Wounded Knee Massacre

Wounded Knee Massacre
Northwestern Photo Co. · Public domain · source
Conflict	Ghost Dance War
Partof	Indian Wars
Caption	Lakota burial ground near Wounded Knee Creek, 1891
Date	December 29, 1890
Place	Wounded Knee Creek, Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota
Result	Massacre of Lakota Sioux civilians; increased suppression of Plains peoples
Combatant1	United States Army
Combatant2	Miniconjou, Brulé Sioux, Oglala Sioux, Lakota people
Commander1	Samuel M. Whitside (overall Pine Ridge), James W. Forsyth
Commander2	Chief Big Foot (Spotted Elk)
Strength1	Elements of 7th Cavalry Regiment
Strength2	Lakota encampment, largely unarmed

Wounded Knee Massacre The Wounded Knee Massacre was a December 29, 1890, confrontation at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in present-day South Dakota in which elements of the 7th Cavalry Regiment opened fire on an encampment of Lakota Sioux, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children. The incident marked a culminating act in the Ghost Dance movement, the Sioux Wars, and wider Indian Wars of the late nineteenth century, intensifying debates in the United States Congress, among humanitarian organizations like the Indian Rights Association, and within press organs such as the New York Times and Harper's Weekly.

Background and Prelude

Tensions followed the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) and subsequent encroachments by railroads like the Northern Pacific Railway and by settlers in the Black Hills after the Great Sioux War of 1876–77. Prominent leaders including Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had resisted earlier removals; after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, federal policy hardened under presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison. By 1890 the Ghost Dance, propagated by the prophet Wovoka of the Paiute people and adopted by many Lakota bands such as the Oglala and Miniconjou, alarmed Indian agents like James McLaughlin and military officers including Nelson A. Miles and local commanders at Fort Yates and Fort Sioux. The Bureau of Indian Affairs sought to disarm encampments; arrests of Sitting Bull near Standing Rock Reservation precipitated his death, and Chief Big Foot led a band toward the Pine Ridge Agency seeking shelter under agent James McLaughlin's orders.

The Massacre (December 29, 1890)

On the morning of December 28–29, detachments of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, commanded in the field by James W. Forsyth and with officers like Samuel M. Whitside involved in the region, surrounded Chief Big Foot's camp near Wounded Knee Creek. A detachment commanded by Lt. Edward W. Casey and led by noncommissioned officers including Sergeant Frederick E. White attempted to disarm Lakota whose leader, Black Coyote, resisted during the weapon removal process. Confusion over a Winchester rifle discharge, exacerbated by Hotchkiss and Springfield Model 1873 breechloaders in proximity and the presence of Hotchkiss guns and Maxim-type rapid-fire weapons on nearby pieces of cavalry equipment, triggered a chaotic volley. Cavalrymen fired into lodges, and Hotchkiss shells from mounted guns swept the camp; many victims were unarmed or attempting to flee toward the Badlands and along the White River basin.

Casualties and Immediate Aftermath

Contemporaneous counts varied: official Army returns listed about 150–300 Lakota killed, including women and children, and roughly 25 U.S. soldiers dead, many from friendly fire; contemporary journalists, humanitarian observers from the Women's National Indian Association, and Lakota testimonies reported higher Lakota fatalities and widespread mutilation. Surviving Lakota were taken to Pine Ridge Agency facilities and to improvised hospitals in Rapid City and Chamberlain, South Dakota. The incident provoked responses from figures such as Helen Hunt Jackson, humanitarian reformers including Alice Fletcher, and lawmakers like Senator Henry L. Dawes, challenging the Army's narrative presented by officers including James W. Forsyth and his advocates.

Investigations, Courts-Martial, and Awards

The United States House of Representatives and the Secretary of War called for inquiries; General Nelson A. Miles reported to Secretary of War Riley A. B. —later reports reached the United States Senate Committee on Military Affairs. The Army convened courts-martial that resulted in no criminal convictions for officers including Forsyth, and several investigative reports by officers such as E. S. Godfrey and Adjutant General summaries provided differing casualty accounting. In 1890–1891, twenty men of the 7th Cavalry received Medal of Honor decorations for actions at the site, including names like Charles Windolph and Benjamin E. Hodgson; these awards later generated controversy among activists such as Russell Means and scholars including Vine Deloria Jr. and Anton Treuer who have called for rescission.

Political and Cultural Impact

The massacre intensified national debates in newspapers like the Chicago Tribune and periodicals including Harper's Bazaar over Indian policy, influencing legislators in the Sixty-first United States Congress and prompting discussion about assimilationist laws such as the later Dawes Act implementation and allotment policies enforced by Henry L. Dawes' agents. It altered perceptions of the Seventh Cavalry alongside its legacy from the Battle of the Little Bighorn, affected military reform advocates like Emory Upton, and fed into cultural productions: novels by Hamlin Garland, poems by Stephen Crane-era writers, and later films depicting Plains conflicts, including portrayals in works addressing Geronimo and Sitting Bull narratives.

Memory, Commemoration, and Controversy

Remembrance has been contested: tribal descendants including the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe have maintained oral histories, annual memorials, and petitions before institutions such as the National Congress of American Indians and calls to the United States Senate and House of Representatives for formal redress. Monuments and markers erected by veterans' groups like the Grand Army of the Republic and later historical plaques at the Wounded Knee National Historic Landmark site coexist with protest actions during events like the 1973 Wounded Knee Occupation led by the American Indian Movement and figures such as Dennis Banks and Clyde Bellecourt. Modern scholarship from historians like Dee Brown, Theda Perdue, Peter Iverson, Robert M. Utley, and Adam Fortunate Eagle has reframed the event within studies of settler colonialism, indigenous resistance, and memory politics; debates continue over the removal of the Medal of Honor awards and the appropriate manner of commemoration at Pine Ridge.

Category:1890 in South Dakota