High Hawk led a Brule band that advocated the Ghost Dance in the late 1880s. He was part of a Sioux delegation to Washington, D.C., after the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. In the 1880's the U.S. government had managed to confine almost all of the Indians on reservations, usually on poor land rejected for use by the white man. The rations and supplies guaranteed in the treaties were of poor quality, and often failed to arrive. Graft and corruption were rampant. In an attempt to stem this problem, a move was made to recruit Quakers to take the positions as Indian agents, however not nearly enough Quakers responded to the call for volunteers. This call, however, opened the door to other denominations setting up shop on the reservations. An attempt was made to convert the Indians to Christianity with mixed results. The native Americans living on the reservation were told of the Ghost Dance - a vision of Christ flying over them on their horseback ride back to the railroad tracks. They were told of the prophecy that, next spring, when the grass was high, the earth would be covered with new soil, that would bury their white abductors. The new soil would be covered with sweet grass, running water and trees; the great herds of buffalo and wild horses would return. All Indians who danced the Ghost Dance would be taken up into the air and suspended there while the new earth was being laid down. Then they would be replaced there, with the ghosts of their ancestors, on the new earth. This new religion was taught at all of the Sioux reservations. The songs of the Ghost Dance taught them not to hurt anybody or do harm to anyone; and not to fight - that satisfaction in life will come as the consequence of their righteousness - and not to speak of this to the white man. They danced every six weeks and feasted with food that everybody could eat. The songs urged them to wait for the earth to shake - and not be afraid of the new world to come.