Dancing for Restoration - American History, 1493-1945

The Ghost Dance Religion of 1889-1890

November 1890

View the letter from Arthur Hartstuff to "my darling little girl" about the preparations for war in the resource

The Ghost Dance was a religious movement that gained widespread popularity with Indigenous Peoples of the U.S. around 1890, and was adopted into the belief system of many tribes. The practice and its rising popularity made white Americans extremely anxious and the Indigenous Peoples were issued repeated warnings to stop. When they did not, the United States Army was deployed. Tension was high between the two sides and came to a head with the bloody Wounded Knee Massacre.

Writing from Pine River Indian Agency, South Dakota Army Doctor Arthur Hartstuff found himself in the center of the Ghost Dance tensions when he wrote this letter to his young daughter in 1890. In the letter, he blames “a messiah dance” which had “taken root, particularly among the Sioux” for recent trouble, including the United States Army’s sudden call to arms. His following letters document the unfolding events as tensions rose between the Sioux and the U.S. Army.

For the Indigenous Peoples, the Ghost Dance was an inherently peaceful religion. Many communities were facing extreme suffering, their populations being drastically reduced by Europeans and facing starvation as a result of the reservation land they expected to farm being largely baron. Little help or sympathy was being offered by the Indian Agencies or the White population who largely believed them to be “lazy Indians”. The Prophet of the Ghost Dace, Wovoka, or Jack Wilson, preached that he had been given a message by God, and that if the dance was performed correctly by every Indigenous Person in the west then all the evils of the world would be swept away, leaving food, love and faith. “Evil” included the White population, whom Wovoka believed would be wiped out by a giant earthquake.

The religion spread amongst the communities as delegates sent to investigate returned home converted. The movement galvanized in numbers up to the tens of thousands in a non-violent practice. Although it took many different forms as it spread around, the principle message was that of a restoration of the old ways of Indigenous living. It offered hope and meant a return to religious practices taking a central role in everyday life.

However, the Ghost Dance was viewed by White Americans as a political or religious-political movement and the sight of the Indigenous People performing it scared them. The Bureau of Indian Affairs forced Kicking Bear, the alleged leader of the Ghost Dance to leave Standing Rock but the Ghost Dances continued. Next, Agent James McLaughlin accused spiritual leader Siting Bull of being the real leader, and called for United States Army troops. An attempt was made to arrest Sitting Bull which resulted in his death.

The issue came to a head on the 29 December 1890 when officials attempted to collect weapons from a group of Sioux camped by the Pine River. Members of the Seventh Cavalry clashed with Big Foot and his followers, killing 146 including Big Foot himself. In a later letter dated 31 December, Hartstuff describes his field hospital as full of the dead and dying and reports that upwards of 100 Indigenous women and children have sought refuge at the Agency.

After this, the practice of the Ghost Dance largely declined amongst the Lakota’s, for fear of further violent repercussions.