Setup of the battle of wounded knee in 1890

And by late the authorities in Washington began giving orders for the U. Army to be ready to take action to suppress the ghost dance. He had spent time in a military prison and had also toured with Buffalo Bill , but he seemed to have settled down as a farmer. Still, he always seemed in rebellion to the rules of the reservation and was perceived by some white administrators as a potential source of trouble. The U. Army began sending troops into South Dakota in November , planning to suppress the ghost dance and the rebellious movement it seemed to represent.

The man in charge of the Army in the area, General Nelson Miles , came up with a plan to get Sitting Bull to surrender peacefully, at which point he could be sent back to prison. Cody apparently traveled to South Dakota, but the plan fell apart and Cody left and returned to Chicago. Army officers decided to use Indians who were working as policemen on the reservation to arrest Sitting Bull.

Sitting Bull agreed to go with the officers, but some of his followers, who were generally described as ghost dancers, tried to intervene. An Indian shot the commander of the police, who raised his own weapon to return fire and accidentally wounded Sitting Bull. In the confusion, Sitting Bull was then fatally shot by another officer. The outbreak of gunfire brought a charge by a detachment of soldiers who had been positioned nearby in case of trouble.

Witnesses to the violent incident recalled a peculiar spectacle: a show horse which had been presented to Sitting Bull years earlier by Buffalo Bill heard the gunfire and must have thought it was back in the Wild West Show. The horse began performing intricate dance moves as the violent scene unfolded. The killing of Sitting Bull was national news. In South Dakota, the death of Sitting Bull stoked fear and distrust. Hundreds of his followers departed the Hunkpapa Sioux camps and began to scatter.

One band, led by the chief Big Foot, began traveling to meet up with one of the old chiefs of the Sioux, Red Cloud. It was hoped Red Cloud should protect them from the soldiers. As the group, a few hundred men, women, and children, moved through the harsh winter conditions, Big Foot became quite ill.

On December 28, , Big Foot and his people were intercepted by cavalry troopers. Whitside assured Big Foot his people would not be harmed. And he made arrangements for Big Foot to travel in an Army wagon, as he was suffering from pneumonia. The cavalry was going to escort the Indians with Big Foot to a reservation. That night the Indians set up camp, and the soldiers set up their bivouacs nearby.

At some point in the evening another cavalry force, commanded by Col. James Forsyth , arrived on the scene. The new group of soldiers was accompanied by an artillery unit. On the morning of December 29, , the U. Army troops told the Indians to gather in a group. They were ordered to surrender their weapons.

The Indians stacked up against their guns, but the soldiers suspected they were hiding more weapons. Soldiers began searching the Sioux tepees.

Two rifles were found, one of which belonged to an Indian named Black Coyote, who was probably deaf. Black Coyote refused to give up his Winchester, and in a confrontation with him, a shot was fired. The situation quickly accelerated as soldiers began shooting at the Indians. Some of the male Indians drew knives and faced the soldiers, believing that the ghost dance shirts they were wearing would protect them from bullets. They were shot down. As Indians, including many women and children, tried to flee, the soldiers continued firing.

Several artillery pieces, which had been positioned on a nearby hill, began to rake the fleeing Indians. The shells and shrapnel killed and wounded scores of people. The entire massacre lasted for less than an hour. It was estimated that about to Indians were killed. Casualties among the cavalry amounted to 25 dead and 34 wounded. It was believed most of the killed and wounded among the U. Army troops had been caused by friendly fire. Wounded Indians were taken on wagons to the Pine Ridge reservation, where Dr.

Charles Eastman , who had been born a Sioux and educated at schools in the East, sought to treat them. Within days, Eastman traveled with a group to the massacre site to search for survivors. They did find some Indians who were miraculously still alive. But they also discovered hundreds of frozen corpses, some as many as two miles away. Most of the bodies were gathered by soldiers and buried in a mass grave. Stories on the front page of the New York Times in the final days of gave the Army version of events.

Though the number of people killed, and the fact that many were women and children, created interest in official circles. Accounts told by Indian witnesses were reported and appeared in newspapers. The article gave witness accounts and ended with a chilling anecdote.

The Army launched an investigation of what happened, and Col. Forsyth was relieved of his command, but he was quickly cleared. Forsyth Exonerated. After the massacre at Wounded Knee, the Sioux came to accept that resistance to white rule was futile.

The Indians came to live on the reservations. The massacre itself faded into history. A native American resistance movement put a new focus on the massacre as a symbol of broken promises and betrayals by white America. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile.

Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. As they handed in their weapons one man accidentally loosed a shot, provoking fierce hand-to-hand fighting. Then the artillery fired. Dead and wounded were left lying where they fell as a blizzard enveloped them.

Many attempting escape died of cold. Forsyth was exonerated. A record ten Medals of Honor were awarded. Your email address will not be published.

Skip to content. Massacre of Wounded Knee — Share on facebook. Share on twitter. Share on linkedin. Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. Related Topics. More from Health. World-wide Flu Pandemic — — The disease spread from places where there were high concentrations.

More from Political. Devastating Political Assassinations That Changed History America is no stranger to the devastating impact a political.

Afghan Election — The fiasco of the Afghan presidential election of is.