The Story of Wounded Knee

2623 Words6 Pages

“What have the ‘hostiles done? It seems to be so far a white man’s war” (Qtd. in Hines 30). The Indians that were killed at Wounded Knee committed no crime on their reservation in the time before the battle (Hines 36), they only practiced religion. The Ghost Dance movement resulted in a massacre at Wounded Knee which had a lasting impact on many people.

The religion of the Ghost Dance started with a man named Wovoka. On January 1, 1889, he had a ‘vision’ during a solar eclipse in Nevada (Peterson 27). It brought a message of hope to the oppressed Indians of only the Indians living. The Indians called Wovoka the ‘Messiah’ (“The Ghost Dance” par. 1) and it was believed that he would bring a “day of deliverance” (Phillips 16) to the Indians. The messiah was said to return to the earth so that all the white men would vanish and the buffalo and their ancestors would return (Peterson 27). Wovoka’s vision was that:

Indians who danced the Ghost Dance would rise up into the sky while God covered the white man with a new earth. Then the Ghost Dancers would join their ancestors in a land filled with buffalo and game. The water would be sweet, the grass would be green, and there would be no white men. (“The Ghost Dance” par. 5)

The Indians who took part of this ritual would fast and take sweat baths. After, everyone painted their face and threaded eagle feathers in their hair. They wore muslin shirts depicting eagle feathers, crows and other meaningful symbols (Peterson 27). Some believed that these shirts called Ghost Shirts would be able to deflect bullets (Robertson par. 2). A medicine man said before the massacre that, “The prairie is large, and their bullets will fly over the prairies and will not come toward us. If...

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...ressing the Issue at Wounded Knee." Wild West 23.4 (2010): 28-36. History Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.

Koster, John. "Sioux Agent Daniel F. Royer Saw Dancing and Panicked." Wild West 23.4 (2010): 24. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Peterson, Nancy M. "Wounded at Wounded Knee." Wild West 17.2 (2004): 22-30. History Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Phillips, Charles. "December 29, 1890." American History 40.5 (2005): 16. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.

Robertson, Paul M. "Wounded Knee Massacre, 1890." Encyclopedia of North American Indians (Houghton Mifflin). 694-697. US: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1996. History Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Smith, Gene. "Lost Bird." American Heritage 47.2 (1996): 38. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.

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