The tranquil setting of this photograph of a Sioux village belies its time
and circumstances.  Taken in 1891, one month after the events at Wounded
Knee and the death of Sitting Bull, the photograph shows a village of
about four thousand Brules and Oglalas, who had left their reservations
to seek freedom and return to their old way of life by participating in
the Ghost Dance movement.  The massacre at Wounded Knee represented a
turning pint.  Such villages as this were gradually reduced as General
Nelson Miles and his troops continued the encircling operations of
bringing the tribes back onto the reservations.  The success of this
program was formally recognized with the Indian surrender.