In
wars, as with anything, there are turning points. These points are vital to the
winning or losing of a war. The Battle of Wounded Knee was one of those battles.
On December 29, 1890 the U.S. Military slaughtered the Native American Indians,
which ended the war. This battle has been argued to be a massacre because the
Indians were killed without any weapons. Never the less, this battle ended the
Plains Indian Wars.
On December 29, 1890, five hundred troops surrounded the Indian encampment with
orders to take them back to Nebraska by train. The general told his men to
disarm the Indians before taking them to the railroad. The U.S. Military
surrounded the Indians to close for their own comfort. The Indians were alarmed
and shooting started. The Indians fought with their hands and any guns they
could find or the ones from the fallen U.S. Military. “Twenty-five troopers and
one hundred and fifty-three Sioux were killed, including sixty-two women and
small children. Many of the dead on both sides may have been the victims of
"friendly fire" as the shooting took place at point blank range in chaotic
conditions. Around one hundred and fifty Lakota fled the chaos, of which an
unknown number are later believed to have died from exposure.”[i]
Many things led to this battle before the final shooting. A man named Jack
Wilson was a religious leader in 1890. He was chopping wood one morning when a
vision came to him of the messiah coming down to earth to take the Indians to
the holy land. He soon spread this vision to the Indians and everyone performed
rituals including the Ghost Dance to see the visions. The Ghost Dance had a huge
impact on the country. Chief Sitting Bull didn’t enforce the Ghost Dance but
wasn’t entirely against it. The Indian police took this like Sitting Bull was
part of the problem and that he was enforcing the Dance. When they went to
arrest him a shooting broke out and Sitting Bull was killed.
Sitting Bulls
brother, Big Foot, was now in charge of the Ghost Dance and 400 Indians fled to
Cheyenne River Indian Association. Most went to surrender but the rest went to
find Big Foot. The Army was ordered to arrest Big Foot but delayed because of
his reputation of peace. They traveled to Pine Ridge Agency to make peace with
the whites. Big Foot was not aware of the weaknesses the Indians had. They then
traveled to Wounded Knee to the army ambulance because of Big Foots pneumonia.
The army gave them tents and a census to find out the population of them. There
were 120 males and 230 women and children. The next morning the Indians found
themselves surrounded and this is when the tension rose.
This battle that will be called a Massacre in later times was a mix of
miscommunication and tension between two worlds. This Massacre could have been
avoided with some strategies and talks with the Indians. The peace was
interrupted when the Indians woke up to a whole Army outside their tents. Any
person would be intimidated being surrounded and unarmed.
“The whites in speaking of the two events-when the whites got the worst of it-it was a massacre; when the Indians got the worst of it, it was a battle. The Indians understand that on the Little Big Horn, they were defending themselves-their village, their property, their lives, their women, and children. They understand that at Wounded Knee, they were attacked wantonly, cruelly, brutally, and that what little fighting they did was in self-defense.”[ii]
This Massacre has
gone down in history because of its impact on the Indians. This war broke what
little peace remained and gave a bad reputation to the Americans.
The culture the Indians had had been unharmed in any significant way until that
day on Wounded Knee. The Indians lived their peace and the Americans generally
stayed out of it. The traditions and rituals the Indians had were from their
ancestors. Their existence is precious to keeping history alive and reflecting a
lifetime of changes. The Indians are also close with the Heavens and making
peace with their God. They are a vital piece to this world’s history. Their own
life is no less or no more than the Americans. I only wish that they could have
forced the Americans off the land instead of trusting them to help.
Black Elk remarks, “I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died there.”[iii]
The dream to live a
life with their family forever in peace died that day.
This was the turning point of ending the Plains Indian War. This Massacre has
enough books and focus on it to show that it’s value is priceless. Even though
we may never know what happened on that bitter day in December the impact of it
will echo throughout time.
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[i]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wounded_Knee
[ii] William S.E.
Coleman, Voices of Wounded Knee, p366
[iii]
Neil Waldman, Wounded Knee p50