Gregory Smoak

That's not the way it was reported in the press.

The inflammatory stuff in the press, just to give you an example, in October 31st, 1890, in the Chicago papers, supposedly these were the words that came from

Shortbow, one of the two Lakota apostles, Shortbow and Kicking Bear were the first two to go out and visit the prophet.

And the newspaper reported this, that Shortbow had said, My father has shown me these things, therefore you must continue this dance.

If the soldiers surround you four deep, three of you on whom I have put the holy shirts will sing a song which I have taught you, and then some of them will drop dead.

The rest will start to run, but their horses will sink into the earth.

And so scholars like Jeff Osler, they have said, this is suspect that this was not reported through military channels, even though it supposedly comes from the military.

There's no evidence of it in those records.

It might be the fanciful reporting that happening at the time, but this is the kind of thing that people are reading.

And they think this is a major uprising.

Sitting Bull is a household name.

Right.

Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, other Lakota leaders, Geronimo.

These are the names of Native people that white Americans know.

Sure.

And they are all military leaders, people who led a military resistance.

And so the assumption is that's what this is.

They don't hear the Messiah letter.

Right.

They're not in a Native community.