All of this concerned white settlers, particularly those near the Lakota in South Dakota, where the movement had grown especially intense and somewhat less restrained. Although the Lakota’s approach was not militant—they believed God wanted them to wait in piety until he removed the white man himself—it was particularly fervent. And they did believe their ceremonial white shirts could later be worn as armor in battle, since the Ghost Dance made clothing impervious to bullets. Settlers understood this to be a hostile attitude, and the phrase hostile Indian had been European Americans’ most
...more
