L iterature p a rtic u la rly o rig in al S everal th< isand m en. » o m e n , and ch ildren of various color« and n a tio n a litie s were killed in a s ta rtlin g num ber o f creative ways, and in th e end th e In d ia n nations th at had ruled th e plain« and m oun tain« for a thousand year« had Iveen deci m ated T h e G host D ance W ar was the laat fu rio us struggle uf I he N a tiv e A m erican against th e colonu mg w hite«, an d w hen It was over the tribes were only m em o nea, S e v e r to retu rn l m no« an In d ia n I'm a doctor, horn and raised in New York C ity I w rite th is account of the Ghost Dance W ar because I have a patient who waa in th a t w ar Ilia nam e is Red S h irt lie s uf in d e te rm in a te age. although my prnfeaainnal opinion puts him somewhere in hla e a rly ;*>• H e t as health y aa he ra n h r for a m an of such advanced year». h it only real m edical problem i t a r th ritis in the ya n ta M y in itia l rs a m in a tio n o f h im revealed a hearty in d ivid u a l in all respects, w ith th e esreption of hla semes o f touch and taste He's lost hoth. although his hear mg. sight, and sense of sm ell are a ll rem a rk a b ly keen I firs t m et Red S h irt when he appeared at mv office in th e sp rin g of 1 M 2 H e rnrnplam ed of joint pa in , especially in his knees and an kles I did a fu ll physical w o rk u p and discovered his u n usual sensory d e p riv a tio n , for which he at firs t provided no n p ls n atio n It w asn't u n til later du rin g his series of Weekly rh e rk u p s th a t he esplam ed m a tte rs to me and it i t th is story the story of the Ghoat Da nee W ar which lead« me to com m it the account to paper T h e Ghoat D ance W ar waa an end w ith m any beginning«, an d m any a la i r is w rapped up in the tu m u ltu o u s tu r n of events which e v e n tu a lly erased a whole n a tiv e people Red S h irt tells me the war had no official leaders, no official prophets, none of th e usual b u re au c ra tic or pnpuhat generation th at often arc. on pa mew or propels civil u n real Instead th e w ar le g a n at a visionary level and spread alm ost w ordlessly th ro ug hou t the western I'm te d S late s spreading ‘ lik e dust on w ind, like loneliness through w idows, lik e da w n through tree«.* as Red S h irt say« I know lit tle o f the politics of the west I'm a surgeon and a physician, aa I've said, and I've alw ays Iveen m ore concerned w ith run flir t at the m icrobial level I have never m astered th e m tn canes of politic». preferrin g Instead to .teal w ith con flir t on th e v«ry personal fro n tiers of my p a tien ts Fur year« I avoided even a cursory read m g o f new spapers, and although c e rta in mem tiers of m y fa m ily c n tir u e d me for m y c iv il apa thy. I found m ore fu lfillm e n t in cu rin g gout and whooping cough th an I did in listen ing to street co m e r hara n g u e« from blustering ch arlata n s Red S h ir t changed aN th a t I learned from him th a t th e pruress We . sly pu*«l 1 • is s coal f many rotors. and some of ll w^egl .rs are hhaid red I learn ed th a t tw in g y c iliijj,u i« ld > e a the aw fu l resp onsibility of m ayirto » • * J ^ p r w m patru da * w» W . ' V ' ih. 9 1 • - ♦ « pA and colleagues adh t M strictures of ou r collective gudi • i '« v ’y V 1* 1 • ■• the laat and g reatest wea our Ilve» iri a d re a m . going throng1 m otiona of sleep, w o rk, and love aa i » a » ^ .p |« -t» rare fu lly s tru n g from th e t w i n ’ 7 an d aa i d re a m , people die I r a n i iflljt). and only a fool w ould try, or wee « V Ì1C ¡ - h i t try Hut ja-rhapa I t • ild have I v r j scans of the dead, and th e ir voices i a ll to I 00 ths W nil. O il d a rk nights w h en I'm too tire d visions of th e past lb » 1 ov 1 i l l l» g ^ n as an eager Imy. grew to m anhood. started a fitpuly. was cast in to a fifty year w a r w ith a new W d * becam e a prop het w rapped in rags and skins, and now tie's an a r th ritic old m an w o rking at th e local lib ra ry, kn ow n locally o n ly for his udd sensory d e p riv a tio n Those are th e facts o f h it life w h at do th ey te ll you'* Ito th ey h in t at the red ocean o f lig ht he awam th ro u g h as a boy* H e tells me th a t he was boro in a villa g e r a ile d G oat H a u n t, which perched at the confluence o f th re e sm all n v e r» This m eeting of th e w ater« provided a rich h u nting and fishing grounds for Red S h irt s fa th e r and uncles, who settled w ith th e ir fa m ilies and eite n d e d fam ilies, an d a sh am an , and b u ilt a village on a th ic k ly wouded h ill am id th e w aters Facta in and of them selves are prosaic. not poetic W hen I say th a t Red S h irt m a rrie d his th ird cousin once removed, does th a t h in t at th e ta ll, te rrifie d hoy who, he art in m outh, w en t to propose m arriag e one w in te r m o rn in g ’ D ora the fact of th e ir m arriag e revea l th e le n d e r sm ile of his 16 year old b rid e ’ A ctually, I th in k , it s th e moat offhand facta th a t reveal th e tr u th 'W e had th re e sons.’ Red S h irt tells me in ray office, as he sits th e re on the es am im n g ta b le w ith o u t hla s h irt ‘ tin e d i e d 'lle looks out the w indow in to 1952 and area 1MM2. the vear h r had to Ash hia lit tle hoy from the n v e r and carry home hia tin y sodden body M onth« la te r I sat in Red S h ir t ’« kitchen and touched the tin y b u ckskin a h irt th a t his «on had worn th a t day. an d th e sh ark o f a lost «on aud denly twvraine c le ar to me *1 h u n ted , I fished, I stole horses from my rouaina,* aaya Red S h irt "Then we began to fight the w h ile s * H e never aaya m uch about these hat ties, but I u n d e rs ta n d th e re a a whole docum ent ed histo ry and lite ra tu r e devoted to th e "In d ia n W arn ’ I u n d e rs ta n d fu rth e r th a t th e history law ks are fille d m ostly w ith th e courage of the w h ite soldiers an d the savagery of the red I cannot condone or es p lain aw ay th a t aav agery. nor w ill I try Some of th e atones th a t Red S h irt has told m e have lite ra lly te rrifie d me reve a lin g as th ey do the oft u n im ag in ab le «sten t o f h u m a n violence Yet I believe both aides fought «equally savagely in those wars, and both «idea suffered enorm ously, and havur waa visited upon lh » In d ian a in la rg e r and bloodier doors. it aeema. th a n they brought upon others T h e end resu lt, p rrh ap a. tall« the real story of those w ar» m ore accurately th a n any history boob w ill T h e m u te testim on y o f vanished races th a t once hu n ted th e plains and forests, the silenced cnea o f new born In d ia n babes the disap pearance of th e fa m ilies an d clans th a t once pop u lated th e w a te rw a y s , a ll these are th ing s th at te ll in a to ng urless eloquence th e fin a l chapter of the firs t A m erican race T h a t race is no m ore T h e Ghoat Dance W ar waa th e ir laat flu rr y of sound and fury before silence overcam e th em Red S h irt tells me th a t th e skirm ish es and battles and clashes and am bushes and m assacre« w ent on for years and years, for hund reds o f reason« and for one rea «on because th e new people a a k rd the old to leave, and th e old refused P erhaps the hundreds '•V 'l l 00 < / sm all b attles were the fir»< w«rs of a ttritio n . aa •a rh In d ia n lows bri»u» the In d ia n tn h ea were reduced to raf the •am e m a te ria l Red S h irt b t*« srd the ghost shirts by the hundreds saving p rayers uf b a ttle and for giveness over each H e pa in ted him self w h ite from head to U«e to signify his p u n t « and he n*de from cam p to cam p to o i r r w r th e m idn ight dances and th e sh irt blessings In ea rly I MIO the w ar fin a lly burst f<»rth W hen it came it < am e w ith s fury un m atch ed in the annals of the West The In d ian s attacked at Pine Ridge at W ounded Knee at the R<»*< f»ud Agency and at the ta ttle W h ite R i^ rr The soldier« h»re w arned by the m onths of b u ild u p slaughtered th e In d ian a by the dotens by the hundreds, by l»attle sites not one the thousands A In d ia n was left ch ildren were m und ed up and shot Ir c a u shirts The great Holy ‘ “ »" ’ and abject fa ilu re it was th a t Red S h irt a natio n pa any of the dead were buried in m ounds o f th e res preti la! platfo rm s for th e ir ft ted m ark ers » h r lf e tn h v p lan ted tr o w •s w here wom en had fa lldren were kill«-« n ' ’ *» T h r ( lh< a Ih v aurv w y < W if i «yai* " > W . r Vr» » « r» rounded op , i ll,. \ B O O K S A N D ESPR ESSO BAR i 11 > r u * W | P rw w « i • i.- )R 9 7 1 3 tì J (5 0 3 ) 7 3 « 3 2 1 1 r n Q 3 □ 0 3 u o z o w 3- z <» 3 o <3 o "D o n ► A N T IQ U E S ? C C L U -C T /» M _ V 5 • B C C K S • 7 .T y F , • 1 > 1 C 9 C .*t A C |»L A ^IO H IA OB o O I .1hi ■■_Jj U 1 o O O y n O J "O ► B uy w B ook s 8-56 O K v Stin'i toqww, Ona^wi 97-101 I cVphon«,' 4R4O512 ! »«a 503 436 I 301 C awa /OW & E 5 o « a » T a v u * , -A C H f*« » * M im a . u | xk it v for ju stic e nak c« d c o o e n ic v pOAAible. but man'» inclination to injustice m akes d em oertk v nccr»w n v D icnhold Ncbuhr ECOLA SQUARE BOOKS 123 S Hemlock. »11 • P () Box 693 C annon Beach. OR 97110»<503) 436-0805 J______ P e o p le have o n e thin¿ in common, they are all d iffe re n t D o b c rt Zend anil m a n h e d i ff hi« (b o a t ah irt went ann.n< the | the fallen » a m o r » w ith hoth ting the eye« of the women and lay in heap« on the battle field s A fter each ble«ain< he put hi« hand to hia m outh ao aa to taste the soul of the departed A fter about a week he lost hla sense of taate T h e re were too m any souls In rem em ber, he aaya and hla t.mtfue forgot th e ir names In the same »«> he lost hia arnae of tu urh There were too m any dead In the heaped fields the bodies lay »trew n like m a lr h a t ir k . Som etim e« th e arm y patrol» retu rn ed to the field and bu ried th e dead In d ian a, aum elim ea they didn't, and a fte r the soldier« took souvenir« the budtM were left to the raven« Red S h irt w andered in th e field« for m onths Som etim es be slept among the fallen w a m o rs , sometimes be slept w ith his feet in runn ing w ater for p u rifica tio n He touched everyone who died H ia finger» bu nted and onre he tried to cut hi» hands off in despair, but an arm y sergeant atoppe.1 him and for some reason never reported him to th e au th o rities They ail died he aaya, all th e m en he gave the shirts to. and all th e ir women, and all the t h il dren who stared at him aa though he were a god T h e bu llets w ent righ t through the ghost ah irt«.* lie said *1 w alked among all the fallen and saw the hole« from the bullets I rem em ber the red holes in the pure w hite ahirta * R« il S h irt came into the office thia m ornin g for hla reg u lar w eekly checkup H e hops on my table w ith a s ta rtlin g spryneaa for a m an ao old H e alts on the ta h le and stares out the window as though he secs bodies heaped like firewood in the field» I teat him ca refu lly to are if he s really lost hla arose of taste H e has, be can no longer d is tin ­ guish among flavors H r has some d e ite n ty in his fingers, and he can usr hts bands to g n p th ing s but he d o a n l know w hat thosr th ing s are unless he lia.ks at th em carefully He com plains of « cold riumbne«« in hi» hands, and tell« me th a t hia fingers no lunger feel fa m ilia r Tests show some a rth ritic degeneration, but otherw ise be « in aurp naing h e alth for such an old man He's clear eyed and hia m em ory ia intact He tends to s ta r* directly at hia question ers which ia a little u n nerving hut he has devel oped some confidence in me and answer« my questions prom ptly M e d n a lly, hia only real dangers are burns to the mouth a rea and the Angers I counsel him to slay away from fires and hot liq uid s We stare at each other in silence "W hat do I do about the dead be asks suddenly I m um ble a reply and stand th ere asham ed I don't know w hat to do about the dead Ilie y ve gone from the e a rth never to re tu rn , and there are more dead every day I don't know where they go or w hat they do I don t know if th e ir souls are healed by g rea ter doctors th a n I or if they re left, like th e ir bodies, in aw fu l piles in nameless fields I hope th a t we re blessed w hen we die. and th a t an etern al m em ory rem em bers us The men and women and c h ild ren who died in the tib oat D ance W ar left th ia e a rth believing in Hed S h irt, and he »as wrong H ow he bear» th e ir souls in his h e art I I I never know, nor can I ever m ake it any easier for him A ll I can do is rem em - ber them , too So I do. and I close th ia account w ith a praver for th e ir poor souls, pierced by Worldly bullets wrapped in th e clean w h ite ahirta th a t brought them down P rey for th em IV a y for me • f t ">3 £foaa P S U fyVlEW Sa— TURNAROUND a 41 » lio H ai. m ( annon Besth. (HI ♦7110 4Wv 191 J VICTOR H. PtUCY. m.A. Counseling Pyycho»he,cipy •ftdhrtdtxUí. Couples 6 Families 436-9725 C a n m o W QIAC.M *»ai7Mngtoi Slot» Itcer-se **5 6 5 1 « ^2. O • 9 0 0 lie»«»» ie » «•nchoQ