The Day the Sun Died Author:Dale Van Every A Paiute prophet had a vision - of the Messiah returning with the dead, of Indian land as it had been before the white man came. The story spread on the embittered reservations, amoung the Shoshone, the Crow, the Blackfeet, the Cheyenne, and, finally, the warlike Sioux. With it came a violently ecstatic dance, a mixture of Christian and pagan ri... more »tual through which the Indians sought, finally and irrevocably, to repossess their heritage. THE DAY THE SUN DIED a wave of hysteria began which swept through the country....THE DAY THE SUN DIED a suicidal atmosphere was born, a blend of mysticism and arrogance which spiraled relentlessly toward a violent confrontation. The violence came December 29, 1890, at Wounded Knee.« less