1909
Even as some Americans saw in peyotism a fascinating and perhaps even salubrious Native American religion, others responded with a visceral disgust to what they saw as a degenerate and dangerous cult. This chapter traces the powerful response by missionaries, Indian Agents, and conservatives to the growing popularity of peyotism in Native American communities in the first decades of the twentieth century, beginning with an incident in which the famed temperance activist William “Pussyfoot” Johnson attempted to purchase all the peyote for sale in Laredo and then burn it in a symbolic gesture. The chapter also considers the origins of the peyote religions within Native American communities during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.