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
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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. Named Zinkala
NunibyLakotasurvivors,she
wouldbeadoptedbyanArmy
officer.
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