Wounded Knee Massacre
The
Wounded Knee Massacre was an attack upon the
Sioux by the
United States Army at
Wounded Knee, South Dakota on
December 29,
1890. The US Army used Hotchkiss
cannons which were capable of firing two pound explosive
shellss fifty times per minute.
Prelude to the Incident
The American government, in an attempt to arrest Sitting Bull, sent an Indian agent to Sitting Bull's camp under the pretext of a ritual called the Ghost Dance that was supposed to confer invincibility. The Indian agent sent someone to arrest Sitting Bull, but ended up having him killed instead, leaving the Sioux without a leader.
Sitting Bull's half-brother Big Foot took over the tribe. On the way to help a fellow chief, Red Cloud at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, make peace with the Whites, Big Foot was intercepted by Major Samuel Whitside of the 7th Cavalry. Whitside transferred Big Foot to an army ambulence due to his severe pneumonia and escorted the Indians to their camp for the night at Wounded Knee Creek. The army supplied the Indians with some tents and rations, and then conducted a census, determining that there were 120 males and 230 women and children.
The next morning the Sioux found that additional 7th Cavalry troopers with more Hotchkiss guns had arrived during the night. The canons were set up on a low hill overlooking the Indian encampment. Colonel John Forsyth had assumed command of the soldiers. Forsyth informed his command that the Sioux were to be taken to a military camp in Omaha, Nebraska.
The Massacre
That morning the Indians were summoned to a meeting in their own camp, issued army hardtack for rations, and informed that they must hand over all firearms. Not satisfied with the weapons voluntarily stacked by the Indians, the soldiers began to ransack the tents, and removed anything that could be used as a weapon, including extra tent stakes and hatchets for cutting firewood. Next the soldiers began to search the warriors. As the efforts to locate weapons continued, the Indians became more irritated and unruly.
During an attempt to take a rifle from a warrior named Black Coyote, a weapon discharged. Immediately the troops on the rise began firing the Hotchkiss guns, in spite of their own comrades being mingled with the indians. Indians ran to re-arm themselves from the stacked weapons, and complete chaos ensued.
When the shooting stopped, 153 Indians lay dead, along with 25 cavalrymen. Big Foot lay among the dead. Most of the dead and wounded soldiers had been struck down by their own bullets and cannon fire. Wounded soldiers and Indians were placed in wagons and taken to Pine Ridge. Approximately 50 Indians arrived at Pine Ridge, but were kept outside in the cold until quarters were found. Thus it appears that the army contingent of about 500 men, under Forsyth, had killed at approximately 300 Native Americans. The difference between the original census and the body count and survivors has been explained by wounded Indians crawling off to die in the wilds.
The Aftermath
The military hired civilians to bury the dead Indians after an intervening snowstorm had abated. Arriving at the battleground, the burial party found the deceased frozen in contorted positions by the freezing weather. They were gathered up and placed in a common grave. Forsyth was exonerated of any wrong-doing.
In an editorial in response to the event, a young newspaper editor, L. Frank Baum, later famous as the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, wrote in the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer on December 20, 1891: \n: The nobility of the Redskin is extinguished, and what few are left are a pack of whining curs that licks the hand that smites them. The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation? Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they should die than live the miserable wretches that they are. [1]
In the 20th century, the popular view of the incident changed to one of the most grievous atrocities in American history. It has been commemorated in the popular protest song written by Buffy St. Marie, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, as well as the book by native American historian Dee Brown by the same name.
Historically, the massacre is generally considered to be the end of the Indian Wars, the series of conflicts between U.S. forces and Native tribes that had been taking place since the 1700s.
Category:Native American wars
