Dreaming of the whites' collapse and reemergence of the abundant past, the Teton tribe, which had been almost starved to death due to the reduction of the reservation at the end of 1880, decided to hold the ritual of Ghost Dance according to what the prophet Wovoka said. The new religious zeal of the Indian tribe made the whites wary and ultimately led them to join the federal government forces. As US the federal forces intervened the Ghost Dance, the Indians gave in to the US Eight Cavalry on 28 December 1890 with little resistance.
However, when the unarmed Indians were camping along the Wounded Knee River in South Dakota on the day of surrender, a white soldier was killed. This incident led the government troops to kill Indians. After all, the government troops killed more than 200 Indians including women and children on the day. (See photo). The massacre served as a critical incident leading to the whites' conquest of the Indians in North America.