A. J. Hill

“ The original essence of these men and women, for they appear under both sexes, first wakes into existence floating in ether. As the winged seed of the thistle, or of the cottonwood, floats on the air, so they are gently wafted by the “four winds”—“Taku-skan-skan”—through the regions of space, until, in due time, they find themselves in the abode of some one of the families of the superior gods, by whom they are received into intimate fellowship. There the embryotic medicine-man remains till he becomes familiar with the characters, abilities, desires, caprices, and employments of the gods. ”

“ October 21st. Broke camp before daybreak, and was on the march before sunrise. The day proved to be a horrible one, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane; the black dust of the burnt prairie filling and blinding our eyes, the lashes on which the dust accumulated creating a cutting, grinding pain, causing us to suffer much pain. Being near our journey's end, we moved forward as fast as it was possible under the circumstances, and arrived at Camp Release at 4 p.m., where we joined our comrades, who were very glad to see us. ”

“ They have done all they could and dare do, in the circumstances, to oppose the progress of truth among their people, by slanders and snares, gibes and abuse, and violence, and even murder. But in spite of their vigilance and efforts to oppose, truth advanced with slow but steady step, and worked like “leaven in the meal.” Old men and young men, old women and young women, boys and girls, left them, and by open profession of regard for truth, stood boldly up in the face of their lies. ”

“ The prophet then, with the majestic mien of a god, places in his hand the desired weapons, as he says, “Go thou and test the swing of this tomahawk, and the thrust of this spear; but when in triumph thou shalt return—a man—forget not thy vows to the gods.”
In this manner every man, it is said, is enlisted into the service of the war prophet, and enlisted for life. ”

“ Then the master throws off the covering, and chewing a piece of the bone of the Onktehi, spits it over him, and he begins to show signs of returning life. Then as the master pats energetically upon the breast of the initiated person, he, convulsed, strangling, struggling and agonizing, heaves up the shell which falls from his mouth on a sack placed in readiness to receive it. Life is restored and entrance is effected into the awful mysteries. He belongs henceforth to the medicine-dance, and has a right to enjoy the medicine feast. ”

“ Every man of the company was sick at one time or another while in the South.
The poor economy of sending the regiment to Helena immediately from a northern climate at the commencement of the summer, and keeping it there so long, is plainly seen in the following calculation (and other companies showed a similar state of things to Company E) : If we take the sum of the "aggregates" of the morning reports during each month the product is the maximum number of days' service the government can expect for that period, but which, however, it really never gets. ”

“ The medicine man is not only familiar with the superior gods who are out of him, but he also has inferior gods dwelling in him, to satisfy whose cravings he frequently, and in the most public manner, tears off with his teeth and eats the raw, quivering, bleeding flesh of newly-slaughtered animals, like a starving beast or bird of prey, devouring parts of dogs or fish entire, not excepting bones and scales. ”

“ On the 25th the line of march was again taken up, and on the 26th we arrived at the camp of the "so-called" friendly Indians, where were most of the white captives taken during the insurrection, and who in a day or two were delivered up. This place was nearly opposite the mouth of the Chippewa River, and near by, about a quarter of a mile south of the Minnesota River, was formed the camp ever afterwards to be known in local history as Camp Release, from this memorable surrender of captives there. ”

“ The general name for the gods in their dialect is this, Taku-Wakan, i. e., that which is wakan.
Whatever, therefore, is above the comprehension of a Dakota, is God. Consequently, he sees gods everywhere. Not Jehovah every where, but Taku-Wakan.
This is the starting point in their superstitions, but it is not with ease that one can arrive at the other end of the subject. It runs out like the division of matter, to divinity. To use an expression of one of their own most intelligent men, “there is nothing that they do not revere as God.” Wakan is the one idea of divine essence. ”

“ On the left, a similar flank movement was repelled by Major McLaren with Companies F and K of the Sixth, while the remainder of the regiment was held in reserve. The action lasted about two hours, at the end of which time, the Indians being unable to withstand the murderous fire of shot and shell rained upon them, fled with great precipitation, and thus ended the battle of Wood Lake. The whole plan of battle seems to have been of defense, fought on the old lines of chivalry—man for man, instead of bringing all the troops in line of action and dealing the enemy a crushing blow at the beginning. ”

“ The chief, if not the only difference that they recognize to exist, among all the tens of thousands of their divinities, is the unessential one of a difference in the degree of their wakan qualities, or in the purposes for which they are wakan.
We speak of the medicine-man, medicine-feast, medicine-dance, and the great-spirit of the Indian, while he speaks of wakan-man, the wakan-feast, the wakan-dance, and the great-wakan.
Evidence is wanting to show that these people divide their Taku-Wakan into classes of good or evil. They are all simply wakan. ”

“ When within three miles of the beleaguered force, the demonstrations of the Indians became so threatening—coming near enough to shoot one of the horses—that the commander of the relieving party, not daring to fight his way through, made a halt, had the horses unhitched, and disposed the men to meet the expected attack, but, as the enemy did not return any nearer to us, we shortly fell back some distance to a better position. Night soon came on and it was spent watchfully by the men behind their corralled wagons, the silence being broken only by the occasional firing of the howitzer. ”

“ Even those of the pagan party who surrendered themselves to our military authorities, felt that the Wood Lake battle was the result of the strife between their Medicine-men and “God Almighty;” and from that day, in their minds, the doom of their gods and of their representatives was sealed. They soon cast away even the symbols of their divinities, and a large portion of them began to seek to know how to worship the God of the Bible.
Those wakan-men will never suffer their people to enter into an honest treaty of peace with us while they are wakan-men. They can never be trusted. ”

“ If he fails he fully believes that the penalty may be the infliction of any, or all the evils to which an Indian is exposed. A man made a trip on foot from the “Little Rapids,” on the Minnesota river, to Big Stone Lake, and purchased and brought on his back, a pack of dried buffalo meat, weighing, probably, sixty or seventy pounds, a distance of nearly two hundred miles, to be used in the medicine-dance—a sacrifice to the Onktehi and to the souls of the dead. ”

“ Dakota society—an influence which bears with all its force on each individual of their victims, which tends to crush him down still deeper, if indeed there are depths below them, in ignorance, superstition, degradation and misery of soul and body, and force them into an unreserved surrender to their own whims and caprices. Of these wakan men there are from five to twenty five in each of the little clans of Dakotas. ”

“ In particular, they are invested with the irresistable powers of the gods to do good or evil, with their knowledge and cunning, and their everywhere present influence over mind, instinct and passion. They are instructed how to inflict diseases and to heal them, to discover things concealed from common men, to foretell future events, to manufacture implements of war, and infuse into them the missive virtue—the tonwan—of the gods, and to perform all sorts of wonders. ”

“ The influence of the medicine-man in this capacity, permeates the whole community, and it is hardly possible to over-estimate it. Those who are led by him will be murderers, it is their trade. They are commissioned for this. Those who are bound to these war-prophets, by such rites, will be led by him unless they renounce their religion.
The Indian, if he can, will kill a foe, whoever he be, as long as he is a pagan. He is as apt to do it as a duck is to swim. ”

“ They kill and make alive. When occasion requires they seem to calm the tempest, or to raise the storm, and converse with thunder and lightning, as with a familiar friend and equal. In their devotional exercises, at times, they wrangle with the gods, charge them with duplicity, and are defiant. If one of them is killed by the electric fluid, which sometimes happens, it only proves the truth, to the living, of all he had taught them concerning the Wakinyan, and that he had provoked their anger by his sins. ”

“ The Hurons, having so much audacity that they imagined the Sioux were incapable of resisting them without fire-arms and weapons of iron, conspired with the Ottowas to make war upon them, in order to drive them from their country, so as to be able to spread themselves more, to procure means of subsistence. ”

“ To establish their claims to inspiration, these characters must, of course, perform things that are wakan, in a manner to satisfy those on whom they purpose to impose their superstitions.
For this purpose, they artfully lay hold of all that is strange and mysterious, and if possible turn it to their own advantage. To do this is the one object and effort of their lives. It is their study day and night, at all times and on all occasions. They think about it when awake, and dream about it when asleep. ”

“ There are occasions, also, when a man dances the sun dance as a thank-offering. He is sick and apprehends he will die. He makes a vow that if his life is spared he will dance to the sun. Or, he is on the war path and he prays to the great hunkayapi for success, promising in that event to dance to his honor. ”

“ In almost innumerable instances, families sacrifice all that they have on these pretenders, and to be abandoned by them is felt to be a dire calamity. Parents are as careful to train their children to respect and revere them, as was an early Puritan to inspire his children with reverence for the divine institutions of Christendom. They are respected. They sit in the highest and have the best of everything. If some among them are thought to be mere pretenders, this circumstance only serves to enhance the importance of those who are believed to be true. ”

“ Besides, the great struggle which at the present time exists between the heathen and the Christian Dakotas, is freely expressed to be a strife, between the old system of worship rendered to the Taku Wakan, and the new, which is rendered to the Wanku Tanku. The Christians are universally distinguished from the pagans, as being worshippers of Wakan Tanku, or as we speak, the Great Spirit.
One word more by way of introduction. It is true of all the Dakota gods, or wakans, that they are male and female, are subject to the same laws of propagation under which men and animals exist, and are mortal. ”

“ Sometimes they pray to it, generally with the honorable title of Hunkayapi. Sometimes, as a god, it communicates with men in dreams and visions. But the nature of the communication is that the men should dance the wiwanyagwacipi, with the promise of success in hunting or war. Generally the object of dancing to the sun is to secure victory over enemies. In this aspect it is a waihdusna or self-immolation to the sun; it is an offering up of one’s strength and manhood to secure the aid of the sun in the day of battle. ”