FACTS ABOUT WOUNDED KNEE

Today is the anniversary of an event that will live in infamy.

1. On Jan. 1, 1889, the Pauite prophet Wovoka claimed to have a dream brought on by a solar eclipse. He dreamed that Jesus would return as an Indian and bring back the good old days.  The dead Indian ancestors would return as would the buffalo.  Whites would disappear from the Earth.  To bring this on, he taught Indians the “Ghost Dance” and promised his disciples that if they did the dance and wore a special “Ghost Shirt”, they would be invulnerable to bullets. Because by this time almost all Indians were living depressing lives on reservations, the Ghost Dance Revival caught on, especially with the Sioux.
2. Whites on and near the reservations reacted to the Ghost Dance in a paranoid way. Some thought it was a portend of an insurrection.  One victim of this paranoia was Sitting Bull, even though he was not part of the movement.  However, he refused to order his followers to desist, so the Indian agent on his reservation sent Indian police to arrest him.  In the turmoil of the arrest, a crowd of angry followers gathered outside his hut.  When the great chief was led out, an Indian shot one of the police, who responded by shooting Sitting Bull.  Another policeman finished him off with a bullet to the head.  Numerous gun shots followed and bizarrely Sitting Bull’s trick horse, who was a gift from Buffalo Bill, broke into his trick routine.
3. The death of Sitting Bull naturally caused consternation among the Indians on his reservation. A band of 350 Miniconjou Indians, led by Spotted Tail (also known as Big Foot) decided to make their way to the Pine Ridge Reservation to come under the protection of Red Cloud.  They were intercepted by the Seventh Cavalry (Custer’s old unit) and escorted to Wounded Knee Creek.
4. The next day,  Dec. 29, 1890,  Col. James Forsyth ordered the disarming of the Indians. A few guns were turned over and then the troopers began to search for more.  At this point, a medicine man named Yellow Bird (or Sits Straight) went into the Ghost Dance which caused some anxiety among the soldiers.  There was a tussle with a brave named Black Coyote when he refused to give up his rifle.  A shot was fired and the “battle” was on.  Most historians agree with Indian accounts that Black Coyote was deaf and it was a misunderstanding.  Regardless, the cavalry was armed and ready for anything (and possibly hoping for any excuse to get revenge for “Custer’s Last Stand”), so the exchange of gunfire was decidedly one-sided.  Plus, the 7^th had those Hotchkiss guns ready on the high ground.  These rapid-firing cannons did a lot of the damage as they indiscriminately fired on the valley. 
5. It was indeed a massacre as 150-300 Indians (mostly older men, women, and children) were killed. One of the dead was Spotted Tail.  25 cavalrymen lost their lives, but many might have been victims of friendly fire due to the Hotchkiss fire and the fact that they were surrounding the Indians and thus firing at each other.
6. The newspapers reported the event as a battle with the brave troopers victorious. 20 Medals of Honor were awarded. 
7. In 1990, to coincide with the 100^th anniversary, Congress passed a resolution expressing “deep regret” for the massacre.
8. In 2019, the Remove the Stain Act was proposed to rescind the Medals of Honor. One of the cosponsors is Congresswoman Deb Haaland, the first Native American woman in Congress (and recently tabbed by Biden to head the Interior Department).  The main sponsor is Elizabeth Warren. Don’t hold your breath until it passes.  We can’t deal with Confederate base names and bogus Medals of Honor at the same time.

https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/wounded-knee

https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/wounded-knee

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre