The Wounded Knee Massacre was the end result of growing problems between the Lakota Sioux and the U.S. government. After the Civil War, tension began to escalate and ended on December 29, 1890. When the government took over most of the Lakota land and forced them to live on reservations, the Indian way of life was destroyed and the large herds of bison were driven away until they were in danger. Life on the reservations was also difficult because many of the promises made by the government remained unfulfilled: "Promises to increase rations, made by U.S. officials in 1889 in order to obtain signatures to cut the reservation's land in half Sioux treaty and create six separate reservations. , turned out to be false. Instead, rations were cut precipitously and people almost starved to death. (Robertson 1). Treaties signed to protect reserves from foreigners were also ignored by the government. There were also other factors that led to the murder, such as the Dance of the Ghosts, the murder of Chief Sitting Bull, and the fight that turned into a massacre. Many Indians saw hope in the religion of ghost dancing. The Ghost Dance movement was meant to “summon the spirits of the dead and facilitate their resurrection” (Phillips 1). It was created by the son of the Paiute shaman Wovoka who was “known as the messiah by his disciples” (Wovoka 1). Wovoka believed that the Dance of the Ghosts would revive their loved ones, make the whites disappear, and that the buffalo would once again roam the Wild West (The Wounded Knee Massacre 1). Leaders such as Sitting Bull, Kicking Bear and Short Bull preached the religion of Wovoka, causing it to gain immense popularity. This belief gave hope to the Indians and more than 3,000 Indians gathered in the Pine Badlands...... middle of paper ......pposed to eradicate the world of whites and resurrect the dead natives . The dance became more popular when Chief Sitting Bull began practicing it. Tension between the two sides increased when Chief Sitting Bull was killed by the army. After Sitting Bull's death, Chief Big Foot and his followers were surrounded by soldiers on their way to join the other leaders. On December 29, a shot was fired that started the massacre and lasted only an hour. After an hour, the camp was covered in blood from the soldiers' constant shooting. A huge cemetery was set up to bury the 146 victims. People later realized that the Indians were innocent and had been killed for no good reason. However, on the bright side, this is the latest confrontation between the government and the Indians and it has taught people to treat others as equals..