The Effects of the Ghost Dance: A Day in the Life

Dear Diary,

                It’s all over the front page of the news! And Papa’s been talkin’ about it all morning since we got the Omaha Daily Bee. And who could blame him! The Indians are terrorizing the whole of the west with their prophecies, new messiah and what have ya. Everyone is calling it the Ghost Dance war but thankfully we haven’t had any run-ins with the Indians ourselves just yet, but we’ve building up our fronts in case of an attack. All the soldiers running around town totin’ around their rifles and such and Johnny’s been sneaking out each night to go talk to ‘em. But ole’ Pa won’t have none of that once he finds out about it. Daddy even said that troops all the way from Texas have started to move towards our state in preparation for the big fight to come. That’s only if they don’t settle it peacefully though… But Ma and Pa have high hopes for the settling of the Indians before it comes to outright attacking. But I overheard Pa talking to Mr. Peters and Captain Finch about the Ghost Dance. They said they’d even seen it and described it as religious. Mr. Peters and Capt. Finch even said that there was “nothing of a warlike nature” about the dance and so they didn’t feel it was overly important.

                Even more scary was the news I heard about Short Bulls sermon, the whole thing that got the war going! He was said to have spoken about the new messiah and how the four tribes were gonna come together and wipe out the population of white folks like us… It makes me scared to hear these things but Pa reassures me that I’ve got nothing to worry my pretty lil’ head about. Johnny came home earlier spouting off about the Indian Short who came to town and talked about the dance with us, “white people”.

                Sadly poor Mrs. Ivans from Fort Dodge Iowa died of diphtheria yesterday and Pa said we’d be leaving for the funeral shortly. But on a happier note I got to attend the annual Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor in Hastings! Ma agreed that I was old enough and I had so much fun! Even Rev. Willard Scott got to speak at the convention with all the famous prophets and other reverends. Other than that the weather is just getting colder and colder with winter well on its way… Ma and I are going out to get new fur linings for our coats this evening at Hellman’s to help prepare for the blizzards coming our way!

                                                                                                -Marriana Smitty

I hope this ends peacefully for the sake of Johnny's life...