Wounded Knee Massacre
Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota
What happened
Soldiers of the U.S. 7th Cavalry under Colonel James W. Forsyth surrounded a band of Miniconjou Lakota led by Spotted Elk (also called Big Foot), joined by Hunkpapa Lakota who had fled after Sitting Bull's killing. Many Lakota had taken up the Ghost Dance, a spiritual movement promising renewal and peace, and U.S. officials feared it meant armed resistance. Two weeks after Sitting Bull was killed, soldiers surrounded Spotted Elk's camp at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and began taking away the Lakota's weapons. A rifle went off, the soldiers opened fire, and more than 250 Lakota, many of them women and children, were killed.
Why it matters
Result: See Fight and ensuing massacre. Leaders: Arthur Mellette / James Forsyth against Spotted Elk. Why it matters: The killing of so many people, including women and children, is remembered as a massacre. The site became a place of memory and protest for Native Americans.
What came next
Nineteen soldiers received the Medal of Honor, which critics call 'medals of dishonor'. In 1973, American Indian Movement activists occupied Wounded Knee for 71 days to protest the treatment of Native Americans.
Did you know?
Since 1986, the Big Foot Memorial Riders have travelled on horseback along the path Spotted Elk's band took, to remember those who died.
Timeline
- 1889Wovoka, a Northern Paiute prophet, begins teaching the Ghost Dance.
- December 1890Sitting Bull is killed during an attempted arrest.
- December 29, 1890U.S. soldiers kill more than 250 Lakota at Wounded Knee Creek.
- 1903Descendants of those who died erect a monument at the gravesite.
- 1973American Indian Movement activists occupy Wounded Knee for 71 days.