Although the stories of starvation in early reservation days may be exaggerated, the period was definitely characterized by active government efforts to wipe out the Indians' existing political, religious, and education systems. Their military and economic systems had already been destroyed.

The arrests of religious practitioners, the denigration of traditional values, and the arrogance of agency personnel toward chiefs and councilors all were demoralizing. In addition, the forced dependence upon the bureaucrats for sustenance and the resulting boredom of doing nothing but waiting for rations, bred powerful resentments in the hearts of the Indians. Since the whites had already demonstrated their might, the only apparent way to change the stultifying situation seemed to be through divine intervention.

One response to these conditions was the Ghost Dance religion. Its practitioners preached nonviolence and grafted elements of nostalgia for the past onto the new Christian teaching about the Messiah's second coming. Ghost Dance regalia on the Southern Plains showed a real fluorescence of artistry. On the Northern Plains, Ghost Dance shirts and dresses were made of muslin and flour sacks. The Sioux even believed their shirts were bullet-proof. That misguided notion helped lead to the horrors of Wounded Knee.