Wounded Knee Massacre 1890

Background

On the morning of December 29, 1890 a detachment of the 7th U.S. Cavalry massacred some 185 Lakota men, women and children in a camp near Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

The massacre started with an attempt to disarm the Lakotas. After the murder of Chief Sitting Bull on December 15, 1890, Chief Spotted Elk and his band left the Cheyenne River Reservation to seek the protection of Chief Red Cloud at Pine Ridge. The band was intercepted by the 7th Cavalry under Colonel James Forsyth, and escorted to a camp at Wounded Knee.

At dawn on December 29, the army entered the Lakota camp, separated the men from the women, and began to disarm them, taking mostly knives and axes. A scuffle started when troops tried to take the rifle of a deaf man, Black Coyote. The rifle discharged. Both sides started firing. American soldiers fired into the tipi camp of women and children. The women scattered over the prairie and into ravines, some of them for miles, but soldiers hunted them down and killed them with their children.

The fighting lasted less than an hour. Casualty estimates vary. Lakota casualties included at least 185 killed and 51 wounded (some of whom died later). General Nelson Miles put the death toll at 90 warriors and about 200 women and children. Military records show that 84 men, 44 women and 18 children were buried in an unmarked grave. Some estimates place the number of Lakota dead at 300. Twenty-five U.S. troops were killed, and 39 were wounded (6 of the wounded would later die). Many of the U.S. casualties were probably victims of friendly fire.

~• a more detailed account is here.
One startling detail was the use of multiple Hotchkiss guns on the mostly unarmed Native Americans. The Hotchkiss was a revolving cannon invented in 1872 by Benjamin B. Hotchkiss (1826–1885), founder of Hotchkiss & Co. Ironically, these weapons were built in France.

U.S. newspapers applauded the slaughter. Twenty Medals of Honor were awarded to American soldiers. Gen. Miles relieved Col. Forsyth of command and convened a Court of Inquiry, but Forsyth was exonerated and reinstated.
The burial of the dead was supervised by the 8th US Infantry

The massacre has become iconic in American history. Traditionally, it marks the end of Indian resistance and the closing of the American frontier.

The Wounded Knee Battlefield was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1965 and was listed on the U.S.National Register of Historic Places in 1966. In 1972 members of the American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee as part of a protest against broken treaties. In 1990, after extensive hearings on the matter, Congress issued a statement of "deep regret" for the massacre at Wounded Knee, but refused to issue a formal apology. (101st Congress, Concurrent Resolution #153).

Order of battle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre#Order_of_battle

Lakota Casualties

(From "The Wounded Knee Interviews Of Eli S. Ricker"; pp. 176-178)

1. Chief Big Foot (Spotted Elk)
2. Wife of Big Foot
3. Horn Cloud
4. Yellow Leaf, Wife of Horn Cloud
5. William Horned Cloud, son
6. Sherman Horned Cloud, son
7. Pretty Enemy, niece
8. Wife of Beard, daughter-in-law
9. Thomas Beard, grandson
10. Shedding Bear
11. Trouble In Front, son
12. Last Running
13. Red White Cow, daughter
14. Mother-in-law of Shedding Bear
15. High Hawk
16. Wife of High Hawk
17. Little Boy, son
18. Little Girl, daughter
19. Whirl Wind Hawk
20. Wife of Whirl Wind Hawk
21. Young Lady, daughter
22. Young Girl, daughter
23. Little Girl, daughter
24. Little Boy, son
25. Little Boy, son
26. He Crow
27. Pretty Woman, daughter
28. Buckskin Breech Clout
29. Running in Lodge, son
30. White Feather, son
31. Little Boy, son
32. Bear Woman, the oldest woman in the band
33. Crazy Bear
34. Elk Creek
35. Wife of Elk Creek
36. Spotted Chief, son
37. Red Fish
38. Wife of Red Fish
39. Old Good Bear
40. Young Good Bear
41. Wife of Good Bear
42. Little Boy, son
43. Pretty Hawk
44. Wife of Pretty Hawk
45. Baby Pretty Hawk
46. Wife of Lap
47. Shoots the Right
48. Bad Wound, son
49. Bear Parts Body
50. Little Boy, son
51. Brown Beaver
52. White Beaver Woman
53. Black Coyote (the one who made the touble)
54. Red Water Woman
55. Sun In The Pupil
56. Wife of Sun In The Pupil
57. Henry Three, or Pretty Bold Eagle
58. Iron Eyes (Big Foot's brother)
59. Wife of Iron Eyes
60. Has a Dog
61. Red Shirt Girl
62. Pretty Woman
63. Albert Iron Eyes
64. White Day
65. Little Boy, son
66. Charge at Them
67. Old Woman, mother
68. Wife of Iron American
69. Wife of Yellow Buffalo Calf
70. Louis Close to Home
71. Cast Away and Run
72. Bad Braves
73. Red Horn
74. Winter
75. Strong Fox
76. Wife of Strong Fox
77. Little Boy, son
78. One Feather
79. Little Boy, son
80. Without Robe
81. Old Man Yellow Bull
82. Wife of Old Man Yellow Bull
83. Brown Woman
84. Shakes the Bird
85. Red Ears Horse
86. Shoots with Hawk Feather
87. His mother
88. Ghost Horse
89. Little Boy, son
90. Chief Woman
91. Wife of Trouble in Love
92. Hat
93. Baby boy
94. Wife of Stone Hammer
95. Little baby
96. Wolf Eagle
97. Good Boy, son
98. Edward Wolf Ears
99. Little Girl
100. Shoots the Bear
101. Kills Assiniboine
102. George Shoots the Bear
103. Wife of Shoots the Bear
104. Kills Crow Indian
105. Little Body Bear
106. Wife of Little Body Bear
107. Little Boy, son
108. Baby girl
109. Red Eagle (This man was in the tent and killed by the cannon.)
110. Eagle Body, daughter
111. Little Girl
112. Little Elk
113. Wife of Little Elk
114. Black Shield's little girl
115. White Wolf
116. Red Ears Horse, sister
117. Old Woman, her mother
118. Wood Shade
119. Wife of Wood Shade
120. Running Stand Hairs
121. Wife of Running Stand Hairs
122. Young lady, daughter
123. Scabbard Knife
124. Wife of Scabbard Knife
125. He Eagle
126. Wife of He Eagle
127. Edward He Eagle, son
128. Young girl, daughter
129. Young boy, son
130. Log
131. Wife of Log
132. Really Woman, son
133. Brown Hoops
134. Little boy, son
135. Young girl, daughter
136. Mule's daughter, young lady
137. Red Other Woman
138. Black Flutes, young boy
139. Takes away the Bow
140. Gray in Eye
141. Wife of Drops Blood
142. Young boy, son
143. Little boy, son
144. Old Woman
145. Wife of Long Bull
146. Young girl, daughter
147. Spotted Thunder
148. Swift Bird
149. Wife of Swift Bird
150. Boy, son
151. Boy, son
152. Strike Scatter
153. Boy, son
154. Wolf Skin Necklace
155. Last Talking, old woman. She is alone, her property, two horses, bedding, and lodge
156. Not go in Among, son of Hailing Bear, and Her Good Medicine
157. Wounded Hand
158. Comes Out Rattling, wife
159. Big Voice Thunder
160. Mercy to Others
161. Long Medicine
162. Broken Arrow
163. Wife of Broken Arrow
164. Young Man
165. Young Woman
166. Brown Turtle
167. Old Woman, mother
168. Bird Wings
169. Not Afraid of Lodge
170. Bear Comes and Lies
171. Wears Calf's Robe
172. Yellow Robe
173. Wounded in Winter, son
174. Wife of Black Hair
175. Bad Spotted Eagle - a Cree (visiting Big Foot's tribe)
176. Wife of Bad Spotted Eagle - a Cree (visiting Big Foot's tribe)
177. White American
178. Long Bull
179. Courage Bear
180. Wife of Courage Bear
181. Fat Courage Bear
182. George Courage Bear
183. Black Hawk
184. She Bear, wife
185. Weasel Bear, daughter

List of American Casualties

Killed:

Attached

1. Hospital Steward Oscar Pollak, U.S. Army
2. Indian Scout High Backbone

Headquarters, 7th Cavalry

1. Captain George D. Wallace
2. Sergeant Major Richard W. Corwin(e)

Troop A, 7th Cavalry

1. Sergeant Arthur C. Dyer
2. Private Henry Frey,
3. Private George P. Johnson
4. Private Michael Regan
5. Private James Logan

Troop B, 7th Cavalry

1. First Sergeant Dora S. Coffey
2. Corporal Harry R. Forrest
3. Private John Costello
4. Private Ralph L. Cook
5. Private William S. Meze(?)

Troop C, 7th Cavalry

1. Private James DeVrsods(?)

Troop D, 7th Cavalry

1. Private Frank T. Reinecky

Troop E, 7th Cavalry

1. Sergeant Robert H. Nettles(?)
2. Private August Kellner

Troop I, 7th Cavalry

1. Blacksmith Gustav Korn
2. Private Daniel Twohig
3. Private James E. Kelley
4. Private Pierce Cummings

Troop K, 7th Cavalry

1. Sergeant William T. Hodges
2. Private John H.(?) McCue
3. Private Joseph Murphy
4. Private William F. McClintock
5. Private Philip Schwenkey

Wounded:

Headquarters, 7th Cavalry

1. Lieutenant Ernest A. Garlington
2. Lieutenant John C. Gresham
3. Father Kraft - was badly wounded with a knife

Troop A, 7th Cavalry

1. Sergeant A.H. Hazelwood
2. Private Adam Nador(?)
3. Private Harry L. Duncan
4. Private Daniel McMahon
5. Private Herman Granberg

Troop B, 7th Cavalry

1. Sergeant William H. Toohey
2. Sergeant James Ward
3. Corporal Charles H. Nervell - died the same night before reaching the agency
4. Private Frank Lewis
5. Private Harry B. Stone
6. Private John McKenzie

Troop C, 7th Cavalry

1. Private Ervin Schriver
2. Private William H. Green

Troop D, 7th Cavalry

1. Wagoner George York

Troop E, 7th Cavalry

1. Sergeant John F. Tritle

Troop I, 7th Cavalry

1. Sergeant George Loyd
2. Sergeant Henry Howard
3. Corporal Albert S. Bone - died the same night before reaching the agency
4. Private Bernhard Zolinder(?) - died the same night before reaching the agency
5. Private Gottleb(?) Hipp
6. Private Harvey H. Thomas

Troop K, 7th Cavalry

1. Corporal Harold L. Clifton
2. Trumpeter Jas. Christienson
3. Private William Adams
4. Private Edward A. Sullivan
5. Private C.F. Martin
6. Private William J. Davis
7. Private Samuel F. Smith
8. Private Frederick C. Yoder
9. Private George Elliott
10. Private Hugh McGuiness
11. Private Herman Granberg - died of wounds

2nd Artillery (Attached to Light Battery E, 1st Artillery)

1. Second Lieutenant Harry L. Hawthorne

Adjutant, 2nd Infantry

1. First Lieutenant John Kinzie(?) - who was by permission with Major Whiteside.

Resources

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre
• http://armyatwoundedknee.com/fighting-7th-officers/://sites.google....
• http://genforum.genealogy.com/woundedknee/
• http://www.dickshovel.com/WKmasscre.html
• Petition to Revoke the Medals of Honor Received After Wounded Knee
• YouTube, The Massacre at Wounded Knee 1890
• http://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-20-4/wounded-...
• http://wildwesthistory.blogspot.com/2015/06/wounded-knee-massacre-z...

Notes

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 153--RELATIVE TO THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TRAGEDY AT WOUNDED KNEE CREEK, SD (Senate - October 15, 1990)