Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film)

"My dear Senator Dawes, as I believed you sincere in asking me to keep you informed, I write you again in an appeal for your assistance. With no medical equipment here worthy of the name and understocked in medicines, there has been little reason for the sick to risk the journey to the agency for treatment. I bought a horse and a wagon with my own salary and have just now returned from the several weeks in the villages. It is a mistake to trust the official reports. Measles, influenza and whooping cough have ascended from hell all at once. My own assistant's child has been taken. The agent here, Royer, has no experience and even less inclination to help these people. Of equal concern is the epidemic of hopelessness that has overtaken the reservation. That the Sioux would bear the wretched taste of cod-liver oil for the ounce of spirits contained in the bottle is, to me, the whole of their experience in a nutshell. I no longer deny them. Many here fear a return to the old ways. The prophesy of a Paiute shaman called Wovoka has spread from tribe to tribe faster than a telegraph signal, rekindling old superstitions among the Sioux and old apprehensions among the whites who are sure to mistake desperation for hostility. As conditions worsen, the church can provide little solace beyond a Christian burial. Sincerely yours, Charles Eastman."

"A vision came to me when the sun went into shadow, and I lay dying. And in my death, I saw the Heavens of the white robes. And yes, it is as they describe it. But also there, my children, all the Indians that ever roamed this earth, all your beloved ancestors, and mine, and those young ones who were taken by the white man's diseases. Do not grieve for them. They want you to know that they are happy. Yes. And you should not grieve for yourselves, because here is what the white robes did not tell you- the white man, my children, will soon be no more. Now you must not hate the white man. This will only delay his end. But if you will do the dance that I will teach you, all the ancestors will return. And the buffalo will be renewed. And you shall all live forever. Forever in the freedom that we as Indian people once knew."

"Adam Beach - Ohiyesa / Charles Eastman"

"Aidan Quinn - Henry L. Dawes"

"August Schellenberg - Chief Sitting Bull"

"Anna Paquin - Elaine Goodale"

"Colm Feore - General William Tecumseh Sherman"

"Gordon Tootoosis - Chief Red Cloud"

"Fred Dalton Thompson - President Ulysses S. Grant"

"Duane Howard - Uncle"

"Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse - One Bull"

"Brian Stollery - Bishop Whipple"

"Shaun Johnston - Colonel Nelson A. Miles"

"Billy Merasty - Chief Young Man Afraid of His Horses"

"Morris Birdyellowhead - Chief American Horse"

"Eddie Spears - Chasing Crane"

"Sean Wei Mah - Bull Head"

"Eric Schweig - Chief Gall"

"Jimmy Herman - Yellow Bird"

"Patrick St. Esprit - Major James Walsh"

"J.K. Simmons - James McLaughlin"

"Wes Studi - Wovoka / Jack Wilson"

"Marty Atonini - Colonel w:James W. Forsyth"

"Lee Tergesen - Daniel F. Royer"