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
the loss of a single life or the commission by an Indian of a single
unlawful act. (_War, 10._)
The Sitting Bull fugitives who had not come in at once had fled
southward toward their friends and near relatives of Cheyenne River
reservation, and were camped on Cherry creek a few miles above its
junction with Cheyenne river at Cheyenne City. As their presence there
could serve only to increase the unrest among the other Indians in
that vicinity, and as there was great danger that they might attempt
to join those already in the Bad Lands, Captain Hurst, of the Twelfth
infantry, commanding at Fort Bennett, directed Lieutenant H. E. Hale
on December 18 to go out and bring them in. On arriving at Cheyenne
City the officer found it deserted, all the citizens excepting one man
having fled in alarm a short time before on the report of a half-blood
that the Sitting Bull Indians were coming and had sworn to kill the
first white man they met. Having succeeded in frightening the whole
population, the half-blood himself, Narcisse Narcelle, left at once for
the fort.
After some difficulty in finding anyone to assist him, Hale sent a
policeman to bring back Narcelle and sent out another Indian to learn
the situation and condition of the Indian camp. His only interpreter
for the purpose was Mr Angell, the single white man who had remained,
and who had learned some of the Sioux language during his residence
among them. While thus waiting, a report came that the Indians had
raided a ranch about 10 miles up the creek. Not hearing from his
scouts, the lieutenant determined to go alone and find the camp, and
was just about to start, when Hump, the late dangerous hostile, but now
an enlisted scout, rode in with the news that the Sitting Bull Indians
were approaching only a short distance away, and armed. Although from
the reports there was every reason to believe that they had just
destroyed a ranch and were now coming to attack the town, the officer,
with rare bravery, kept his determination to go out and meet them,
even without an interpreter, in the hope of preventing their hostile
purpose. Hump volunteered to go with him. The two rode out together and
soon came up with the Indians, who received them in a friendly manner.
There were 46 warriors in the party, besides women and children,
wagons and ponies. Says the officer: “I appreciated the importance of
the situation, but was absolutely powerless to communicate with the
Indians. I immediately formed the opinion that they could be easily
persuaded to come into the agency if I could but talk with them.
While I was trying by signs to make them understand what I wanted,
Henry Angell rode into the circle and took his place at my side. This
generous man had not liked the idea of my going among these Indians,
and from a true spirit of chivalry had ridden over to ‘see it out.’”
Verily, while such men as Ewers, Hale, and Angell live, the day of
chivalry is not gone by.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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