Editing Dances With Wolves (section)

==Historical references==
Judith A. Boughter wrote: "The problem with Costner's approach is that all of the Sioux are heroic, while the [[Pawnee people|Pawnees]] are portrayed as stereotypical villains. Most accounts of [[Massacre Canyon|Sioux–Pawnee relations]] see the Pawnees, numbering only 4,000 at that time, as victims of the more powerful Sioux."<ref>Judith A. Boughter (2004). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ym4upG2eexAC&pg=PA105 The Pawnee Nation: An Annotated Research Bibliography]''". Scarecrow Press. p.105. {{ISBN|0810849909}}</ref>

The history and context of Fort Hays is radically different from that portrayed in the movie. Historic Fort Hays was founded in 1867, with the [[:File:Fort_Hays_Blockhouse_01.jpg|iconic stone blockhouse]] being built immediately.<ref name=Exhibits>{{cite web | title = Fort Hays - Exhibits | publisher = [[Kansas Historical Society]] | url = http://www.kshs.org/p/fort-hays-exhibits/11785 | access-date = November 1, 2019 | archive-date = December 15, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191215095345/https://www.kshs.org/p/fort-hays-exhibits/11785 | url-status = live }}</ref> Its predecessor, Fort Fletcher (1865–1868), was abandoned for a few months and then relocated a short distance away in 1866.<ref name=KSHS_History>{{cite web | url = http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/fort-hays/11793 | title = Fort Hays | work = Kansapedia | publisher = [[Kansas Historical Society]] | date = November 2019 | access-date = November 1, 2019 | archive-date = December 15, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191215135754/https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/fort-hays/11793 | url-status = live }}</ref> Fort Hays was founded in [[Cheyenne]] territory rather than Sioux. Rather than a desolate site, the fort was host to thousands of soldiers, railroad workers, and settlers from the start. The [[Kansas Pacific Railway]] and the settlements of [[Rome, Ellis County, Kansas|Rome]] and [[Hays, Kansas|Hays City]] were built next to the fort in 1867; each was a perceived violation of Cheyenne and [[Arapaho]] territory, resulting in immediate warfare with the [[Dog Soldier]]s.<ref>{{cite book |author= Collins |title= Kansas Pacific |page= 13 |quote= [After Fort Hays, it] would then enter the country of three nomadic Indian tribes: the Cheyenne, Arapahoe and Kiowa. ... mile and a half per day. ... Then the Indian raids began. }}</ref> The fort was [[Philip Sheridan|Sheridan's]] headquarters at the center of the 1867–1868 conflict. A historic seasonal Pawnee tipi village had been located only {{convert|9|mi|km}} from Fort Hays, but the Pawnee had been excluded from it by other dominant tribes for some time by the 1860s.<ref>{{cite web |author= Howard C. Raynesford |title= The Raynesford Papers: Notes- The Smoky Hill River & Fremont's Indian Village |url= http://www.kancoll.org/articles/raynesford/raynotes.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030123140335/http://www.kancoll.org/articles/raynesford/raynotes.htm |url-status= dead |archive-date= January 23, 2003 |year= 1953 |access-date= 2018-08-12 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author= Carson Bear |title= A Nearly Pristine Pawnee Tipi Ring Site Preserved for More Than a Century |work= National Trust for Historic Preservation |url= https://savingplaces.org/stories/a-nearly-pristine-pawnee-tipi-ring-site-preserved-for-more-than-a-century#.W3DByehKiCi |date= April 4, 2018 |access-date= August 12, 2018 }}</ref>

A Christian missionary named [[John Dunbar (missionary)|John Dunbar]] worked among the Pawnee in the 1830s and 1840s, and sided with the Native Americans in a dispute with government farmers and a local [[Indian agent]].<ref>Waldo R. Wedel, ''The Dunbar Allis Letters on the Pawnee'' (New York: Garland Press, 1985).</ref> According to screenwriter Michael Blake, the film character's name was chosen at random from lists of Civil War veterans and was merely coincidence.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

The fictional Lieutenant John Dunbar of 1863 is correctly shown in the film wearing a gold bar on his officer shoulder straps, indicating his rank as a [[first lieutenant]]. From 1836 to 1872, the rank of first lieutenant was indicated by a gold bar; after 1872, the rank was indicated by a silver bar. Similarly, Captain Cargill is correctly depicted wearing a pair of gold bars, indicating the rank of captain at that time.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/ROTCMiscNGB/Silver%20and%20Gold%20Insignia.htm |work=US Army Institute of Heraldry |title=History of Officer Rank Insignia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060504100035/http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/ROTCMiscNGB/Silver%20and%20Gold%20Insignia.htm |archive-date=May 4, 2006 |access-date=August 1, 2018}}</ref>

Author and screenwriter Michael Blake said that Stands With A Fist was actually based upon [[Cynthia Ann Parker]], the white girl captured by [[Comanche]]s and mother of [[Quanah Parker]].<ref name=WMIp145>Aleiss, ''Making the White Man's Indian: Native Americans and Hollywood Movies'', p. 145.</ref>