Gregory Smoak

That this was a resistance to the system that was being put in place on reservations to control Native people.

The United States responds with overwhelming force.

In the past, in situations, the United States may not have done this, but again, this is 1890.

Yeah.

You got Nelson A. Miles, who was the commanding general of the United States Army, who wants to really make this a show of force.

So you have...

You know, half of the United States Army descending on the Dakotas to put down the unrest on the reservations.

You had Indian agents who are freaking out.

Right.

The agent at Pine Ridge who's writing these inflammatory letters.

You have sort of a boogeyman perception of Sitting Bull who isn't even really involved in this religion.

Mm-hmm.

He's already been out with the Wild West show.

He's now back from that, right?

Yeah, but he's a very influential leader.

He's on Papa Lakota, so he's at Standing Rock.

Right.

But people look to him even though he may not be leader within their band.

That is not the way that the popular mind understood it.

That's not the way the military understood it.