University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 12-2015 Intertribal Communication, Literacy, and the Spread of the Ghost Dance Justin Randolph Gage University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the History of Religion Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Gage, Justin Randolph, "Intertribal Communication, Literacy, and the Spread of the Ghost Dance" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 1418. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/1418 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Intertribal Communication, Literacy, and the Spread of the Ghost Dance A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Justin Randolph Gage University of Arkansas Bachelor of Arts in History and American Studies, 2004 University of Arkansas Master of Arts in History, 2006 December 2015 University of Arkansas This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. __________________________________ Dr. Beth Schweiger Dissertation Co-Director __________________________________ _________________________________ Dr. Elliott West Dr. Patrick Williams Dissertation Co-Director Committee Member ABSTRACT: During the 1880s, western Native Americans created networks of communication threaded together through postal correspondence and intertribal visitation among reservations. Through this network native groups cultivated intertribal relationships and exchanged ideas despite attempts by the United States government to separate, contain, and Americanize them. Frequent visits to other reservations, often over long distances, gave men and women a chance to share news and information, exchange religious and cultural traditions, and forge new intertribal bonds. Many Indians also used letter-writing to communicate with the world outside of their reserves in ways unanticipated by government policy makers. Thousands of Native Americans learned to read and write during the 1880s and then used this literacy, meant as a tool of assimilation, to strengthen their own cultures, preserve a measure of sovereignty, and express their thoughts outside of white control. In 1889 and 1890 these intertribal connections facilitated the spread of the ghost dance, a Native American religious movement, among dozens of tribes scattered across 800,000 square miles. Visitations and correspondence brought news of the dance out of the Great Basin, through the Rocky Mountains, and into northern and southern plains reservations. Tribes sent investigators, often on railroads, to determine the truth, and some proponents of the movement wrote or traveled to spread the news. Others wrote simply to inform their friends or relatives of what they knew about it all. Government officials tried to slow the dissemination of the movement by tightening visitation, arresting those traveling without permission, and eventually by censoring the mail, but communications and the spread of the movement continued. Following the massacre of Lakotas at Wounded Knee, communication among tribes continued, partly as a continuing effort to assess the ghost dance and partly to evaluate Indians’ place in the new arrangement of power. By examining in detail these emerging systems of communication and exchange, this dissertation reveals the beginnings of a Pan-Indian sense of common concerns as well as the shrewd use of both government programs, notably education, and the mechanisms of modernization, notably the railroads and postal system, to protect and preserve basic elements of traditional life. ©2015 by Justin Randolph Gage All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to express my gratitude to all of those who have helped me during my years at the University of Arkansas. After graduation, most students decide to pursue their graduate degrees at a different university, but I decided to complete my MA and PhD at Arkansas. I stayed in Fayetteville for many reasons, but most of all, I stayed because I knew that I would receive a world-class education in the state that I was from. The University of Arkansas has collected many remarkable historians in its History Department and those men and women have taught me a lot since I began the doctoral program nearly eight years ago. I hope this dissertation will be an example of the fine historical work that is produced in the state of Arkansas. The beginnings of this dissertation sprang out of a research seminar led by Elliott West and I can’t thank him enough for the guidance he has offered toward the completion of this study. I am very fortunate to have been his student. No other faculty member has offered me more of his valuable time than Patrick Williams. He directed my MA thesis, he has spent many hours editing my work (including this lengthy dissertation), and he has always mentored me with kindness and genuine interest. Finally, my path toward graduation would have been much more difficult without the help of Beth Schweiger. I want to thank Dr. Schweiger for being a model historian, active advisor, and a challenging teacher. I’d also like to thank a number of other professors I’ve had over the years, including Benjamin Grob-Fitzgibbon, David Chappell, Charles Robinson, Trish Starks, Michael Pierce, Richard Sonn, Jeannie Whayne, and Robert Cochran. I am also indebted to Jeanne Short, Brenda Foster, and Melinda Adams for all they have done for me and others in the History Department. Much of the research behind this dissertation could not have been possible without the help of folks at several libraries and archives. First, the Interlibrary Loan office at our Mullins Library have acquired over two hundred and twenty books, microfilm, etc. for me. Robin Roggio was very helpful with difficult acquisitions. I should also thank the staffs at the National Archives in Washington DC (especially Mary Francis Ronan), the National Archives in Kansas City (especially Jessica Hopkins), the National Archives in Denver (especially Marene Baker), and the Oklahoma Historical Society. I also owe thanks to the many others across the country who responded to my email queries. I am very grateful for the feedback provided by Rani- Henrik Andersson. He took the time to read a messy first draft of this dissertation during his vacation and he worked hard to translate a Lakota letter into English. I can’t thank him enough. I also thank my family for their love and support. My father, Steven Gage, and my mother, Gail Gage, always urged me to be curious and to learn. They did not expect me to still be learning as a graduate student in the year 2015 when they bought those World Book Encyclopedias for me thirty years ago, but they supported me nonetheless. My aunt, Donna Treat, has also been incredibly supportive. I owe much to my grandparents, Armella Treat and Harold Treat, especially for their financial support during my college years. I should also thank my brother, Jeremiah Gage, and his wife Ginger, for their help. They saved me the cost of a hotel on at least three research trips. Lastly, this dissertation exists only because of the love and support of my wife, Kristen. She bravely married me three years ago knowing that I had plenty of research and writing yet to do. And she has worked in the real world while I’ve spent countless hours on a project that has not been paying the bills. She encourages me and inspires me. DEDICATION In memory of my mother, Gail. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: “We Do Not Want the Gate Closed Between Us” 1 1. “If You Could Read and Write, I Should Be Very Happy”: Native Literacy 34 2. “Going to Get the Mail to It”: Writing to the White World 96 3. “We Want the Doors Left Open”: Intertribal Visiting 157 4. “Go and Tell All of the Tribes”: Communicating the Ghost Dance 219 5. “We Never Prayed for Anything But Happiness”: Making Sense of the Movement 291 6. “I See the New Land Coming”: Educated Dancers and the Friends of the Indian 355 Conclusion: “We Are All One People Now” 392 Bibliography 406 MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 1: Agencies Most Referenced in this Study, 1889 28 FIGURE 2: Selected Agencies, Circa 1890 33 FIGURE 3: Mandan Pictograph 38 FIGURE 4: Turtle-following-his-Wife to Little Man 39 FIGURE 5: Annual Appropriations Made by the Government for Support 48 of Indian Schools FIGURE 6: Number and Percentage of Indians Living on Dakota Reservations Enrolled 55 FIGURE 7: Average Attendance at Indian Schools in the Dakotas 56 FIGURE 8: Number of Indians Who Learned to Read Each Year, 1875-1887 59 FIGURE 9: Number of Indians Who Could Read in 1880 and 1889 60 FIGURE 10: Literacy Rates on Reservations, 1880 and 1889 61 FIGURE 11: Indians Reading in English and a Native Language in 1886 at 64 Various Agencies FIGURE 12: Literacy among Indians Living in the Dakotas, 1885 and 1886 66 FIGURE 13: Number of Post Offices by State or Territory, 1870-1889 72 FIGURE 14: Growth of Post Offices in Various States and Territories, 1870-1889 73 FIGURE 15: “Home of Chief Red Cloud,” Circa 1890 93 FIGURE 16: Origin of Indian Letters Sent to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1890 100 FIGURE 17: Known Visits Made With and Without Permission, 1889 167 FIGURE 18: Known Visits Made With and Without Permission, 1890 168 FIGURE 19: Western Rail Lines, Circa 1890 178 FIGURE 20: Railroad Pass Given to Crow Indians, 1888 180 FIGURE 21: “Omaha Dancers P.R. Agency, S.D. with painted war horse” 216 FIGURE 22: Great Basin Rail Lines and Nearby Reserves, 1890 223 FIGURE 23: Known Intertribal Visits Concerning the Ghost Dance, 1889-1889 230 FIGURE 24: Known Intertribal Visits Concerning the Ghost Dance, 1890-1891 231 FIGURE 25: Links of Correspondence Concerning the Ghost Dance, 1889-1894 296 INTRODUCTION “We also want permission to visit our friends at other Agencies, we do not want the gate closed between us.