im, the other bands of Sioux whom he had helped in
their time of need were now all settled upon reservations, so that he
had not much support except from Crazy Horse's band, and the so-called
hostiles or renegades of the Western bands. Hostilities began in 1872,
culminating in 1876 with the famous "Custer fight," which practically
ended the struggle, for after annihilating Custer's command the Indians
fled into British America. Four years later Sitting Bull was induced to
come in and settle down upon the Sioux reservation.

The Modoc war in Oregon and Idaho, in which the Shoshones and Bannocks
were involved, was really a part of this same movement--namely, the last
defence of their hunting-grounds by the Plains Indians, as was also the
resistance of the Cheyennes and Comanches farther south, and of the Utes
in 1877, simultaneously with the last stand of the Sioux. It had been
found impossible to conquer the Plains Indians without destroying the
buffalo, their main subsistence. Therefore vast herds were ruthlessly
destroyed by the United States army, and by 1880 they were practically
extinct. Since it was found cheaper to feed than to fight them, the
one-time warriors were corralled upon their reservations and kept alive
upon Government rations.

THE "GHOST-DANCE WAR"

All Indian warfare worthy the name had now come to an end. There were
left Geronimo's small bands of Apaches, who were hunted down in an all
but inaccessible country and finally captured and confined in Southern
forts. More recent "Indian outbreaks," so-called, are usually a mere
ruse of the politicians, or are riots caused by the disaffection of a
few Indians unjustly treated by their Government agents. The only really
serious disturbance within a generation was the "Ghost-dance war" of
1890-91. And yet this cannot fairly be called an Indian war. It arose in
a religious craze which need not have been a serious matter if wisely
handled. The people were hungry and disheartened, their future looked
hopeless, and all their appeals were disregarded. At this juncture the
suggestion of a Messiah, offering hope of miraculous intervention in
behalf of the red man, appealed to many, and the "new religion" spread
far and fast. In some tribes it soon died a natural death, but in the
Sioux country it was unwisely forbidden by the authorities, and led to
grave results.

At Pine Ridge, in December of 1890, the ghost-dancers had come in to the
agency and the situat