Crushed under an ethnocentric narrative that cast them as extremes of the European imagination—from the noble savage to the beast in need of civilization—Native North Americans were absorbed into the pioneering mythology of the Wild West. They were a collection of diverse ethnic groups united by shared customs and beliefs but divided into often rival totemic tribes. The Sioux Alliance included most groups residing on the expansive central plains of North America.

The Indian Wars witnessed skilled leaders like Spotted Tail respond to the massacres of their people with unexpected strength. In 1865, following the 1864 Sand Creek massacre, the Sioux razed Julesburg and seized control of the Bozeman Trail between Montana and Wyoming, wreaking havoc on U.S. forts. This campaign was led by Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, the same Crazy Horse who, alongside Sitting Bull, would later defeat Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. Except for a few pitched battles, the indigenous strategy relied on brief raids and ambushes—tactics effective at slowing settler expansion but insufficient to halt it entirely. Inevitably, the native forces were overwhelmed, subjugated, and confined to reservations.

By around 1890, a syncretic religious movement emerged among the Lakota and Dakota, confined to the poorest lands that remained theirs. This movement was led by the shaman Wovoka, who introduced the Ghost Dance—a ritual intended to bring about the disappearance of white settlers from America. These religious eschatologies provided a form of resistance that was largely psychological and symbolic against subjugation and assimilation. The natives danced to escape drowning in whiskey, but settlers felt threatened and demanded the arrest of Sitting Bull, who was now powerless and confined to the Standing Rock reservation. When those tasked with carrying out the arrest faced the slightest sign of resistance from the natives, they killed the aging leader.

Followers of the Ghost Dance sought refuge with Red Cloud but were intercepted by the U.S. Army. At Wounded Knee, the army, equipped with Gatling guns, massacred the group—mostly defenseless civilians.