Ghost Dance

They danced in loose shirts with designs on them which when asked by the white men what it meant; they replied that they were ghost shirts. The shirts were supposed to be bullet proof. This made the whites feel uneasy and very alarmed and made them wonder why the Indians would need armor. Indian agents tried to ban the dance but the Indians ignored the agents and moved away from the agencies. They began to ignore or reject official demands, and increasingly became more independent. .
             Many whites believed that a Sioux named Sitting Bull was behind the Religious movement. This was actually far from the truth because Sitting Bull wanted nothing to do with the Ghost Dance movement. He had tried the dance when Kicking Bear had brought it back from Nevada, and received no visions. Sitting Bull had said, "It is impossible for a dead man to return and live again". (Capps, 216) An Indian agent named James McLaughlin wrote, " The new religion was managed from the beginning, as far as the Standing Rock Sioux were concerned, by Sitting Bull, who having lost his former influence over the Sioux, planned to import and use it to reestablish himself in the leadership of the people, whom he might then lead in safety in any desperate enterprise which he might direct."Capps, 220).
             McLaughlin, who hated Sitting Bull, wanted to have him arrested. McLaughlin had received word that Sitting Bull wanted to make a visit to the Standing Rock Agency, he decide to make the arrest. He gave the job to a Indian agent named Henry Bull Head who was also a Sioux. On December 15, 1890 Henry Bull Head and 43 other agents went to make the arrest. (Brown. 437) When they got to Sitting Bulls cabin, Henry Bull Head burst through the door and told Sitting Bull he was under arrest. Sitting Bull defiantly said that he was not going and with that the Sioux who had gathered outside fired at Henry Bull Head. He was badly wounded but managed shoot Sitting Bull and killed him.