Have we not the same right as the White Man?"
The forfeiture of the Black Hills and unwise reduction of rations kept
alive the Indian discontent. When, in 1889, Congress passed a law
dividing the Sioux reservation into many smaller ones so as to isolate
the different tribes of the Dakota nation a treaty was offered them.
This provided payment for the ponies captured or destroyed in the war
of 1876 and certain other concessions, in return for which the Indians
were to cede about half their land, or eleven million acres, which was
to be opened up for settlement.
The treaty was submitted to the Indians for a vote. They came in from
the woods and the plains to vote on it, and it was carried by a very
narrow majority, many of the Indians insisting that they had been
coerced by their necessities into casting favorable ballots.
Congress delayed and postponed the fulfillment of the promised
conditions, and the Indian unrest increased as the months went by. Even
after the land had been taken over and settled up, Congress did not
pass the appropriation that was necessary before the Indians could get
their money.
Sitting Bull was appealed to for aid, and once more began employing his
powerful gift of oratory in the interest of armed resistance against
the white man.
Just at this time a legend whose origin was beyond all power to fathom
became current among the red men of the north.
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