Arnold Short Bull (

Lakota Lakota may refer to: * Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: * Lakota, Iowa * Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County * La ...

: Tȟatȟáŋka Ptéčela; c. 1845 – 1915), a member of the Sičháŋǧu (

Brulé The Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands (sometimes called "sub-tribes") of the Teton (Titonwan) Lakota American Indian people. They are known as Sičhą́ǧu Oyáte (in Lakȟóta) —Sicangu Oyate—, ''Sicangu Lakota, o''r "Burnt ...

)

tribe of Native Americans, instrumental in bringing the Ghost Dance movement to the

Rosebud Reservation The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who are Sicangu, a band of Lakota people. The Lakota name ''Sicangu Oyate'' translates as t ...

Ghost Dance, 1890-91

He was active in the Ghost Dance religious movement of 1890, and had traveled with fellow Lakota

Kicking Bear Kicking Bear ( lkt, Matȟó Wanáȟtaka, March 18, 1845 – May 28, 1904) was an Oglala Lakota who became a band chief of the Miniconjou Lakota Sioux. He fought in several battles with his brother, Flying Hawk, and first cousin, Crazy Horse, dur ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

to visit the movement's leader,

Wovoka Wovoka (c. 1856 - September 20, 1932), also known as Jack Wilson, was the Paiute religious leader who founded a second episode of the Ghost Dance movement. Wovoka means "cutter" or "wood cutter" in the Northern Paiute language. Biography Wovo ...

. The two were instrumental in bringing the movement to the Lakota living on reservations in South Dakota, and Short Bull became the ranking apostle of the movement to the Brulé at Rosebud Reservation. He preached a militant and apocalyptic vision of the Ghost Dance, in which the spirits of Native American ancestors would return to restore the old way of life, while the whites would be erased from the land, believing that performing the ghost dance would hasten the arrival of this promise land. He also advocated against the new farms promoted on the reservation, and encouraged his followers to sell all farming supplies for weapons and ammunition. Incidents of Native Americans slaughtering livestock also scared the authorities as well as settlers in the area. While delivering a sermon to a large crowd of Brulé, Short Bull said that they must perform the dance at Pass Creek in November during the full moon, in order to bring about the promised land earlier than expected. Stressing the importance of this dance, Short Bull instructed them to stop for no reason, and that supernatural forces would protect them even if soldiers tried to stop the ritual, saying: ''"There may be soldiers surround you, but pay no attention to them, continue the dance. If the soldiers surround you four deep, three of you on whom I have put holy shirts will sing a song, which I have taught you, around them, when some of them will drop dead, then the rest will start to run, but their horses will sink into the earth; the riders will jump from their horses, but they will sink into the earth also; then you can do as you desire with them. Now you must know this, that all the soldiers and that race will be dead; there will be only five thousand ndians?left living on earth. My friends and relations, this is straight and true."'' Following the fatal shooting of Sitting Bull, Short Bull was imprisoned at

Fort Sheridan, Illinois Fort Sheridan is a residential neighborhood within the cities of Lake Forest, Highwood, and Highland Park in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It was originally established as Fort Sheridan, an Army post named after Civil War cavalry gene ...

Later life

On his release in 1891, Short Bull joined Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, and made several trips to Europe with the show. Short Bull died in 1915, on the

in South Dakota.

Portraits of Short Bull

* Denver Public Library o
by George Spencer
Minnesota Historical Society.
By George Heyn
Minnesota Historical Society.

Sources

1840s births 1923 deaths Ghost Dance movement Religious figures of the indigenous peoples of North America People from Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota Brulé people Date of birth unknown {{Authority control