| Ghost
Dance Massacre Wounded Knee, SD |
|||||||
| Places | Pictures | Faces | Tips | Links | Books |  |
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
Massacre at Wounded Knee Dec. 29, 1890
Our visit to this humble monument was quite moving and made us realize the extent of misunderstanding between European settlers and the American Indians. It is saddening to know that so many lives were lost because of selfishness and greed and that a more just arrangement couldn't be made where both peoples could live in peace and keep their cultures. Click here for the story of the Wounded Knee Massacre written on the roadside marker in Wounded Knee, SD. |
) This
is the frozen body of Chief Big Foot. A great man, who sought to feed his
people after the whites had slaughtered their buffalo, and forced them to
live on less desirable lands, was killed after peacefully surrendering to
the army. |
Bury
My Heart at Wounded Knee : An Indian History of the American West |
|
|
|
) Burying
the dead in a mass grave. Some locals we talked with said that the soldiers
stripped the men of their fancy clothing and valuables before burying them. |
Lost
Bird of Wounded Knee : Spirit of the Lakota |
) Harrison
and Mom looking at the burial site and monument. Susan said about the memorial:
"It made me sad to see what a humble, nearly pathetic, monument
has been erected to memorialize such a tragic event in U.S. history. Those
buried there were essentially martyrs for their people and deserve much
more honor than this site portrays. Chief Big Foot was a good leader who
tried to keep peace between the races. His murder, and that of the many
others at Wounded Knee, was a tragic loss to humanity." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Harrison's comments about the Wounded Knee Massacre: The Ghost Dance Craze started out from the Piute Medicine man Wovoka, who taught the Shoshonis Indians in Wyoming, then it spread to the Sioux in the Dakotas. When the Hunkpapa Sioux picked up the Ghost Dance, the US Army got nervous. One time when the army got a little too nervous, they asked the Hunkpapa to move to Pine Ridge. They took their arms, and Chief Big Foot set up a white flag in front of his tent. When a shot was heard, a thousand more shots followed. After a few minutes, about 200 people laid dead in the snow. They took the women and children into a church, and all of the wounded were silent. They weren't moaning or crying. A doctor came in and said, "I've never seen this many wounded women and children in my whole life, and I can't stand it." |
From the Dover Coloring Book North American Indian Dances and Rituals by Peter F. Copeland |
|
What Amanda remembers of the Ghost Dance: The Ghost Dance was about the people asking their God to help them get their land and buffalo back, and protect them from the white man. It wasn't a war dance. I think that story of Wounded Knee is a sad one, and that the US soldiers did something wrong. |
|
 Faces
(Click Here
for more faces) |
 Recommend
a face |
||||
|
We nominate the leaders (and individuals) whose names are carved on the monument at Wounded Knee for inclusion in our 2000 Faces project. Though there are no pictures of them, they represent true Americans, whose hope in the Ghost Dance was little more than "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Below are the names and memorial carved on the Monument at Wounded Knee. |
|||||
|
This monument is erected by surviving relatives and other Oglala and Cheyenne River Sioux Indians in memory of the Chief Big Foot Massacre, December 29, 1890. Col. Forsyth in command of US troops. Big Foot was a great chief of the Sioux Indians. He often said "I will stand in peace 'till my last day comes." He did many good and brave deeds for the white man and red man. Many innocent women and children who did no wrong died here. The erecting of this monument is largely due to the financial assistance of Joseph Horn Cloud, whose father was killed here. Horn Cloud The peacemaker died here innocent Courage
Bear |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
For Younger Readers |
For Older Readers |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||
PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY TO HELP THE VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA
|
|||
There
are many versions of what may have happened on this very sad day in
American history. Some say one of the Sioux made a gesture that signaled
his people to attack, and others say a mentally handicapped man accidentally
fired his gun in a struggle with white soldiers when he wouldn't surrender
his weapon. In any case, it is a tragic chapter in our country's past,
and hopefully one we learned a great deal from.
)
)
)
COLOR
ME
The
Ghost Dance