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Rh but the interference of the whites caused great discontent among the Indians. Short Bull, too, was ambitious and made much of his relations with the Messiah, and finally, shortly after his release from arrest, he boldly announced himself as the Messiah, and declared that while it had been his original purpose to make his advent and the resurrection of the dead two years hence, owing to the interference of the whites he proposed to bring it on immediately. The Indians, at Pine Ridge especially, followed him blindly, and, upon his declaration that the resurrection was to come on immediately, they renewed their religious rites with increased fervor.

To avoid interference from the officers, the ghost dancers, as they were called, assembled in a large camp in the fastnesses of the Bad Lands. The agent at Pine Ridge became greatly alarmed, for many of the Indians about the agency had become very insolent and defied his authority. He asked that soldiers be sent to his assistance. The government therefore sent detachments of soldiers to Pine Ridge and Rosebud, and set up a cordon of military camps along the railroad between the reservation and the Black Hills, and from the vicinity of Buffalo Gap down the Cheyenne River to Fort Sully.

The government officials were exceedingly suspicious of the conduct of Sitting Bull, who always had been of a mean disposition, and defiant of the government's authority. When information came that his people were dancing, it was the judgment of the officers that he should be arrested and removed from the reservation. Major McLaughlin, for many years agent of Sitting Bull,