Chronology of American Indian History

P

Oklahoma. The federal government immediately
begins the process of allotting the reservations in
Oklahoma Territory so that any surplus lands can
be sold to whites. With the formation of Oklahoma
Territory, Indian Territory is reduced to the large
reservations of the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee,
Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole) and
several small reservations located in the extreme
northeastern corner of the region.

Summer

The Ghost Dance is introduced to the
Indians of the Plains.
Rumors of a messiah among the Northern Paiute
(Numu) inspire a group of Lakota Sioux to seek
out Wovoka, who claims to have traveled to heaven
during a vision (see entry for JANUARY 1, 1889).
Although Wovoka’s divine revelation told him that
Indians should cooperate with whites, the Lakota
bring home to their people a version of the Wovoka’s

“The whole world is coming.

A nation is coming, a nation is

coming.

The Eagle has brought the

message to the tribe.

The father says so, the father

says so.

Over the whole earth they are

coming.

The buffalo are coming, the

buffalo are coming,

The Crow has brought the

message to the tribe,

The father says so, the father

says so.”

—a Lakota Sioux Ghost Dance

song, recorded by anthropologist

James Mooney in 1892

new religion that prophesies the death of all whites,

the resurrection of their Indian ancestors, and the

revival of traditional Indian ways of life. The con-

verted begin to perform a version of the traditional

Paiute Round Dance, which becomes known as the

Ghost Dance.

The Ghost Dance movement quickly sweeps

the Plains, finding followers in many tribes, includ-

ing the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Shoshone, and Ute.

Demoralized by reservation life, crop failures, and

epidemic disease, eventually some 60,000 Indians

will adopt the religion. The enthusiastic reception

of the Ghost Dance frightens whites on the Plains,

who fear its teachings will inspire Indians to band

together and wage war against them. (See also en-

tries for OCTOBER 1890 and for DECEMBER 29,

1890.)

October

The Pine Ridge agent requests U.S. troops

to suppress the Ghost Dance.

The popularity of the Ghost Dance (see entry for

SUMMER 1890), particularly its prediction of death

for all whites, alarms Daniel F. Royer, the agent of

the Lakota Sioux’s Pine Ridge Reservation in South

Dakota. When reservation Indians ignore his orders

to stop dancing, he asks the U.S. government to

send soldiers to restore order.

December 15

Sitting Bull is murdered by Indian

police.

Amidst the panic caused by the Ghost Dance Re-

ligion (see entry for SUMMER 1890), government

officials fear that the great Lakota leader Sitting Bull

will lead the Ghost Dancers in a resistance move-

ment against whites. On the recommendation of

the commissioner of Indian affairs, the agent of the

Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, James

McLaughlin, orders Indian police to arrest Sitting

Bull so he can be confined to a military prison.

Some 100 U.S. troops from the Eighth Cavalry are

dispatched to support the reservation police force.