Maddra, Sam Ann (2002) 'Hostiles': the Lakota Ghost Dance and the 1891-92 tour of Britain by ...

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Maddra, Sam Ann (2002) 'Hostiles': the Lakota Ghost Dance and the
1891-92 tour of Britain by Buffalo Bill's Wild West.

PhD thesis

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`Hostiles': The Lakota Ghost Dance 1891-92
and the
Tour of Britain by Buffalo Bill's Wild West.
Vol. I
Sam Ann Maddra
Ph. D. Thesis
Department of Modern History
Faculty of Arts
University Glasgow
of
December 2002
Abstract.
This dissertation concentrates on both the Lakota Ghost Dance of 1890 and on Buffalo Bill's
Wild West from 1890 through to 1892, exploring the nature, the significance and the
consequence of their interaction at this particularly crucial time in American Indian history.
The association of William F. Cody's Wild West with the Lakota Ghost Dance has produced
evidence that offers a new insight into the religion in South Dakota. Furthermore, it questions
the traditional portrayal of the Lakota Ghost Dance, which maintains that the leaders
`perverted' Wovoka's doctrine of peace into one of war. It is clear that this traditional
interpretation has been based upon primary source material derived from the testimony of
those who had actively worked to suppress the religion. In contrast sources narrated by Short
Bull, a prominent Lakota Ghost Dancer, demonstrate that it had been a peaceful religion
combining white religion and culture with traditional Lakota ones, and as such was an example
Lakota
of accommodation.
At the same time as the Ghost Dance was sweeping across the western Indian reservations,
Buffalo Bill's Wild West faced a crisis over its continued success. When William F. Cody and
his Wild West's Indian performers were forced to return from their tour of Continental
Europe to refute charges of mistreatment and neglect, they became involved in the suppression
of the Lakota Ghost Dance. In consequence those Ghost Dancers removed and confined to
Fort Sheridan, Illinois were then released into Cody's custody. Ironically, the closest these
Ghost Dancers got to armed rebellion was when they played the role of `Hostiles' in the Wild
West's arena.
This research reveals some of the different forms of accommodation employed by the Lakota to
deal with the demands of the dominant society at the close of the nineteenth century. The
Ghost Dance and the Wild West shows presented the Lakota with various alternatives to the
dependency that the government's Indian policy had brought about, while also enabling them
to retain their Indian identity. As such Indian policymakers viewed both the Ghost Dance and
the Wild West shows to be a threat to their programmes of assimilation, which they perceived
to be the Indians only route towards independence.
Acknowledgements.
I would like to extend my gratitude to all that have funded my work, either through
funding for specific research trips or for more general purposes: University of Glasgow
Postgraduate Scholarship, Faculty of Arts, University of Glasgow; Phillips Fund for Native
American Research, American Philosophical Society; Garlow Memorial Fund, Buffalo Bill
Historical Center; Glasgow Educational Marshall Trust Schemes, Glasgow; Marcus
and
Cunliffe Short Tenn. Travel Award, British Association American Studies; Research
of
Support Award, University Glasgow's Graduate School Arts Humanities;
of of and
Financial Assistance for Postgraduate Students, School History & Archaeology,
of
University of Glasgow; The Principal, Professor Sir Graeme Davies Discretionary
Fund, University of Glasgow; The Vice-Principal, Professor Drummond Bone,
University of Glasgow; The Department of History, University of Glasgow; The
Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies, University of Glasgow; The Dean of the
Faculty of Arts, University of Glasgow.
Grateful thanks are also extended to those who have assisted me in my research in the
following Archives II, Maryland; Art Gallery Museum, Kelvingrove,
archives: and
Glasgow; British Library Newspaper Library, Collindale, London; Buffalo Bill
Museum Grave, Lookout Mountain, Golden, Colorado; Denver Public Library,
and
Western History Collection, Denver, Colorado; Federal Archives Record Center,
and
Kansas City, Missouri; Glasgow Room, Mitchell Library, Glasgow; National Archives
Record Administration, Washington DC; South Dakota State Historical Society,
and
Pierre, South Dakota; Wyoming State Archives, Cheyenne, Wyoming. With
particular thanks to Paul Fees, Lynn Houze, Ann Marie Donoghue, and all the staff in
the McCraken Research Library, at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody,
Wyoming. I would also like to offer my gratitude to Antonia Lovelace and Mark
O'Neill of Glasgow Museums who were instrumental in supporting and encouraging
my work in its initial stages.
I am indebted to my supervisors, Professor Simon Newman and Dr Phillips O'Brien,
who have been unstinting in their support and advice, and both Alison Peden and
Ann Gow of the University of Glasgow also deserve grateful thanks. Many colleagues
and friends have given support and advice over the years, which has been invaluable
and greatly appreciated. Last but by no means least, for their patience, understanding,
and constant support I would like to thank my family, Rob, Rosie and Tricia.
2
Table Contents.
of
List of Illustrations. 3
8
Introduction
One: Background and context 34
Two: The Ghost Dance Lakota 57
religion as accommodation
Three: From accommodation to resistance, with the invasion of the US
92
military
Four: Controversy over Buffalo Bill's use of Indian performers in his Wild
West 125
exhibition
Five: How the suppression of the Lakota Ghost Dance saved Buffalo Bill's
Wild West 161
Six: The 1891/92 tour of Britain by Buffalo Bill's Wild West and the show's
treatment of the Lakota Ghost Dance 203
Seven: Perceptions of 'the other' during the Wild West's tour of Britain 241
Eight: The Indians' experiences on the British tour 281
Nine: Return to America and thereafter 317
Conclusion 355
Bibliography 371
3
List Illustrations.
of
Illustrations following Chapter One.
1. Kicking Bear. NS-93, photographer A. R. Dresser, Denver Public Library, Western
History Collection.
2. Map showing the Lakota reservations after the Sioux Act of 1889. Richard E.
Jensen et al., Eyewitness to Wounded Knee (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
1991)
X.
3. Short Bull. B-567, photographer D. F. Barry, Denver Public Library, Western
History Collection.
4. William F. Cody at Peephole. NS-687, Denver Public Library, Western History
Collection.
5. Nate Salsbury, Fred Remington, John M. Burke. NS-508, A. R.
photographer
Dresser, Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.
Illustrations following Chapter Two.
6. Big Foot. X-31424, C. G. Moreledge, Denver Public Library,
photographer
Western History Collection.
7. `Burial of Dead, Wounded Knee. ' X-31292, photographer Northwestern Co.,
Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.
8. Indian Police on Drill, Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota. X-31356, photographer
C. G. Moreledge, Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.
9. George Crager at Pine Ridge Agency January 1891. Detail from John C. H. Grabill
photograph, Library of Congress, LCUSZ62-17608.
10. Map showing Lakota delegates journey to see Wovoka.
Illustrations following Chapter Three.
11. `A Prayer of Short Bull and his Adherents before the Ghost Dance, ' by Short Bull,
before 1909. Hamburgisches Museum für Völkerkunde, No. 790: 10
cat.
(Weygold Collection).
4
12. Map showing how the new boundary line divided the Pine Ridge and Rosebud
reservations. Taken from the U. S. Secretary of War, Annual Report, 1891
(Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1891).
13. Nineteen of the Lakota Ghost Dance Prisoners at Fort Sheridan. Unidentified
photographer, courtesy of Colorado Historical Society, F-2562 10028432.
14. Two illustrations from the Chicago Daily Tribune, January 28 1891, depicting Short
Bull and Kicking Bear arriving in Chicago, and the Guard on the train
transporting the Ghost Dance prisoners to Chicago. The British Library
Newspaper Library.
Illustrations following Chapter Four.
15. Front page of George Crager's scrapbook, newspaper clippings and lock of hair
from the dead Kills Plenty. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY;
MS6. IX. Scrapbook. Box. 2.
16. Cartoon `Home Again, ' from the New York World, July 21 1890. The British
Library Newspaper Library.
17. Father Craft, No Neck, and George Crager, The New York Press, August 24 1890.
The British Library Newspaper Library.
Illustrations following Chapter Five.
18. Sitting Bull and William F. Cody. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY;
P. 69.1493.
19. `Indian Chiefs and US Officials, ' Pine Ridge, South Dakota, 16 January 1891.
Photograph by John C. H. Grabill, Library of Congress, LC USZ62 2468.
- -
20. `Scene of 1891, Battle of Wounded Knee. ' Buffalo Bill, Captain Frank D.
Baldwin, General Nelson A. Miles and Captain Marion P. Maus. X-31480,
Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.
21.1893 Buffalo Bill's Wild West programme photograph `The Fighting Chief,
Kicking Bear and Staff, Campaign 1891, Pine Ridge. ' Buffalo Bill Historical
Center, Cody, WY; MS6.6. A. 1.10.
5
Illustrations following Chapter Six.
22. Buffalo Bill and members of Wild West show on hillside at Waterloo, France,
1891. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY; P. 69.1117.1.
23. Detail from Buffalo Bill's Wild West poster `From Prairie to Palace, ' showing
1891-92 tour route of Britain. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY; Gift of
the Coe Foundation; 1.69.167.
24. Camp at Nottingham, 1891, from the 1893 programme of Buffalo Bill's Wild
West. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY; MS6.6. A. 1.10.
25. Native American men in front of tepee. NS-430, photographer A. R. Dresser,
Denver Public Library, Western History Collection.
26. Indians in Wild West Camp, Earls Court, London 1892. Buffalo Bill Historical
Center, Cody, WY; P. 69.987.
27. Illustration `Indian War Dance at Buffalo Bill's "Wild West, " Earls Court, ' drawn
by Charles Henckel, and published in Black and White, September 10,1892. The
British Library Newspaper Library.
28. Lower section of Buffalo Bill's Wild West publicity poster used in Leeds, 1891.
Library and Information Services, Leeds City Council.
29. Illustration of Kicking Bear and Short Bull by Charles Henckel, published in
Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Drawings From Life, 1891. Denver Public Library, Western
History Collection.
30. Oglala Chiefs, Pine Ridge Sioux Campaign, 1891. Buffalo Bill Historical
-
Center, Cody, WY; MS6.6. A. 1.10.
31. No Neck and Wounded Knee orphan, Young Cub or Cub Bear, also known as
`Little Johnny Burke No Neck. ' 137, Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave, Lookout
Mountain, Golden, Colorado.
32. Photograph of `Johnny Burke No Neck' that appeared in the 1891.92 programme
of Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY;
MS6.6A1.10.
33. Our Flag presented to nearly 3,000,000 people in London 1887 (sic 1892). NS-
499, photographer A. R. Dresser, Denver Public Library, Western History
Collection.