The first four divisions collectively are known as Isañati or Santee Sioux. The name is supposed to be derived from isañ, the dialectic word for “knife.” They formerly held Mississippi, Minnesota, and upper Red rivers in Minnesota and were afterward gathered on reservations at Devils lake, North Dakota; Lake Traverse (Sisseton agency) and Flandreau, South Dakota; and Santee agency, Nebraska. Those at Lake Traverse and Flandreau have now taken allotments as citizens.
The Yankton and Yanktonais, together speaking the middle dialect, occupied chiefly the country of James river, east of the Missouri, in North Dakota and South Dakota and extending into Iowa. They are now on Yankton and Crow Creek reservations in South Dakota, and Fort Peck reservation, Montana.
The Teton constitute more than two-thirds of the whole Sioux tribe, and held nearly the whole country southwest of the Missouri from Cannonball river to the South Platte, extending westward beyond the Black hills. They are all now on reservations in South and North Dakota. They are again subdivided into seven principal divisions: 1. Sichañgu, “burnt thighs” (Brulés), now on Rosebud reservation; 2. Ogalala, referring to “scattering” of dust in the face (Clark), now on Pine Ridge reservation, under the celebrated chief Red Cloud (Maqpe-Luta); 3. Hunkpapa, “those who camp at the end (or opening) of the camping circle” (Clark), on Standing Rock reservation; 4. Minikañzu, “those who plant by the water,” on Cheyenne River reservation; 5. Itazipko, “without bows” (Sans Arcs), on Cheyenne River reservation; 6. Sihasapa, “black feet” (not to be confounded with the Blackfoot tribe), on Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations; 7. Ohenoñpa, “two kettles,” on Cheyenne River and Rosebud reservations. According to the official report for 1893, the Sioux within the United States number about 23,410, which, with 600 permanently settled in Manitoba, make the whole population about 24,000 souls.
The Sioux, under the name of Nadouessi, are mentioned by the Jesuit missionaries as early as 1632. They made their first treaties with our government in 1815. The most prominent events in their history since that date have been the treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1825, which defined their eastern boundary and stopped the westward advance of the Ojibwa; the Minnesota massacre of 1862, which resulted in the expulsion of the Sioux from Minnesota; the Sioux war of 1876–77, largely consequent on the unauthorized invasion of the Black hills by miners, and the chief incident of which was the defeat and massacre of an entire detachment under General Custer; the treaty by which the great reservation was broken up in 1889, and the outbreak of 1890, with the massacre of Wounded Knee.
By reason of their superior numbers the Sioux have always assumed, if not exercised, the lordship over all the neighboring tribes with the exception of the Ojibwa, who, having acquired firearms before the Sioux, were enabled to drive the latter from the headwaters of the Mississippi, and were steadily pressing them westward when stopped by the intervention of the United States government. The Sioux in turn drove the Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa, and others before them and forced them into the mountains or down into the southern prairies. The eastern bands were sedentary and largely agricultural, but the Teton were solely and preeminently wandering buffalo hunters. All dwelt in tipis—the word is from the Sioux language—which were of bark in the timber country and of buffalo skins on the plains. In warlike character they are probably second only to the Cheyenne, and have an air of proud superiority rather unusual with Indians. Clark says of them, “In mental, moral, and physical qualities I consider the Sioux a little lower but still nearly equal to the Cheyenne, and the Teton are the superior branch of the family.” (Indian Sign Language, 345.) The eastern Sioux are now far advanced toward civilization through the efforts of teachers and missionaries for over a generation, and the same is true in a less degree of the Yankton, while the majority of the Teton are still nearly in their original condition.
I found the Sioux very difficult to approach on the subject of the Ghost dance. This was natural, in view of the trouble that had resulted to them in consequence of it. When I was first at Pine Ridge, the troops still camped there served as a reminder of the conflict, while in the little cemetery at the agency were the fresh graves of the slain soldiers, and only a few miles away was the Wounded Knee battlefield and the trench where the bodies of nearly three hundred of their people had been thrown. To my questions the answer almost invariably was, “The dance was our religion, but the government sent soldiers to kill us on account of it. We will not talk any more about it.” Another reason for their unwillingness was the fact that most of the interpreters were from the eastern or Santee portion of the tribe, and looked with contempt on the beliefs and customs of their more primitive western brethren, between whom and themselves there was in consequence but little friendly feeling. On one occasion, while endeavoring to break the ice with one of the initiates of the dance, I told him how willingly the Arapaho had given me information and even invited me to join in the dance. “Then,” said he, “don’t you find that the religion of the Ghost dance is better than the religion of the churches?” I could not well say yes, and hesitated a moment to frame an answer. He noticed it at once and said very deliberately, “Well, then, if you have not learned that you have not learned anything about it,” and refused to continue the conversation.
Fig. 102—Native drawings of Ghost dance—A, Comanche; B, Sioux].
The Sioux ghost songs are all in the dialect of the Teton, who took the most active interest in the dance, which was hardly known among the bands east of the Missouri. The vocalic character of the language, and the frequent liquid l of this dialect, renders these songs peculiarly musical, while for beauty of idea and expression they are second only to those of the Arapaho.