The next morning, December 29, , the Miniconjous Sioux were surrounded by the 7th Cavalry and ordered to relinquish their weapons. The Sioux had understood that, as soon as all guns were collected, they would be allowed to continue on to Pine Ridge Agency and Red Cloud's people just a few miles away.
But, what is believed to be a "random shot," possibly caused by a deaf Sioux soldier who hadn't understood the order to give up his weapons, began a wholesale slaughter of innocent men, women and children. It is believed that the accidental shot, fired while the deaf Native tried to maintain his hold on his weapon, caused others in the crowd Native or white, there are counter claims as to which to open fire. Suddenly, a peaceful surrender turned into a massacre, which resulted in the deaths of most of the of Big Foot's band.
Though some soldiers were also wounded and killed, many of them are thought to have died from their own cross-fires. Many Sioux already disarmed, there was little chance for the Natives to defend themselves. Accounts differ as to exact numbers of the dead Sioux, but some may have escaped, while the remaining Natives were killed in their attempt to flee.
Twenty-five of the army's soldiers died, while 37 soldiers and 2 civilians were reported wounded. According to recollections by some of the Indian survivors, the soldiers cried out "Remember the Little Bighorn" as they sportingly hunted down those who fled—evidence to them that the massacre was in revenge of Custers demise at Little Bighorn in Recorded by Santee Sioux, Sid Byrd, from oral histories of several survivors.
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 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. It was a beautiful dream. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.
Voices on the Wounded Knee Massacre and Occupation more Includes: Chales Little Dog, a young 6 year old looking for his uncle the day after the massacre, and Pete Lemley, a white rancher who happened to be a witness to the massacre; 1. Russel Means and 3. Kevin Abourezk, a student at the University of South Dakota who participated in the 25th Anniversary of the Wounded Knee Siege and realized how connected his family was to both sides of the event; and lastly 5.
If you scroll down while listening to Mr. Click the title for location and availability information. Off campus access instructions for e-books. C A selection of short primary-source accounts from a variety of sources, including newspaper reports, Congressional documents, government documents, and Indian tribal sources, highlighting conflicts and controversies and presenting the opposing views of Native and non-Native Americans.
W4 Although the story of the Wounded Knee Massacre is well-known, its causes and effects are still an enigma years later. For 19th century Americans, it represented the end of Indian resistance and the conquest of the West. For Indians, it represented the utter disregard of the U. In the 20th century and beyond, Wounded Knee continues to fuel controversy and debate over the impetus and intent of the government that day, the role of the military, and the conflicting ways the tragedy is remembered today.
Dance, a significant aspect of Native cultural expression, has always played a vital role in both utilitarian and religious ritual and ceremony. In the push west in the years after the Civil War, however, Americans viewed Indian dancing as a threat.
Fearing an orchestrated Indian uprising, by the s, both the U. Some 19 years later, General Nelson Miles, assigned to investigate the Ghost Dance phenomenon among the Plains tribes, issued a warning that if the practice was not stopped, it could lead to an all-out Indian war.
In response, the War Department deployed 7, troops to maintain control over the Lakota. One of the most hotly debated topics among historians today is why deadly military force was used against the tribes to enforce the ban on dancing and whether that force was a byproduct of war or the result of premeditated murder or genocide. According to Catharine Franklin, Indian War expert and assistant professor of history at Texas Tech, the definition of genocide does not fit. There is no evidence of an extermination policy.
Jeffrey Ostler, professor of history at the University of Oregon argues that 19th century U. Franklin points out that much has been made of the bitter remarks of General William Tecumseh Sherman, Commander of the U. Grant after the Fetterman massacre, in which, 81 troops were lured to their death by Crazy Horse and Red Cloud. Enlightenment ideals on which British-American Indian policy was initially formed, taught that all humans began as savages; primitives with no concept of individual property ownership.
Savages, it was thought, evolved naturally from hunting and gathering to herding, and into a full agrarian lifestyle, which was the Euro-American ideal of civilization. As Thomas Jefferson surmised in his book , Notes on the State of Virginia, once the tribes fully adopted agriculture, they would move west voluntarily to become yeoman farmers. White Americans would then claim rightful ownership of the continent.
By the crest of the 20th century, however, Americans had revised their thinking on such natural evolution. In the late s, a new federal Indian policy of forced assimilation took precedence, as land-hungry Americans grew impatient waiting for the tribes to evolve to civilization on their own time.
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