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
officials in Canada, and it is doubtful if the movement would ever have
become formidable if it had not been incited and assisted from across
the line.
In the spring of 1807 it was estimated that at Fort Wayne fifteen
hundred Indians had recently passed that post on their way to visit
the prophet, while councils were constantly being held and runners
were going from tribe to tribe with pipes and belts of wampum. It
was plain that some uncommon movement was going on among them, and
it also was evident that the British agents had a hand in keeping up
the excitement. The government became alarmed, and the crisis came
when an order was sent from the President to Tecumtha at Greenville
to remove his party beyond the boundary of 1795 (the Greenville
treaty). Trembling with excitement, Tecumtha rose and addressed his
followers in a passionate speech, dwelling on the wrongs of the Indians
and the continued encroachments of the whites. Then, turning to the
messenger, he said, “These lands are ours. No one has a right to
remove us, because we were the first owners. The Great Spirit above
has appointed this place for us, on which to light our fires, and
here we will remain. As to boundaries, the Great Spirit above knows
no boundaries nor will his red children acknowledge any.” (_Drake,
Tecumseh, 3._) From this time it was understood that the Indians were
preparing to make a final stand for the valley of the Ohio. The prophet
continued to arouse their enthusiasm by his inspired utterances, while
Tecumtha became the general and active organizer of the warriors.
At a conference with the governor of Ohio in the autumn of 1807 he
fearlessly denied the validity of the former treaties, and declared his
intention to resist the further extension of the white settlements on
Indian lands.
The next spring great numbers of Indians came down from the lakes to
visit Tecumtha and his brother, who, finding their following increasing
so rapidly, accepted an invitation from the Potawatomi and Kickapoo,
and removed their headquarters to a more central location on the
Wabash. The Delaware and Miami, who claimed precedence in that region
and who had all along opposed the prophet and Tecumtha, protested
against this move, but without effect. The new settlement, which was on
the western bank of the river, just below the mouth of the Tippecanoe,
was known to the Indians as Kehtipaquononk, “the great clearing,” and
was an old and favorite location with them. It had been the site of
a large Shawano village which had been destroyed by the Americans in
1791, and some years later the Potawatomi had rebuilt upon the same
place, to which they now invited the disciples of the new religion.
The whites had corrupted the name to Tippecanoe, and it now generally
became known as the Prophet’s town.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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