Wounded Knee:The Ties of Religion and Violence Essay -- Indian Religio

maimed Knee The Ties of Religion and Violence On the break of day of declination 29, 1890, many Sioux Indians (estimated at above two hundred) died at the turn over of the unify States Army near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The Indians were followers of the jot Dance religion, devised by Wovoka, a Paiute prophet, as a spiritual outlet for Indian repression by whites. The United States Army set out to intercept this group of Native Americans because they performed the controversial Ghost Dance. Both whites and the Siouxs misunderstanding of an originally peaceful Indian religion culminated in the Battle of Wounded Knee. This essay first shows how the Ghost Dance came about, its later adaptation by the Sioux, and whites fear and misunderstanding of the Dance, thus it appraises the U.S. militarys conduct during the conflict, and American newspaper coverage of events at Wounded Knee.The Ghost Dance prophet Wovoka was born in 1865 into the Paiute nation of Nevada. In his early twenties, Wovoka experienced a significant tuning chief in his life when he recovered from a coma at the same clock of a solar eclipse (Hittman 17). He had been deathlike ill with a severe fever that sent him into a coma. after recovering, Wovoka spoke of being transported to the spirit world and of speaking with the Great Spirit. Wovoka matte up he had been given special powers and sought to help the Indian population. as well known as Jack Wilson, Wovoka endured to unite the Indian nations with a content ofpatience, kindness, and love. The Indians desperately needed hope and guidance in a time of great depression and anguish. The Indians had been uprooted from their natural homes by the encroachment of white settlers on their lands. The con... ..., Call No. F96.A3795Last Days of the Sioux Nation, Robert M. Utley, 1961(ch. 11 & 12 contained in WKPub all pg numbers are in reference to that appearance)Some Phases of the young Indian War. Cited from Kerste tter, Spin Doctors at Santee Missionaries and the Dakota-Language Reporting of the Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee. Western Historical Quarterly 1997New York Times, A Fight with the Hostiles. December 30, 1890 p.1 c.4 New York Tribune, Fighting at Pine Ridge. January 1, 1891 p.1 c.3 The agent further states that academic term Bull is high priest and leading apostle of this latest Indian absurdity.- R.V. Belt, performing Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Oct. 24, 1890. If he fights, destroy him.- Fayette W. Roe, 1st Lieut. 3d Infty, A.D.C., in a letter to Maj. Whitside of the 7thCalvary, in reference to the Miniconjous chief Big Foot.