WOUNDED KNEE, SD

The Wounded Knee Massacre, also known as The Battle at Wounded Knee Creek, was the last major armed conflict between the Lakota Sioux and the United States, subsequently described as a "massacre" by General Nelson A. Miles in a letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

The Lakota were overwhelmed by the flood of settlers onto their lands. A gold rush in the 1870’s brought hordes of prospectors and settlers. Many whites wanted to claim the Black Hills, which formed part of the assigned land given to the Lakota by the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, but the Lakota were not interested in selling this territory which they considered sacred.

On December 29, Lakota Ghost Dancers were on their way through the badlands toward Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. James W. Forsyth and 7th Cavalry Regiment intercepted the dancers and ordered them to hand over their weapons. A search was ordered, and some of the weapons were collected. A shot was fired, prompting a call for the Cavalry to fire. At first, the struggle was fought at close range, but the fight moved as the Lakota sought to escape fire from the troops, who chased them for miles across the prairies. By the end of fighting, which lasted less than an hour, at least 150 Lakota had been killed and 50 wounded. In comparison, army casualties numbered 25 dead and 39 wounded.

The American public's reaction to the battle was at the time generally favorable. Twenty Medals of Honor were awarded for the action. A decade later, when these were reviewed, Miles saw that they were retained. Currently, Native Americans are urgently seeking the recall of what they refer to as "Medals of Dis-Honor". Historian Will G. Robinson has noted the discrepancy between these twenty medals handed out following the events at Wounded Knee and the fact that only three such Medals of Honor were awarded among the 64,000 South Dakotans that fought for four years of the Second World War