Chapter XII: Appendix: The Mormons and the Indians (1)

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.