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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 2015)
Wednesday,December23,2015The Nugget Newspaper,Sisters,Oregon17 Blood on the snow at Wounded Knee Creek By Jim Cornelius News Editor OnDecember29,1890,the last,tragicactoftheAmeri- can Indian Wars played out onthefrozenprairieofSouth Dakota,alongacreekwhose name lives on in infamy: WoundedKnee. There,125yearsagonext week,some200LakotaSioux men, women and children were gunned down in the snowinascufflethatturned into a confused firefight, whichbecameamassacrethat stainedthehonoroftheUnited States Army and ripped the heartoutoftheLakotanation. s s s By1890,theLakotawerea sadremnantofthepeoplewho haddefiedU.S.militarymight inonelast,glorioussummer of freedom in 1876. Led by SittingBull,CrazyHorseand Gall,theyroutedanarmycol- umn under General George CrookalongRosebudCreek, then slaughtered General GeorgeArmstrongCusterand 220menofhis7thCavalryat the Greasy Grass, along the LittleBigHornRiver. Their moment of triumph wasshort-lived.Scatteredand huntedrelentlessly,thebands ledbyCrazyHorseandothers surrenderedtotheAmericans. Ayearlater,CrazyHorsewas killed by a bayonet through the kidneys while resisting arrest. Sitting Bull had fled to Canada, where he found refugeforafewyearsbefore hereturnedtoU.S.territoryto surrenderin1881.Now,inthe hard winter of 1890, Sitting Bull,too,wasdead—killed by Lakota police men sent to arrest him for fomenting unrestontheStandingRock AgencyinSouthDakota. Unrestandtensioncrack- led in the cold Dakota air thatwinter.TheGhostDance movement,startedbyaPaiute holymannamedWovoka,had swepttheplains,offeringdes- peratepeopleaspiritualreed of hope to cling to.As with many revivalist movements, Wovoka’soriginalvisionwas forareturntopure,oldways, which would bring about a greatcleansingandreturnthe worldtoitsoldform,before thecomingofthewhiteman hadsoseverelydisruptedthe nativelifeway. Among the Lakota, the GhostDancetookonapartic- ularlymillenarian,apocalyp- ticedge.Thatfrightenedthe whitesettlers,themilitaryand civilian Indian agents, who feared the Ghost Dance was fomentingmilitancyandpre- saged an uprising.A height- enedalertandincreasedpolice andmilitarypresence,inturn frightenedtheGhostDancers. FormerPineRidgeAgent Valentine McGillycuddy urgedthattheGhostDancers beleftalone. “Thecomingofthetroops has frightened the Indians,” he wrote. “If the Seventh- Day Adventists prepare the ascension robes for the Sec- ond Coming of the Savior, theUnitedStatesArmyisnot putinmotiontopreventthem. Why should not the Indians havethesameprivilege?Ifthe troopsremain,troubleissure tocome.” Andcomeitdid. s s s With Sitting Bull dead at thehandsofpolice,members ofhisHunkpapabandfledto joinagroupofGhostDanc- ersledbyChiefSpottedElk (sometimes known as Big Foot).The7thCavalryinter- cepted about 350 Lakota at their camp along Wounded KneeCreek,andsurrounded them with the intent of dis- arming them and returning themtoassignedareasonthe reservation. Thetroopersarrayedthem- selvesaroundthevillageand deployedseveralsmallHotch- kiss Mountain Guns, which fired explosive shells. Col. JamesW.Forsythdemanded that the Lakota lay down their weapons — and most complied, piling their rifles on blankets on the frozen ground.Theatmospherewas rifewithtension.TheLakota werefrightenedandangry,the troops of Custer’s old com- mandwerekeyedup. Itisnotclearwhatexactly transpiredtosparktheslaugh- ter.Mostaccountsagreethat soldiers attempted to disarm ayoungwarriornamedBlack Coyote, who refused to give uphisrifle.Hemayhavebeen deaf and did not understand whathewasbeingorderedto Gordon’s Last Touch Cleaning Specialists For… Heads or Tails… You Lose 541-549-3008 Carpets • Upholstery Windows Accepting VISA & MasterCard! Snow Removal! Member of the Better Business Bureau Serving Central Oregon Since 1980 Bonded & Insured Loaner Cars Deductible Assistance Windshield Replacement 541-549-DENT 5 4 1 5 4 9 D E N T 332 W. Barclay Dr., Sisters do.A scuffle ensued.At the sametime,aLakotashaman namedYellowBirdhadbegun chanting and dancing and threwahandfulofdustinthe air.Asignal?Nooneknows. A shot rang out, possibly an accidental discharge during thescufflewithBlackCoyote. Warriors dived for their rifles. Soldiers opened fire. Indians fired upon soldiers. Thefiringbecamegeneral.The Hotchkiss guns opened up. Lakotabegantoflee,scat- teringandrunningforaravine wheretheymightfindshelter —andadefensibleposition. Itwasatthatpointthatwhat could have been character- ized as a fight turned into a massacre. Soldiers shot the wounded, and pursued the fleeing Lakota and gunned themdownwithoutconsider- ationofageorsex. General Nelson Miles, in overallcommandoftheArmy intheDakotas,censuredFor- syth for deploying his com- mand in a manner that left them susceptible to friendly fire — 29 soldiers and one Indian scout were killed; probablyonlyahandfulbythe Lakota—andforcompletely losing control of his troops. Milesknewitwasamassacre, butacourtofinquirywould exonerateForsyth.Twentyof hismenwouldbeawardedthe MedalofHonor. The Army’s summary of casualtiesnotedthat85Lakota warriorswerekilledordiedof wounds,alongwith68“non- combatants,” and 47 others, “ageandsexunknown.” CharlesEastman,aLakota doctorwhohadbeeneducated intheEast,trekkedtothemas- sacresitethreedayslater,after ablizzard,toreclaimthedead: “Fully three miles from thesceneofthemassacrewe found the body of a woman completely covered with a blanketofsnow,andfromthis pointonwefoundthemscat- teredalongastheyhadbeen relentlesslyhunteddownand slaughtered,whilefleeingfor theirlives.Someofourpeople discoveredrelativesorfriends among the dead, and there wasmuchwailingandmourn- ing.Whenwereachedthespot where the Indian camp had stood, among the fragments of burned tents and other belongings, we saw frozen bodies lying close together orpiledoneuponanother.It tookallmynervetokeepmy composureinthefaceofthis spectacle,andofthegriefof myIndiancompanions,nearly everyone of whom was cry- ingaloudorsinginghisdeath song.” Thesearchersfoundababy girl who had miraculously survivednotonlythekilling, butthreedaysindeepwinter conditions. 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