The Ghost-dance religion and the Sioux outbreak of 1890 : $b Fourteenth annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology, part 2.Mooney, James
Religion
The Ghost-dance religion and the Sioux outbreak of 1890 : $b Fourteenth annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology, part 2.
Mooney, James
Dakota Indians -- Wars, 1890-1891; Ghost dance
In forwarding this report to Congress the Department called special
attention to the above-quoted statements of the commission and said:
“The commission further remarks that as to the quality of the rations
furnished there seems to be no just cause for complaint, but that it
was particularly to be avoided that there should be any diminution of
the rations promised under the former treaties at this time, as the
Indians would attribute it to their assent to the bill. Such diminution
certainly should not be allowed, as the government is bound in good
faith to carry into effect the former treaties where not directly and
positively affected by the act, and if under the provisions of the
treaty itself the ration is at any time reduced, the commissioners
recommend that the Indians should be notified before spring opens, so
that crops may be cultivated. It is desirable that the recent reduction
made should be restored, as it is now impossible to convince the
Indians that it was not due to the fact that the government, having
obtained their lands, had less concern in looking after their material
interests.”
Notwithstanding this plea of the commission and of the Department, the
appropriation made for the subsistence and civilization of the Sioux
for 1890 was only $950,000, or $50,000 less than the amount estimated
and appropriated for 1888 and 1889, and the appropriation not having
been made until August 19, rations had to be temporarily purchased and
issued in limited quantities pending arrival of new supplies to be
secured from that appropriation. It was not until January, 1891, after
the troubles, that an appropriation of $100,000 was made by Congress
for additional beef for the Sioux.
Seventh. Other promises made by the Sioux commission and the agreement
were not promptly fulfilled; among them were increase of appropriations
for education, for which this office had asked an appropriation of
$150,000; the payment of $200,000 in compensation for ponies taken from
the Sioux in 1876 and 1877; and the reimbursement of the Crow Creek
Indians for a reduction made in their per capita allowance of land,
as compared with the amount allowed other Sioux, which called for an
appropriation of $187,039. The fulfillment of all these promises except
the last named was contained in the act of January 19, 1891.
Eighth. In 1889 and 1890 epidemics of la grippe, measles, and whooping
cough, followed by many deaths, added to the gloom and misfortune which
seemed to surround the Indians.
Ninth. The wording of the agreement changed the boundary line between
the Rosebud and Pine Ridge diminished reservations and necessitated a
removal of a portion of the Rosebud Indians from the lands which, by
the agreement, were included in the Pine Ridge reservation to lands
offered them in lieu thereof upon the diminished Rosebud reserve. This,
although involving no great hardship to any considerable number, added
to the discontent.
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