The Paiute were indirectly involved in the last significant Indian violence to erupt in the West. In 1888—89, a Northern Paiute from Nevada by the name of Wovoka (also known as Jack Wilson) founded a religion called the Ghost Dance. He was the son of another mystic, Tavibo (or Numu-tibo’o) and was influenced by his father’s teachings, as well as those of a prophet on the nearby Walker River Reservation named Wodziwob, who began practicing his version of the Ghost Dance in 1870. Wovoka experienced a vision during an eclipse of the Sun and afterward began preaching that the Earth would soon perish, then come alive again in a natural state, with lush prairie grass and huge herds of buffalo. There would be no more whites. American Indians, as well as their dead ancestors, would inherit this new world.
Wovoka believed that in order to bring about this new existence, Indians had to purge themselves of the whites’ ways, especially alcohol, and live together harmoniously. He also called for meditation, prayer, chanting, and, most of all, dancing. He claimed that Indians could catch a glimpse of this future paradise by performing the Ghost Dance.
The Ghost Dance Religion spread to tribes all over the West, especially Shoshone, ARAPAHO, and SIOUX (DAKOTA, LAKOTA, NAKOTA). Some of the Sioux Ghost Dance leaders called for violence against the whites, claiming that magical Ghost Dance Shirts could protect the Indians from bullets. This movement, and the militancy surrounding it, indirectly led up to the massacre of a Sioux band by soldiers at Wounded Knee in 1890.
World History
