Document #4, The Indian Ghost Dance and War ballad, is a primary source written by Private W.H. Prather. Pvt. W.H. Prather was a member of the Ninth Cavalry during the Indian War. IT was written during the Sioux Outbreak campaign of 1890.
While this document is a ballad, it exists to give a real, first account of the Sioux Outbreak campaign. Pvt. W.H. Prather created this work to inform the people of what really (in his opinion) happened during the battle. The document says that the Native American thought that they could win the battle because of a ritual that they did, but that didn't work and the Americans won.
Pvt. W.H. Prather fought in the Sioux Outbreak campaign, and was very proud of his fellow cavalry members in their fight. During this time period, the white and African American settlers were not fond of their Native American neighbors. From the piece, we can tell that the settlers of the West did not like the Native Americans, and would do anything to get rid of them. In this ballad, the author only relates the settlers side of the controversy, and doesn't give any information from the perspective of the Natives, which makes it clear that Pvt. W.H. Prather greatly favored the settlers.
While this is a great primary source, it does have its limitations. For instance, we can not tell any part of the story form the Native American's perspective. Also, Pvt. W.H. Prather purposely left out how the Native Americans must have felt about the battle. This document could be easily checked against other information about the same period in time.
