Page "Pawnee people" Paragraph 64

About 1820-1821, news of the sacrifices reached the East Coast ; it caused a sensation among European Americans.

Before this, US Indian agents had counseled Pawnee chiefs to suppress the practice, as they warned of how it would upset the American settlers, who were arriving in ever greater number.

Knife Chief ransomed at least two captives before sacrifice.

For any individual, it was extremely difficult to try to change a practice tied so closely to Pawnee belief in the annual renewal of life for the tribe.

In June 1818, the Missouri Gazette of St. Louis contained the account of a sacrifice.

The last known child sacrifice was of Haxti, a 14-year-old Oglala Lakota girl, on April 22, 1838.