Wovoka 3

Wovoka was also known as Jack Wilson and founded the Ghost Dance Religion in the 19th Century. He was a Piaute from Nevada. He was adept a magical tricks and he was reputed to be a powerful medicine man. On January 1, 1889, during a solar eclipse, he had a vision. The whites would be annihilated on the North American Continent, and all the old dead Indians would return. The Indians had to dance the Ghost Dance to make it all happen. If the brave would wear the Ghost Shirt, then the brave was invulnerable to bullets, knives, etc. He used his magic tricks including being shot with a shot gun and catching bullets while wearing his Ghost Shirt to convice the Indians of his claims. The movement spread quickly but collapsed after the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890. Soldiers were attempting to disarm Ghost Dancers, and a swarm of braves wearing Ghost Shirts attacked the soldiers. About thirty soldiers were killed and many wounded. The soldiers fired back and a general melee followed. About 130 Indians died. The revisionist historians in the last thirty years have done a good job convincing those who have never read a neutral account of the incident, that this was a massacre. Wovoka died in 1932.