The Ghost Dance was a religious movement, not a military plan.

But the wrong reading had real consequences — it produced the conditions for Sitting Bull’s arrest, his death, and eventually for the Wounded Knee Massacre.

James McLaughlin, the Standing Rock agent, was not the only official convinced that Sitting Bull needed to be removed.

General Nelson Miles, commanding the Military Division of the Missouri, had his own ideas about how to address the situation.

He sent Buffalo Bill Cody to Standing Rock with a specific mission: to approach Sitting Bull personally and persuade him to come in, using their acquaintance from the Wild West show to create an opening for a peaceful resolution.