The Ghost Dance was a religious movement that promised spiritual renewal and, in some interpretations, the return of the buffalo and the displacement of the colonizers — promises that the U.S. government and reservation agents viewed with alarm.

The movement did not advocate armed resistance, but its rapid spread through communities that had genuine reasons for despair made federal authorities nervous.

Sitting Bull had not formally adopted the Ghost Dance, but his presence on the reservation and his continuing influence made him a perceived focus of the movement’s energy.

Reservation agent James McLaughlin, who had a long and complicated relationship with Sitting Bull, decided that Sitting Bull needed to be arrested and removed before the Ghost Dance situation could escalate.

On the morning of December 15, 1890, a group of Indian Police — Lakota men employed by the agency — arrived at Sitting Bull’s cabin to carry out the arrest.