I do agree with Solnit’s description of the Ghost dance based on how Rising Wolf describes it. Louis Warren describes the story as Jack Wilson collapsed and when he wakes up, he remembers meeting god. He met god and God gave him a dance and a sacred code for the people. The people should perform the dance and live by this code. Although many European and American settlers were not particularly worried about the dance, in South Dakota where Lakota Sioux had their reservations, there was fear that the Indians were planning some uprising. They saw it as a war dance and because of powerful interests from the US government, the army ordered them to stop dancing. In Solnit’s description, the story was described in the exact same way. Saying that one night a white man, who spoke all languages, who had been nailed to a tree, teaches a dance. “Then he taught us the song and the dance which white people call the ghost dance, and we danced all together, and while we danced near him he sat with bowed head.” (page 299) The story then goes into detail about how the army came. “On the fourth night, while we danced, soldiers came riding down the hills, and their chiefs, in shining white hats, came to watch us.” (page 299) The agents had guns in their hands and it made the Indian people very weavy.

In the lecture, Chicago was described as very important. It was the hub which linked eastern capital and western markets. Apparently there was no single train which operated east and west of Chicago. Goods and travelers had to transport to another train. That must have been very time consuming.