Wounded Knee was a massacre

Wounded Knee Massacre occurred on December 29, 1890, when U.S. Army troops killed mostly unarmed  surrendering Lakota men, women, and children near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. 

The Wounded Knee massacre saw soldiers from the Army’s 7th Cavalry kill or injure 350 to 375 Lakota according to federal government estimates. 

In the incident, the 7th Cavalry surrounded a group of Lakota led by Chief Big Foot to confiscate firearms after the chief had agreed to surrender them peacefully, according to historians. When a Lakota tribesman declined to give up a weapon, a soldier attempted to grab it, and it fired. After the weapon went off, U.S. soldiers opened fire on the Lakota. 

Almost half of those killed were women and children. Some 25 U.S. soldiers also died in the incident, “many likely fallen to friendly fire,” historians report. 

In the months after the massacre, the Army awarded 18 Medals of Honor to soldiers in the ranks of private to captain, according to service records. The citations justifying the medals ranged greatly. One included just a single word: “Bravery.” Another went into more detail: “Went to rescue of the commanding officer who had fallen severely wounded, picked him up and carried him out of range of the hostile guns.” 

By the end of the nineteenth century, the US government had permanently transformed Native American life across the United States through broken treaties, bison hunting to near-extinction, and reservation containment. Native Americans were also deleteriously affected by government agents, assimilationist educational and religious programs, and military conflict. 

At the end of the nineteenth century, tribes across reservations practiced the “Ghost Dance” ritual, which called a new Messiah to bring back ancestors, show new hunting grounds, and remove white settlers from their lands. As ghost dancing spread, it compounded tensions between Native Americans and US government officials. 

After the death of Sitting Bull, a Lakota holy man, at the hands of the US military, a band of Lakota fled the Standing Rock Agency and made for the Pine Ridge Agency to seek protection. En route, they were stopped near the Wounded Knee Creek on December 29, 1890, and forcibly disarmed by the Seventh Cavalry, who came with an arsenal of weapons and a thirst for action. 

The Lakota People's Law Project writes: 

"Many tribal leaders and organizations issued statements condemning the announcement, largely pointing out that the decision is not reflective of real American history — nor our shared values. People are simply asking for a correction in awarding the slaughter of women and children at Wounded Knee. This should not be a complicated issue."