December 29, 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre
December 28, 1890. On this date, Chief Bigfoot of the Miniconjou and his small band, attempted to reach the safety of friends and relatives at the Pine Ridge Agency at the invitation of Chief Red Cloud. They were cut off by the 7th Cavalry and told to make camp at Wounded Knee creek. Chief Bigfoot and his band never made it to the Agency. They were massacred by the 7th Cavalry on December 29, 1890. There were more than 300 people in the band and at the end of the massacre there were 256 deceased Lakota men, women and children. This incident will resonate through history as a real low point in the relationship between the Lakota and the U.S. government.
There was a brief military investigation which amounted to nothing. There were Medals of Honor handed out to military personnel who participated in the slaughter of unarmed men, women and children. In 2001 the National Congress of the American Indians passed two resolutions condemning the Medals of Honor as this is normally an award given to soldiers who act in a brave manner or do something heroic.
Today, the mass grave that was dug for the men, women, and children of the Lakota band of Miniconjou can be visited outside of the Pine Ridge Agency. To commemorate further the hardship of traveling the Prairie during the winter, there is the Chief Bigfoot Band Memorial Ride. These folks ride on horseback from Sitting Bull camp south of the Standing Rock Reservation to the Wounded Knee site. The conditions are brutal. There are no words to describe the pain and suffering of the original people, but they are not forgotten.
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