Description:

Bull Sitting 1831 - 1890 James Mooney, The Ghost Dance incredible Early Draft with Autographed Notes on the arrest and death of Sitting Bull, as contemporarily told to him from eye witnesses.

Total of 8 pages of both autographed and typeset notes from the book, The Ghost Dance Religion, on the section covering the arrest and death of Sitting Bull. Each page is 5.75" x 7.5". Pages 1, 1a, 2 are hand scripted / autographed notes rendered in graphite, with Page 3-7 being typescript. Each page is numbered along the top with what appears to be a chapter heading of 'Notes: arrest + death of Sitting Bull' Pages lightly toned, with slight edge nicks and paper clip indents. Overall near fine.


An extraordinary copy of Mooney's personal manuscript draft for the section of his book, The Ghost Dance Religion, specific to pages 104, 105 (on the abridged version) and 857 (on the full original version), in which he describes the account of the Arrest and death of Sitting Bull. Mooney was an ethnographer and self-taught expert on American tribes through his own studies and his careful observation during long residences with different groups, specifically the Cherokee. He did major studies of Southeastern Indians, as well as those on the Great Plains.

His most notable works were his ethnographic studies of the Ghost Dance after Sitting Bull's death in 1890, a widespread 19th-century religious movement among various Native American culture groups, and the Cherokee: The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees (1891), and Myths of the Cherokee (1900), all published by the US Bureau of American Ethnology. Artifacts from Mooney are in the collections of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution and the Department of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History. Papers and photographs from Mooney are in the collections of the National Anthropological Archives, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution.

This particular section of James's Mooney's book covered the Arrest and Brutal death of Sitting Bull, who for many years of successfully resisting white efforts to destroy him and the Sioux people, end up in a brutal death. Mooney accounted in detail his arrest and death by Indian police at the Standing Rock reservation in South Dakota. Sitting Bull was deeply devoted to the traditional ways, and believed that contact with non-Indians undermined the strength and identity of the Sioux which would lead to their ultimate decline. However, Sitting Bull's tactics were generally more defensive than aggressive, especially as he grew older and became a Sioux leader. Fundamentally, Sitting Bull and those associated with his tribe wished only to be left alone to pursue their traditional ways, but the Anglo settlers' growing interest in the land and the resulting confinement of Indians to government-controlled reservations inevitably led to conflicts. Sitting Bull's refusal to follow an 1875 order to bring his people to the Sioux reservation directly led to the famous Battle of the Little Bighorn, during which the Sioux and Cheyenne wiped out five troops of Custer's 7th Cavalry.

When the apocalyptic spiritual revival movement known as the Ghost Dance began to grow in popularity among the Sioux in 1890, Indian agents feared it might lead to an Indian uprising. Wrongly believing that Sitting Bull was the driving force behind the Ghost Dance, agent James McLaughlin sent Indian police to arrest the chief at his small cabin on the Grand River. The Indian police rousted the naked chief from his bed at 6:00 in the morning, hoping to spirit him away before his guards and neighbors knew what had happened. When the fifty-nine-year-old chief refused to go quietly, a crowd gathered and a few hotheaded young men threatened the Indian police.

The typescript notes closely, but not exactly match the final published book. In addition his typescript is accompanied by 3 pages of handwritten notes written in incomplete sentences in the manner of bullet points to ensure the material was covered in the first draft.

His handscripted notes are shown in full below:

"1. Notes: arrest + death of Sitting Bull

Agent Mc Laughlin + Colonel

Standing Rock Agency

To attempt his arrest at daylight Dec 15 '90

To be made by Indian Police - assisted

by a detachment of troops if necessary

Who are to follow within supporting distance

Lt Bullhead - wait 28 Indian police

in the vicinity of Sitting Bulls camp.

To summon available Indian Police

to rendezvous at Grand River

before daylight - where 43 were gathered

by couriers - Sgt Red Tomahawk

who made 40 miles in 4 hours - and

by Hawk Man who made over

100 miles in a roundabout array in 22 hours-

Two troops of 8th Cav. render command

1.a. Notes on Sitting Bull Page 844

Belonged to the bands at (illegible)

Rock Agency-

Declared a malcontent by agent-

McLaughlin - exercising evil in-

fluence and recommended his

removal from among the Indians

Went to his camp on Grand River

About 6000 at Pine Ridge

(illegible) 4000

(adjoining reservation) (illegible)

Warlike + turbulent

The leaders at Rosebud with

About 1800 warriors left for

Pine Ridge when our troops arrived

2. Notes: Arrest + death Sitting Bull

of Captain E.G Fechet - arrived in

support of the police, at daylight-

near Sitting Bull's camp

Sitting anticipating such an attempt- had had a strong

guard about his house for

protection - but this night they

had all been dancing until

Nearly morning and the house

was left unguarded"

Following the three pages of notes are five pages of typescript which closely follow but do not match exactly the final published version of the book. Below is an image of one of the five typescript pages shown side by side with the final version (page 104 of the abridged version), or page 857 of the full length version. The other 4 pages are equally similar to their final published versions.

A fantastic and important accounting of a turning point in our history!

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