a nickname signifying “coward” or
“runaway,” and say that the proper name of the tribe is Waptai′lmĭm, people

of the “narrow river,” or Pa′‛kiut-‛lĕ′ma, “people of the gap,” both names
referring to the narrows in Yakima river at Union gap, near Yakima bridge.
Their old village was on the west side of the river, just below the gap. They
are the Cutsahnim of Lewis and Clark. This name may possibly come from
the same root as Kû′tsano′t, “Lying Alongside,” the name of an old Yakima
chief who died about 1880. In 1854, according to Stevens, they were
“divided into two principal bands, each made up of a number of villages
and very closely connected, the one owning the country on the Natchess
and lower Yakima, the other on the Wenass and its main branch above the
forks.” These latter, however, were chiefly of the Piskwaus connection.
They had then several chiefs, of whom Kamaiakan was the most important.
Like all the other Columbia tribes east of the Cascade range, they formerly
crossed the Rocky mountains annually to hunt the buffalo on the waters of
the Missouri. In 1855 the government made a treaty with the Yakima,
Piskwaus, Pälus, and other tribes by which they were to cede a territory on
both sides of the Columbia, extending generally from the Cascade range
eastward to Palouse and Snake rivers, and southward from above Chelan
lake to the Columbia, excepting a small portion between the Columbia and
the lower Yakima. At the same time the Yakima reservation was established
and an arrangement was made by which all the tribes and bands concerned
were to be confederated under the title of the “Yakama Nation,” with
Kamaiakan as head chief. Shortly afterward the Yakima war broke out, and
the treaty remained unratified until 1859. As already stated, the Pälus and
several other tribes have never recognized it or come on the reservation, and
their objection to such removal has become a religious principle of the
Smohalla doctrine. In the original treaty of 1855 fourteen tribes are named
as participating, as follows: Yakama (Yäkima), Palouse (Pä′lus), Pisquouse
(Pi′skwaus), Wenatshapam (another name for Piskwaus), Klikatat
(Klûkatät), Klinquit (not identified), Kowwassayee (K′kasawi), Liaywas
(not identified), Skinpah (Skinpä), Wish-ham (Wushqûm), Shyiks (not
identified), Ochechotes (Uchi′chol), Kahmiltpah (Qamil′lĕma), and Seapcat
(Si′apkat). Among these were represented at least six languages and three
linguistic stocks. The majority of these Indians west of the Columbia,
including the Yakima proper and others on the reservation, are Catholics,
with also a number of adherents of the Shaker and Smohalla doctrines.
Those on the reservation numbered 1,200 in 1892, with an estimated 1,500
outside the boundaries. Beside the principal band of Yakima, the

Waptailmĭm already mentioned, there are also the Sĕ′tăs-‛lĕma, or “people
of the rye prairie,” on Setass creek, a western tributary of the Yakima in the
eastern part of the reservation, and the Pĭsko, or people of the “river bend,”
in a village also on the south side of the Yakima, between Topinish and
Setass creeks. (See Pishquitpah.) Their dialects are said to differ slightly
from that of the Waptailmĭm.
Ä′tănûm-‛lĕma (Shahaptian stock) or “people (‛lĕma) of Ätanûm
creek.”—A small tribe on Atahnam creek, in Yakima county, Washington,
on the northern boundary of the reservation. They are said to speak a
language distinct from Yakima or Klûkatät, but cognate. They have no
official recognition now or in the treaty of 1855. The name Ä′tănûm is
Yakima, and refers to a stream “ascended” (by salmon).
Klû’kătät (Shahaptian stock).—Synonyms: Clickahut, Clickitat,
Klikatat, Qwû′lh-hwai-pûm, Weyehhoo, Whulwhypum. The name by which
this tribe is commonly known is from the Wasko language and signifies
“beyond (the mountain)”—that is, east of the Cascade range—with
reference to the Chinookan tribes on the lower Columbia. The same name
was also at times extended to the Yakima. They call themselves Qwûlh-
hwai-pûm, “prairie people;” from qwûlh-hwai, “prairie,” and pûm,
“people,” referring particularly to their occupancy of Camass prairie. They
formerly occupied the southern slopes of Mount Adams and Mount Helens,
with the country of Klikatat and Lewis rivers, in the present Klickitat and
Skamania counties, Washington. East of them were the Yakima and west
were the Salishan and Chinookan tribes. At one time they lived farther east,
but were driven west by the Cayuse. (Stevens.) About sixty years ago they
crossed the Columbia and overran the Willamet country, and even
penetrated as far south as the Umpqua, but afterward withdrew again to
their proper country. Although but a small tribe, they were aggressive and
enterprising and were the trade medium between the tribes west of the
mountains and those east. They joined in the Yakima treaty of 1855 and are
now chiefly on Yakima reservation, but a few are still on White Salmon
river, in Klickitat county. Their number is unknown. The Taitinapam and
Topinish speak the same language and may be considered as branches of
this tribe.
Qa′pnĭsh-‛lĕma or Topinish (Shahaptian stock).—A small tribe on
Topinish river in Yakima county, Washington, within the present limits of

the reservation. They speak the Klûkatät language. The name signifies
“people (‛lĕma) of the trail coming from the foot of the hill.”
Taitinapam (Shahaptian stock).—Synonym: Tai-kie-a-pain (misprint). A
small tribe speaking the Klûkatät language, formerly living on the western
slopes of the Cascade mountains, between the heads of Lewis and Cowlitz
rivers, in Skamania county, Washington, being the westernmost tribe of
Shahaptian stock. If any are left, they are probably incorporated with the
Klûkatät on Yakima reservation. They never had official recognition.
Chämnä′pûm (Shahaptian stock).—Synonyms: Chimnahpum,
Chimnapoos, Cuimnapum. A tribe which occupied the bend of the
Columbia below Yakima river, together with the country on the lower
Yakima, chiefly in the present Yakima county, Washington. They are the
Chimnahpum of Lewis and Clark, and speak a dialect of the language of the
Pä′lus and Wanapûm, with which tribes the few survivors are incorporated.
A few are also still living on the west side of the Columbia, opposite Pasco.
The name is of their own language and means “people (pûm) of Chämnä′,”
their old village about opposite Wallula.
Pishquitpah (Shahaptian stock).—This name occurs only in the narrative
of Lewis and Clark as that of a tribe in 1805, “residing at the Muscleshell
rapid and on the north side of the Columbia to the commencement of the
high country, wintering on the borders of the Tapteal.” The Tapteal
(properly Waptail or Waptailmĭm) is Yakima river. This would locate them
in eastern Klickitat and Yakima counties, Washington. They are probably
identical with the Pĭsko band of the Yakima. In the name Pishquitpah the
final pah is the Yakima or Pä′lus locative pä, “at.”
K̔ka′săwi or Kowwassayee (Shahaptian stock).—A small tribe speaking
the Tenino language and formerly occupying a village of the same name,
K̔ka′săwi, on the north bank of the Columbia, in Klickitat county,
Washington, about opposite the mouth of the Umatilla. The full name is
K̔ka′săwi-‛lĕ′ma, “people (‛lĕma) of the arrow-making place,” the local
form being from k̔ ka′so, “arrow.” They took part in the Yakima treaty of
1855 under the name of Kowwassayee, and are now on Yakima reservation.
Hăhau′pûm or Wahowpum (Shahaptian stock).—A small tribe speaking
the Tenino language and occupying a village, Hăha′u, on the north bank of
the Columbia, about the mouth of Olive creek, in Klickitat county,

Washington. The word means “willow people,” from hăha′u, a species of
willow, and pûm, “people.” They are the Wahowpum of Lewis and Clark.
They have never had official recognition.
Uchi′chol or Ochechotes (Shahaptian stock).—A small tribe speaking
the Tenino language, living now, or formerly, on the north bank of the
Columbia in Klickitat county, Washington. They are mentioned as
Ochechotes in the Yakima treaty of 1855, and may now be incorporated
with other tribes on Yakima reservation. The name, from the Tenino
language, signifies the “hind dorsal-fin” (of a salmon), and is the name of a
rock on the north side of the Columbia, opposite the upper end of the island,
at the mouth of the Des Chutes. See Tapänäsh.
Skĭ′npä (Shahaptian stock).—Synonyms: Sawpaw (?), Skien, Skin,
Skinpah. A small tribe speaking the Tenino language and formerly having a
village on the north bank of the Columbia in Klickitat county, Washington,
at the falls opposite Celilo. They took part in the Yakima treaty of 1855
under the name of Skinpah, and are now incorporated with the other tribes
on Yakima reservation. The name is Tenino, and means “cradle place,” or
“at the cradle,” from skĭn, “cradle,” and pä, the locative, and refers to a
prominent rock at the site of their former village having some resemblance
to an Indian cradle. See Tapänäsh.
Täpanä′sh or Eneeshur (Shahaptian stock).—A small tribe speaking the
Tenino language, having a village on the north bank of the Columbia in
Klickitat county, Washington, about opposite the mouth of Des Chutes river
and a little above Celilo. The name is identical with the Eneeshur of Lewis
and Clark, these explorers in 1805 having also included under this name the
various bands speaking the Tenino language on both sides of the Columbia
about the mouth of the Des Chutes. The Tapänäsh have no official
recognition. See Tenino.
Tlaqluit or Wŭshqûm (Chinookan stock).—Synonyms: Echebool,
Echeloot, Eloot, Helwit, Niculuita, Ouichram, Tchilouit, Tilhulhwit,
Wisham, Wishham, Wishram, Wisswham. The Tlaqluit, with the Wasko, are
the easternmost tribes of Chinookan stock on the Columbia, having
immediately above them the Shahaptian tribes, speaking the Tenino
language. The Tlaqluit territory lies along the north bank of the Columbia in
Klickitat county, Washington, from Tenino, about 6 miles above The Dalles,

down to the neighborhood of White Salmon river. They call themselves
Tlaqluit (Echeloot of Lewis and Clark), and are called Wŭshqûmă-pûm, or
“Wŭshqûm people,” by the tribes speaking the Tenino language, Wŭshqûm
being the name of their chief village near South Side at The Dalles, the
great fishing and trading resort for the tribes of this section. The name
appears also as Wishram. Both Tlaqluit and Wŭshqûm refer to a species of
louse or flea abounding in that neighborhood. They took part in the Yakima
treaty of 1855 under the name of Wishham, but most of them have probably
never gone on the reservation. See Wasko.
There is a tradition in the tribe that long before the coming of the whites
to the Columbia a band of Tlaqluit left their people on account of a petty
quarrel as to whether a goose made a certain noise with its bill or with its
wings, and went up the Columbia and the Spokane, and are supposed to be
now about the headwaters of the latter stream and still retaining their
language, although under a different tribal name.
Chilû′ktkwa or Chilluckittequaws (Chinookan stock).—A tribe
formerly extending along the north bank of the Columbia in Klickitat and
Skamania counties, Washington, from about White Salmon river down to
some distance below the Cascades. They are called Chilluckittequaws in
1805 by Lewis and Clark, who speak also of a separate band of the same
tribe under the name of Smackshop, a name which can not now be
identified. The tribe now numbers less than 100. Until recently the remnant
lived about the mouth of White Salmon river, but removed about thirteen
years ago to the Cascades. Their language is nearly the same as that of the
Wasko. They have never had official recognition.
Kwikwû′lĭt or Dog River (Chinookan stock).—Synonyms: Cascade
Indians, Kigaltwalla, Upper Chinook, Wahclellah, Watlala. A small tribe
formerly living at the Cascades and about Dog river, a small stream coming
into the Columbia about half-way between the Cascades and The Dalles, in
Wasco county, Oregon. They are identical, in part at least, with the
Wahclellahs of Lewis and Clark (mentioned as a part of the “Shahala
nation”), and are the “Ki-gal-twal-la band of the Wascoes” and the “Dog
River band of the Wascoes” of the Wasco treaty of 1855. The “Dog River or
Cascade Indians” were reported to number 80 souls in 1854. In the next
year they, with other tribes, entered into the Wasco treaty, by which they
agreed to remove to Warmspring reservation, where some of them now are,

while the others are still about the Cascades. Their language is nearly the
same as that of the Wasko.
Wasko (Chinookan stock).—Synonyms: Dalles Indians, Wascopum. A
tribe formerly claiming the country about The Dalles, on the south bank of
the Columbia, in Wasco county, Oregon. They, with the Tlaqluit on the
opposite bank, are the easternmost extension of the Chinookan stock, and
speak the same language. The name is said to be a Tenino word, meaning
“grass,” or “grass people.” It has sometimes been made to include several
cognate bands about The Dalles and Cascades, on both sides of the
Columbia. Under the name of “The Dalles band of the Wascoes,” they
entered into the Wasco treaty of 1855, and are now on Warmspring
reservation in Oregon. They numbered 260 in 1892.
Waiäm (Shahaptian stock).—Synonyms: (Lower) Des Chutes,
Waiäm-‛lĕma, Wayyampa, Wyam. A tribe speaking the Tenino language and
formerly living about the mouth of Des Chutes river, in the present Wasco
and Sherman counties, Oregon. Their chief village was on the Columbia
where Celilo now is, and was called Waiäm, whence their name of
Waiäm-‛lĕma or “people of Waiäm.” They joined in the Wasco treaty of
1855 under the name of “Wyam or Lower Des Chutes band of Walla-
Wallas,” and are now on Warmspring reservation in Oregon. Their number
is not separately reported.
Tai′-ăq (Shahaptian stock).—Synonyms: Taigh, Ta-ih, Tairtla, Tyich. A
tribe speaking the Tenino language and formerly occupying the country
about Tygh and White rivers, in Wasco county, Oregon. The name Tai′-ăq
refers to the stream and denotes “muddy, white water.” They took part in
the Wasco treaty of 1855 under the name of “Ta-ih or Upper Des Chutes
band of Walla-Wallas,” and are now on Warmspring reservation, Oregon.
Their number is not reported.
Tĭ‛lqûni (Shahaptian stock).—A tribe formerly claiming the country
between Tygh valley and Warmspring river, west of Des Chutes river, in the
present Wasco county, Oregon. They are now on Warmspring reservation, in
the same neighborhood. They have never been officially mentioned under
their Indian name, and may be considered the Warmspring proper, although
this name is local rather than tribal. They speak the Tenino language. See
Tenino.

Tenino or Mĕli′-‛lĕma (Shahaptian stock).—The most important
Shahaptian tribe of western Oregon. They formerly occupied middle Des
Chutes river, and conquered the present Warmspring reservation from the
Paiute or Snake tribes, but never occupied it until put there by the Wasco
treaty of 1855. Since then they have been known indiscriminately as Tenino
or Warmspring Indians, although this latter designation is commonly used
to include other cognate tribes on the same reservation. For this reason it is
impossible to give their number definitely. The Tenino language, in various
dialects, is spoken, excepting by the Lohim, by all the tribes formerly living
on both banks of the Columbia and on its tributaries from the country of the
Wasko about The Dalles up to about the mouth of the Umatilla.
Most of this region, on the south or Oregon side of the Columbia, was
formerly held by Shoshonean tribes of Paiute connection, which have been
dispossessed by the Shahaptian tribes and driven farther back to the south.
The only Shoshonean tribe which maintained its place on the Columbia was
the Lohim, on Willow creek. The Tenino themselves conquered the present
Warmspring reservation from the Snakes. The expulsion was in full
progress when Lewis and Clark went down the Columbia in 1805, but had
been practically completed when the first treaties were made with these
tribes fifty years later. Lewis and Clark state that “on that (the south) side of
the river none of the tribes have any permanent habitations, and on inquiry
we were confirmed in our belief that it was from the fear of being attacked
by the Snake Indians, with whom they are constantly at war. This nation
they represent as being very numerous and residing in a great number of
villages on the Towahnahiook (Wanwaui or Des Chutes), where they live
principally on salmon, ... the first villages of the Snake Indians being twelve
days’ journey on a course about southeast of this place.” In the appendix,
after mentioning various bands of Snakes on Snake and Willamette rivers,
they speak of the main body as “residing in the fall and winter on the
Multnomah (Willamet) river, southward of the Southwest mountains, and in
spring and summer near the heads of the Towahnahiook (Des Chutes),
Lepage (John Day), Yaumalolam (Umatilla), and Wollawollah rivers, and
especially at the falls of the Towahnahiook, for the purpose of fishing.” In
the Wasco treaty of 1855 the Shahaptian tribes were recognized as owners
of the whole country southward to the forty-fourth parallel, from the
Cascade range east to the Blue mountains. See Tapänäsh.

Tûkspû′sh or John Day Indians (Shahaptian stock).—Synonyms: Dock-
spus, John Day Rivers, Tûkspûsh-‛lĕma. A tribe speaking the Tenino
language and formerly living along the lower part of John Day river,
Oregon, having their principal village at the falls about 4 miles above the
mouth. They are now on Warmspring reservation, and numbered 59 in
1892, with perhaps others off the reservation. Tûkspûsh is the name of John
Day river in the Tenino language.
Lohĭm or Willow Creek Indians (Shoshonean stock).—A tribe living on
Willow creek, in Gilliam and Morrow counties, Oregon. They are of
Shoshonean connection, being the only Indians of this stock who have been
able to maintain their position on the Columbia against the inroads of the
Shahaptian tribes. They have never made a treaty with the government, and
are generally spoken of as renegades belonging to the Umatilla reservation.
In 1870 they were reported to number 114, but are not mentioned in the
recent official reports.
Cayuse or Wailĕ′tpu (Waiilatpuan stock).—Synonyms: Cailloux, Kayuse,
Shiwanish, Skyuse, Wailetma, Yeletpo Chopunnish (of Lewis and Clark).
The Cayuse are a warlike tribe of distinct stock formerly occupying the
mountain country on the heads of Wallawalla, Umatilla, and Grande Ronde
rivers in Oregon and Washington, including the present Umatilla
reservation. Further investigation may yet establish a linguistic connection
with the Shahaptian tribes. The Molala, formerly on Molalla creek, west of
the Cascades, are a separated band, of whose western migration the Cayuse
and their neighbors still have a tradition. The Cayuse formerly bore a high
reputation for intelligence and bravery, but on account of their fighting
propensities, which led them to make constant war on the Snakes and other
tribes to the west, they were never very numerous. In 1838 a Presbyterian
mission, called Waiilatpu, had been established among the Cayuse, by Dr
Whitman, where now is the town of Whitman, in Wallawalla county,
Washington. In 1847 the smallpox, before unknown among them, carried
off a large part of the tribe. The Cayuse, believing that the missionaries
were the cause of it, attacked the mission on November 29, 1847, killed Dr
Whitman and thirteen others, and destroyed the mission. As a matter of fact,
there seems little question that the infection was brought into the country in
supplies intended for the use of the mission or of emigrants temporarily
stopping there. In 1854, according to Stevens, “the tribe, though still

dreaded by their neighbors on account of their courage and warlike spirit, is
but a small one, numbering, according to the census of 1851, only 126. Of
these, individuals of the pure blood are few, the majority being intermixed
with the Nez Percés and the Wallah-Wallahs, particularly with the former, to
such a degree that their own language has fallen into disuse.” A few years
ago only a few individuals, then living on Umatilla reservation, retained
their old language. In 1855 they joined in the treaty by which Umatilla
reservation in Oregon was set apart, and most of those remaining are now
there, while a few others are with the Nez Percés at Lapwai. Joseph, the
noted Nez Percé chief, is himself the son of a Cayuse father. In 1892 the
Cayuse on Umatilla reservation were reported to number 391, but it is
evident that most of these are mixed-bloods of other tribes, particularly the
Umatilla. The name Cayuse is from the Nez Percé language. They call
themselves Wailĕtpu. They are known to the Yakima as Wi′alĕt-pûm or
Wai′lĕtma, and to the Tenino as Shiwanish, or “strangers from up the river,”
a name extended also to the Nez Percés.
Umatilla (Shahaptian stock).—Synonym: Utilla. A tribe formerly
occupying the lower portion of the river of the same name, with the
adjacent bank of the Columbia, in Oregon. They speak a distinct language
of the Shahaptian stock. By the treaty of 1855 they agreed to go on Umatilla
reservation in Oregon, where in 1892 they were reported to number 216. A
large proportion of those now called Cayuse on the same reservation are
Umatilla mixed-bloods.
Wallawalla (Shahaptian stock).—Synonyms: Oualla-Oualla, Walawaltz,
Wollawollah, Wollaw-Wollah. A tribe formerly occupying the country about
the lower portion of the river of the same name and along the east bank of
the Columbia from Snake river down nearly to the Umatilla, in Washington
and Oregon. They take their name from the river, the word being said to
refer to “rushing water.” Their language is said to resemble closely that of
the Nez Percés. By the treaty of 1855 they agreed to go on Umatilla
reservation, Oregon, where, in 1892, they were reported to number 474.
A small band of the same tribe, known to the Yakima as Walu′la-pûm,
formerly lived on the west bank of the Columbia opposite the present
Wallula. Their dialect is said to have been more akin to the Pä′lus language.

Sahaptin or Nez Percés (Shahaptian stock).—Synonyms: Chohoptins,
Chopunnish (Lewis and Clark), Copunnish, Laaptin (misprint), Â′dal-
k̔ato′igo, “people with hair cut across the forehead” (Kiowa name),
Shi′wanĭsh (Tenino name, applied also to the Cayuse), Wa′pamĕtănt
(Yakima name for the language). The Nez Percés are said to call themselves
Sahaptin, and were named Nez Percés, or “pierced noses,” by the French
from their former custom of wearing nose pendants. They are the most
important tribe of the Shahaptian stock, and formerly occupied a large
territory in eastern Washington and Oregon and central Idaho, bounded on
the east by the main divide of the Bitterroot mountains, and including lower
Grande Ronde and Salmon rivers, with a large part of the Snake and all of
the Clearwater. The Wallowa valley, the disputed title to which led to the
Nez Percé war, lies on a branch of the Grande Ronde, in Oregon. They had
the Salishan tribes to the northeast, the Shoshonean tribes to the south, and
the Cayuse, Wallawalla, and Pälus, with all of whom they are much
intermarried, on the west and northwest. Almost all authorities give them a
high character for bravery, intelligence, and honorable conduct traits which
were strikingly displayed in the Nez Percé war.
Lewis and Clark traversed their country in 1805, and speak of them and
some connected tribes under the name of Chopunnish, distinguished as
follows: Chopunnish nation (about the present Lapwai reservation),
Pelloatpallah band (the Pälus), Kimooenim band (on Snake river, between
the Salmon and the Clearwater), Yeletpo band (the Cayuse), Willewah band
(in Wallowa valley, afterward Joseph’s band), Soyennom band (on the north
side of the upper Clearwater, in Idaho; these were really a part of the Pälus
—the proper form is Tätqu′nma, whence Thatuna hills, referring to “a
fawn” in the Pälus language, and was the name applied to their kamas
ground about Camass creek), Chopunnish of Lewis river (on Snake river,
below the Clearwater). In response to a request from the Nez Percés, who
sent a delegation all the way to Saint Louis for that purpose in 1832, the
first Protestant mission was established among them at Lapwai, Idaho, in
1837. Soon afterward they entered into relations with the government, and
made their first treaty with the United States in 1855. By this treaty they
ceded the greater portion of their territory, and were confirmed in the
possession of a reservation including Wallowa valley. On the discovery of
gold in the country, however, the miners rushed in, and in consequence a
new treaty was made in 1863, by which they gave up all but the present

Lapwai reservation in Idaho. Joseph, who occupied Wallowa valley with his
band, refused to recognize this treaty or remove to Lapwai. This refusal
finally led to the Nez Percé war in 1877, as already related. The main body
of the tribe took no part in the war. After the surrender of Joseph his band
was removed to Indian Territory, where the mortality among them was so
great that in 1884 they were returned to the northwest. For several reasons,
however, it was deemed unadvisable to settle them in the neighborhood of
their old home, and a place was finally found for them in 1887 on Colville
reservation in northern Washington. In 1892 there were 1,828 on Lapwai
reservation and 138 on Colville reservation, a total population of 1,966.

Chapter VIII
THE SHAKERS OF PUGET SOUND
My breath was out and I died. All at once I saw a great shining light. Angels told me to
look back. I did, and saw my own body lying dead. It had no soul. My soul left my body and
went up to the judgment place of God.... My soul was told that I must come back and live on
earth. When I came back, I told my friends, “There is a God. My good friends, be Christians.
If you all try hard and help me, we shall be better men on earth.”—John Slocum.

In 1881 there originated among the tribes of Puget sound in Washington a
new religion, which, although apparently not founded on any doctrinal
prophecy, yet deserves special attention for the prominent part which
hypnotism holds in its ceremonial. Indeed, there is good reason to believe
that the Paiute messiah himself, and through him all the apostles of the
Ghost dance, have obtained their knowledge of hypnotic secrets from the
“Shakers” of Puget sound.

Fig. 67—John Slocum and Louis Yowaluch.

The founder of the religion is Squ-sacht-un, known, to the whites as John
Slocum. He is now (1896) about 58 years of age. His chief high priest is
Louis Yowaluch, or Ai-yäl as he is called by the Yakima. Both are of the
Squaxin tribe. In 1881 (Eells makes it 1882) he “died” or fell into a trance
one morning about daylight and remained in that condition until the middle
of the afternoon, when he awoke and announced that he had been to heaven,
but had been met at the entrance by angels, who forbade him to enter on
account of his wickedness, and gave him his choice either to go to hell or
return to earth and teach his people what they must do to get to heaven.
Accordingly, he came back to earth and began his divinely appointed
mission, introducing into the new doctrine and ritual a great deal of what he
had learned from the white missionaries. From the nervous twitchings
which so peculiarly distinguished them, his followers soon became known
as “Shakers.” Although strongly opposed by the agent, who arrested and
imprisoned the leaders and visited various minor penalties on their
followers, the Shaker religion grew and flourished until it now has a regular

organization with several houses of worship, and has received the official
indorsement of the Presbyterian church.
The following account of the system, in response to a letter of inquiry,
was obtained from the missionary, Reverend Myron Eells, brother of the
agent:
A curious phase of religion sprang up in the fall of 1882 among some of the Indians on the
southern part of Puget sound. It has prevailed mainly among the Squaxon, Nisqually,
Skokomish, and Chehalis Indians, and has been called by its opponents the “Shake religion,”
and its followers have been called “Shakers” on account of a large amount of nervous
shaking which is a part of the form of its observance. It is evidently based upon about the
same principles of the mind as the jerks and shouting at camp meetings among the whites of
the southern and western states fifty years ago, when they were more ignorant and less
acquainted with real religion than they are now. When superstition, ignorance, dreams,
imagination, and religion are all mingled together, either among whites, Indians, or people of
any other race, they produce a strange compound. It has proven so in this case.
In the fall of 1882 an Indian named John Slocum, who was living on Skookum bay, in
Mason county, apparently died. Some years previous he had lived on the Skokomish
reservation, where he had attended a Protestant church, and had learned something of the
white man’s religion, God, Jesus Christ, and the morals inculcated. He had also learned
something in his early life of the Catholic religion and its forms and ceremonies. Many
Indians were present when he was sick and apparently died. They said his neck was broken,
and that he remained dead for about six hours, when he returned to life, jumped up, and ran
off a short distance, and soon began to converse with the people. Whether or not it was a case
of suspended animation is a question. A white man, a near neighbor of his, who saw him
before his apparent death, while he thus lay, and after his resuscitation, said he believed the
Indian was “playing possum.” But the Indians believed that he really died and rose again.
The Indian stated that he died and attempted to go to heaven, but could not enter it because
he was so wicked. He was there told, however, the way of life, and that he must return to this
earth and teach his people the way, and induce them to become Christians. He gained a small
band of followers, a church was built for him, and he steadily preached to the people.
Affairs went on this way until the next August. Then, after consultation with other Indians
who favored him, especially on the Skokomish reservation, it was decided to hold a big
meeting. The Indians of the surrounding region were called to go. They were told that they
would be lost if they did not; that four women would be turned into angels; that persons
would die and be raised to life again, and that other wonderful things would be done.
Many went, about half of those on the Skokomish reservation being among the number,
and they did hold a big meeting. Women did go around trying to fly like angels; four persons
are said to have died, and, with the power which was said to have been given them from
above, others were said to have brought them back to life again. This was a mixture of trying
to perform miracles, as in Bible times, to prove the divinity of their religion, and some of the
ceremonies of their old black tomahnous. This was a secret society of their savage days, in
which persons went into a hypnotic condition, in which they became very rigid, and out of
which they came in the course of time. The followers of this new religion dreamed dreams,
saw visions, went through some disgusting ceremonies a la mode the black tomahnous, and
were taken with a kind of shaking. With their arms at full length, their hands and arms would
shake so fast that a common person not under the excitement could hardly shake half as fast.

Gazing into the heavens, their heads would also shake very fast, sometimes for a few minutes
and sometimes for hours, or half the night. They would also brush each other with their
hands, as they said, to brush off their sins, for they said they were much worse than white
people, the latter being bad only in their hearts, while the Indians were so bad that the
badness came to the surface of their bodies and the ends of their finger nails, so that it could
be picked off. They sometimes brushed each other lightly, and sometimes so roughly that the
person brushed was made black for a week, or even sick.
In connection with this they held church services, prayed to God, believed in Christ as a
savior, said much about his death, and used the cross, their services being a combination of
Protestant and Catholic services, though at first they almost totally rejected the Bible, for
they said they had direct revelations from Christ, and were more fortunate than the whites,
who had an old, antiquated book.
After having kept up this meeting for about a week, they disbanded and went to their
homes, but did not stop their shaking or services. They sometimes held meetings from 6
oclock in the evening until about midnight, lighting candles and putting them on their heads
for a long time. They became very peculiar about making the sign of the cross many times a
day, when they began to eat as they asked a blessing, and when they finished their meal and
returned thanks; when they shook hands with anyone—and they shook hands very often—
when they went to church and prayer meeting on Thursday evening, and at many other times,
far more often than the Catholics do.
On the Skokomish reservation their indiscretions caused the death of a mother and her
child, and an additional loss of time and property to the amount of $600 or $800 in a few
weeks. It also became a serious question whether the constant shaking of their heads would
not make some of them crazy, and from symptoms and indications it was the opinion of the
agency physician, J. T. Martin, that it would do so. Accordingly, on the reservation the
authority of the agent was brought to bear, and to a great extent the shaking was stopped,
though they were encouraged to keep on in the practice of some good habits which they had
begun, of ceasing gambling, intemperance, their old style incantations over the sick, and the
like. Some at first said they could not stop shaking, but that at their prayer meetings and
church services on the Sabbath their hands and heads would continue to shake in spite of
themselves; but after a short time, when the excitement had died away, they found that they
could stop.
But about Skookum bay, Mud bay, and Squaxon the shaking continued, and it spread to
the Nisqually and Chehalis Indians. It seemed to be as catching, to use the expression of the
Indians, as the measles. Many who at first ridiculed it and fought against it, and invoked the
aid of the agent to stop it, were drawn into it after a little, and then they became its strong
upholders. This was especially true of the medicine-men, or Indian doctors, and those who
had the strongest faith in them. The Shakers declared that all the old Indian religion, and
especially the cure of the sick by the medicine-men, was from the devil, and they would have
nothing to do with it, those who at first originated and propagated it having been among the
more intelligent and progressive of the uneducated Indians. Very few of those who had
learned to read and had been in Sabbath school for a considerable length of time were drawn
into it. It was the class between the most educated and the most superstitious who at first
upheld it. They seemed to know too much to continue in the old-style religious ceremonies,
but not to know enough and to be too superstitious to fully believe the Bible. Consequently,
the medicine-men were at first bitterly opposed to it. About this time, however, an order
came from the Indian department to stop all medicine-men from practicing their incantations
over the sick. As a respectable number of the Indians had declared against the old style of
curing the sick, it seemed to be a good time to enforce this order, as there was sufficient

popular opinion in connection with the authority of the agent to enforce it. This was done,
and then the medicine-men almost entirely joined the Shakers, as their style was more nearly
in accordance with the old style than with the religion of the Bible.
As it spread, one Indian went so far as to declare himself to be Christ again come to earth,
and rode through the streets of Olympia at the head of several scores of his followers with his
hands outstretched as Christ was when he was crucified. But he was so ridiculed by other
Indians and by the whites that he gave up this idea and simply declared himself to be a
prophet who had received revelations from heaven.
For several years there has been very little of the shaking or this mode of worship among
the Indians on the reservation, excepting secretly when persons were sick. Still, their native
superstition and their intercourse with those off the reservation, who sometimes hold a
special gathering and meeting when their followers grow cold and careless, has kept the
belief in it as a religion firm in their hearts, so that lately, since they have become citizens,
and are hence more free from the authority of the agent, the practice of it has become more
common, especially when persons are sick.
In fact, while it is a religion for use at all times, yet it is practiced especially over the sick,
and in this way takes the place of the medicine-men and their methods. Unlike the system of
the medicine-men, it has no single performer. Though often they select for leader one who
can pray the best, yet in his absence another may take the lead. Like the old system, it has
much noise. Especially do they use bells, which are rung over the person where the sickness
is supposed to be. The others present use their influence to help in curing the sick one, and so
imitate the attendants on an Indian doctor, getting down upon their knees on the floor and
holding up their hands, with a candle in each hand, sometimes for an hour. They believe that
by so holding up their hands the man who is ringing the bell will get the sickness out more
easily than he otherwise would. They use candles both when they attempt to cure the sick and
in their general service, eschewing lamps for fear of being easily tempted, as they believe
coal-oil lights to be from Satan.
In another point also this resembles very closely their old religion. For a long time before a
person is taken sick they foretell that his spirit is gone to heaven and profess to be able to
bring it back and restore it to him, so that he will not die as soon as he otherwise would. This
was also a part of the old tomahnous belief.
They have also prophesied very much. Several times when a person has died they have
told me that someone had foretold this event, but they have never told me this until after the
event happened, except in one case. They have prophesied much in regard to the end of the
world and the day of judgment. Generally, the time set has been on a Fourth of July, and
many have been frightened as the time drew near, but, alas, in every instance the prophecy
failed. Like Christians, they believe in a Supreme Being, in prayer, the sabbath, in heaven
and hell, in man as a sinner, and Christ as a savior, and the system led its followers to stop
drinking, gambling, betting, horse racing, the use of tobacco, and the old-style incantations
over the sick. Of late years, however, some of them have fallen from grace.
It has been a somewhat strange freak of human nature, a combination of morals and
immorals, of Protestantism, Catholicism, and old Indian practices, of dreams and visions—a
study in mental philosophy, showing what the mind may do under certain circumstances. Yet
it is all easily accounted for. These Indians have mingled with the whites for a long time,
nearly ever since most of them were small. All classes of whites have made sport of their
religion—the infidel, the profane man, the immoral one, the moral one, and the Christian—
and they have been told that God and the Bible were against it, consequently they lost faith in
it. But the Indian must have some religion. He can not do without one. They were not ready

to accept the Bible in all its purity. They wanted more excitement. Like the Dakota Indians
more recently, they saw that Christ was the great center of the most powerful religion of the
most powerful, intelligent, successful, and wisest nations with whom they came in contact.
Consequently they formulated a system for themselves that would fill all their required
conditions, and when a few leaders had originated it, a large share of the rest were ripe to
accept it, but having had more Christian teaching than the wild Dakotas, it took a somewhat
different form, with no thought of war and with more of real Christianity.

James Wickersham, esquire, of Tacoma, Washington, the well-known
historian of that region, is the regular attorney for these people as a
religious organization, and is consequently in a position to speak with
authority concerning them. In reply to a letter of inquiry, he states that the
Shakers believe in an actual localized heaven and hell, and reverence the
Bible, but regard John Slocum’s revelations as of more authority. “They
practice the strictest morality, sobriety, and honesty. Their 500 or 600
members are models, and it is beyond question that they do not drink
whisky, gamble, or race, and are more free from vice than any other church.
They practice a mixture of Catholic, Presbyterian, and old Indian
ceremonies, and allow only Indians in the church. They have five churches,
built by themselves, and the sect is growing quite rapidly.” From all this it
would appear that the Shaker religion is a distinct advance as compared
with the old Indian system.
Under date of December 5, 1892, Mr Wickersham wrote again on this
subject, as follows:
I read your letter to my Indian friends, and they beg me to write you and explain that they
are not Ghost dancers, and have no sympathy with that ceremony or any other founded on
the Dreamer religion. That they believe in heaven as do the orthodox Christians; also in
Christ, and God, the Father of all; that they believe in future rewards and punishments, but
not in the Bible particularly. They do believe in it as a history, but they do not value it as a
book of revelation. They do not need it, for John Slocum personally came back from a
conference with the angels at the gates of heaven, and has imparted to them the actual facts
and the angelic words of the means of salvation.
This testimony is even better than the words of Christ contained in the Bible, for John
Slocum comes 1800 years nearer; he is an Indian, and personally appears to them and in
Indian language reports the facts. These people believe Slocum as firmly as the martyr at the
stake believed in that for which he offered up his life; but it is the Christian religion which
they believe, and not the Ghost dance or Dreamer religion.
In short, they have a mixture of Catholic, Protestant, and Indian ceremonies, with a
thorough belief in John Slocum’s personal visit to heaven, and his return with a mission to
save the Indians and so guide them that they, too, shall reach the realms of bliss. Personally, I
think they are honest, but mistaken; but the belief certainly has beneficial effect, and has
reduced drinking and crime to a minimum among the members of the “Shaker” or
“Tschaddam” church.

In conclusion, permit me to say that the general assembly of the Presbyterian church in
this state has several times examined into the religion and character of the Shaker or Slocum
church, and has highly indorsed its people and their character and actions. Yowaluch is their
head now, and the strongest man mentally among them.

Some months later Mr Wickersham forwarded a circumstantial and
carefully written statement of the history and present condition of the
movement. In accordance with his request, we publish it as written,
omitting only some paragraphs which do not bear directly on the general
subject. It may be considered as an official statement of the Shaker case by
their legally constituted representative. As might have been expected, he
takes direct issue with those who have opposed the new religion. The reader
will note the recurrence of the Indian sacred number, four, in Slocum’s
speech, as also the fact that his first trance was the culmination of a serious
illness.

Tschaddam or Shaker religion
“On Christmas day, 1854, a treaty was signed at the mouth of Shenahnam
or Medicine creek, on the south side of Puget sound, Washington, between
Isaac I. Stevens, governor and ex officio superintendent of Indian affairs for
the United States, and the chief and headmen of the Nisqually, Puyallup,
and other small tribes of Indians residing around the south shores of Puget
sound.”
“One of these small tribes was the Squaxin, situated on the southwestern
branch or arm of Puget sound, now known as Little Skookum bay, in Mason
county, Washington, near Olympia. The remaining members of this tribe yet
live on the old home places, having purchased small tracts of their old
hunting grounds from the first settlers; and they now make a living by
fishing and gathering oysters as in days of old. Of the fishy tribe of Squaxin
was born John Slocum, as he is known to the ‘Boston man,’ but to his
native friends he is known as Squ-sacht-un.”
“John Slocum, Squ-sacht-un, is now (1893) about 51 years of age, about
5 feet 8 inches high, and weighs about 160 pounds; rather stoop shouldered,
with a scattering beard, a shock of long black hair, a flat head (fashionably
flat, and produced by pressure while a baby), bright eyes, but in all rather a
common expression of countenance. He is modest and rather retiring, but
has unquestioned confidence in himself and his mission. He is married, and

up to the time of his translation was looked on as a common Indian, with a
slight inclination to fire-water and pony racing, as well as a known fondness
for Indian gambling.”
“In the month of October, 1881, Slocum was unaccountably drawn to
think of his evil courses. While in the woods he knelt and prayed to God,
and began seriously to think of the error of his ways and of the evil days
that had fallen on his few remaining native friends. Whisky, gambling,
idleness, and general vice had almost exterminated his people. His eyes
were opened to the folly of these facts, and he prayed. He, however, became
sick; and as his sickness increased, these ideas became brighter in his mind
and his duty more clear. He grew worse, and one day he died. He was
pronounced dead by all present, and was laid out for burial. His brother
went to Olympia for a coffin, and a grave was prepared. He died at 4 oclock
in the morning, and late in the afternoon he again resumed life and
recovered consciousness.”
“His recovery was rapid, and immediately he told those present that
during his term of death his soul had been to heaven, where it had been met
by the angels, who, after a proper inquiry as to his name, etc., told him that
he had been bad on earth, and reminded him very forcibly of his
shortcomings while there, and finally wound up by informing him that he
could not enter heaven, but that he could either go to hell or could go back
to the earth and preach to the Indians and tell them the way to heaven. He
accepted this latter proposition, and the result was that his soul again
returned to earth, reentered its old body, and has from that day to this
animated Slocum with the spirit of a crusader against gambling, whisky
drinking, and other ‘Boston’ vices.”
“About a year ago I was employed by these people as their attorney, and
at their request attended the meetings in Mason county, and had a long
conference with them. As a practical person would, Slocum undertook to
demonstrate to me his honesty and the divine character of their religion, and
at a large meeting composed only of Indians, members of his church, he
made to me a long public statement of facts, and explained, through an
interpreter, the character of their religion and of their belief. I wrote down at
the time a synopsis of what was said to me, and now quote it at some length
as being the exact words of Slocum, and as the best explanation of their
religion.”

“Standing before all his people, in the most solemn and impressive
manner, in their church, he said in substance:”
“The witnesses have spoken the truth. I was sick about two weeks, and had five Indian
doctors. I grew very weak and poor. Dr Jim was there. He could not cure me. They wanted to
save me, but my soul would die two or three hours at a time. At night my breath was out, and
I died. All at once I saw a shining light—great light—trying my soul. I looked and saw my
body had no soul—looked at my own body—it was dead.”
“I came through the first time and told my friends, ‘When I die, don’t cry,’ and then I died
again. Before this I shook hands and told my friends I was going to die. Angels told me to
look back and see my body. I did, and saw it lying down. When I saw it, it was pretty poor.
My soul left body and went up to judgment place of God. I do not know about body after 4
oclock.”
“I have seen a great light in my soul from that good land; I have understand all Christ
wants us to do. Before I came alive I saw I was sinner. Angel in heaven said to me, ‘You
must go back and turn alive again on earth.’ I learned that I must be good Christian man on
earth, or will be punished. My soul was told that I must come back and live four days on
earth. When I came back, I told my friends, ‘There is a God—there is a Christian people. My
good friends, be Christian.’”
“When I came alive, I tell my friends, ‘Good thing in heaven. God is kind to us. If you all
try hard and help me we will be better men on earth.’ And now we all feel that it is so.”
“A good Christian man prayed with me four days. After four days, a voice said to me, ‘You
shall live on earth four weeks.’ My soul was told that they must build a church for me in four
weeks. I had lumber for a house, and my friends built church. Had it all done in four weeks
but 6 feet of roof, and spread a mat over that. Soon as the church was finished the people
came and filled the house and began to worship God. I felt strong—bigger than today—all
these men know this. My friends worked hard, and I am here because they finished the house
in four weeks. My soul was told to remain on earth four weeks more. All my friends came,
and every Saturday we worshiped God. In four weeks more my soul was told that I should
live on earth four years if I did right and preached for God. All felt thankful, and people
joined the church—about fifty people. I was promised more time if we worshiped God.”
“A bad man can’t reach heaven. I believe in God. I saw how bad I used to be. God sends
us light to see. They know in heaven what we think. When people are sick, we pray to God to
cure us. We pray that he take the evil away and leave the good. If man don’t be Christian, he
will suffer and see what is bad. When we remember Jesus Christ’s name, we always felt
happy in our hearts. This is good road for us to travel if we hold on. If we do, God’s angels
are near to our souls. Power from this to help us. When we pray, it helps us lots in our hearts.
We don’t do good sometimes, because our hearts are not right. When our body and heart feel
warm, we do good and sing good songs. As Christ said, he sends power to every believing
soul on earth.”
“While one man can try to start religion here on earth, it don’t do much good; they won’t
believe him much. That’s why we join to worship. Now we are preparing ourselves for
judgment. For it is said, it don’t make any difference if he prays good and does good. God
gives him help and words to speak. Makes no difference if ‘Boston’ or Indian, if God helps
we know it. These things are what we learned. We learn good while we pray—voice says, Do
good.”

“It is ten years, now, since we began, and we have good things. We all love these things
and will follow them all time. We learn to help ourselves when sick. When our friend is sick,
we kneel and ask for help to cure him. We learn something once in a while to cure him. Then
we do as we know to help him and cure him. If we don’t learn to help him, we generally lose
him.”

“This is a pretty accurate synopsis of the speech delivered to me by
Slocum, and translated by another Indian, who spoke pretty good English.
But that a more thorough knowledge may be given of their religious belief,
I give also a brief synopsis of another speech made at the same meeting by
Louis Yowaluch, a full-blood Indian, who is the legal head of this church. It
is about as follows:”
“Well, my friend, we was about the poorest tribe on earth. We was only tribe now full
blood and nothing else. We would not believe anything. Minister came here, but we laugh at
him. We loved bad habits—stealing—and John Slocum died. He was not a religious man—
knew nothing of God—all of us same. We heard there was a God from Slocum—we could
see it. Same time we heard God, we believe it. I was worst of lot. I was drunkard—was half
starving—spent every cent for whisky. I gambled, raced horses, bet shirt, money, blankets—
did not know any better.”
“John Slocum brought good to us; his words civilized us. We could see. We all felt blind
those times. We lost by drowning—our friends drink whisky and the canoes turn over—we
died out in the bay. Today who stopped us from these things?”
“John Slocum came alive, and I remember God and felt frightened. We never heard such a
thing as a man dying and bring word that there was a God. I became sick for three weeks,
four weeks. I hear a voice saying to soul, ‘Tomorrow they will be coming to fix you up.’ Had
just heard about John Slocum, and knew it was punishment for my bad habits. My heart was
black—it was a bad thing.”
“Now I have quit swearing—my heart is upside down—it is changed. After I heard the
voice I heard another say: ‘There it is now—some one to fix you up. Have you prepared your
heart? If you don’t believe in Christ, you will go into a big fire and burn forever.’ I saw a
man’s hand coming to my heart. That day I got up—was well—talked to my friends, advising
them. I will remain a follower of Christ as long as I live.”
“Long ago we knew nothing at all. When Slocum came back from God, we found out
there was a God. From that time we have prayed for anything we want. We follow God’s
way. God teaches us if we do bad we will go to hell. That’s why we pray and avoid bad
habits. If we don’t ask grace, bad things come when we eating. When we drink water, we
think about God before drinking. If we don’t think of him, may be we get sick from water. If
traveling, may be we die if we don’t think of God. We are afraid to do wrong against God.
Long time ago we worked on Sundays, but no more now. Our brother Christ has given us six
days to work. On Sunday pray to God. God put people here to grow—puts our soul in our
body. That’s why we pray so much. If we quit, like a man quit his job, he gets no pay. We
would go to fire in hell. We have no power to put out hell fire.”

“Louis Yowaluch is the strong man of the Shaker church. He is 6 feet tall,
rawboned, muscular, and rather slow. While he may once have been, as he
says, a drunkard, he is now a Christian man. His conservativeness makes

him a fine leader for the organization, while all the Indians respect him for
his humanity and charity, for his honesty and uprightness, for his
fearlessness and love of right. He fully and freely places John Slocum at the
head of the church, as the man who ascended to heaven and brought back a
personal knowledge of the road, but at the same time he takes the lead in
laying out work, building churches, and sending out preachers to new
tribes.”
“A new feature of this religion is found in Sam Yowaluch, the brother of
Louis. He is younger than Louis, and has more of the native superstition in
his character. He has by common consent been placed at the head of the
faith-cure branch of the church. The following synopsis of his ‘talk’ will be
an explanation of his position:”
“Among the Shakers, John Slocum is first. Louis is next. I take power and cure people
when they are sick. Long time ago I knew nothing—just like an animal. No doctoring, no
medicine—no good. I was a drunkard, was a thief, and a robber. When I joined this religion,
I was told to be good. When John Slocum was preaching, I heard that if I prayed I would
have power and be a medicine-man, and could cure the sick. From time John Slocum
preached I tried to be a good Christian man. I prayed and was sick—my soul was sick. I
prayed to God and he pays me for that. There is lots of difference between this power and old
Indian doctoring. This is not old power. I can cure people now. I have cured some white men
and women, but they are ashamed to tell it. I cure without money. One big, rich man, Henry
Walker, was sick—had great pains in his ear and leg. Doctor at Olympia failed to cure him,
and he came to John Slocum and me. We worked for him, prayed, and he lay down and slept
and was cured. He offered us twenty dollars—but no, we refused it. God will pay us when
we die. This is our religion. When we die, we get our pay from God.”
“No, we do not believe the Bible. We believe in God, and in Jesus Christ as the Son of
God, and we believe in a hell. In these matters we believe the same as the Presbyterians. We
think fully of God today. A good Christian man is a good medicine-man. A good Christian
man in the dark sees a light toward God. God makes a fog—good Christian man goes
straight through it to the end, like good medicine. I believe this religion. It helps poor people.
Bad man can’t see good—bad man can’t get to heaven—can’t find his way. We were sent to
jail for this religion, but we will never give up. We all believe that John Slocum died and
went to heaven, and was sent back to preach to the people. We all talk about that and believe
it.”

“The Shakers use candles, bells, crucifixes, Catholic pictures, etc., in
their church and other ceremonies. As Mr Ellis says, they use paraphernalia
of the Catholic, Presbyterian, and even some of the Indian religion. They
cross themselves as the Catholics do; they say grace before and after meals;
they stand and pray and chant in unison; they set candles around the dead as
the Catholics do, and believe in the cure of the sick by faith and prayer. In
times of excitement many of them twitch and shake, but in no instance do

they conduct themselves in so nervous a manner as I have seen orthodox
Christians do at old Sandy Branch camp-meeting in Illinois. They believe
that by praying with a man or woman and rubbing the person they could
induce them to join their church, and could rub away their sins; but they
have no rite, no ceremony, no belief, no policy, no form of religion that is
not in use by some one or other of our orthodox people.”
“Their religion, in brief, is a belief in God as the father and ruler of all,
and in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. They
know there is a heaven, for John Slocum was there, and believe in a hell of
fire for the punishment of sinners, because the angels in heaven told John
Slocum about it. They do not care for the Bible. It is of no use to them, for
they have a distinct revelation direct from heaven. This is the only practical
difference between them and the orthodox believers, and this they do not
care for.”
Two of their songs, as recorded by Mr Wickersham, are as follows:
Stalib gwuch Kwē Shuck, or Song of Heaven
Alkwē klū sutlh akwē schelch huchum akwē shuck;
When we get warning from heaven;
Gwalch clah tlōwch kwē lehass;
Then the angels will come;
Gwalch clah gwä tä äddō kwē kä-kä tēdtēd;
Then the wonderful bells will ring;
Gwalch clah ass kwā-buch kwē kä-kä tsille;
Then our souls will be ready;
Gwalch clah ōwhuh tu shuck;
Then they will go up to heaven;
Gwalch clah tālib tōbuch ah shō-shō-quille;
Then we will sing with Jesus;
Gwalch clah jōil tōbuch ah shō-shō-quille.
Then we will be happy with Jesus.

Quā-dā-tsits Stālib, or Preacher’s Song
Chelch lä tā lā, beuch;
Then we shall sing;
Chelch lä tā lā beuch;
Then we shall sing;
Chelch lä tā lā beuch;
Then we shall sing;
Al kwe shuck älläl.
Up in heaven’s house.
Chelch lā jōilla;
Then we’ll be happy;
Chelch lā jōilla;
Then we’ll be happy;

Chelch lā jōilla,
Then we’ll be happy,
Al kwe shuck älläl.
Up in heaven’s house.
Chelch lā jōilla;
Then we’ll be happy;
Chelch lā jōilla;
Then we’ll be happy;
Chelch lā jōilla,
Then we’ll be happy,
Yuchquē shō-shō-quille.
Up with Jesus.

Mr Wickersham then gives an account of the persecutions to which the
rising sect was for a long time subjected, chiefly at the hands of agent
Edwin Eells and his brother, Reverend Myron Eells, already quoted at
length, who was at that time the missionary on the Skokomish reservation.
As Mr Wickersham’s statements in this regard are mainly in the form of
extended quotations from Ten Years’ Missionary Work at Skokomish,
written by the Reverend Mr Eells himself, they may be regarded as
conclusive. It is apparent that a part at least of this persecution, which took
the shape of banishment, chains, and imprisonment, and even the forcible
seizure of a dead body from the bereaved relatives, was due to the fact that
the Shakers, who considered themselves a genuine branch of the Christian
church, were disposed to lean toward Catholicity rather than toward the
denominational form upheld by the agent and his brother.
However, religious persecution failed as utterly in its purpose in this case
as it has and must in all others. Quoting from Mr Eells, “The chiefs did not
care if they were deposed, were about to resign, and did not wish to have
anything more to do with the ‘Boston’ religion or the agent. Billy Clams
was ready, if need be, to suffer as Christ did. He was willing to be a
martyr.”
Mr Wickersham continues:
“While Billy Clams and some of his people publicly abandoned the forms of Shaker
religion rather than be banished, yet John Slocum and his people refused to so surrender, and
the agent sent out his police and arrested John Slocum, Louis Yowaluch, and two or three
more of these people—good, true men—and, loading their limbs with chains, confined them
for several weeks in the dirty little single room of a jail at the Puyallup agency, near Tacoma.
Their only offense was worship of a different form from that adopted by the agent and his
brother. They had broken no law, created no disorder, and yet they suffered ignominious
incarceration in a vile dungeon, loaded with chains, at the pleasure of the agent. The Shakers
believed in God, in Jesus Christ, in heaven and hell, in temperance, sobriety, and a virtuous
life. They abandoned the old Indian religion and all its vices and forms, including the power

of the doctors or medicine-men. These medicine-men had a great hold on the Indian mind,
and they joined the minister and the agent in their fight on the Shakers, because the Shakers
fought them; so that there was seen the unique spectacle of the savage shamanism of the
American Indian and the supposed orthodox religion of civilization hand in hand fighting the
followers of Jesus Christ.”
“Imprisonment, banishment, threats, chains, and the general ill will of the agent and all his
employees were visited on these Shakers who continued to practice their forms of worship,
and yet they did continue it. In spite of the fact that they occupied a place only half-way
between slaves and freemen, and were under the orders of the agent and subject to be
harassed and annoyed all the time by him, yet they continued nobly and fearlessly to practice
their religion and to worship God and Jesus Christ as they saw fit. To do it, however, they
were forced to stay away from the reservations, where the greater number of employees were
located, and their churches were built on Mud bay and Oyster bay, far away from the
reservations.”
“But a brighter day came for these people, a day when they could stand up and defy every
form or force of persecution. In 1886 Congress passed the Indian land severalty bill, an act
providing for dividing lands in severalty to Indians, and providing that those who took lands
and adopted the habits of civilized life should be American citizens, with all the rights,
privileges, and immunities of any other citizen. In 1892 I was appointed by Judge Hanford to
defend a prisoner in the United States district court at Tacoma. The prisoner was accused of
selling liquor to a Puyallup Indian, but it appeared on cross-examination that this Indian
owned land in severalty, voted, paid taxes, and exercised other rights of citizenship. The
question was then raised by me on motion to dismiss, that these land-holding, tax-paying
Indians were citizens of the United States, free and independent. The United States
prosecuting attorney appeared to contest the claim, but after an extended argument Judge
Hanford held with me, and the prisoner was discharged.”
“The effect of this decision was far-reaching. It meant that all land-holding Indians were
no longer wards of the government, but free citizens and not under the control of the Indian
agent. The Shaker people, hearing this, sent a deputation to see me, and I held a long
consultation with them, assuring them that they were as free as the agent, and could establish
their own church, own and build houses of worship, and do both in religious and worldly
matters as other citizens of the United States could. This was glorious news to them. It meant
freedom, it meant the cessation of persecution and annoyance by the agency employees, and
they were jubilant.”
“Accordingly they met on June 6, 1892, at Mud bay, at Louis Yowaluch’s house, and
organized their church on a regular business basis. The following officers were elected:
Headman, Louis Yowaluch; elders, John Slocum, Louis Yowaluch, John Smith, James
Walker, Charles Walker, John W. Simmons, and William James. At this meeting the
following persons were also appointed ministers of this church, and licenses were issued to
them, to wit: Louis Yowaluch, John Slocum, James Tobin, John Powers, and Richard
Jackson. Provision was made to establish a church at the Puyallup reservation, where the
power of the agent had hitherto kept them out, and William James, a Puyallup landowner,
gave land for a church. After much talk about sending out ministers, etc., the meeting
adjourned, after a two days’ session, and the Shaker church, after eleven years’ fighting
against persecutions, was an established fact, free and independent, with its own officers,
ministers, and church property.”

Fig. 68—Shaker church at Mud bay.

“The spectacle of an Indian church with Indian officers, preachers, and members, and of
houses built by the Indians for church purposes, was too much for the average citizen of
Puget sound, and the Shakers were continually disturbed, not only by the whites, but by the
Indians who could not and did not appreciate the change to citizenship, so that I was
constantly applied to for protection by the ministers and members of the Shaker church. A
‘paper’ has a great effect on the average Indian, and I issued on application several papers
addressed in general terms to those who might be disposed to interfere with them, which had
a quieting effect and caused evil-disposed persons to respect the Indians and their religion, or
at least to let them alone. They now feel quite confident of their position, and are acting quite
like the average citizen. Even the persons who persecuted them for eleven years now felt
obliged to retire from the conflict, and a day of peace is reached at last.”
“The Shaker church now reaches over nearly the whole of western Washington. The story
of Slocum’s death and visit to heaven, and his return to preach to the Indians, is accepted by
them as a direct revelation of the will of God. They say that they do not need to read the
Bible, for do they not have better and more recent testimony of the existence of heaven and
of the way to that celestial home than is contained in the Bible? Here is John Slocum, alive,
and has he not been to heaven? Then, why read the Bible to learn the road, when John can so
easily tell them all about it? The Bible says there are many roads; the Catholics have one, the
Presbyterians another, and the Congregationalists a third; but John Slocum gives them a
short, straight road—and they choose that.”

“The Shaker church now has a building for church purposes at Mud bay, at Oyster bay, at
Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Puyallup. They have about a dozen ministers regularly licensed, and
about 500 members. Most of the Indians at Skokomish belong, while the Squaxins, Chehalis,
Nisqually, Cowlitz, and Columbia River Indians, and in fact the majority of the Indians of
western Washington, either belong or are in sympathy with its teachings, so that it is now the
strongest church among them. They are sending out runners to the Yakimas east of the
Cascade mountains, and expect before long to make an effort to convert that tribe.”
“The Indian is inclined to be weak, and to adopt the vices of the white man, but not his
virtues. However, this is not true of the Shakers. They do not drink intoxicants of any kind,
and make a special effort at all times to banish liquor. This is the strong element in their faith,
and the one for which they fight hardest. They feel upon their honor in the matter, and
contrast the members of their church at every place with those belonging to the other
denominations—and it is too true that an Indian does not seem at all to be restrained from
drink by belonging to the other churches as he does in the Shaker church. In the others he
feels no personal interest. The honor of neither himself nor his people is involved, and if he
disgraces himself it reflects, in his opinion, rather on the white man’s church. Not so with the
Shakers. No white man belongs to their church, and it is their boast that no white preacher
can keep his Indian members from drink as they can—and it is true. After their opposition to
liquor, next comes gambling. From these two vices flow nearly all troubles to the Indian, and
the Shakers are certainly successful in extinguishing their spread among the Indians. They
make special war on drunkenness, gambling, and horse racing, and preach honesty, sobriety,
temperance, and right living.”
“The Presbyterian church occupies a queer position, with regard to these people. The
Reverend M. G. Mann has been the missionary to the Indians of Puget sound for many years,
and has succeeded in making a very favorable impression upon them. He has been specially
attentive to the Shakers, and, to his credit be it said, has never tried to coerce them, and has
only dealt with them kindly. So far has this gone that Louis Yowaluch was long ago taken
into the Presbyterian church, and is now an accredited elder therein. Louis does not know,
seemingly, how to escape from his dual position, or rather does not seem to think that he
needs to escape. It all seems to be for the best interest of his people, so he continues to
occupy the position of elder in the Presbyterian church and headman of the Shaker church.”
“At a recent meeting of the Presbyterian ministers the position of these Shaker people was
fully discussed, and the strongest language was used in saying only good about them, and
every effort seems to be made by the Presbyterians to claim the Shakers in a body as
members of the Presbyterian church. If this account were not already too long, the reports of
the church on the subject would be quoted, but the fact speaks volumes for the character of
the Shakers and their teaching.”
“In conclusion: I have known the Shaker people now intimately, as their attorney, for more
than a year, and out of the many drunken Indians I have seen in that time not one was a
Shaker. Not one of their people has been arrested for crime in that time. They are good
citizens, and are far more temperate and peaceable than those Indians belonging to the other
churches. I feel that their church is a grand success in that it prevents idleness and vice,
drunkenness and disorder, and tends to produce quiet, peaceable citizens, and good Christian
people. I think the Presbyterians make a mistake in trying to bring the Shakers into their fold
—they ought rather to protect them and give them every assistance in their autonomy. It adds
the greatest incentive to their labors, and makes them feel as if they were of some account. It
lets them labor for themselves, instead of feeling, as always heretofore, that some one else—
they hardly knew who—was responsible. Their forms of Christianity are not very unorthodox

—their Christianity is quite orthodox, not exactly because they take Slocum’s revelation
instead of the Bible, but the result is the same—a Christian.”
“James Wickersham.”
“Tacoma, Washington, June 25, 1893.”

From competent Indian informants of eastern Washington—Charles Ike,
half-blood Yakima interpreter, and Chief Wolf Necklace of the Pä’lus, we
gather additional particulars, from which it would appear that there are
more things in the Shaker system than are dreamed of in the philosophy of
the Presbyterian general assembly.
According to their statements, Yowaluch, or Ai-yäl, as he is known east
of the Cascades, was noted as a gambler before he received his revelation.
His followers are called Shäpupu-‛lĕma, or “blowers,” by the Yakima, from
the fact that on meeting a stranger, instead of at once shaking hands with
him in the usual manner, they first wave the hand gently in front of his face
like a fan, and blow on him, in order to “blow away the badness” from him.
They first appeared among the Yakima and other eastern tribes about six
years ago, and are gradually gaining adherents, although as yet they have no
regular time or place of assembly. They are much addicted to making the
sign of the cross—the cross, it is hardly necessary to state, being as much
an Indian as a Christian symbol—and are held in great repute as doctors,
their treatment consisting chiefly of hypnotic performances over the patient,
resulting in the spasmodic shaking already described. In doctoring a patient
the “blowers” usually gather around him in a circle to the number of about
twelve, dressed in a very attractive ceremonial costume, and each wearing
on his head a sort of crown of woven cedar bark, in which are fixed two
lighted candles, while in his right hand he carries a small cloth, and in the
left another lighted candle. By fastening screens of colored cloth over the
candles the light is made to appear yellow, white, or blue. The candle upon
the forehead is yellow, symbolic of the celestial glory; that at the back of
the head is white, typical of the terrestrial light, while the third is blue, the
color of the sky.
Frequently also they carry in their hands or wear on their heads garlands
of roses and other flowers of various colors, yellow, white, and blue being
the favorite, which they say represent the colors of objects in the celestial
world. While the leader is going through his hypnotic performance over the
patient the others are waving the cloths and swinging in circles the candles

held in their hands. In all this it is easy to see the influence of the Catholic
ritual, with its censers, tapers, and flowers, with which these tribes have
been more or less familiar for the last fifty years.
A single instance will suffice to show the methods of the blower doctors.
The story is told from the Indian point of view, as related by the half-blood
interpreter, who believed it all. About six years ago two of these doctors
from the north, while visiting near Woodland on the Columbia, were called
to the assistance of a woman who was seriously ill, and had received no
benefit from the treatment of the native doctors. They came and almost
immediately on seeing the patient announced to the relatives that the
sickness had been put into her by the evil magic of a neighboring medicine-
man, whom they then summoned into their presence. When the messenger
arrived for him, the medicine-man refused to go, saying that the doctors
were liars and that he had not made the woman ill. By their clairaudient
power—or possibly by a shrewd anticipation of probabilities—the doctors
in the other house knew of his refusal and sent another messenger to tell
him that concealment or denial would not avail him, and that if he refused
to come they would proceed to blow the sickness into his own body.
Without further argument he accompanied the messengers to the sick
woman’s house. As he entered, the chief doctor stepped up to him and
looking intently into his face, said, “I can see your heart within your body,
and it is black with evil things. You are not fit to live. You are making this
woman sick, but we shall take out the badness from her body.” With the
cloths and lighted candles the two doctors then approached the sick woman,
and commanded her to arise, which she did, although she had been
supposed to be too weak to stand. Waving the cloths in front of her with a
gentle fanning motion, and blowing upon her at the same time, they
proceeded to drive the disease out of her body, beginning at the feet and
working upward until, as they approached the head the principal doctor
changed the movement to a rapid fanning and corresponding blowing, while
the assistant stood ready with his cloth to seize the disease when it should
be driven out. All this time the medicine-man standing a few feet away was
shaking and quivering like one in a fit, and the trembling became more
violent and spasmodic as the doctors increased the speed of their motions.
Finally the leader brought his hands together over the woman’s head,
where, just as the disease attempted to escape, it was seized and imprisoned
in the cloth held by his assistant. Then, going up to the medicine-man, with

a few rapid passes they fanned the disease into his body and he fell down
dead. The woman recovered, and with her sister has recently come up to the
Yakima country as an apostle of the new religion, preaching the doctrines
and performing the wonders which she has been taught by the Nisqually
doctors.
This is the Indian story as told by the half-blood, who did not claim to
have been an eye-witness, but spoke of it as a matter of common knowledge
and beyond question. It is doubtless substantially correct. The hypnotic
action described is the same which the author has repeatedly seen employed
in the Ghost dance, resulting successively in involuntary trembling, violent
spasmodic action, rigidity, and final deathlike unconsciousness. The Ghost
dancers regard the process not only as a means of bringing them into trance
communication with their departed friends, but also as a preventive and
cure of disease, just as we have our faith healers and magnetic doctors. With
the Indian’s implicit faith in the supernatural ability of the doctor, it is easy
to suppose that the mental effect on the woman, who was told and believed
that she was to be cured, would aid recovery if recovery was possible. It is
unlikely that death resulted to the medicine-man. It is more probable that
under the hypnotic spell of the doctors he fell unconscious and apparently
lifeless and remained so perhaps for a considerable time, as frequently
happens with sensitive subjects in the Ghost dance. The fact that the same
process should produce exactly opposite effects in the two subjects is easily
explainable. The object of the hypnotic performance was simply to bring
the mind of the subject under the control of the operator. This
accomplished, the mental, and ultimately the physical, effect on either
subject was whatever the operator wished it to be. After bringing both under
mental control in the manner described, he suggested recovery to the
woman and sickness or death to the medicine-man, and the result followed.
Until the advent of these women from beyond the mountains such
hypnotic performances seem to have been unknown among the Yakima and
other eastern tribes of the Columbia region, the trance condition in the
Smohalla devotees being apparently due entirely to the effect of the
rhythmic dances and songs acting on excited imaginations, without the aid
of blowing or manual passes.
Hypnotism and so-called magnetism, however, appear to have been
employed by the medicine-men of the Chinook tribes of the lower

Columbia from ancient times. Especially wonderful in this connection are
the stories told of one of these men residing at Wushqûm or Wisham, near
The Dalles.
About the time the two blower doctors appeared at Woodland, other
apostles of the same doctrine, or it may have been the same two men, went
up Willamet river into central Oregon, teaching the same system and
performing the same wonders among the tribes of that region. And here
comes in a remarkable coincidence, if it be no more. It is said among the
northern Indians that on this journey these apostles met, somewhere in the
south, a young man to whom they taught their mysteries, in which he
became such an apt pupil that he soon outstripped his teachers, and is now
working even greater wonders among his own people. This young man can
be no other than Wovoka, the messiah of the Ghost dance, living among the
Paiute in western Nevada. The only question is whether the story told
among the Columbia tribes is a myth based on vague rumors of the southern
messiah and his hypnotic performances, so similar to that of the blower
doctors, or whether Wovoka actually derived his knowledge of such things
from these northern apostles. The latter supposition is entirely within the
bounds of possibility. The time corresponds with the date of his original
revelations, as stated by himself to the writer. He is a young man, and,
although he has never been far from home, the tribe to which he belongs
roams in scattered bands over the whole country to the Willamet and the
watershed of the Columbia, so that communication with the north is by no
means difficult. He himself stated that Indians from Warmspring
reservation, in northern Oregon, have attended his dances near Walker lake.

Chapter IX
WOVOKA THE MESSIAH
When the sun died, I went up to heaven and saw God and all the people who had died a
long time ago. God told me to come back and tell my people they must be good and love one
another, and not fight, or steal, or lie. He gave me this dance to give to my people.—Wovoka.

When Tävibo, the prophet of Mason valley, died, about 1870, he left a
son named Wovoka, “The Cutter,” about 14 years of age. The prophetic
claims and teachings of the father, the reverence with which he was
regarded by the people, and the mysterious ceremonies which were
doubtless of frequent performance in the little tulé wikiup at home must
have made early and deep impression on the mind of the boy, who seems to
have been by nature of a solitary and contemplative disposition, one of
those born to see visions and hear still voices.

Fig. 69—Wovoka.

The physical environment was favorable to the development of such a
character. His native valley, from which he has never wandered, is a narrow
strip of level sage prairie some 30 miles in length, walled in by the giant
sierras, their sides torn and gashed by volcanic convulsions and dark with
gloomy forests of pine, their towering summits white with everlasting
snows, and roofed over by a cloudless sky whose blue infinitude the mind
instinctively seeks to penetrate to far-off worlds beyond. Away to the south
the view is closed in by the sacred mountain of the Paiute, where their
Father gave them the first fire and taught them their few simple arts before
leaving for his home in the upper regions of the Sun-land. Like the valley of
Rasselas, it seems set apart from the great world to be the home of a
dreamer.
The greater portion of Nevada is an arid desert of rugged mountains and
alkali plains, the little available land being confined to narrow mountain
valleys and the borders of a few large lakes. These tracts are occupied by

scattered ranchmen engaged in stock raising, and as the white population is
sparse, Indian labor is largely utilized, the Paiute being very good workers.
The causes which in other parts of the country have conspired to sweep the
Indian from the path of the white man seem inoperative here, where the
aboriginal proprietors are regarded rather as peons under the protection of
the dominant race, and are allowed to set up their small camps of tulé
lodges in convenient out-of-the-way places, where they spend the autumn
and winter in hunting, fishing, and gathering seeds and piñon nuts, working
at fair wages on ranches through spring and summer. In this way young
Wovoka became attached to the family of a ranchman in Mason valley,
named David Wilson, who took an interest in him and bestowed on him the
name of Jack Wilson, by which he is commonly known among the whites.
From his association with this family he gained some knowledge of
English, together with a confused idea of the white man’s theology. On
growing up he married, and still continued to work for Mr Wilson, earning a
reputation for industry and reliability, but attracting no special notice until
nearly 30 years of age, when he announced the revelation that has made
him famous among the tribes of the west.
Following are the various forms of his name which I have noticed:
Wo′voka, or Wü′voka, which I have provisionally rendered “Cutter,”
derived from a verb signifying “to cut;” Wevokar, Wopokahte, Kwohitsauq,
Cowejo, Koit-tsow, Kvit-Tsow, Quoitze Ow, Jack Wilson, Jackson Wilson,
Jack Winson, John Johnson. He has also been confounded with Bannock
Jim, a Mormon Bannock of Fort Hall reservation, Idaho, and with Johnson
Sides, a Paiute living near Reno, Nevada, and bitterly opposed to Wovoka.
His father’s name, Tävibo, has been given also as Waughzeewaughber. It is
not quite certain that the Paiute prophet of 1870 was the father of Wovoka.
This is stated to have been the case by one of Captain Lee’s informants (A.
G. O., 4) and by Lieutenant Phister (Phister, 2). Wovoka himself says that
his father did not preach, but was a “dreamer” with supernatural powers.
Certain it is that a similar doctrine was taught by an Indian living in the
same valley in Wovoka’s boyhood. Possibly the discrepancy might be
explained by an unwillingness on the part of the messiah to share his
spiritual honors.
In proportion as Wovoka and his doctrines have become subjects of
widespread curiosity, so have they become subjects of ignorant

misrepresentation and deliberate falsification. Different writers have made
him a Paiute, a half-blood, and a Mormon white man. Numberless stories
have been told of the origin and character of his mission and the day
predicted for its final accomplishment. The most mischievous and persistent
of these stories has been that which represents him as preaching a bloody
campaign against the whites, whereas his doctrine is one of peace, and he
himself is a mild-tempered member of a weak and unwarlike tribe. His own
good name has been filched from him and he has been made to appear
under a dozen different cognomens, including that of his bitterest enemy,
Johnson Sides. He has been denounced as an impostor, ridiculed as a
lunatic, and laughed at as a pretended Christ, while by the Indians he is
revered as a direct messenger from the Other World, and among many of
the remote tribes he is believed to be omniscient, to speak all languages,
and to be invisible to a white man. We shall give his own story as told by
himself, with such additional information as seems to come from authentic
sources.
Notwithstanding all that had been said and written by newspaper
correspondents about the messiah, not one of them had undertaken to find
the man himself and to learn from his own lips what he really taught. It is
almost equally certain that none of them had even seen a Ghost dance at
close quarters—certainly none of them understood its meaning. The
messiah was regarded almost as a myth, something intangible, to be talked
about but not to be seen. The first reliable information as to his personality
was communicated by the scout, Arthur Chapman, who, under instructions
from the War Department, visited the Paiute country in December, 1890,
and spent four days at Walker lake and Mason valley, and in the course of
an interview with Wovoka obtained from him a detailed statement similar in
all essentials to that which I obtained later on. (Sec. War, 3.)
After having spent seven months in the field, investigating the new
religion among the prairie tribes, particularly the Arapaho, and after having
examined all the documents bearing on the subject in the files of the Indian
Office and War Department, the author left Washington in November, 1891,
to find and talk with the messiah and to gather additional material
concerning the Ghost dance. Before starting, I had written to the agent in
charge of the reservation to which he was attached for information in regard
to the messiah (Jack Wilson) and the dance, and learned in reply, with some

surprise, that the agent had never seen him. The surprise grew into wonder
when I was further informed that there were “neither Ghost songs, dances,
nor ceremonials” among the Paiute.[6] This was discouraging, but not
entirely convincing, and I set out once more for the west. After a few days
with the Omaha and Winnebago in Nebraska, and a longer stay with the
Sioux at Pine Ridge, where traces of the recent conflict were still fresh on
every hand, I crossed over the mountains and finally arrived at Walker Lake
reservation in Nevada.
On inquiry I learned that the messiah lived, not on the reservation, but in
Mason valley, about 40 miles to the northwest. His uncle, Charley Sheep,
lived near the agency, however, so I sought him out and made his
acquaintance. He spoke tolerable—or rather intolerable—English, so that
we were able to get along together without an interpreter, a fact which
brought us into closer sympathy, as an interpreter is generally at best only a
necessary evil. As usual, he was very suspicious at first, and inquired
minutely as to my purpose. I explained to him that I was sent out by the
government to the various tribes to study their customs and learn their
stories and songs; that I had obtained a good deal from other tribes and now
wanted to learn some songs and stories of the Paiute, in order to write them
down so that the white people could read them. In a casual way I then
offered to show him the pictures of some of my Indian friends across the
mountains, and brought out the photos of several Arapaho and Cheyenne
who I knew had recently come as delegates to the messiah. This convinced
him that I was all right, and he became communicative. The result was that
we spent about a week together in the wikiups (lodges of tulé rushes),
surrounded always by a crowd of interested Paiute, discussing the old
stories and games, singing Paiute songs, and sampling the seed mush and
roasted piñon nuts. On one of these occasions, at night, a medicine-man was
performing his incantations over a sick child on one side of the fire while
we were talking on the other. When the ice was well thawed, I cautiously
approached the subject of the ghost songs and dance, and, as confidence
was now established, I found no difficulty in obtaining a number of the
songs, with a description of the ceremonial. I then told Charley that, as I
had taken part in the dance, I was anxious to see the messiah and get from
him some medicine-paint to bring back to his friends among the eastern
tribes. He readily agreed to go with me and use his efforts with his nephew
to obtain what was wanted.

It is 20 miles northward by railroad from Walker River agency to
Wabuska, and 12 miles more in a southwesterly direction from there to the
Mason valley settlement. There we met a young white man named Dyer,
who was well acquainted with Jack Wilson, and who also spoke the Paiute
language, and learned from him that the messiah was about 12 miles farther
up the valley, near a place called Pine Grove. Enlisting his services, with a
team and driver, making four in all, we started up toward the mountain. It
was New Year’s day of 1892, and there was deep snow on the ground, a
very unusual thing in this part of the country, and due in this instance, as
Charley assured us, to the direct agency of Jack Wilson. It is hard to
imagine anything more monotonously unattractive than a sage prairie under
ordinary circumstances unless it be the same prairie when covered by a
heavy fall of snow, under which the smaller clumps of sagebrush look like
prairie-dog mounds, while the larger ones can hardly be distinguished at a
short distance from wikiups. However, the mountains were bright in front
of us, the sky was blue overhead, and the road was good under foot.
Soon after leaving the settlement we passed the dance ground with the
brush shelters still standing. We met but few Indians on the way. After
several miles we noticed a man at some distance from the road with a gun
across his shoulder. Dyer looked a moment and then exclaimed, “I believe
that’s Jack now!” The Indian thought so, too, and pulling up our horses he
shouted some words in the Paiute language. The man replied, and sure
enough it was the messiah, hunting jack rabbits. At his uncle’s call he soon
came over.
As he approached I saw that he was a young man, a dark full-blood,
compactly built, and taller than the Paiute generally, being nearly 6 feet in
height. He was well dressed in white man’s clothes, with the broad-
brimmed white felt hat common in the west, secured on his head by means
of a beaded ribbon under the chin. This, with a blanket or a robe of rabbit
skins, is now the ordinary Paiute dress. He wore a good pair of boots. His
hair was cut off square on a line below the base of the ears, after the manner
of his tribe. His countenance was open and expressive of firmness and
decision, but with no marked intellectuality. The features were broad and
heavy, very different from the thin, clear-cut features of the prairie tribes.

PL. XCII

WINTER VIEW IN MASON VALLEY, SHOWING SNOW-COVERED SAGEBRUSH

As he came up he took my hand with a strong, hearty grasp, and inquired
what was wanted. His uncle explained matters, adding that I was well
acquainted with some of his Indian friends who had visited him a short time
before, and was going back to the same people. After some deliberation he
said that the whites had lied about him and he did not like to talk to them;
some of the Indians had disobeyed his instructions and trouble had come of
it, but as I was sent by Washington and was a friend of his friends, he would
talk with me. He was hunting now, but if we would come to his camp that
night he would tell us about his mission.
With another hand-shake he left us, and we drove on to the nearest ranch,
arriving about dark. After supper we got ready and started across country
through the sagebrush for the Paiute camp, some miles away, guided by our
Indian. It was already night, with nothing to be seen but the clumps of
snow-covered sagebrush stretching away in every direction, and after
traveling an hour or more without reaching the camp, our guide had to
confess that he had lost the trail. It was two years since he had been there,
his sight was failing, and, with the snow and the darkness, he was utterly at
a loss to know his whereabouts.

To be lost on a sage plain on a freezing night in January is not a pleasant
experience. There was no road, and no house but the one we had left some
miles behind, and it would be almost impossible to find our way back to
that through the darkness. Excepting for a lantern there was no light but
what came from the glare of the snow and a few stars in the frosty sky
overhead. To add to our difficulty, the snow was cut in every direction by
cattle trails, which seemed to be Indian trails, and kept us doubling and
circling to no purpose, while in the uncertain gloom every large clump of
sagebrush took on the appearance of a wikiup, only to disappoint us on a
nearer approach. With it all, the night was bitterly cold and we were half
frozen. After vainly following a dozen false trails and shouting repeatedly
in hope of hearing an answering cry, we hit on the expedient of leaving the
Indian with the wagon, he being the oldest man of the party, while the rest
of us each took a different direction from the central point, following the
cattle tracks in the snow and calling to each other at short intervals, in order
that we might not become lost from one another. After going far enough to
know that none of us had yet struck the right trail, the wagon was moved up
a short distance and the same performance was repeated. At last a shout
from our driver brought us all together. He declared that he had heard
sounds in front, and after listening a few minutes in painful suspense we
saw a shower of sparks go up into the darkness and knew that we had struck
the camp. Going back to the wagon, we got in and drove straight across to
the spot, where we found three or four little wikiups, in one of which we
were told the messiah was awaiting our arrival.
On entering through the low doorway we found ourselves in a circular
lodge made of bundles of tulé rushes laid over a framework of poles, after
the fashion of the thatched roofs of Europe, and very similar to the grass
lodges of the Wichita. The lodge was only about 10 feet in diameter and
about 8 feet in height, with sloping sides, and was almost entirely open
above, like a cone with the top cut off, as in this part of the country rain or
snow is of rare occurrence. As already remarked, the deep snow at the time
was something unusual. In the center, built directly on the ground, was a
blazing fire of sagebrush, upon which fresh stalks were thrown from time to
time, sending up a shower of sparks into the open air. It was by this means
that we had been guided to the camp. Sitting or lying around the fire were
half a dozen Paiute, including the messiah and his family, consisting of his
young wife, a boy about 4 years of age, of whom he seemed very fond, and

an infant. It was plain that he was a kind husband and father, which was in
keeping with his reputation among the whites for industry and reliability.
The only articles in the nature of furniture were a few grass woven bowls
and baskets of various sizes and patterns. There were no Indian beds or
seats of the kind found in every prairie tipi, no rawhide boxes, no toilet
pouches, not even a hole dug in the ground for the fire. Although all wore
white men’s dress, there were no pots, pans, or other articles of civilized
manufacture, now used by even the most primitive prairie tribes, for,
strangely enough, although these Paiute are practically farm laborers and
tenants of the whites all around them, and earn good wages, they seem to
covet nothing of the white man’s, but spend their money for dress, small
trinkets, and ammunition for hunting, and continue to subsist on seeds,
piñon nuts, and small game, lying down at night on the dusty ground in
their cramped wikiups, destitute of even the most ordinary conveniences in
use among other tribes. It is a curious instance of a people accepting the
inevitable while yet resisting innovation.
Wovoka received us cordially and then inquired more particularly as to
my purpose in seeking an interview. His uncle entered into a detailed
explanation, which stretched out to a preposterous length, owing to a
peculiar conversational method of the Paiute. Each statement by the older
man was repeated at its close, word for word and sentence by sentence, by
the other, with the same monotonous inflection. This done, the first speaker
signified by a grunt of approval that it had been correctly repeated, and then
proceeded with the next statement, which was duly repeated in like manner.
The first time I had heard two old men conversing together in this fashion
on the reservation I had supposed they were reciting some sort of Indian
litany, and it required several such experiences and some degree of patience
to become used to it.
At last he signified that he understood and was satisfied, and then in
answer to my questions gave an account of himself and his doctrine, a great
part of the interpretation being by Dyer, with whom he seemed to be on
intimate terms. He said he was about 35 years of age, fixing the date from a
noted battle[7] between the Paiute and the whites near Pyramid lake, in 1860,
at which time he said he was about the size of his little boy; who appeared
to be of about 4 years. His father, Tävibo, “White Man,” was not a preacher,
but was a capita (from the Spanish capitan) or petty chief, and was a

dreamer and invulnerable. His own proper name from boyhood was
Wovoka or Wüvoka, “The Cutter,” but a few years ago he had assumed the
name of his paternal grandfather, Kwohitsauq, or “Big Rumbling Belly.”
After the death of his father he had been taken into the family of a white
farmer, David Wilson, who had given him the name of Jack Wilson, by
which he is commonly known among the whites. He thus has three distinct
names, Wovoka, Kwohitsauq, and Jack Wilson. He stated positively that he
was a full-blood, a statement borne out by his appearance. The impression
that he is a half-blood may have arisen from the fact that his father’s name
was “White Man” and that he has a white man’s name. His followers, both
in his own and in all other tribes, commonly refer to him as “our father.” He
has never been away from Mason valley and speaks only his own Paiute
language, with some little knowledge of English. He is not acquainted with
the sign language, which is hardly known west of the mountains.
When about 20 years of age, he married, and continued to work for Mr
Wilson. He had given the dance to his people about four years before, but
had received his great revelation about two years previously. On this
occasion “the sun died” (was eclipsed) and he fell asleep in the daytime and
was taken up to the other world. Here he saw God, with all the people who
had died long ago engaged in their oldtime sports and occupations, all
happy and forever young. It was a pleasant land and full of game. After
showing him all, God told him he must go back and tell his people they
must be good and love one another, have no quarreling, and live in peace
with the whites; that they must work, and not lie or steal; that they must put
away all the old practices that savored of war; that if they faithfully obeyed
his instructions they would at last be reunited with their friends in this other
world, where there would be no more death or sickness or old age. He was
then given the dance which he was commanded to bring back to his people.
By performing this dance at intervals, for five consecutive days each time,
they would secure this happiness to themselves and hasten the event.
Finally God gave him control over the elements so that he could make it
rain or snow or be dry at will, and appointed him his deputy to take charge
of affairs in the west, while “Governor Harrison” would attend to matters in
the east, and he, God, would look after the world above. He then returned to
earth and began to preach as he was directed, convincing the people by
exercising the wonderful powers that had been given him.

In 1890 Josephus, a Paiute informant, thus described to the scout
Chapman the occasion of Wovoka’s first inspiration: “About three years ago
Jack Wilson took his family and went into the mountains to cut wood for
Mr Dave Wilson. One day while at work he heard a great noise which
appeared to be above him on the mountain. He laid down his ax and started
to go in the direction of the noise, when he fell down dead, and God came
and took him to heaven.” Afterward on one or two other occasions “God
came and took him to heaven again.” Wovoka also told Chapman that he
had then been preaching to the Indians about three years. In our
conversation he said nothing about a mysterious noise, and stated that it was
about two years since he had visited heaven and received his great
revelation, but that it was about four years since he had first taught the
dance to his people. The fact that he has different revelations from time to
time would account for the discrepancy of statement.
He disclaimed all responsibility for the ghost shirt which formed so
important a part of the dance costume among the Sioux; said that there were
no trances in the dance as performed among his people—a statement
confirmed by eye-witnesses among the neighboring ranchmen—and
earnestly repudiated any idea of hostility toward the whites, asserting that
his religion was one of universal peace. When questioned directly, he said
he believed it was better for the Indians to follow the white man’s road and
to adopt the habits of civilization. If appearances are in evidence he is
sincere in this, for he was dressed in a good suit of white man’s clothing,
and works regularly on a ranch, although living in a wikiup. While he
repudiated almost everything for which he had been held responsible in the
east, he asserted positively that he had been to the spirit world and had been
given a revelation and message from God himself, with full control over the
elements. From his uncle I learned that Wovoka has five songs for making it
rain, the first of which brings on a mist or cloud, the second a snowfall, the
third a shower, and the fourth a hard rain or storm, while when he sings the
fifth song the weather again becomes clear.
I knew that he was holding something in reserve, as no Indian would
unbosom himself on religious matters to a white man with whom he had not
had a long and intimate acquaintance. Especially was this true in view of
the warlike turn affairs had taken across the mountains. Consequently I
accepted his statements with several grains of salt, but on the whole he

seemed to be honest in his belief and his supernatural claims, although, like
others of the priestly function, he occasionally resorts to cheap trickery to
keep up the impression as to his miraculous powers. From some of the
reports he is evidently an expert sleight-of-hand performer. He makes no
claim to be Christ, the Son of God, as has been so often asserted in print. He
does claim to be a prophet who has received a divine revelation. I could not
help feeling that he was sincere in his repudiation of a number of the
wonderful things attributed to him, for the reason that he insisted so
strongly on other things fully as trying to the faith of a white man. He made
no argument and advanced no proofs, but said simply that he had been with
God, as though the statement no more admitted of controversy than the
proposition that 2 and 2 are 4. From Mr J. O. Gregory, formerly employed
at the agency, and well acquainted with the prophet, I learned that Wovoka
had once requested him to draw up and forward to the President a statement
of his supernatural claims, with a proposition that if he could receive a
small regular stipend he would take up his residence on the reservation and
agree to keep Nevada people informed of all the latest news from heaven
and to furnish rain whenever wanted. The letter was never forwarded.
From a neighboring ranchman, who knew Wovoka well and sometimes
employed him in the working season, I obtained a statement which seems to
explain the whole matter. It appears that a short time before the prophet
began to preach he was stricken down by a severe fever, during which
illness the ranchman frequently visited and ministered to him. While he was
still sick there occurred an eclipse of the sun, a phenomenon which always
excites great alarm among primitive peoples. In their system the sun is a
living being, of great power and beneficence, and the temporary darkness is
caused by an attack on him by some supernatural monster which endeavors
to devour him, and will succeed, and thus plunge the world into eternal
night unless driven off by incantations and loud noises. On this occasion the
Paiute were frantic with excitement and the air was filled with the noise of
shouts and wailings and the firing of guns, for the purpose of frightening off
the monster that threatened the life of their god. It was now, as Wovoka
stated, “when the sun died,” that he went to sleep in the daytime and was
taken up to heaven. This means simply that the excitement and alarm
produced by the eclipse, acting on a mind and body already enfeebled by
sickness, resulted in delirium, in which he imagined himself to enter the
portals of the spirit world. Constant dwelling on the subject in thought by

day and in dreams by night would effect and perpetuate the exalted mental
condition in which visions of the imagination would have all the seeming
reality of actual occurrences. To those acquainted with the spiritual nature
of Indians and their implicit faith in dreams all this is perfectly intelligible.
His frequent trances would indicate also that, like so many other religious
ecstatics, he is subject to cataleptic attacks.
I have not been able to settle satisfactorily the date of this eclipse. From
inquiry at the Nautical Almanac office I learn that solar eclipses visible in
Nevada and the adjacent territory from 1884 to 1890 occurred as follows:
1884, October 18, partial; 1885, March 16, partial; 1886, March 5, partial;
1887, none; 1888, none; 1889, January 1, total or partial; 1890, none. The
total eclipse of January 1, 1889, agrees best with his statement to me on
New Year’s night, 1892, that it was about two years since he had gone up to
heaven when the sun died. It must be noted that Indians generally count
years by winters instead of by series of twelve calendar months, a
difference which sometimes makes an apparent discrepancy of nearly a
year.
In subsequent conversations he added a few minor details in regard to his
vision and his doctrine. He asked many questions in regard to the eastern
tribes whose delegates had visited him, and was pleased to learn that the
delegates from several of these tribes were my friends. He spoke
particularly of the large delegation—about twelve in number—from the
Cheyenne and Arapaho, who had visited him the preceding summer and
taken part in the dance with his people. Nearly all the members of this party
were personally known to me, and the leader, Black Coyote, whose picture I
had with me and showed to him, had been my principal instructor in the
Ghost dance among the Arapaho. While this fact put me on a more
confidential footing with Wovoka, it also proved of great assistance in my
further investigation on my return to the prairie tribes, as, when they were
satisfied from my statements and the specimens which I had brought back
that I had indeed seen and talked with the messiah, they were convinced
that I was earnestly desirous of understanding their religion aright, and from
that time spoke freely and without reserve.
I had my camera and was anxious to get Wovoka’s picture. When the
subject was mentioned, he replied that his picture had never been made; that
a white man had offered him five dollars for permission to take his

photograph, but that he had refused. However, as I had been sent from
Washington especially to learn and tell the whites all about him and his
doctrine, and as he was satisfied from my acquaintance with his friends in
the other tribes that I must be a good man, he would allow me to take his
picture. As usual in dealing with Indians, he wanted to make the most of his
bargain, and demanded two dollars and a half for the privilege of taking his
picture and a like sum for each one of his family. I was prepared for this,
however, and refused to pay any such charges, but agreed to give him my
regular price per day for his services as informant and to send him a copy of
the picture when finished. After some demur he consented and got ready for
the operation by knotting a handkerchief about his neck, fastening an eagle
feather at his right elbow, and taking a wide brim sombrero upon his knee. I
afterward learned that the feather and sombrero were important parts of his
spiritual stock in trade. After taking his picture I obtained from him, as
souvenirs to bring back and show to my Indian friends in Indian Territory, a
blanket of rabbit skins, some piñon nuts, some tail feathers of the magpie,
highly prized by the Paiute for ornamentation, and some of the sacred red
paint, endowed with most miraculous powers, which plays so important a
part in the ritual of the Ghost-dance religion. Then, with mutual expressions
of good will, we parted, his uncle going back to the reservation, while I
took the train for Indian Territory.
As soon as the news of my arrival went abroad among the Cheyenne and
Arapaho on my return, my friends of both tribes came in, eager to hear all
the details of my visit to the messiah and to get my own impressions of the
man. In comparing notes with some of the recent delegates I discovered
something of Wovoka’s hypnotic methods, and incidentally learned how
much of miracle depends on the mental receptivity of the observer.
The Cheyenne and Arapaho, although for generations associated in the
most intimate manner, are of very different characters. In religious matters
it may be said briefly that the Arapaho are devotees and prophets,
continually seeing signs and wonders, while the Cheyenne are more
skeptical. In talking with Tall Bull, one of the Cheyenne delegates and then
captain of the Indian police, he said that before leaving they had asked
Wovoka to give them some proof of his supernatural powers. Accordingly
he had ranged them in front of him, seated on the ground, he sitting facing
them, with his sombrero between and his eagle feathers in his hand. Then

with a quick movement he had put his hand into the empty hat and drawn
out from it “something black.” Tall Bull would not admit that anything
more had happened, and did not seem to be very profoundly impressed by
the occurrence, saying that he thought there were medicine-men of equal
capacity among the Cheyenne. In talking soon afterward with Black
Coyote, one of the Arapaho delegates and also a police officer, the same
incident came up, but with a very different sequel. Black Coyote told how
they had seated themselves on the ground in front of Wovoka, as described
by Tall Bull, and went on to tell how the messiah had waved his feathers
over his hat, and then, when he withdrew his hand, Black Coyote looked
into the hat and there “saw the whole world.” The explanation is simple.
Tall Bull, who has since been stricken with paralysis, was a jovial, light-
hearted fellow, fond of joking and playing tricks on his associates, but
withal a man of good hard sense and disposed to be doubtful in regard to all
medicine-men outside of his own tribe. Black Coyote, on the contrary, is a
man of contemplative disposition, much given to speculation on the unseen
world. His body and arms are covered with the scars of wounds which he
has inflicted on himself in obedience to commands received in dreams.
When the first news of the new religion came to the southern tribes, he had
made a long journey, at his own expense, to his kindred in Wyoming, to
learn the doctrine and the songs, and since his return had been drilling his
people day and night in both. Now, on his visit to the fountain head of
inspiration, he was prepared for great things, and when the messiah
performed his hypnotic passes with the eagle feather, as I have so often
witnessed in the Ghost dance, Black Coyote saw the whole spirit world
where Tall Bull saw only an empty hat. From my knowledge of the men, I
believe both were honest in their statements.
As a result of the confidence established between the Indians and myself
in consequence of my visit to the messiah, one of the Cheyenne delegates
named Black Sharp Nose, a prominent man in his tribe, soon after
voluntarily brought down to me the written statement of the doctrine
obtained from the messiah himself, and requested me to take it back and
show it to Washington, to convince the white people that there was nothing
bad or hostile in the new religion. The paper had been written by a young
Arapaho of the same delegation who had learned some English at the
Carlisle Indian school, and it had been taken down on the spot from the
dictation of the messiah as his message to be carried to the prairie tribes. On

the reverse page of the paper the daughter of Black Sharp Nose, a young
woman who had also some school education, had written out the same thing
in somewhat better English from her father’s dictation on his return. No
white man had any part, directly or indirectly, in its production, nor was it
originally intended to be seen by white men. In fact, in one part the messiah
himself expressly warns the delegates to tell no white man.

Chapter X
THE DOCTRINE OF THE GHOST DANCE
You must not fight. Do no harm to anyone. Do right always.—Wovoka.

The great underlying principle of the Ghost dance doctrine is that the
time will come when the whole Indian race, living and dead, will be
reunited upon a regenerated earth, to live a life of aboriginal happiness,
forever free from death, disease, and misery. On this foundation each tribe
has built a structure from its own mythology, and each apostle and believer
has filled in the details according to his own mental capacity or ideas of
happiness, with such additions as come to him from the trance. Some
changes, also, have undoubtedly resulted from the transmission of the
doctrine through the imperfect medium of the sign language. The
differences of interpretation are precisely such as we find in Christianity,
with its hundreds of sects and innumerable shades of individual opinion.
The white race, being alien and secondary and hardly real, has no part in
this scheme of aboriginal regeneration, and will be left behind with the
other things of earth that have served their temporary purpose, or else will
cease entirely to exist.
All this is to be brought about by an overruling spiritual power that needs
no assistance from human creatures; and though certain medicine-men were
disposed to anticipate the Indian millennium by preaching resistance to the
further encroachments of the whites, such teachings form no part of the true
doctrine, and it was only where chronic dissatisfaction was aggravated by
recent grievances, as among the Sioux, that the movement assumed a
hostile expression. On the contrary, all believers were exhorted to make
themselves worthy of the predicted happiness by discarding all things
warlike and practicing honesty, peace, and good will, not only among
themselves, but also toward the whites, so long as they were together. Some
apostles have even thought that all race distinctions are to be obliterated,
and that the whites are to participate with the Indians in the coming felicity;

but it seems unquestionable that this is equally contrary to the doctrine as
originally preached.
Different dates have been assigned at various times for the fulfillment 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.
He also told us that all our dead were to be resurrected; that they were all to come back to
earth, and that, as the earth was too small for them and us, he would do away with heaven
and make the earth itself large enough to contain us all; that we must tell all the people we
met about these things. He spoke to us about fighting, and said that was bad and we must
keep from it; that the earth was to be all good hereafter, and we must all be friends with one
another. He said that in the fall of the year the youth of all good people would be renewed, so
that nobody would be more than forty years old, and that if they behaved themselves well
after this the youth of everyone would be renewed in the spring. He said if we were all good
he would send people among us who could heal all our wounds and sickness by mere touch
and that we would live forever. He told us not to quarrel or fight or strike each other, or shoot
one another; that the whites and Indians were to be all one people. He said if any man
disobeyed what he ordered his tribe would be wiped from the face of the earth; that we must
believe everything he said, and we must not doubt him or say he lied; that if we did, he
would know it; that he would know our thoughts and actions in no matter what part of the
world we might be. (G. D., 5.)

Here we have the statement that both races are to live together as one. We
have also the doctrine of healing by touch. Whether or not this is an
essential part of the system is questionable, but it is certain that the faithful
believe that great physical good comes to them, to their children, and to the
sick from the imposition of hands by the priests of the dance, apart from the
ability thus conferred to see the things of the spiritual world.
Another idea here presented, namely, that the earth becomes old and
decrepit, and requires that its youth be renewed at the end of certain great
cycles, is common to a number of tribes, and has an important place in the
oldest religions of the world. As an Arapaho who spoke English expressed
it, “This earth too old, grass too old, trees too old, our lives too old. Then all

be new again.” Captain H. L. Scott also found among the southern plains
tribes the same belief that the rivers, the mountains, and the earth itself are
worn out and must be renewed, together with an indefinite idea that both
races alike must die at the same time, to be resurrected in new but separate
worlds.
The Washo, Pit River, Bannock, and other tribes adjoining the Paiute on
the north and west hold the doctrine substantially as taught by the messiah
himself. We have but little light in regard to the belief as held by the
Walapai, Cohonino, Mohave, and Navaho to the southward, beyond the
general fact that the resurrection and return of the dead formed the principal
tenet. As these tribes received their knowledge of the new religion directly
from Paiute apostles, it is quite probable that they made but few changes in
or additions to the original gospel.
A witness of the dance among the Walapai in 1891 obtained from the
leaders of the ceremony about the same statement of doctrine already
mentioned as held by the Paiute, from whom also the Walapai had adopted
many of the songs and ceremonial words used in connection with the dance.
They were then expecting the Indian redeemer to appear on earth some time
within three or four years. They were particularly anxious to have it
understood that their intentions were not hostile toward the whites and that
they desired to live in peace with them until the redeemer came, but that
then they would be unable to prevent their destruction even if they wished.
(J. F. L., 3.)
The manner of the final change and the destruction of the whites has been
variously interpreted as the doctrine was carried from its original center.
East of the mountains it is commonly held that a deep sleep will come on
the believers, during which the great catastrophe will be accomplished, and
the faithful will awake to immortality on a new earth. The Shoshoni of
Wyoming say this sleep will continue four days and nights, and that on the
morning of the fifth day all will open their eyes in a new world where both
races will dwell together forever. The Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and
others, of Oklahoma, say that the new earth, with all the resurrected dead
from the beginning, and with the buffalo, the elk, and other game upon it,
will come from the west and slide over the surface of the present earth, as
the right hand might slide over the left. As it approaches, the Indians will be
carried upward and alight on it by the aid of the sacred dance feathers

which they wear in their hair and which will act as wings to bear them up.
They will then become unconscious for four days, and on waking out of
their trance will find themselves with their former friends in the midst of all
the oldtime surroundings. By Sitting Bull, the Arapaho apostle, it is thought
that this new earth as it advances will be preceded by a wall of fire which
will drive the whites across the water to their original and proper country,
while the Indians will be enabled by means of the sacred feathers to
surmount the flames and reach the promised land. When the expulsion of
the whites has been accomplished, the fire will be extinguished by a rain
continuing twelve days. By a few it is believed that a hurricane with
thunder and lightning will come to destroy the whites alone. This last idea is
said to be held also by the Walapai of Arizona, who extend its provisions to
include the unbelieving Indians as well. (G. D., 6.) The doctrine held by the
Caddo, Wichita, and Delaware, of Oklahoma, is practically the same as is
held by the Arapaho and Cheyenne from whom they obtained it. All these
tribes believe that the destruction or removal of the whites is to be
accomplished entirely by supernatural means, and they severely blame the
Sioux for having provoked a physical conflict by their impatience instead of
waiting for their God to deliver them in his own good time.
Among all the tribes which have accepted the new faith it is held that
frequent devout attendance on the dance conduces to ward off disease and
restore the sick to health, this applying not only to the actual participants,
but also to their children and friends. The idea of obtaining temporal
blessings as the reward of a faithful performance of religious duties is too
natural and universal to require comment. The purification by the sweat-
bath, which forms an important preliminary to the dance among the Sioux,
while devotional in its purpose, is probably also sanitary in its effect.
Among the powerful and warlike Sioux of the Dakotas, already restless
under both old and recent grievances, and more lately brought to the edge
of starvation by a reduction of rations, the doctrine speedily assumed a
hostile meaning and developed some peculiar features, for which reason it
deserves particular notice as concerns this tribe. The earliest rumors of the
new messiah came to the Sioux from the more western tribes in the winter
of 1888–89, but the first definite account was brought by a delegation
which crossed the mountains to visit the messiah in the fall of 1889,
returning in the spring of 1890. On the report of these delegates the dance

was at once inaugurated and spread so rapidly that in a few months the new
religion had been accepted by the majority of the tribe.
Perhaps the best statement of the Sioux version is given by the veteran
agent, James McLaughlin, of Standing Rock agency. In an official letter of
October 17, 1890, he writes that the Sioux, under the influence of Sitting
Bull, were greatly excited over the near approach of a predicted Indian
millennium or “return of the ghosts,” when the white man would be
annihilated and the Indian again supreme, and which the medicine-men had
promised was to occur as soon as the grass was green in the spring. They
were told that the Great Spirit had sent upon them the dominant race to
punish them for their sins, and that their sins were now expiated and the
time of deliverance was at hand. Their decimated ranks were to be
reinforced by all the Indians who had ever died, and these spirits were
already on their way to reinhabit the earth, which had originally belonged to
the Indians, and were driving before them, as they advanced, immense
herds of buffalo and fine ponies. The Great Spirit, who had so long deserted
his red children, was now once more with them and against the whites, and
the white man’s gunpowder would no longer have power to drive a bullet
through the skin of an Indian. The whites themselves would soon be
overwhelmed and smothered under a deep landslide, held down by sod and
timber, and the few who might escape would become small fishes in the
rivers. In order to bring about this happy result, the Indians must believe
and organize the Ghost dance.
The agent continues:
It would seem impossible that any person, no matter how ignorant, could be brought to
believe such absurd nonsense, but as a matter of fact a great many Indians of this agency
actually believe it, and since this new doctrine has been ingrafted here from the more
southern Sioux agencies the infection has been wonderful, and so pernicious that it now
includes some of the Indians who were formerly numbered with the progressive and more
intelligent, and many of our very best Indians appear dazed and undecided when talking of it,
their inherent superstition having been thoroughly aroused. (G. D., 7.)

The following extract is from a translation of a letter dated March 30,
1891, written in Sioux by an Indian at Pine Ridge to a friend at Rosebud
agency:
And now I will tell another thing. Lately there is a man died and come to life again, and he
say he has been to Indian nation of ghosts, and tells us dead Indian nation all coming home.
The Indian ghost tell him come after his war bonnet. The Indian (not ghost Indian) gave him
his war bonnet and he died again. (G. D., 8.)

The Sioux, like other tribes, believed that at the moment of the
catastrophe the earth would tremble. According to one version the landslide
was to be accompanied by a flood of water, which would flow into the
mouths of the whites and cause them to choke with mud. Storms and
whirlwinds were also to assist in their destruction. The Indians were to
surmount the avalanche, probably in the manner described in speaking of
the southern tribes, and on reaching the surface of the new earth would
behold boundless prairies covered with long grass and filled with great
herds of buffalo and other game. When the time was near at hand, they must
assemble at certain places of rendezvous and prepare for the final
abandonment of all earthly things by stripping off their clothing. In
accordance with the general idea of a return to aboriginal habits, the
believers, as far as possible, discarded white man’s dress and utensils.
Those who could procure buckskin—which is now very scarce in the Sioux
country—resumed buckskin dress, while the dancers put on “ghost shirts”
made of cloth, but cut and ornamented in Indian fashion. No metal of any
kind was allowed in the dance, no knives, and not even the earrings or belts
of imitation silver which form such an important part of prairie Indian
costume. This was at variance with the custom among the Cheyenne and
other southern tribes, where the women always wear in the dance their
finest belts studded with large disks of German silver. The beads used so
freely on moccasins and leggings seem to have been regarded as a
substitute for the oldtime wampum and porcupine quill work, and were
therefore not included in the prohibition. No weapon of any kind was
allowed to be carried in the Ghost dance by any tribe, north or south, a fact
which effectually disposes of the assertion that this was another variety of
war dance. At certain of the Sioux dances, however, sacred arrows and a
sacred bow, with other things, were tied on the tree in the center of the
circle.

PL. XCIII

SIOUX GHOST SHIRTS FROM WOUNDED KNEE BATTLEFIELD

EXPLANATION OF PLATE XCIII
The originals of these ghost shirts, now in the National Museum, were taken, by
scouts present during the fight, from the bodies of Indians killed at Wounded Knee, and
were obtained by the author, at Pine Ridge, from Philip Wells and Louis Menard,
mixed-blood interpreters, the former having also been present as interpreter for the
Indian scouts during the fight. They are made of coarse white cloth, sewn with sinew.
One of the shirts is partially burned, having probably been taken out of one of the tipis
overturned and set on fire during the action. Two other ghost shirts, said to be from the
same battlefield, are also in the National Museum.

Valuable light in regard to the Sioux version of the doctrine is obtained
from the sermon delivered at Red Leaf camp, on Pine Ridge reservation,
October 31, 1890, by Short Bull, one of those who had been selected to visit
the messiah, and who afterward became one of the prime leaders in the
dance:
My friends and relations: I will soon start this thing in running order. I have told you that
this would come to pass in two seasons, but since the whites are interfering so much, I will
advance the time from what my father above told me to do, so the time will be shorter.

Therefore you must not be afraid of anything. Some of my relations have no ears, so I will
have them blown away.
Now, there will be a tree sprout up, and there all the members of our religion and the tribe
must gather together. That will be the place where we will see our dead relations. But before
this time we must dance the balance of this moon, at the end of which time the earth will
shiver very hard. Whenever this thing occurs, I will start the wind to blow. We are the ones
who will then see our fathers, mothers, and everybody. We, the tribe of Indians, are the ones
who are living a sacred life. God, our father himself, has told and commanded and shown me
to do these things.
Our father in heaven has placed a mark at each point of the four winds. First, a clay pipe,
which lies at the setting of the sun and represents the Sioux tribe. Second, there is a holy
arrow lying at the north, which represents the Cheyenne tribe. Third, at the rising of the sun
there lies hail, representing the Arapaho tribe. Fourth, there lies a pipe and nice feather at the
south, which represents the Crow tribe. My father has shown me these things, therefore we
must continue this dance. If the soldiers surround you four deep, three of you, on whom I
have put holy shirts, will sing a song, which I have taught you, around them, when some of
them will drop dead. Then the rest will start to run, but their horses will sink into the earth.
The riders will jump from their horses, but they will sink into the earth also. Then you can do
as you desire with them. Now, you must know this, that all the soldiers and that race will be
dead. There will be only five thousand of them left living on the earth. My friends and
relations, this is straight and true.
Now, we must gather at Pass creek where the tree is sprouting. There we will go among
our dead relations. You must not take any earthly things with you. Then the men must take
off all their clothing and the women must do the same. No one shall be ashamed of exposing
their persons. My father above has told us to do this, and we must do as he says. You must
not be afraid of anything. The guns are the only things we are afraid of, but they belong to
our father in heaven. He will see that they do no harm. Whatever white men may tell you, do
not listen to them, my relations. This is all. I will now raise my hand up to my father and
close what he has said to you through me. (Short Bull, War, 4.)

The pipe here referred to is the most sacred thing in Sioux mythology and
will be more fully described in treating of the Sioux songs. The sacred
object of the Cheyenne is the “medicine arrow,” now in the keeping of the
band living near Cantonment, Oklahoma. The Crow and Arapaho references
are not so clear. The Arapaho are called by the Sioux the “Blue Cloud”
people, a name which may possibly have some connection with hail. The
sprouting tree at which all the believers must gather refers to the tree or
pole which the Sioux planted in the center of the dance circle. The cardinal
directions here assigned to the other tribes may refer to their former
locations with regard to the Sioux. The Cheyenne and Arapaho, who now
live far west and south of the Sioux, originally lived north and east of them,
about Red river and the Saskatchewan.
The most noted thing connected with the Ghost dance among the Sioux is
the “ghost shirt” which was worn by all adherents of the doctrine—men,

women, and children alike. It is described by Captain Sword in his account
of the Ghost dance, given in the appendix to this chapter, and will be
noticed at length hereafter in treating of the ceremony of the dance. During
the dance it was worn as an outside garment, but was said to be worn at
other times under the ordinary dress. Although the shape, fringing, and
feather adornment were practically the same in every case, considerable
variation existed in regard to the painting, the designs on some being very
simple, while the others were fairly covered with representations of sun,
moon, stars, the sacred things of their mythology, and the visions of the
trance. The feathers attached to the garment were always those of the eagle,
and the thread used in the sewing was always the old-time sinew. In some
cases the fringe or other portions were painted with the sacred red paint of
the messiah. The shirt was firmly believed to be impenetrable to bullets or
weapons of any sort. When one of the women shot in the Wounded Knee
massacre was approached as she lay in the church and told that she must let
them remove her ghost shirt in order the better to get at her wound, she
replied: “Yes; take it off. They told me a bullet would not go through. Now
I don’t want it any more.”
The protective idea in connection with the ghost shirt does not seem to be
aboriginal. The Indian warrior habitually went into battle naked above the
waist. His protecting “medicine” was a feather, a tiny bag of some sacred
powder, the claw of an animal, the head of a bird, or some other small
object which could be readily twisted into his hair or hidden between the
covers of his shield without attracting attention. Its virtue depended entirely
on the ceremony of the consecration and not on size or texture. The war
paint had the same magic power of protection. To cover the body in battle
was not in accordance with Indian usage, which demanded that the warrior
should be as free and unincumbered in movement as possible. The so-called
“war shirt” was worn chiefly in ceremonial dress parades and only rarely on
the warpath.
Dreams are but incoherent combinations of waking ideas, and there is a
hint of recollection even in the wildest visions of sleep. The ghost shirt may
easily have been an inspiration from a trance, while the trance vision itself
was the result of ideas derived from previous observation or report. The
author is strongly inclined to the opinion that the idea of an invulnerable
sacred garment is not original with the Indians, but, like several other

important points pertaining to the Ghost-dance doctrine, is a practical
adaptation by them of ideas derived from contact with some sectarian body
among the whites. It may have been suggested by the “endowment robe” of
the Mormons, a seamless garment of white muslin adorned with symbolic
figures, which is worn by their initiates as the most sacred badge of their
faith, and by many of the believers is supposed to render the wearer
invulnerable. The Mormons have always manifested a particular interest in
the Indians, whom they regard as the Lamanites of their sacred writings,
and hence have made special efforts for their evangelization, with the result
that a considerable number of the neighboring tribes of Ute, Paiute,
Bannock, and Shoshoni have been received into the Mormon church and
invested with the endowment robe. (See the appendix to this chapter: “The
Mormons and the Indians;” also “Tell It All,” by Mrs T. B. H. Stenhouse.)
The Shoshoni and northern Arapaho occupy the same reservation in
Wyoming, and anything which concerns one tribe is more or less talked of
by the other. As the Sioux, Cheyenne, and other eastern tribes make
frequent visits to the Arapaho, and as these Arapaho have been the great
apostles of the Ghost dance, it is easy to see how an idea borrowed by the
Shoshoni from the Mormons could find its way through the Arapaho first to
the Sioux and Cheyenne and afterward to more remote tribes. Wovoka
himself expressly disclaimed any responsibility for the ghost shirt, and
whites and Indians alike agreed that it formed no part of the dance costume
in Mason valley. When I first went among the Cheyenne and neighboring
tribes of Oklahoma in January, 1891, the ghost shirt had not yet reached
them. Soon afterward the first one was brought down from the Sioux
country by a Cheyenne named White Buffalo, who had been a Carlisle
student, but the Arapaho and Cheyenne, after debating the matter, refused to
allow it to be worn in the dance, on the ground that the doctrine of the
Ghost dance was one of peace, whereas the Sioux had made the ghost shirt
an auxiliary of war. In consequence of this decision such shirts have never
been worn by the dancers among the southern tribes. Instead they wear in
the dance their finest shirts and dresses of buckskin, covered with painted
and beaded figures from the Ghost-dance mythology and the visions of the
trance.
The Ghost dance is variously named among the different tribes. In its
original home among the Paiute it is called Nänigükwa, “dance in a circle”
(nüka, dance), to distinguish it from the other dances of the tribe, which

have only the ordinary up-and-down step without the circular movement.
The Shoshoni call it Tänä′räyün or Tämanä′rayära, which may be rendered
“everybody dragging,” in allusion to the manner in which the dancers move
around the circle holding hands, as children do in their ring games. They
insist that it is a revival of a similar dance which existed among them fifty
years ago. The Comanche call it A′p-anĕka′ra, “the Father’s dance,” or
sometimes the dance “with joined hands.” The Kiowa call it Mânposo′ti
guan, “dance with clasped hands,” and the frenzy, guan â′dalka-i, “dance
craziness.” The Caddo know it as Ă′ă kakĭ′mbawi′ut, “the prayer of all to
the Father,” or as the Nänisana ka-au′-shan, “nänisana dance,” from
nänisana, “my children,” which forms the burden of so many of the ghost
songs in the language of the Arapaho, from whom they obtained the dance.
By the Sioux, Arapaho, and most other prairie tribes it is called the “spirit”
or “ghost” dance (Sioux, Wana′ghi wa′chipi; Arapaho, Thigû′nawat), from,
the fact that everything connected with it relates to the coming of the spirits
of the dead from the spirit world, and by this name it has become known
among the whites.

APPENDIX
THE MORMONS AND THE INDIANS

While the Indian excitement was at its height in 1892, a curious pamphlet
was published anonymously at Salt Lake City in connection with a
proposed series of lectures, from which we make some extracts for the light
they give on the Mormon attitude toward the Indians. The pamphlet is
headed, “The Mormons have stepped down and out of Celestial
Government—the American Indians have stepped up and into Celestial
Government.” It begins by stating that the Messiah came to His people at
the time appointed of the Father—March, 1890—notwithstanding the
assertion in the Deseret Evening News, made January, 1892: “1890 has
passed, and no Messiah has come.” It goes on to say:
“1891 has passed, and no pruning of the vineyard.” The vineyard of the Lord is the house
of Israel.—Isa. 5:7. In the part of the vineyard the American Indians, descendants of the
righteous branch of Joseph, who were led to the Western Continent or hemisphere—Zion—
we find the vine, the stone-power of the Latter Days. Ps. 80.
The celestial prophet, seer, and revelator, Joseph Smith, jr., prophesied on the 2d of April,
1843, that the Messiah would reveal himself to man in mortality in 1890. Doctrine and
Covenants, 130, 15, 17, which reads: “I was once praying very earnestly to know the time of

the coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice speak the following: ‘Joseph, my son, if
thou livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man.’”
* * * * *
Five years later (than 1882) the sign that was to usher in the work of the Father was given
to the American Indians, while March, 1890, witnesses the organization of a church under the
restored order, where twelve disciples were chosen and ordained, whose first allegiance is
given irrevocably to the Lord God, whereas that of the Celestial Church is given to the
government fostering it.
* * * * *
The following seven signs were to precede the fullness of the Gentiles upon the land of
America; Zion, the time, place, and parties given with each. [The first, second, and third
“signs” are omitted here.]
4. When the Bible and Book of Mormon become one in the hands of the Messiah. Ezk.
37:19; III Nephi, 21:1–7. In 1887, sixty years after the plates were delivered to Joseph Smith,
jr., the Book of Mormon in Spanish was delivered to the American Indians, with the promise
to those who are identified with the Gentiles that if they will not harden their hearts, but will
repent and know the true points of my doctrine they shall be numbered with my covenant
people, the Branch of Joseph. Doctrine and Covenant, 19:59–62; 20:8–17; III Nephi, 21:1–7.
5. The coming of the Messiah. Three years later, March, 1890, the people of God, who
were notified by the three Nephites, met at Walkers lake, Esmeralda county, Nevada, where a
dispensation of the Celestial kingdom of God—the gospel in the covenant of consecration, a
perfect oneness in all things, temporal and spiritual—was given unto them. Twelve disciples
were ordained, not by angels or men, but by the Messiah, in the presence of hundreds,
representing scores of tribes or nations, who saw his face, heard and understood his voice as
on the day of pentecost. Acts 2, also fulfilling sec. 90:9, 10, 11 of Doctrine and Covenant.
Ezk. 20:33–37.
6. The Fulness of the Gentiles. In 1492, the Lord God let His vineyard to the nations of the
Gentiles, to punish His people the Branch of Joseph for 400 years (Gen. 15:13), bringing the
fulness of the Gentiles the end of their rule over the American Indians. October, 1892, Rom.
II: 25–26; Gen. 50:25; New Trans. Matt. 21:33–41.
7. The Pruning of the Vineyard. The husbandmen upon this land began the last pruning of
the vineyard in 1891. Prominent among which stands our government in fulfilling Matt.
21:33–41, saying, let us kill the heirs and hold the inheritance, as shown in the massacre of
Wounded Knee; the butchery of Sitting Bull; the imprisonment of Short Bull and others; the
breaking up of reservations, and the attempts to destroy the treaty stipulations above
mentioned by forcing the mark of the Beast, citizenship and statehood, upon the American
Indians, which will ultimately terminate in a war of extermination. Isa. 10:24–27; Dan. 2:34;
Isa. 14:21.
According to the astronomical, prophetic, and historical evidence found in the Bible, Book
of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants for the redemption of Zion and the restoration of
Israel, there are seven celestial keys of powers to be used which can not be handled by
apostles, prophets, or angels. They can only be handled by the Messiah and his Father.
* * * * *
2. The key of power that restores the heirs, the American Indians, to their own lands
consecrating to them the wealth of the Gentiles.

3. The key of power that turns away ungodliness from Jacob (the American Indians)
enabling them to build the temple on the spot pointed out by the finger of God
(Independence, Jackson County, Missouri), on which the true sign of Israel is to rest, the
glory of the living God of the Hebrews, the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night by the
close of this generation, 1896.
* * * * *
On and after July 10, 1892, free lectures illustrated by figures, will be given weekly, on
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, from 6.30 to 8.30 p. m. (weather permitting), at the book
stand in the Nineteenth Ward, opposite Margett’s Brewery, No. 312 North Second West.
First. On the coming of the Messiah to the Hebrews, at the sacrifice of Esau, near the close
of the 400-year bondage of Jacob in the morning of the Abrahamic Covenant, B. C. 1491.
Second. On the coming of the Messiah to the Jews, at the Meridian sacrifice of Jacob at
the close of the last 1921 years of the covenant, the year one A. D.
Third. On the coming of the Messiah to the American Indians, the remnants, at the evening
sacrifice of Esau, near the expiration of the evening bondage of Jacob of 400 years, 1892, in
the last 430 years of the covenant.
PORCUPINE’S ACCOUNT OF THE MESSIAH

The following statement was made to Major Carroll, in command of
Camp Crook, at Tongue River agency, Montana, June 15, 1890, and
transmitted through the War Department to the Indian Office:
In November last [1889] I left the reservation with two other Cheyennes. I went through
[Fort] Washakie and took the Union Pacific railroad at Rawlins. We got on early in the
morning about breakfast, rode all day on the railroad, and about dark reached a fort
[Bridger?]. I stayed there two days, and then took a passenger train, and the next morning got
to Fort Hall. I found some lodges of Snakes and Bannocks there. I saw the agent here, and he
told me I could stay at the agency, but the chief of the Bannocks who was there took me to
his camp near by. The Bannocks told me they were glad to see a Cheyenne and that we ought
to make a treaty with the Bannocks.
The chief told me he had been to Washington and had seen the President, and that we
ought all to be friends with the whites and live at peace with them and with each other. We
talked these matters over for ten days. The agent then sent for me and some of the Bannocks
and Shoshones, and asked me where I was going. I told him I was just traveling to meet other
Indians and see other countries; that my people were at peace with the whites, and I thought I
could travel anywhere I wished. He asked me why I did not have a pass. I said because my
agent would not give me one. He said he was glad to see me anyhow, and that the whites and
Indians were all friends. Then he asked me where I wanted a pass to. I told him I wanted to
go further and some Bannocks and Shoshones wanted to go along. He gave passes—five of
them—to the chiefs of the three parties. We took the railroad to a little town near by, and then
took a narrow-gauge road. We went on this, riding all night at a very fast rate of speed, and
came to a town on a big lake [Ogden or Salt Lake City]. We stayed there one day, taking the
cars at night, rode all night, and the next morning about 9 oclock saw a settlement of Indians.
We traveled south, going on a narrow-gauge road. We got off at this Indian town. The Indians
here were different from any Indians I ever saw. The women and men were dressed in white
people’s clothes, the women having their hair banged. These Indians had their faces painted
white with black spots. We stayed with these people all day. We took the same road at night

and kept on. We traveled all night, and about daylight we saw a lot of houses, and they told
us there were a lot more Indians there; so we got off, and there is where we saw Indians
living in huts of grass [tulé?]. We stopped here and got something to eat. There were whites
living near by. We got on the cars again at night, and during the night we got off among some
Indians, who were fish-eaters [Paiute]. We stayed among the Fish-eaters till morning, and
then got into a wagon with the son of the chief of the Fish-eaters, and we arrived about noon
at an agency on a big river. There was also a big lake near the agency.
The agent asked us where we were from and said we were a long ways from home, and
that he would write to our agent and let him know we were all right. From this agency we
went back to the station, and they told us there were some more Indians to the south. One of
the chiefs of the Fish-eaters then furnished us with four wagons. We traveled all day, and
then came to another railroad. We left our wagons here and took the railroad, the Fish-eaters
telling us there were some more Indians along the railroad who wanted to see us. We took
this railroad about 2 oclock and about sun down got to another agency, where there were
more Fish-eaters. [From diagrams drawn and explanations given of them in addition to the
foregoing, there seems to be no doubt that the lakes visited are Pyramid and Walker lakes,
western Nevada, and the agencies those of the same name.]
They told us they had heard from the Shoshone agency that the people in this country were
all bad people, but that they were good people there. All the Indians from the Bannock
agency down to where I finally stopped danced this dance [referring to the late religious
dances at the Cheyenne agency], the whites often dancing it themselves. [It will be
recollected that he traveled constantly through the Mormon country.] I knew nothing about
this dance before going. I happened to run across it, that is all. I will tell you about it. [Here
all the Indian auditors removed their hats in token that the talk to follow was to be on a
religious subject.] I want you all to listen to this, so that there will be no mistake. There is no
harm in what I am to say to anyone. I heard this where I met my friends in Nevada. It is a
wonder you people never heard this before. In the dance we had there [Nevada] the whites
and Indians danced together. I met there a great many kinds of people, but they all seemed to
know all about this religion. The people there seemed all to be good. I never saw any
drinking or fighting or bad conduct among them. They treated me well on the cars, without
pay. They gave me food without charge, and I found that this was a habit among them toward
their neighbors. I thought it strange that the people there should have been so good, so
different from those here.
What I am going to say is the truth. The two men sitting near me were with me, and will
bear witness that I speak the truth. I and my people have been living in ignorance until I went
and found out the truth. All the whites and Indians are brothers, I was told there. I never
knew this before.
The Fish-eaters near Pyramid lake told me that Christ had appeared on earth again. They
said Christ knew he was coming; that eleven of his children were also coming from a far
land. It appeared that Christ had sent for me to go there, and that was why unconsciously I
took my journey. It had been foreordained. Christ had summoned myself and others from all
heathen tribes, from two to three or four from each of fifteen or sixteen different tribes. There
were more different languages than I ever heard before and I did not understand any of them.
They told me when I got there that my great father was there also, but did not know who he
was. The people assembled called a council, and the chief’s son went to see the Great Father
[messiah], who sent word to us to remain fourteen days in that camp and that he would come
to see us. He sent me a small package of something white to eat that I did not know the name
of. There were a great many people in the council, and this white food was divided among
them. The food was a big white nut. Then 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 around it. 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. I had always thought the
Great Father was a white man, but this man looked like an Indian. 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,
when 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 that next morning and talk to us.
In the night when I first saw him I thought he was an Indian, but the next day when I could
see better he looked different. He was not so dark as an Indian, nor so light as a white man.
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 even if we
whispered the Christ would know it. I had heard that Christ had been crucified, and I looked
to see, and I saw a scar on his wrist and one on his face, and he seemed to be the man. I could
not see his feet. 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. He said he wanted to talk to us again and for us to listen. He said: “I am the
man who made everything you see around you. I am not lying to you, my children. I made
this earth and everything on it. I have been to heaven and seen your dead friends and have
seen my own father and mother. In the beginning, after God made the earth, they sent me
back to teach the people, and when I came back on earth the people were afraid of me and
treated me badly. This is what they did to me [showing his scars]. I did not try to defend
myself. I found my children were bad, so 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.”

He told us also that all our dead were to be resurrected; that they were all to come back to
earth, and that as the earth was too small for them and us, he would do away with heaven,
and make the earth itself large enough to contain us all; that we must tell all the people we
meet about these things. He spoke to us about fighting, and said that was bad, and we must
keep from it; that the earth was to be all good hereafter, and we must all be friends with one
another. He said that in the fall of the year the youth of all the good people would be
renewed, so that nobody would be more than 40 years old, and that if they behaved
themselves well after this the youth of everyone would be renewed in the spring. He said if
we were all good he would send people among us who could heal all our wounds and
sickness by mere touch, and that we would live forever. He told us not to quarrel, or fight,
nor strike each other, nor shoot one another; that the whites and Indians were to be all one
people. He said if any man disobeyed what he ordered, his tribe would be wiped from the
face of the earth; that we must believe everything he said, and that we must not doubt him, or
say he lied; that if we did, he would know it; that he would know our thoughts and actions, in
no matter what part of the world we might be.
When I heard this from the Christ, and came back home to tell it to my people, I thought
they would listen. Where I went to there were lots of white people, but I never had one of
them say an unkind word to me. I thought all of your people knew all of this I have told you
of, but it seems you do not.
Ever since the Christ I speak of talked to me I have thought what he said was good. I see
nothing bad in it. When I got back, I knew my people were bad, and had heard nothing of all
this, so I got them together and told them of it and warned them to listen to it for their own
good. I talked to them for four nights and five days. I told them just what I have told you here
today. I told them what I said were the words of God Almighty, who was looking down on
them. I wish some of you had been up in our camp here to have heard my words to the
Cheyennes. The only bad thing that there has been in it at all was this: I had just told my
people that the Christ would visit the sins of any Indian upon the whole tribe, when the
recent trouble [killing of Ferguson] occurred. If any one of you think I am not telling the
truth, you can go and see this man I speak of for yourselves. I will go with you, and I would
like one or two of my people who doubt me to go with me.
The Christ talked to us all in our respective tongues. You can see this man in your sleep
any time you want after you have seen him and shaken hands with him once. Through him
you can go to heaven and meet your friends. Since my return I have seen him often in my
sleep. About the time the soldiers went up the Rosebud I was lying in my lodge asleep, when
this man appeared and told me that the Indians had gotten into trouble, and I was frightened.
The next night he appeared to me and told me that everything would come out all right.
THE GHOST DANCE AMONG THE SIOUX

The following was written originally in the Teton Dakota dialect by
George Sword, an Ogalala Sioux Indian, formerly captain of the Indian
police at Pine Ridge agency and now judge of the Indian court. It was
translated by an Indian for Miss Emma C. Sickels and is published by her
courtesy. The copy of the original Sioux manuscript is in the archives of the
Bureau of Ethnology:
In the story of ghost dancing, the Ogalala heard that the Son of God was truly on earth in
the west from their country. This was in the year 1889. The first people knew about the

messiah to be on earth were the Shoshoni and Arapaho. So in 1889 Good Thunder with four
or five others visited the place where Son of God said to be. These people went there without
permission. They said the messiah was there at the place, but he was there to help the Indians
and not the whites; so this made the Indians happy to find out this. Good Thunder, Cloud
Horse, Yellow Knife, and Short Bull visited the place again in 1890 and saw the messiah.
Their story of visit to the messiah is as follows:
“From the country where the Arapaho and Shoshoni we start in the direction of northwest
in train for five nights and arrived at the foot of the Rocky mountains. Here we saw him and
also several tribes of Indians. The people said that the messiah will come at a place in the
woods where the place was prepare for him. When we went to the place a smoke descended
from heaven to the place where he was to come. When the smoke disappeared, there was a
man of about forty, which was the Son of God. The man said:”
“‘My grandchildren! I am glad you have come far away to see your relatives. This are your
people who have come back from your country.’ When he said he want us to go with him, we
looked and we saw a land created across the ocean on which all the nations of Indians were
coming home, but, as the messiah looked at the land which was created and reached across
the ocean, again disappeared, saying that it was not time for that to take place. The messiah
then gave to Good Thunder some paints—Indian paint and a white paint—a green grass
[sagebrush twigs?]; and said, ‘My grandchildren, when you get home, go to farming and
send all your children to school. And on way home if you kill any buffalo cut the head, the
tail, and the four feet and leave them, and that buffalo will come to live again. When the
soldiers of the white people chief want to arrest me, I shall stretch out my arms, which will
knock them to nothingness, or, if not that, the earth will open and swallow them in. My father
commanded me to visit the Indians on a purpose. I have came to the white people first, but
they not good. They killed me, and you can see the marks of my wounds on my feet, my
hands, and on my back. My father has given you life—your old life—and you have come to
see your friends, but you will not take me home with you at this time. I want you to tell when
you get home your people to follow my examples. Any one Indian does not obey me and
tries to be on white’s side will be covered over by a new land that is to come over this old
one. You will, all the people, use the paints and grass I give you. In the spring when the green
grass comes, your people who have gone before you will come back, and you shall see your
friends then, for you have come to my call.’”
The people from every tipi send for us to visit them. They are people who died many years
ago. Chasing Hawk, who died not long ago, was there, and we went to his tipi. He was living
with his wife, who was killed in war long ago. They live in a buffalo skin tipi—a very large
one—and he wanted all his friends to go there to live. A son of Good Thunder who died in
war long ago was one who also took us to his tipi so his father saw him. When coming we
come to a herd of buffaloes. We killed one and took everything except the four feet, head,
and tail, and when we came a little ways from it there was the buffaloes come to life again
and went off. This was one of the messiah’s word came to truth. The messiah said, “I will
short your journey when you feel tired of the long ways, if you call upon me.” This we did
when we were tired. The night came upon us, we stopped at a place, and we called upon the
messiah to help us, because we were tired of long journey. We went to sleep and in the
morning we found ourselves at a great distance from where we stopped.
The people came back here and they got the people loyal to the government, and those not
favor of the whites held a council. The agent’s soldiers were sent after them and brought
Good Thunder and two others to the agency and they were confined to the prison. They were
asked by the agent and Captain Sword whether they saw the Son of God and whether they
hold councils over their return from visit, but Good Thunder refused to say “yes.” They were

confined in the prison for two days, and upon their promising not to hold councils about their
visit they were released. They went back to the people and told them about their trouble with
the agent. Then they disperse without a council.
In the following spring the people at Pine Ridge agency began to gather at the White Clay
creek for councils. Just at this time Kicking Bear, from Cheyenne River agency, went on a
visit to the Arapaho and said that the Arapaho there have ghost dancing. He said that people
partaking in dance would get crazy and die, then the messiah is seen and all the ghosts. When
they die they see strange things, they see their relatives who died long before. They saw these
things when they died in ghost dance and came to life again. The person dancing becomes
dizzy and finally drop dead, and the first thing they saw is an eagle comes to them and
carried them to where the messiah is with his ghosts. The man said this:
The persons in the ghost dancing are all joined hands. A man stands 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:
Christmas day was the day set for commencing another dance. On learning this, I told the
Indians that it was my intention to give them all a big feast and have a general holiday on
Christmas, but that I would not give them anything if they intended to dance. I told them they
could play all of their usual games, in fact, have a good time, but that dancing was forbidden.
I showed them how continued dancing at various Sioux agencies had ended in soldiers being
sent to stop them. I stated the case as clearly as I could; the Indians debated it two days, and
then reported that while they hoped their dead friends would come back, and believed that
dancing would help to bring them, yet they were friends of the government, and friends of
the whites, and my friends, and would not hold any more resurrection dances without my
consent. Up to this date they have kept their word. I have no hope of breaking up their dances
altogether, but I have strong hopes of controlling them. (G. D., 14.)

The Bannock and Shoshoni of Fort Hall reservation in Idaho have served
as the chief medium of the doctrine between the tribes west of the
mountains and those of the plains. Situated almost on the summit of the
great divide, they are within easy reach of the Paiute to the west, among
whom the dance originated, and whose language the Bannock speak, while
at no great distance to the east, on Wind River reservation in Wyoming, the
remaining Shoshoni are confederated with the Arapaho, who have been
from the first the great apostles of the doctrine among the prairie tribes.
There is constant visiting back and forth between the tribes of these two
reservations, while the four railroads coming in at Fort Hall, together with
the fact of its close proximity to the main line of the Union Pacific, tend
still more to make it a focus and halting point for Indian travel. Almost
every delegation from the tribes east of the mountains stopped at this
agency to obtain the latest news from the messiah and to procure
interpreters from among the Bannock to accompany them to Nevada. In a
letter of November 26, 1890, to the Indian Commissioner, the agent in
charge states that during the preceding spring and summer his Indians had
been visited by representatives from about a dozen different reservations. In
regard to the dance and the doctrine at Fort Hall, he also says that the
extermination and resurrection business was not a new thing with his tribes
by any means, but had been quite a craze with them every few years for the
last twenty years or more, only varying a little according to the whim of
particular medicine-men. (G. D., 15.) This may have referred to the doctrine
already mentioned as having been taught by Tävibo.
Early in 1889 a Bannock from Fort Hall visited the Shoshoni and
Arapaho of Wind River reservation in Wyoming and brought them the first
knowledge of the new religion. He had just returned from a visit to the
Paiute country, where he said he had met messengers who had told him that
the dead people were coming back, and who had commanded him to go and
tell all the tribes. “And so,” said the Shoshoni, “he came here and told us all
about it.” Accordingly, in the summer of that year a delegation of five
Shoshoni, headed by Täbinshi, with Nakash (“Sage”), an Arapaho, visited
the messiah of Mason valley, traveling most of the way by railroad and
occupying several days in the journey. They attended a Ghost dance, which,
according to their accounts, was a very large one, and after dancing all night
were told by the messiah that they would meet all their dead in two years
from that time at the turning of the leaves, i. e., in the autumn of 1891. They

were urged to dance frequently, “because the dance moves the dead.” One
of the Shoshoni delegates understood the Bannock and Paiute language and
interpreted for the rest. The information was probably conveyed by the
Shoshoni to the Arapaho through the medium of the sign language.
In accord with the report of the delegates, on their return home the
Shoshoni and Arapaho at once began to dance. A year later, in the fall of
1890, a dense smoke from forest fires in the mountains drifted down and
obscured the air in the lower country to such an extent that horses were lost
in the haze. This was regarded by the Indians as an indication of the
approach of the great change, and the dance was continued with increased
fervor, but at last the atmosphere began to clear and the phenomenon ended
as it had begun—in smoke. The dance was kept up, however, without
abatement for another year, until the predicted time had come and gone,
when the Shoshoni—who seem to share the skeptical nature of their
southern kinsmen, the Comanche—concluded that they had been deceived,
and abandoned the dance. The Arapaho, who have greater faith in the
unseen things of the spirit world, kept it up, and were still dancing when I
visited them in the summer of 1892. A part of the Arapaho, headed by their
chief, Black Coal, and encouraged by the Catholic missionaries, had
steadily opposed the dance from the first. After considerable discussion of
the matter it was decided, on Black Coal’s proposition, to send another
delegation to the messiah, under the guidance of Yellow Eagle, a graduate
of a government Indian school, to learn as to the truth or falsity of the new
doctrine. They returned early in 1891 and reported against the movement.
Their report confirmed the doubters in their skepticism, but produced little
effect on the rest of the tribe.
When I visited Wind River reservation in Wyoming in June, 1892, the
agent in charge informed me that there was no Ghost dancing on his
reservation; that he had explained how foolish it was and had strictly
forbidden it, and that in consequence the Indians had abandoned it.
However, he expressed interest in my investigation, and as the Arapaho,
with whom I had most to do, were then camped in a body a few miles up in
the mountains cutting wood, he very kindly furnished a conveyance and
camping outfit, with two of the agency employees—a clerk and an
interpreter—to take me out. It appeared afterward that the escort had
received instructions of their own before starting. Having reached the camp

and set up our tent, the Arapaho soon came around to get acquainted, over a
pipe and a cup of coffee; but, in answer to questions put by one of my
companions, a white man, who assumed the burden of the conversation, it
seemed that the Indians had lost all interest in the dance. In fact, some of
them were so ignorant on the subject that they wanted to know what it
meant.
After trying in vain to convince me that it was useless to waste time
further with the Indians, the clerk started back again after supper, satisfied
that that part of the country was safe so far as the Ghost dance was
concerned. By this time it was dark, and the Indians invited the interpreter
and myself to come over to a tipi about half a mile away, where we could
meet all the old men. We started, and had gone but a short distance when we
heard from a neighboring hill the familiar measured cadence of the ghost
songs. On turning with a questioning look to my interpreter—who was
himself a half-blood—he quietly said: “Yes; they are dancing the Ghost
dance. That’s something I have never reported, and I never will. It is their
religion and they have a right to it.” Not wishing to be an accomplice in
crime, I did not go over to the dance; but it is needless to state that the old
men in the tipi that night, and for several successive nights thereafter, knew
all about the songs and ceremonies of the new religion. As already stated,
the Shoshoni had really lost faith and abandoned the dance.
Among the Shoshoni the dance was performed around a small cedar tree,
planted in the ground for that purpose. Unlike the Sioux, they hung nothing
on this tree. The men did not clasp each other’s hands, but held on to their
blankets instead; but a woman standing between two men took hold of their
hands. There was no preliminary medicine ceremony. The dance took place
usually in the morning, and at its close the performers shook their blankets
in the air, as among the Paiute and other tribes, before dispersing. However
novel may have been the doctrine, the Shoshoni claim that the Ghost dance
itself as performed by them was a revival of an old dance which they had
had fully fifty years before.
The selection of the cedar in this connection is in agreement with the
general Indian idea, which has always ascribed a mystic sacredness to that
tree, from its never-dying green, which renders it so conspicuous a feature
of the desert landscape; from the aromatic fragrance of its twigs, which are
burned as incense in sacred ceremonies; from the durability and fine texture

of its wood, which makes it peculiarly appropriate for tipi poles and lance
shafts; and from the dark-red color of its heart, which seems as though dyed
in blood. In Cherokee myth the cedar was originally a pole, to the top of
which they fastened the fresh scalps of their enemies, and the wood was
thus stained by the blood that trickled slowly down along it to the ground.
The Kiowa also selected a cedar for the center of their Ghost-dance circle.
We go back now to the southern tribes west of the mountains. Some time
in the winter of 1889–90 Paiute runners brought to the powerful tribe of the
Navaho, living in northern New Mexico and Arizona, the news of the near
advent of the messiah and the resurrection of the dead. They preached and
prophesied for a considerable time, but the Navaho were skeptical, laughed
at the prophets, and paid but little attention to the prophesies. (Matthews, 1.)
According to the official report for 1892, these Indians, numbering
somewhat over 16,000 souls, have, in round numbers, 9,000 cattle, 119,000
horses, and 1,600,000 sheep and goats; and, as suggested by Dr Matthews,
the authority on that tribe, it may be that, being rich in herds and wealth of
silver, they felt no special need of a redeemer. While with the Navaho in the
winter of 1892–93 I made inquiry in various parts of their wide-extended
territory, but could not learn that the Ghost dance had ever been performed
among them, and it evident that in their case the doctrinal seed had fallen on
barren ground.

Fig. 70—Navaho Indians.

Before visiting the tribe, I had written for information to Mr A. M.
Stephen, of Keams Cañon, Arizona, since deceased, who had studied the
Navaho and Hopi for years and spoke the Navaho language fluently. I quote
from him on the subject. It may be noted that Keams Cañon is about 125
miles northwest of Fort Wingate, the point from which Dr Matthews writes,
and nearer by that much to the Paiute, Cohonino, and Walapai, all of whom
have accepted the new religion. Mr Stephen states that some time in
February or March, 1890, he first heard rumors among the Navaho that “the

old men long dead” had returned to some foreign tribes in the north or east,
the vague far away. The intelligence was brought to the Navaho either by
the Ute or Paiute, or both. The rumor grew and the idea became commonly
current among the Navaho that the mythic heroes were to return and that
under their direction they were to expel American and Mexican and restrict
the Zuñi and Hopi close to their villages, and, in fact, to reestablish their old
domain from San Francisco mountains to Santa Fé. (Stephen, 1.) On
November 22, 1891, he further writes:
While out this last time I camped over night with some Navajo friends, and over a pipe
brought up the messiah topic. This family belongs to the Bitter-Water gens, and this is the
gist of what I got from them: A Pah-ute came to a family of their gens living near Navajo
mountain and told them that Na′-Keh-tkla-ĭ was to return from the under world and bring
back all the Tinneh (Navajo) he had killed. Na′-keh-tkla-ĭ (i. e., “foreigner with white foot
sole”) in the long ago had a puma and a bear. These were his pets. He would call puma from
the east and bear from the west, and just before dawn they met in the center. Thus they met
four times. On the fourth meeting puma reached back with his forepaw and plucked his
mane, tossing the hair aloft, and for every hair a Tinneh died. This fatal sorcery continued for
a long time, and great numbers were killed. Now, the Pah-ute said, this sorcerer was to
return, and would call his pets, and they would come east and west, and following their trail
would be all the people whose death they had caused. These Navajo said they had heard of
other Pah-ute prophecies a year or more ago, all to the effect that long dead people were to
return alive from the under world. These resurrected ones were also to bring back the
departed game, and the Tinneh would again dominate the region. But, said my informant,
datsaigi yelti, “it is worthless talk.” (Stephen, 2.)

In connection with hypnotism as seen in the Ghost dance, Dr Matthews
states that in one curious Navaho ceremony he has several times seen the
patient hypnotized or pretend to be hypnotized by a character dressed in
evergreens. The occurrence of the hypnotic trance is regarded as a sign that
the ceremony has been effective. If the trance does not occur, some other
ceremony must be tried. (Matthews, 2.)
West of the Navaho in northeastern Arizona live the Hopi, or Moki, a
Pueblo tribe occupying several villages on the tops of nearly inaccessible
mesas. In July, 1891, four of these Indians, while on a visit to the Cohonino,
living farther to the west, first heard of the new doctrine and witnessed a
Ghost dance, as will be described hereafter. They brought back the news to
their people, but it made no impression on them and the matter was soon
forgotten. (Stephen, 3.) In this connection Mr Stephen states, in response to
a letter of inquiry, that although he does not recollect any Hopi myth
concerning rejuvenation of the world and reunion with the resurrected dead
on this earth, yet the doctrine of a reunion with the revivified dead in the

under world is a commonly accepted belief of the Hopi. They have also a
curious myth of a fair-hair god and a fair-skin people who came up from the
under world with the Hopi, and who then left them with a promise to return.
This suggests the idea of a messiah, but Mr Stephen has not yet been able to
get the myth in its entirety. He does not think it derived from any corrupt
source, however, through Spanish or other missionaries, as the allusions are
all of archaic tendency. (Stephen, 4.)

Fig. 71—Vista in the Hopi pueblo of Walpi.

The Cohonino or Havasupai are a small tribe occupying the canyon of
Cataract creek, an affluent of the Colorado, in northern Arizona, about 120
miles west of the Hopi, with whom they have a considerable trade in
buckskins and mesquite bread. They probably obtained the doctrine and the
dance directly from the Paiute to the northward. Our only knowledge of the
Cohonino dance is derived through Hopi informants, and as the two tribes
speak languages radically different the ideas conveyed were neither
complete nor definite, but it is evident that the general doctrine was the
same, although the dance differed in some respects from that of the other
tribes.
We quote again from Stephen’s letter of November 22, 1891:
During a quiet interval, in one of the kivas I found the Hopi who brought the tidings of the
resurrection to his people. His name is Pütci and his story is very meager and confused. He
went on a customary trading visit to the Cojonino in their home at Cataract creek, and I could
not determine just when. The chief of the Cojonino is named Navajo, and when Pütci got
there, Navajo had but lately returned from a visit to the westward. He had been with the
Walapai, the Mohave, and perhaps still farther west, and had been gone nearly three months.
He told his people a vague mystic story that he had heard during his travels, to the effect that
the long-time dead people of the Antelope, Deer, and Rabbit [Antelope, Deer, etc., are
probably Cohonino gentes—J. M.] were to come back and live in their former haunts; that
they had reached to a place where were the people of the Puma, the Wolf, and the Bear; that
this meeting delayed the coming, but eventually all these people would appear, and in the
sequence here related. Pütci was accompanied by three other Hopi, and they said they did not
very well understand this strange story. While they were stopping in Cataract cañon a one-
night dance was held by the Cojonino, at which these Hopi were present. During the night a
long pole, having the tail of an eagle fastened to the end, was brought out and securely
planted in the ground, and the dancers were told by their shamans that anyone who could
climb this pole and put his mouth on the tail would see his dead mother (maternal ancestor).
One man succeeded in climbing it and laid his mouth on the feathers, and then fell to the
bottom in a state of collapse. They deemed him dead, but before dawn he recovered and then
said that he had seen his dead mother and several other dead ancestors, who told him they
were all on their way back. The Hopi on their return home related these marvels, but
apparently it made little impression, and it was only with difficulty I could gather the above
meager details.

Through the kindness of Mr Thomas V. Keam, trader for the Hopi and
Navaho, we get a revision of Pütci’s story. Pütci states that in July, 1891, he
with three other Hopi went on a visit to the Cohonino to trade for
buckskins. When they arrived in the vicinity of the Cohonino camp, they
were met by one of the tribe, who informed the visitors that all the Indians
were engaged in a very important ceremony, and that before they could
enter the camp they must wash their bodies and paint them with white clay.
Accordingly, when this had been done, they were escorted to the camp and

introduced to the principal chief and headmen, all of whom they found
engaged in washing their heads, decorating themselves, and preparing for
the ceremony, which took place on a clear space near the camp late in the
afternoon. Here a very tall straight pole had been securely fastened upright
in the ground. At the top were tied two eagle-tail feathers. A circle was
formed around this pole by the Indians, and, after dancing around it until
almost dark, one of the men climbed the pole to the top, and remained there
until exhausted, when he would slide to the ground, clinging insensible to
the pole. After remaining in this state for some time, the medicine-men
resuscitated him. On recovery he stood up and told them he had been into
another world, where he saw all the old men who had died long ago, and
among them his own people. They told him they would all come back in
time and bring the deer, the antelope, and all other good things they had
when they dwelt on this earth. This ceremony lasted four days, including
the cleansing and decorating of the dancers and the climbing of the pole,
with an account of what had been seen by the Indian during the time he was
in an apparently lifeless state. Each day the ceremony was attended by the
whole tribe. (Keam, 1.) Resuscitation by the medicine-men, as here
mentioned, is something unknown among the prairie tribes, where the
unconscious subject is allowed to lie undisturbed on the ground until the
senses return in the natural way.
Beyond the Cohonino, and extending for about 200 miles along Colorado
river on the Arizona side, are the associated tribes of Mohave, Walapai, and
Chemehuevi, numbering in all about 2,800 souls, of whom only about one-
third are on a reservation. The Chemehuevi, being a branch of the Paiute
and in constant communication with them, undoubtedly had the dance and
the doctrine. The Mohave also have much to do with the Paiute, the two
tribes interchanging visits and mutually borrowing songs and games. They
sent delegates to the messiah and in all probability took up the Ghost dance,
in spite of the agent’s statement to the contrary. As only 660 of more than
2,000 Mohave are reported as being on the reservation, the agent may have
a good reason for not keeping fully informed in regard to them.
Concerning the Walapai we have positive information. In September,
1890, the commanding officer at Fort Whipple was informed that a Paiute
from southern Utah was among the Walapai, inciting them to dance for the
purpose of causing hurricanes and storms to destroy the whites and such

Indians as would not participate in the dances. It was stated also that these
dances had then been going on for several months and were participated in
by a large portion of the tribe, and that each dance lasted four or five nights
in succession. On investigation it appeared that this Paiute was one of a
party who had come down and inaugurated the Ghost dance among the
Walapai the preceding year. (G. D., 17.)
We find an account of the Walapai Ghost dance in a local paper a year
later. The article states that all the songs were in the language of the Paiute,
from whom the doctrine had originally come. The Walapai version of the
doctrine has been already noted. The dance itself, and the step, as here
described, are essentially the same as among other tribes. Each dance lasted
five nights, and on the last night was kept up until daylight. Just before
daylight on the morning of the last night the medicine men ascended a small
butte, where they met and talked with the expected god, and on coming
down again delivered his message to the people. The dance was held at
irregular intervals, according to the instructions received on the butte by the
medicine-men.
The dance place was a circular piece of ground a hundred feet in
diameter, inclosed by a fence of poles and bushes, and surrounded by high
mountain walls of granite, which reflected the light from half a dozen fires
blazing within the circle. The dancers, to the number of 200, clad in white
robes with fancy trimmings, their faces and hair painted white in various
decorative designs, moved slowly around in a circle, keeping time with a
wild chant, while 200 more stood or crouched around the fires, awaiting
their turn to participate. The dancers faced toward the center, each holding
the hands of the ones next to him and joining in the chant in unison. The
dust issued in clouds from beneath their feet, and with the dust and exertion
together the performers were soon exhausted and dropped out, when others
took their places. After each circuit they rested a few minutes and then
started round again. At each circuit a different chant was sung, and thus the
dance continued until midnight, when, with a loud clapping of hands, it
ended, and the people separated and went to their homes. Throughout the
performance two or three chiefs or medicine-men were constantly going
about on the outside of the circle to preserve order and reprimand any
merriment, one of them explaining to the visitors that, as this was a
religious ceremony, due solemnity must be observed. (J. F. L., 2.)

Chapter XII
THE GHOST DANCE EAST OF THE ROCKIES
—AMONG THE SIOUX
In 1889 the Ogalala heard that the son of God had come upon earth in the west. They said
the Messiah was there, but he had come to help the Indians and not the whites, and it made
the Indians happy to hear this.—George Sword.
They signed away a valuable portion of their reservation, and it is now occupied by white
people, for which they have received nothing. They understood that ample provision would
be made for their support; instead, their supplies have been reduced and much of the time
they have been living on half and two-thirds rations. Their crops, as well as the crops of
white people, for two years have been almost a total failure. The disaffection is widespread,
especially among the Sioux, while the Cheyennes have been on the verge of starvation and
were forced to commit depredations to sustain life. These facts are beyond question, and the
evidence is positive and sustained by thousands of witnesses.—General Miles.

Among the tribes east of the mountains and north of Oklahoma, it
appears from official documents in the Indian Office and from other
obtainable information that the Ghost dance and the doctrine, if known at
all, were never accepted by the Blackfeet of Montana; the Ojibwa of Turtle
mountain and Devils lake in North Dakota, or by the rest of the tribe farther
to the east in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan; the Omaha, Winnebago,
and Ponka in Nebraska; the small band of Sauk and Fox in Iowa; the still
smaller band of Sauk and Fox, the Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Iowa, and
Ojibwa in northeastern Kansas; or by the Sioux of Devils lake in North
Dakota, Lake Traverse (Sisseton agency) and Flandreau in South Dakota,
and Santee agency in Nebraska. All or most of these Sioux belong to the
Santee or eastern division of the tribe, and have long been under civilizing
influences. According to official statements the dance was not taken up by
any of the Sioux of Crow Creek or Yankton agencies in South Dakota, but
they were certainly more or less affected by it, as they knew all about it and
are in constant communication with the wilder bands of Sioux which were
concerned in the outbreak. I was informed by the Omaha and Winnebago in
1891 that they had been told of the new messiah by visiting Sioux from

Pine Ridge agency in April, 1890, and later on by other Sioux from Yankton
agency, but had put no faith in the story, and had never organized a Ghost
dance. According to the agent in charge, the Crow of Montana were not
affected. This, if true, is remarkable, in view of the fact that the Crow are a
large tribe and comparatively primitive, and have living near them the
wildest of the Ghost-dancing tribes, the northern Cheyenne especially
occupying practically the same reservation. It is possible that their
experience in the Sword-bearer affair in 1887, already mentioned, had a
tendency to weaken their faith in later prophets. Dr George Bird Grinnell, a
competent authority, states, in reply to a personal letter, that nothing was
known about the dance by the Blackfeet of Montana or by the Blackfeet,
Sarsi, or Plains Cree on the Canadian side of the boundary line.
Within the same general region, east of the Rocky mountains and north of
Oklahoma, the doctrine and the dance were accepted by the Asiniboin (Fort
Belknap and Fort Peck agencies), Grosventres (Arapaho subtribe, Fort
Belknap agency), northern Cheyenne of Montana; the Arikara, Grosventres
(Minitari), and Mandan of Fort Berthold agency, North Dakota; the
Shoshoni and northern Arapaho on Wind River reservation in Wyoming, as
already mentioned; and by the great body of the Sioux, at Fort Peck agency
(Yanktonais), Montana, and at Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Lower
Brulé, Pine Ridge, and Rosebud agencies in North Dakota and South
Dakota. The whole number of Sioux concerned was about 20,000, of whom
16,000 belonged to the Teton division, among the wildest and most warlike
of all the western tribes. A few Cheyenne are also associated with the Sioux
at Pine Ridge.
The northern Arapaho and the Shoshoni of Wyoming were the medium
by which the doctrine of the new messiah was originally communicated to
all these tribes. In the spring of 1889, Nakash, “Sage,” the Arapaho chief
already mentioned, crossed the mountains to investigate the reports of the
new religion, and brought back a full confirmation of all that had been told
them from the west. A visiting Grosventre, then among the Arapaho, heard
the story and brought back the wonderful news to the Grosventres and
Asiniboin of Fort Belknap, but although his account was received by some
with unquestioning faith, the excitement had in it nothing of a dangerous
character. (G. D., 18.)

In a short time the news spread to the Cheyenne in Montana and the
Sioux of the Dakotas, and in the fall of 1889 delegates from these two tribes
arrived at Fort Washakie to learn more about the messiah in the west. The
principal Cheyenne delegate was Porcupine, while Short Bull and Kicking
Bear were the leaders of the Sioux party. After hearing the statements of the
Arapaho and Shoshoni, it was decided that some of the Cheyenne should
return and report to their tribe, while Porcupine and one or two others, with
the Sioux delegates, several Shoshoni, and the Arapaho, Sitting Bull, and
Friday, should go to Nevada, interview the messiah himself, and learn the
whole truth of the matter. Accordingly, about November, 1889, Porcupine
and his companions left Fort Washakie in Wyoming for Fort Hall
reservation in Idaho, where they met the Shoshoni and Bannock and were
well received and entertained by them. The tribes at this place were firm
believers in the new doctrine, and Porcupine states that from there on to the
end of the journey all the Indians they met were dancing the Ghost dance.
After stopping a few days at Fort Hall, they went on again, accompanied by
several Bannock and Shoshoni, and going rapidly by railroad soon found
themselves in the country of the Paiute, and after stopping at one or two
camps arrived at the agency at Pyramid lake. Here the Paiute furnished
them conveyances and guides to the other agency farther south at Walker
river. Porcupine is our principal authority for the events of the trip, and
although he claims that he undertook this journey of a thousand miles
without any definite purpose or destination in view, it is evident enough
from his own narrative that he left Wyoming with the fixed intention of
verifying the rumors of a messiah. He has much to say of the kindness of
the whites they met west of the mountains, who, it will be remembered,
were largely Mormons, who have always manifested a special interest in the
Indians. He also states that many of the whites took part with the Indians in
the dance.
They were now in the messiah’s country. “The Fisheaters, near Pyramid
lake, told me that Christ had appeared on earth again. They said Christ
knew he was coming; that eleven of his children were also coming from a
far land. It appeared that Christ had sent for me to go there, and that was
why, unconsciously, I took my journey. It had been foreordained. Christ had
summoned myself and others from all heathen tribes. There were more
different languages than I had ever heard before, and I did not understand
any of them.” The delegation of which Porcupine was a member was

probably the one mentioned by the agent in charge at Pyramid lake as
having arrived in the spring of 1890, and consisting of thirty-four Indians of
different tribes. (G. D., 19.)
In a few days preparations were made for a great dance near Walker lake,
with all the delegates from the various tribes and hundreds of Indians in
attendance. They danced two nights or longer, the messiah himself—
Wovoka—coming down from his home in Mason valley to lead the
ceremony. After the dance Wovoka went into a trance, and on awaking
announced to those assembled that he had been to the other world and had
seen the spirits of their dead friends and of his own father and mother, and
had been sent back to teach the people. According to Porcupine he claimed
to be the returned Christ and bore on his body the scars of the crucifixion.
He told them that the dead were to be resurrected, and that as the earth was
old and worn out it would be renewed as it used to be and made better; that
when this happened the youth of everyone would be renewed with each
return of spring, and that they would live forever; that there would be
universal peace, and that any tribe that refused his message would be
destroyed from the face of the earth.
It was early in the spring of 1890 when Porcupine and his Cheyenne
companions returned to their tribe at Tongue River agency in Montana with
the news of the appearance of the messiah. A council was called and
Porcupine made a full report of the journey and delivered the divine
message, talking five days in succession. The report aroused the wildest
excitement among the Cheyenne, and after several long debates on the
subject the Ghost dance was inaugurated at the various camps in accordance
with the instructions from beyond the mountains. In June the matter came to
the attention of the military officer on the reservation, who summoned
Porcupine before him and obtained from him a full account of the journey
and the doctrine. (See page 793.) Porcupine insisted strongly on the sacred
character of the messiah and his message, and challenged any doubters to
return with him to Nevada and investigate for themselves. He claimed also
that the messiah could speak all languages. As a matter of fact, Wovoka
speaks only his native Paiute and a little English, but due allowance must be
made for the mental exaltation of the narrator.
Grinnell states that the failure of certain things to happen according to the
predictions of the messiah, in September, 1890, caused a temporary loss of

faith on the part of the Cheyenne, but that shortly afterward some visiting
Shoshoni and Arapaho from Wyoming reported that in their journey as they
came over they had met a party of Indians who had been dead thirty or forty
years, but had been resurrected by the messiah, and were now going about
as if they had never died. It is useless to speculate on the mental condition
of men who could seriously report or believe such things; but, however that
may be, the result was that the Cheyenne returned to the dance with
redoubled fervor. (J. F. L., 5.)
The Sioux first heard of the messiah in 1889. According to the statement
of Captain George Sword, of that tribe, the information came to the Ogalala
(Sioux of Pine Ridge) in that year, through the Shoshoni and Arapaho. Later
in the same year a delegation consisting of Good Thunder and several
others started out to the west to find the messiah and to investigate the truth
of the rumor. On their return they announced that the messiah had indeed
come to help the Indians, but not the whites. Their report aroused a fervor
of joyful excitement among the Indians and a second delegation was sent
out in 1890, consisting of Good Thunder, Cloud Horse, Yellow Knife, and
Short Bull. They confirmed the report of the first delegation, and on this
assurance the Ghost dance was inaugurated among the Sioux at Pine Ridge
in the spring of 1890.
The matter is stated differently and more correctly by William Selwyn, an
educated Sioux, at that time employed as postmaster at Pine Ridge. He says
there was some talk on the subject by Indians from western tribes who
visited the agency in the fall of 1888 (?), but that it did not excite much
attention until 1889, when numerous letters concerning the new messiah
were received by the Indians at Pine Ridge from tribes in Utah, Wyoming,
Montana, Dakota, and Oklahoma. As Selwyn was postmaster, the Indians
who could not read usually brought their letters to him to read for them, so
that he was thus in position to get accurate knowledge of the extent and
nature of the excitement. It may be remarked here that, under present
conditions, when the various tribes are isolated upon widely separated
reservations, the Ghost dance could never have become so widespread, and
would probably have died out within a year of its inception, had it not been
for the efficient aid it received from the returned pupils of various eastern
government schools, who conducted the sacred correspondence for their
friends at the different agencies, acted as interpreters for the delegates to the

messiah, and in various ways assumed the leadership and conduct of the
dance.
In the fall of 1889, at a council held at Pine Ridge by Red Cloud, Young
Man Afraid, Little Wound, American Horse, and other Sioux chiefs, a
delegation was appointed to visit the western agencies to learn more about
the new messiah. The delegates chosen were Good Thunder, Flat Iron,
Yellow Breast, and Broken Arm, from Pine Ridge; Short Bull and another
from Rosebud, and Kicking Bear from Cheyenne River agency. They
started on their journey to the west, and soon began to write from
Wyoming, Utah, and beyond the mountains, confirming all that had been
said of the advent of a redeemer. They were gone all winter, and their return
in the spring of 1890 aroused an intense excitement among the Sioux, who
had been anxiously awaiting their report. All the delegates agreed that there
was a man near the base of the Sierras who said that he was the son of God,
who had once been killed by the whites, and who bore on his body the scars
of the crucifixion. He had now returned to punish the whites for their
wickedness, especially for their injustice toward the Indians. With the
coming of the next spring (1891) he would wipe the whites from the face of
the earth, and would then resurrect all the dead Indians, bring back the
buffalo and other game, and restore the supremacy of the aboriginal race.
He had before come to the whites, but they had rejected him. He was now
the God of the Indians, and they must pray to him and call him “father,” and
prepare for his awful coming. Selwyn’s account of this delegation, which
was accompanied by representatives of several other tribes, including
Porcupine the Cheyenne, and Sitting Bull the Arapaho, agrees with the
statements of the Arapaho as given in chapter xiv. Three of the Sioux
delegates found their way to Umatilla reservation in Oregon and remained
there several days discussing the new doctrine. (Comr., 30—Dorchester,
529.)
The delegates made their report at Pine Ridge in April, 1890. A council
was at once called to discuss the matter, but Selwyn informed the agent,
Colonel Gallagher, who had Good Thunder and two others arrested and
imprisoned. They were held in confinement two days, but refused to talk
when questioned. The intended council was not held, but soon afterward
Kicking Bear returned from a visit to the northern Arapaho in Wyoming
with the news that those Indians were already dancing, and could see and

talk with their dead relatives in the trance. The excitement which the agent
had thought to smother by the arrest of the leaders broke out again with
added strength. Red Cloud himself, the great chief of the Ogalala, declared
his adhesion to the new doctrine and said his people must do as the messiah
had commanded. Another council was called on White Clay creek, a few
miles from Pine Ridge agency, and the Ghost dance was formally
inaugurated among the Sioux, the recent delegates acting as priests and
leaders of the ceremony.
As the result of all he could learn, Selwyn, in November, 1890, warned
the agent in charge of Yankton agency that the Indians intended a general
outbreak in the spring. Six months earlier, and before Porcupine’s statement
had been made to the officer at Camp Crook, a letter dated May 29, 1890,
had been addressed to the Interior Department from a citizen of Pierre,
South Dakota, stating that the Sioux, or a portion of them, were secretly
planning for an outbreak in the near future. This was the first intimation of
trouble ahead. (G. D., 20.)
Wonderful things were said of the messiah by the returned delegates. It
was claimed that he could make animals talk and distant objects appear
close at hand, and that he came down from heaven in a cloud. He conjured
up before their eyes a vision of the spirit world, so that when they looked
they beheld an ocean, and beyond it a land upon which they saw “all the
nations of Indians coming home,” but as they looked the vision faded away,
the messiah saying that the time had not yet come. Curiously enough,
although he came to restore the old life, he advised his hearers to go to
work and to send their children to school. Should the soldiers attempt to
harm him, he said he need only stretch out his arms and his enemies would
become powerless, or the ground would open and swallow them. On their
way home if they should kill a buffalo—the messiah had evidently not read
Allen’s monograph—they must cut off its head and tail and feet and leave
them on the ground and the buffalo would come to life again. They must
tell their people to follow his instructions. Unbelievers and renegade
Indians would be buried under the new earth which was to come upon the
old. They must use the sacred red and white paint and the sacred grass
(possibly sagebrush) which he gave them, and in the spring, when the green
grass came, their people who were gone before would return, and they
would see their friends again.