The last Lakota ghost dance before Wounded Knee

The Final Ghost Dance Before Wounded Knee

Stronghold Table in Badlands National Park was the site of one final desperate ceremony before everything changed forever.

In 1889, a Paiute prophet named Wovoka claimed the Great Spirit told him a sacred dance would bring back the dead and restore the buffalo.

Starving Lakota embraced this Ghost Dance, creating special shirts they believed would stop bullets. In December 1890, hundreds gathered on this remote mesa for what became their last sacred ceremony.

Days later, tensions exploded into Sitting Bull’s death and the Wounded Knee Massacre that killed over 250 Lakota.

Here’s the story behind this sacred site where you can still walk the same ground where hope turned to tragedy.

A Solar Eclipse Sparked Wovoka’s Spiritual Vision

Northern Paiute leader Wovoka fell into a coma during the solar eclipse on January 1, 1889. When he woke up, he said the Great Spirit gave him a powerful vision.

Wovoka worked for David Wilson, a Christian rancher, where he picked up Christian ideas while keeping his Paiute beliefs.

His vision promised the dead would return, Native peoples would find peace, and doing a special circle dance would make it happen. The message spread fast among tribes looking for hope.

The Ghost Dance Message Caught Fire Across Tribal Lands

News about the Ghost Dance spread quickly from Nevada’s Northern Paiute in 1889 to California and Oklahoma tribes. Wovoka taught people to live good lives and do the round dance in five-day gatherings.

Native Americans carried his teachings across the western United States, with some white settlers helping spread the word too. By fall 1890, thirty Indian reservations talked about the Messiah’s prophecies.

The dance gave hope to people facing hard times.

Starving Lakota Found Hope in the New Faith

Lakota people faced a tough winter in 1890. The government broke the Fort Laramie Treaty, split up their lands, and let railroads cut through sacred places. A bad drought killed crops, leaving nothing to eat.

People started to starve in the camps. Kicking Bear and Short Bull traveled to Nevada in 1889 to learn the Ghost Dance from Wovoka.

When they brought it back, the Lakota added special Ghost Dance shirts covered with sacred symbols that they believed would stop bullets.

Sitting Bull Welcomed the Dance to Standing Rock

Sitting Bull asked Kicking Bear from Pine Ridge to come to Standing Rock in October 1890 to teach the Ghost Dance to his Hunkpapa band.

Kicking Bear shared the prophecy that new soil would cover the earth when the grass grew high, burying all white men. The dance caught on quickly.

John Carignan, who taught at the Standing Rock school, watched his classroom empty from 60 to just 3 students as parents pulled their children to join the ceremonies.

Government Officials Panicked as Dances Spread

Agent Daniel Royer sent an urgent telegraph in December 1890: “Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy. ” The U.S. Army banned Ghost Dance ceremonies on all reservations that month and started sending troops.

McLaughlin blamed Sitting Bull for what he called a “harmful system of religion” and asked Washington for military help. White officials grew more worried about stopping the dances.

They saw the ceremonies not as spiritual practice but as war preparation.

Dancers Fled to the Badlands for Safety

Ghost Dancers faced growing threats and escaped to a place in the Badlands called “Oonakizin” or the Stronghold. Violence followed them.

Men from the Dakota Militia killed between 12 and 18 Lakota in mid-December 1890. The victims were “family members, brothers, or sons of Lakota seeking safety on Stronghold.”

Ed Two Bulls Jr. later explained: “It was the last pocket of resistance for our ancestors and their families.”

Sacred Ceremonies Continued on Stronghold Table

One of the last Ghost Dances took place on Stronghold Table in what we now call Badlands National Park. Lakota people gathered on this remote mesa to dance for the return of buffalo and their traditional way of life.

The ceremony centered around a ring of people holding hands and turning clockwise. People who joined included “men, women, and children; the strong and sickly.”

The location shows how desperate people felt – you can only reach Stronghold Table on foot.

The South Dakota Home Guard Attacked Dancers

The South Dakota Home Guard, now known as the National Guard, opened fire on the Ghost Dancers at Stronghold Table. Men, women, children, and elders faced bullets while doing their sacred ceremony.

When the shooting stopped, at least 70 Ghost Dancers lay dead on the mesa.

Jim Toby Big Boy reported that “eighty women, children and men were killed and pushed over the edges of Stronghold. ” The militia threw frozen bodies off the sides of the table to hide the massacre.

Sitting Bull’s Arrest Turned Deadly

Agent McLaughlin wrote orders on December 14, 1890, to arrest Sitting Bull at dawn the next day. About 40 Native American policemen surrounded Sitting Bull’s house to take him in.

The situation quickly turned violent. Catch the Bear shot at Lieutenant Bull Head, who fired back, hitting Sitting Bull in the left side.

As the great leader fell, Sergeant Red Tomahawk of the Indian police shot Sitting Bull in the back of the head, killing him instantly.

Big Foot Led His People Through Bitter Cold

Spotted Elk, known to whites as Big Foot, led the Miniconjou Lakota and appeared on the Army’s list of “trouble-making” Indians.

When he heard about Sitting Bull’s death on December 15, Big Foot started a journey to Pine Ridge with about 350 followers. He hoped to help bring peace among the scared tribes.

His band traveled through freezing December cold.

On December 28, Major Whitside’s 7th Cavalry caught up with Big Foot’s people and forced them to camp at Wounded Knee Creek.

The 7th Cavalry Unleashed Horror at Wounded Knee

The 7th Cavalry killed over 250 Lakota on December 29, 1890, at Wounded Knee. Most victims were unarmed women, children, and elders.

Yellow Bird performed the Ghost Dance before the violence erupted, telling Lakota their “ghost shirts” would protect them from bullets.

Tensions boiled over when a deaf warrior named Black Coyote struggled with a soldier trying to take his gun. Black Coyote couldn’t hear the order to surrender his weapon.

Soldiers dug a mass grave afterward. Burial crews put 84 men, 44 women, and 18 children into the frozen ground, though many more had died. Bodies lay scattered across the snow for days after the massacre.

Visiting Badlands National Park

You can learn about Ghost Dance history at the White River Visitor Center, 20 miles south of Scenic on BIA 27.

The center runs Memorial Day through mid-October, 9am to 6pm daily, with Lakota heritage exhibits and ranger talks. You need a $30 vehicle pass for seven days (cards only).

To reach Stronghold Table itself, you must get permission from private landowners first. Call rangers at (605) 455-2878 before visiting the South Unit.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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