WOVOKA

born 1858?, Utah Territory died Oct. 1932, Walker River Indian Reservation, Nev. also called Jack Wilson American Indian religious leader who spawned the second messianic Ghost Dance cult, which swept the reservations in about 1890. His father, Tavibo, had been an assistant to Wodziwob, the Paiute leader of the first Ghost Dance movement of the 1870s. Himself a Paiute, Wovoka (whose name means the Cutter) worked during his early teens for a rancher, David Wilson, whose family name he adopted while among whites. By 1888, having returned to his own people, he had acquired a reputation as a medicine man. In 1889 Wovoka claimed that he had fallen into a trance state during which God informed him that in two years the ancestors of his people would rise from the dead, buffalo once again would fill the plains, and the white man would vanish. But to bring this about, Wovoka warned his increasing numbers of followers, Indians must remain peaceful and profess their faith in the resurrection of the dead, or ghosts, by taking part in a ritual dance, the so-called Ghost Dance. The cult quickly spread to other tribes, notably the militant Sioux, who saw in it the ultimate revenge against the white man. Wovoka was worshipped far and wide as a new messiah. The religious frenzy engendered by the cult frightened nearby white settlers, as did the prospect that Sitting Bull would try to exploit the movement to engineer an uprising. Hostility between the two cultures grew increasingly, culminating in the massacre by U.S. troops of about 200 Sioux men, women, and children at Wounded Knee (q.v.), S.D. on Dec. 29, 1890. After this tragic incident many of Wovoka's followers despaired of their redemption, and the movement eventually died out.