10/24/2025
EVENTS LEADING TO THE WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE ON 29 DECEMBER 1890 ยฉ
by Jonathan Holmes
Wovoka & the Ghost Dance:
The conclusion of the Indian Wars Campaign of 1876, which included Lt. Col. George A. Custer's unprovoked attack on the Lakota and Cheyenne camped at the Little Bighorn River, which resulted in Lt. Col. Custer's death and the deaths of a significant part of his command in the battle that followed, later brought another government pact to the table. The Treaty of 1876 reduced the 'Great Sioux Reservation' further. Included in the land lost was the Black Hills of South. In 1889, after several attempts the U.S. Government succeeded in reducing the 'Great Sioux Reservation' by more than nine million acres. These "surplus" lands were thought to be needed to accommodate a growing influx of European immigration.
The 'Sioux Land Agreement' of 1889 divided the 'Great Sioux Reservation' into smaller agencies. These reservations were known as Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Lower Brule', Crow Creek, Pine Ridge, and Rosebud. The remaining reservation lands were arid, sandy, and not suited to agriculture, and droughts commonly resulted in massive crop failures.
Prolonged drought had begun in central South Dakota in 1886. Many non-Indians opted to use the land to graze livestock. The country was better suited for grazing than farming. Lakota people did not have that option and had no choice but to attempt to raise crops in spite of the government's refusal to provide the full allowances of seed, agricultural tools, oxen, or cows. Crop failures due to drought caused widespread hunger on the Lakota reservations, in many cases leading to starvation. Outbreaks of "blackleg disease" among the Lakota owned cattle took a heavy toll. The situation grew even worse after the government reduced the rations. In 1889 and 1890 epidemics of lagrippe, measles, and whooping cough also caused many deaths among the Lakota people.
Perhaps the most serious blow was the reduction of government rations in 1890. After signing the 'Land Agreement of 1889', surrendering over nine million acres of Lakota land, congressional inaction cut rations further. The U.S. Congress reduced the appropriations for Lakota rations severely the next year. For example, the beef ration was cut on the Rosebud Reservation by two million pounds, and on the Pine Ridge Reservation by one million pounds, and similar reductions took place at the other South Dakota agencies.
Usually, the annuity goods due under the treaty were issued late, if at all. The issues of winter clothing and equipment due on August 1st were not issued until mid or late winter. As late as 12 December 1890, the annuity goods were issued to Lakota at the Cheyenne River Reservation. The goods had remained in a Pierre, South Dakota warehouse due to the lack of transportation. One report stated they were waiting for the river to freeze to transport the goods across that way, instead of utilizing the ferry.
Just when Lakota society and culture appeared to be disintegrating, rumors of a "Messiah" in the far west began to filter to the Lakota reservations by way of the Arapaho and Shoshone in Wyoming. The source of the rumors was a Paiute man by the name of Wovoka who lived near Walker Lake, Nevada. This man, known to local non-Indians as Jack Wilson, had experienced a vision while in a delirium from a fever, during a solar eclipse. The vision became a new religion, with a mixture of traditional Paiute and Christian doctrines. A new religion which said the white man would disappear from the country. The prophecies also called for the resurrection all of the dead ancestors of all tribes, and the return of the buffalo and other game animals destroyed by the Euro-Americans over many years. The rumors of this new religion had also spread among tribes ranging from Montana to New Mexico.
In the fall of 1889, delegations were sent from several Lakota reservations to investigate this Messiah firsthand. The Oglala Lakota tribe from Pine Ridge Reservation sent Good Thunder, Yellow Knife, Flat Iron, Kicks Back, Elk Horn, Yellow Breast, Broken Arm and Cloud Horse. The Sicangu Lakota from Rosebud Reservation sent Short Bull and Mash The Kettle, and the Mniconjou Lakota from the Cheyenne River Reservation sent Kicking Bear. It should be noted that Kicking Bear was born an Oglala Lakota, but after marrying Woodpecker Woman, the niece of the Mniconjou Lakota leader known as Spotted Elk, he followed the Lakota custom of living with his wife's tribe, the Mniconjou Lakota. The Lakota delegation from Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations, returned with the good news that all they had heard about Wovoka and the new religion was true.
The Spring of 1890 saw another delegation leave for Nevada to confirm what they had heard from the first group. These men learned the tenets of this new religion from Wovoka and became devoted to its doctrine. The men of this delegation became leaders of the new religion among the seven Tribes of Lakota. This new religion, which would become known by its most publicized ceremony, the "Ghost Dance", which was its principal expression of worship. Lakota people saw the religion as a new hope, and some embraced it with exhilaration. Contrary to the beliefs of the non-Indians, the doctrine of this new religion was not "warlike". Wovoka preached peace. He directed his followers to go to work, send their children to school, and wait peacefully for the prophecies to come true. As the Summer of 1890 passed, the religion and the dancing associated with it, spread throughout many of the western reservations.
Events of the Summer and Fall of 1890 brought alarm to settlers living near the Lakota reservations. Fear spread out of control, eventually causing troops to be sent to quell what many non-Indians perceived to be an uprising in the making. To nearby settlers, and the less experienced Indian Agents, the new religion among the Lakota caused great alarm. As the dancing spread so did the fear of the settlers. Out of ignorance, they thought any "Indian Dance" was a "War Dance." Fear that Lakota would stage an uprising to drive the non-Indians from their former lands, swept the frontier. These fears were totally unfounded, for the doctrine of the religion advocated peace. As the number of dancers increased so did the pressure on the Indian Agents to stop the dancing.
Daniel F. Royer, a physician and former druggist, without prior experience dealing with Indians from any tribe, was appointed to be the Indian Agent at Pine Ridge in October 1890. His appointment by Senator R.F. Pettigrew was strictly for political reasons. On 3 October 1890, shortly after assuming his duties, Royer received orders to stop the Ghost Dance on Pine Ridge Reservation. Unable to do so, Royer called for U.S. Army troops as early as 12 October 1890, to stop the dancing. On 11 November 1890, Agent Royer issued a warrant for the arrest of Little, a Lakota man accused of stealing beef. Little resisted arrest and was subsequently rescued by a group of fellow of Ghost Dancers. Two days later Royer wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs stating, "We have no protection and are at the mercy of these crazy dancers." Perain P. Palmer, the Indian Agent at Cheyenne River Reservation, also requested aid.
Royer feared all Lakotas, and Lakotas called him "Young Man Afraid of His Indians." A more experienced Indian Agent could have kept the situation under control. His behavior was reported as erratic and unreliable. Royer's lack of experience and fear led to armed intervention on the reservation. The possibility exists that he was using drugs during his short term as the Pine Ridge Indian Agent, as some years later he lost his license to practice medicine due to substance abuse.
Indian Agents had been instructed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to supply the names of the Ghost Dance leaders for possible arrest. Agent Reynolds on Rosebud Reservation submitted the names of twenty-one men. McLaughlin, the longtime agent on Standing Rock Reservation only requested Sitting Bull and five others be arrested and removed. Palmer, the agent on Cheyenne River Reservation, wanted Hump, Spotted Elk, and three others removed. Agent Dixon at Crow Creek Reservation reported no problems. Agent Royer at Pine Ridge Reservation submitted a list of sixty-four names to be arrested and added that sixty-four may not be enough. He later said "...60 or 70 should be arrested to insure peace here."
Many people who had been among the Lakota and knew the Lakota, knew there was no reason for concern. As reported by Dr. V.T. McGillycuddy, the former Indian Agent at Pine Ridge Reservation who said, "As for the ghost dance, too much attention has been paid to it." His belief was that when the Spring came and the prophecies of the Ghost Dance failed to materialize, the dancing would stop of its own accord.
Mary Collins, at the time a schoolteacher on the Standing Rock Reservation, thought the fears prevalent among the settlers were groundless. James McLaughlin, the experienced Indian Agent at the Standing Rock Reservation saw no need for panic. He was so confident the situation was not a problem that he requested to take five days annual leave in November 1890.
However, newspaper reporters amplified and spread the fear and panic. Twenty-one correspondents were at Pine Ridge Reservation at one time or another during the four months the troops occupied the reservation. Many of these people were "space writers" not accredited reporters. Some, such as William F. Kelly, who was an office clerk for the Nebraska State Journal newspaper had no previous experience or knowledge of Indians. Because no one else could be found, Kelly was made a "reporter" and sent to the "seat of war." His reports are filled with embellishment, misrepresentations, and outright lies.
These reporters would gather in the back room of the reservation trading post and make up stories to send their editors. Their reports were later categorized with this statement, "Unverified rumors were presented as reports from reliable sources or eyewitness accounts, idle gossip became fact . . . a large number of the nation's newspapers indulged in a field day of exaggeration, distortion and plain faking."
Even the Commissioner of Indian Affairs blamed the "exaggerated accounts in the newspapers" for causing the fear that brought on the flight of many Lakota people into the Badlands of South Dakota to hide from the U.S. Army troops. Because of forced attendance in government schools, literacy was common among the younger Lakota. In addition, many mixed blood Lakota people were in the employ of the government on the reservations and could read and write. Lakota people were just as frightened as the settlers, because of the newspaper accounts they had read. Lakota people did not want the U.S. Army to occupy the reservations, and feared harm from the soldiers when they came.
Pressure on the government from panic-stricken settlers and the inexperienced Indian Agents finally brought U.S. Army troops to the reservations. On 18 November 1890, Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Commander of the Division of the Missouri, ordered Brig. Gen. John R. Brooke, Commander of the Department of the Platte, to proceed from his headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, to Pine Ridge Reservation with his troops. Maj. Gen. Miles instructed Brig. Gen. Brooke to protect Pine Ridge Agency and to avoid hostile action if possible. Miles also advised Brooke that Indian Agent Royer was "alarmed and inexperienced." Brig. Gen. Brooke arrived on 19 November 1890.
Before the campaign was over the following U.S. Army units would be present in the Dakotas; 1st, 2nd, 7th, 8th, 17th, and 21st Infantry and the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Cavalry. In addition, units of the 1st and 2nd Artillery would also serve in the campaign. This would comprise the largest consolidated force of the U.S. Army since the Civil War. In addition, units from the Nebraska National Guard stationed themselves on the southern border of the reservations, to protect the citizens of Nebraska in case of hostilities.
The U.S. Federal Government at the request of the Governor of South Dakota, issued arms and ammunition to private citizens who had settled along the reservation boundaries. Colonel M. H. Day, of the South Dakota Militia, under orders of Governor Mellette distributed guns and ammunition to settlers surrounding the reservations, most notable the Cheyenne River Reservation. In one newspaper account over 100 guns were distributed to civilians.
The appearance of U.S. Army troops naturally alarmed the Lakota people, who were already confused by the reduction of their promised government rations; the intertribal strife caused by the 1889 land agreement; and excitement over the Ghost Dance. Fear intensified to the point that some Lakota leaders took their people to a remote area of the Badlands where they thought they would be safe from attacks by the soldiers and be free to dance unharmed. Many who accompanied the dancers to the Badlands were not followers of the new religion but fled only out of fear of the soldiers. As many as 3,500 Lakota people were reported in the Badlands in the Fall of 1890. They gathered on a portion of a high, almost inaccessible plateau called Cuny Table. This area would become known as "The Stronghold."
Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles was the overall commander of the U.S. Army troops. Working from his headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, Maj. Gen. Miles had many years of experience dealing with and fighting different Indian tribes. He participated in military action against the Lakota in the 1870's. Miles had also been involved in campaigns against Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa Lakota), Crazy Horse (Oglala Lakota), and Lame Deer (Mniconjou Lakota). He captured Chief Joseph and his Nez Perce in 1877. Maj. Gen. Miles was also credited with the capture of Geronimo and his Apache followers in the 1880's.
Maj. Gen. Miles devised a plan, to attempt to persuade as many Lakota Ghost Dancers as possible, to return to their homes. The U.S. Army would then encircle those who remained defiant. The plan involved placing troops on three sides of the "hostiles," who remained in the Badlands, leaving the south end open. Miles stationed troops in a line from Oelrichs, South Dakota, northeast down the Cheyenne River to the mouth of Rapid Creek. The line then went east to the White River. Maj. Gen. Miles hoped the "hostiles" would move toward the Agency at Pine Ridge Reservation and surrender peacefully.
In mid-December, Maj. Gen. Miles moved his headquarters to Rapid City, South Dakota. On December 18th, some 1,500 Lakota people returned to the Agency at Pine Ridge Reservation. However, in some outlying camps and remote reservations the new religion was still thriving. At the Cheyenne River Reservation, the dancing continued, and bands of Mniconjou Lakota under the leadership of Hump and Spotted Elk continued to dance in their camps near Cherry Creek, South Dakota on the Cheyenne River Reservation.
Sitting Bull Killed & Wounded Knee Massacre:
On the Standing Rock Reservation, Sitting Bull's Hunkpapa Lakota band also continued to dance the "Ghost Dance", and as a result were classified as "hostile" by the U.S. Army because of their traditionalists beliefs. They believed in the new religion, and resisted the cultural changes forced on them by the non-Indians.
U.S. Army troops in the Cheyenne River area of South Dakota were under the command of Col. E. V. Sumners. He was assigned the task of observing Hump, Spotted Elk, and their Mniconjou Lakota bands, and to protect the settlers in the area. These troops had been in the area for several weeks. Col. Sumners had met with Spotted Elk several times, and it was said that the two leaders developed a mutual trust and respect for each other. Through their meetings Spotted Elk (who had been given the nickname of Big Foot by non-Indians), had convinced Col. Sumners of his peaceful intentions.
Maj. Gen. Miles had devised a plan that would reduce the number of Ghost Dancers at Cherry Creek on the Cheyenne River reservation. He knew of the friendship based on mutual trust and respect between Hump and Capt. Ezra P. Ewers of the U.S. Army's 5th Infantry. Maj. Gen. Miles issued orders for Capt. Ewers to report to Fort Bennett at the Cheyenne River Agency, from his station in Texas. Capt. Ewers met with Hump and persuaded him, and most of his followers, to renounce the Ghost Dance and return to Fort Bennett at the Cheyenne River Agency, but some of Hump's followers chose to remain with the band led by Spotted Elk on Cherry Creek.
After Hump's change of heart, Col. Sumners received orders to bring Spotted Elk and his band to Fort Bennett at the Cheyenne River Agency, to prevent them from joining the "hostile" camps in the Badlands. The two leaders held talks and Spotted Elk consented to move his band under Col. Sumners es**rt to Fort Bennett.
There is some disagreement as to the extent of the influence Sitting Bull had in the Ghost Dance movement. Some claim that he was an ardent supporter and urged his Hunkpapa Lakota band towards the new religion. Others argue that he merely tolerated the movement. Though he may not have supported it, it is said that he believed in his band's right to dance if they so choose.
On 15 December 1890, on the Standing Rock Reservation a group of Lakota reservation police, following orders of the government Indian Agent, killed Sitting Bull in a scuffle that erupted while attempting to arrest him. After the death of Sitting Bull, many of his followers fled in fear of their lives. On December 17th, approximately 38 Hunkpapa Lakota found their way to the Mniconjou Lakota camp of Spotted Elk on Cherry Creek. Spotted Elk opened his camp to the Hunkpapa Lakota refugees, and he and his followers fed and clothed them as best they could, by sharing what little they had and making them feel welcome.
The arrival of the Hunkapapa Lakota from Sitting Bull's band, and the news of his death, brought more fear and alarm to the Mniconjou Lakota band led by Spotted Elk. Sitting Bull was very much respected by many bands of Lakota. His honor and courage as a statesman, warrior, and respected leader, were never in question by his followers. Spotted Elk was invited by Red Cloud, a leader of the Oglala Lakota at Pine Ridge Reservation, to come to the Pine Ridge Agency, in order to help maintain the peace. So Spotted Elk and his band of Mniconjou Lakota, along with some Hunkpapa Lakota followers of Sitting Bull and Mniconjou Lakota followers of Hump, then set out for the Pine Ridge Agency. The combined total in mixed band being led by Spotted Elk, was calculated to be 356 people. However, no more than 111 of this number could have been considered as warriors, as the remaining 245 were made up of elderly men, women and children.
Spotted Elk had promised Col. Sumners he would take his followers to Fort Bennett at the Cheyenne River Agency. By heading for the Pine Ridge Agency, Spotted Elk had broken his promise to Col. Summers. However, several things factored into the decision Spotted Elk to go to the agency at Pine Ridge Reservation. Perhaps the most compelling reason was the message Spotted Elk received from a settler named John Dunn, who was sent by Col. Sumners to talk to Spotted Elk. Dunn's mission was to find out when Spotted Elk intended to take his people to Fort Bennett.
Instead of conveying Col. Sumners message, John Dunn lied to Spotted Elk telling him that if he stayed at Cherry Creek until Col. Sumners arrived, upon arrival, the soldiers would open fire on his village during the night. According to John Dunn, the only way for Spotted Elk to avoid a fight with Col. Sumner and his troops, was to flee to Pine Ridge Agency.
Interestingly, John Dunn was among those "fearful settlers" who wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs on 26 September 1890, to request military protection from the "hostile" Lakota, and specifically named Spotted Elk as a possible source of trouble.
Following the will of his followers, Spotted Elk and his mixed band of Mniconjou Lakota and Hunkpapa Lakota, departed their camp at Cherry Creek on their way to Pine Ridge Agency so as to feel safe from the U.S. Army troops in the area.
The U.S. Army however, speculated Spotted Elk and his followers, were on their way to join the other "hostiles" assumed to be in the Badlands. Therefore, U.S. Army units were ordered to the field to locate and obtain the surrender of Spotted Elk and his 355 followers.
On 28 December 1890, elements of the 7th U.S. Cavalry, under the command of Maj. Sammuel M. Whitside, intercepted this cold, tired, hungry, mixed Lakota band led by Spotted Elk, on the main road near Porcupine Butte, South Dakota on the Pine ridge Reservation, and halted their progress. This main fact offers further evidence of the peaceful intentions of Spotted Elk, because he was heading in a southwest direction towards Pine Ridge Agency, instead of a northwest direction toward the "Stronghold" in the Badlands, as the U.S. Army contends. Spotted Elk, being ill with pneumonia by December 28th, and not wanting a fight, promptly surrendered to Maj. Whitside. Without further incident, Spotted Elk and his mixed band of followers, were es**rted to Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation to camp for the night. Maj. Whitside intended to head out for the Pine Ridge Agency some 17 miles away, first thing the next morning.
During the night however, Maj. Whitside was reinforced by the remainder of the 7th U.S. Cavalry, led by Col. James Forsyth, who assumed command of the entire force. The U.S. Army units now camped at Wounded Knee Creek included the Light Battery E of the 1st U.S. Artillery. This Artillery unit came equipped with 4 rapid-fire Hotchkiss Mountain Cannons. These guns fire explosive shells weighing a little more than 2 pounds each, at the rate of 50 shells per minute, and had an effective range of 4,200 yards. Total command strength of the U.S. Army present at the camp near Wounded Knee Creek was now 487 U.S. Army soldiers, guarding 356 Mniconjou Lakota and Hunkpapa Lakota people.
Col. Forsyth's orders were to disarm the mixed band of Lakota led by Spotted Elk and take them to the railhead at Gordon, Nebraska, where they would be transported further south, and held until the "troubles" in South Dakota calmed down. On the morning of 29 December 1890, the Mniconjou Lakota and Hunkpapa Lakota men were assembled in a council ring and ordered by Col. Forsyth to surrender their arms. The council was held in front of the tent used to house Spotted Elk, who was still very sick and suffering from pneumonia and exposure. Troops of soldiers had been stationed in a hollow square surrounding the council ring of the Lakota camp, facing toward the center. Some Lakota men returned to their camp and brought their guns back to the soldiers, but the surrendered guns only totaled 38 rifles. Fearing that some weapons were still concealed, Col. Forsyth ordered a physical search of the Lakota men present in the council, along with a search of the camp. The search of the Lakota camp caused confusion and fear among the Lakota women and children in the camp, and the confusion and fear in the camp caused concern among the Lakota men in the council ring.
During the confusion of the search, a U.S. Army soldier found a mostly deaf Lakota man named Black Coyote, who was still in possession of a rifle. When the soldier struggled with him to take it away, Black Coyote shouted that "I will not give it up unless I am paid for it in return!" Then two other soldiers grabbed Black Coyote from behind, and the rifle, which was pointing upwards into the air, went off. At the sound of that first shot the U.S. Army troops opened fire on the unarmed camp with all their rifles, as well as the 4 rapid-fire Hotchkiss Mountain Cannons positioned on the ridge above the camp.
Most of the enlisted U.S. Army troops were new to the Northern Plains area, and many were recruits from cities in the eastern U.S. and had minimal training. As a matter of fact, over 40% of the U.S. Army troops at this time were recent immigrants. However, at least 8 of the U.S. Army officers and several non-commissioned U.S. Army officers present, were surviving veterans of the battle which took place when Lt. Col. George Custer attacked the combined Lakota and Northern Cheyenne camp along the Little Bighorn River in Montana back in 1876. Within moments the U.S. Army troops, and the Lakota were plunged into bitter, close quarters fighting, followed by the Lakota men, women and children who survived the first volley, as they were attempting to escape the slaughter. Some soldiers followed groups of fleeing Lakota men, women and children, and killed them in their hiding places within the ravines and brush along Wounded Knee Creek, as much as 2 miles away from the camp.
When the shooting stopped, 153 Lakota people lay dead. Some authorities have put the total number of Lakota people killed in excess of 200, since approximately 150 Lakota people remained unaccounted for, and an unknown number subsequently died of wounds and exposure days later. Approximately 50 Lakota people survived and made it to the Pine Ridge Agency to tell of the horrors they witnessed.
By comparison the U.S. Army sustained 25 casualties. Since the soldiers had been placed in a hollow square surrounding the Lakota men in the council circle, this has led to the conclusion by historians that a great many of the 25 casualties in the U.S. Army Companies A, B, I, and K, who faced one another across the council circle, were the result of crossfire from their fellow soldiers.
Unbelievably, a total of 25 U.S. Army soldiers were recommended for the Medal of Honor for their actions during the massacre of Spotted Elk and most of his Mniconjou Lakota and Hunkpapa Lakota followers. Of these recommendations, 20 were approved, and the Medals of Honor were issued.
References:
* Stories told by Lakota elders, relations, and friends.
* Interviews and first-hand accounts from Iron Hail (aka Dewey Beard), Standing Soldier, Frank Feather, and many others in the Eli S. Ricker Collection of Manuscripts (1905). Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, NE.
* Andrist, Ralph K., "The Long Death: The Last Days of the Plains Indians". The MacMillan Co., New York, 1964.
* Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indians Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1891. Vol. 1.
* Boyd, James P., "Recent Indian Wars". Publishers Union, Philadelphia, 1891.
* Brown, Dee., "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee". Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1970.
* DeMaille, Raymond J., "The Lakota Ghost Dance: An Ethnohistorical Account." Pacific Historical Review. Vol. 51., No. 4, 1982.
* Greene, Jarome A., "The Sioux Land Commission of 1889: A Prelude to Wounded Knee." South Dakota History. No. 1, Winter - 1970.
* Hyde, George E., "A Sioux Chronicle". University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.
* McGregor, James H., "The Wounded Knee Massacre From the Viewpoint of the Survivors". Lund Press, Minneapolis, 1940.
* Mooney, James, "The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890". 14th Annual Report (1892-1893), Bureau of American Indian Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
* McLaughlin, James, "My Friend the Indian". Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1910.
* "Reports and Correspondence Relating to the Army Investigation of the Battle of Wounded Knee and to the Sioux Campaign of 1890-91". National Archives and Record Administration. Microfilm publication number M-983.
* Seymour, Forrest W., "Sitanka: The Full Story of Wounded Knee". Christopher Publishing House, Hanover, MA, 1981.
* Utley, Robert M., "The Last Days of the Sioux Nation". Yale University Press, 1963.
